How Often Did You Eat Out As A Kid?

Almost never, which created a sort of a forbidden-fruit response as an adult once I had a few coins to spare!

As a kid I was rarely allowed soda's, or fast food - only on special occasions, like birthdays. But as soon as I got older and had money and a car and friends that could drive, I just went nuts on the stuff. Also, had a friend my brother and I'd go over to his house twice a week for homework and his mom made the most deliciously sinful food you'd ever tasted... I think that's where I gained a lot of weight, too.

But up until those two points, I didn't eat unhealthy at all! My mom and dad were health freaks, so to speak.

The minute I read your post I knew you were my age (:huh: ) LOL. We lived in a little one red light town about 15 miles from the "big city". My mother would go to town once a week for groceries. If you wanted to ride with her you'd better have your butt in the car ready to go "because she did not wait for you". If she had money left over from groceries we might get lucky enough to have a cheese burger from Carols or Red Barn? Any of these sound familiar? LOL Well think of them as the "first fast food joint - "pre McDonald's" LOL.

Dinners at home were "the real thing" - no ordering a pizza or subs. If we wanted those we made them from scratch. Sunday dinner was a roast or baked chicken with mashed potatoes. If my mother bought pop it was the 2 lt. bottle but that was a treat - usually it was Kool-Aid. If we didn't buy our lunch at school and we "brown bagged it" (yes an actual brown paper lunch bag) most of the time it was PB & J with a piece of fruit and maybe a baggie of chips or pretzels and we bought white milk at school. On the weekends if we had popcorn it was made from kernels in the cast iron pan on the stove...shake, shake, shake. LOL And you'd better be shaking that pan - if you burned it then everyone sitting in the living room waiting for it would start yelling "Your burning it." Okay, now I'm really going to "date" myself. The first time I ever heard of chicken wings my thought was "who would pay for such a thing?". Of course once I had them that answered that question.

So after going down memory lane I remember reading something about the number of overweight people today compared to when I was a kid. Back then it was something like 1 in 10 or 1 in 25 and now it's what? 2 out of 3? There were about 80 people in my graduating class from high school and I can count on one hand the number of people in my grade that were overweight.....and still have fingers left over. :noway:

LOL! I coud have written ALL of this myself. Ditto for me!

Hardly ever, money was tight growing up. So it usually was only for a special occassio - and it was usually to Pizza Hut. They had this promotion where if you got A's on your report card you got a free personal pizza. Who knows, maybe they still do it.

We did eat out very often, but our meals weren't healthy either. I lived off of microwave meals and ramen most days. My mom might cook once a week, and it would usually be baked chicken (overcooked!) with mashed potatoes and onion gravy or heaps of pasta in fattening white sauce (alfredo, not homemade) or fried pork chops with mashed potatoes and pork gravy. I think that was all my mom knew how to make. We never got into the habit of eating breakfast. Mom didn't so we usually didn't either. But if we did it was poptarts or Captain crunch. Lunch was school bought (Burritos most days!). Drinks was ALWAYS koolaid. Never plain water. When I was a teen we switched it up and added sweet tea to the mix (w/ 2 cups of sugar a gallon).

I starting getting fast food myself after I got a car. Now it's a habit that is hard to break.
I'm horrible at cooking and I hate doing it. AND I hate doing dishes. Lol. I'm broken and trying to work on it.

We ate out..probably weekly.. birthday parties were either at someone's house or the beach and it was big..where I grew up..there was no such thing as a cake and ice cream party...everyone was invited and you were fed..alot.

Never saw a cake and ice cream party till I moved stateside..I personally can't do it.. always have food involved.. I stopped having parties at my house cause some people just never left..LOL..

My mother was never much of a cook. In fact, pretty much everything we ate came out of a tin or a box. About the only thing I can recall her making regularly from scratch was 'cheese and potato pie', because it was just mashed potatoes and cheese (butter and milk) and then baked in the oven, voila.

Every Sunday would be a trip to the chipper. Generally just chips (and a slice of bread and butter and ketchup) but as we grew older, we'd include battered sausages or deep fried chicken.

I take my kids out to eat a LOT now, and with them growing up in the US whereas I grew up in the UK, things are definitely different. (No mac&cheese for me growing up. Nor peanut butter sandwiches.) I'm trying to cut down, for the sake of our health and wallets!

We ate out about once a week. Going downtown for Chinese food was our treat every Saturday. Other than that, pretty much never. My mom cooked all of our meals at home. I'm proud to say I'm following in her footsteps.

From age 3 to 20 (1986-2003) I have memories of family meals. My parents both worked part or full-time and I had an older sister. We occasionally had aunts, uncles and cousins living with us (those adults also worked full or part time also).

For a few summers we had a full blown garden. When we didn't we grew peppers, tomatoes, and berries in pots or beds and/or shopped at roadside stands and farmers markets.

Both my parents (and other adults living there) cooked meals. My mom cooked the food that her mom cooked and my dad cooked the food his family cooked. I learned from the three of them and my aunts and uncles. My dad's mom bought her grandchildren cookbooks. My parent's Betty Crocker cookbook doesn't have a cover (and it was last used by me and my dad when I visited last week). We grilled hot dogs and hamburgers (even in snow).

When no one wanted to cook we had canned soup and sandwiches. When I was in HS and later we'd order a salad from the new place on the corner and someone would stop at Sam's and get a rotisserie chicken and baked potatoes from Wendy's.

We ate out at restaurants once or twice a month. Local breakfast place, a mexican place or a buffet. We ordered in Chinese, pizza, fish, ribs, salad, submarine sandwiches, or KFC sometimes (maybe one of those things 3 or 4 times a month). We ate fast food VERY rarely pretty much only during a car trip.

The only meals I remember eating out of a box is Hamburger Helper (which was rare), Swanson TV Dinners (once a month or less when it was me and my sister's night in and parents night out) and Kraft Dinner (for dinner and lunch cooked by my sister or me - not rare).

I did half school lunch, half bagged lunch. When I ate friend's homes food was like it was at home. Birthday parties were cake, sometimes pizza.

I think my food experience was well balanced, except for a lack of portion control and and abundance of poor snack choices (there was always cookies, chips, micro-fries and snack cakes) and the fact that we drank a ton of Kool-Aid and Tang.

Oh and we played outside. A LOT.

I remember eating out a lot. But, my parents still do.

When we did eat meals at home it was usually frozen lasagnas, some kind of meat pie etc.

I think part of that is what propelled me into wanting to cook so much...I loved playing in the kitchen, still do.

Now that I'm a mom, I do my best to provide wholesome meals as much as I can. For their lunches I always pack yogurt, cheese, a fruit, a veggie, and a sandwich (either turkey or ham) on whole wheat bread. For a "treat" for lunch they will get pretzels, or jello, or fruit snacks.