Foods/recipes you grew up with that you would not eat today

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  • lngrunert
    lngrunert Posts: 204 Member
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    CarrieCans wrote: »
    lngrunert wrote: »
    My mother used to mix hamburger with cream of mushroom soup and then pour it over instant mashed potatoes. It looked and tasted like what I imagine prison food is like.

    I make something similar, any ground meat cooked and then a home made gravy is made. It gets dumped over any leftover like mashed potatoes, rice, pasta etc. The trick to making it good is the spices, cream of mushroom soup makes it bleh.

    In my house we call it "Slop" because it looks like it belongs in a pigs slop pail.

    I've definitely found better ways to re-make a lot of my childhood meals pretty darn good by using fresh ingredients and scratch bechamel sauce instead of canned soups. I should probably try to get over my horrible memories of that one and reclaim it. :)
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    We ate reasonably well, with generally whole foods cooked at home, and for whatever reason my mother never fell into the '70s/early '80s idea that casseroles (especially those involving cream of mushroom soup, blech) were a good idea. The worst thing--and this was more due to fresh often not being available/reasonably-priced where we lived was canned veggies. Also, sure, canned soups for a convenient lunch, although I really don't think those are the worst thing in the world, despite my not eating them now.

    Craziest meals were my dad's experiments with trendy cooking, like when he decided we should start having tofu despite none of us really knowing what tofu was or how it should be used.

    Looking back now as an adult and knowing my mom as an adult too, I'm somewhat impressed by this in that my mom worked full-time after I was 8 and--what I didn't know at the time--has never really enjoyed cooking at all.
  • apparations
    apparations Posts: 264 Member
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    Ugh fish sticks... I actually forgot I used to eat those. With McCain Superfries and ketchup.
    Also Swiss rolls/Wagon Wheels/Passion Flakies. Perhaps I'm spoiled by living in a city with a lot of bakeries now, but I definitely wouldn't buy these over something fresh.
    I never cared for pop tarts even as a kid, but I used to like Pilsbury toaster streudels. They come with this plastic package of 'frosting' you squeeze onto it. :#
  • maggierenee88
    maggierenee88 Posts: 352 Member
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    Anything Chef Boyardee, wouldn't touch it now.

    And oh god. For breakfast, I would always ask my mom to make "cheesy eggs" - which was scrambled eggs with like 5-6 slices of Kraft Singles cheese and that's it. The egg to cheese ratio was like 2:5. I like cheese in my eggs, but I'm nauseated by that amount.

    I lolled over that one! It reminds me of when I would get home from school as a kid and I would open up 3 or 4 kraft singles, stack them, whip out the cookie cutter and make shapes and ate..... I can't eat cheese slices anymore without getting a little nauseous
  • kristydi
    kristydi Posts: 781 Member
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    My parents are both good cooks so most childhood food I'm happy to eat. In fact a lot of what I cook now is food I learned to cook growing up just slightly modified to fit my calorie needs or my family's specific tastes. My dad's spaghetti sauce in particular is amazing and mom makes great baked beans from scratch. I've copied both of those. I have the beans figured out, but can't quite get the spaghetti sauce right.

    Two exceptions to that are tuna noodle casserole and spam. I can't stand canned tuna in any form and spam is just gross.
  • melimomTARDIS
    melimomTARDIS Posts: 1,941 Member
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    boiled hot dogs, I could barely stomach them then, and Im vegetarian now.
  • LiminalAscendance
    LiminalAscendance Posts: 489 Member
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    I have to add my vote for those "Chun King" chow mein dinners (served with those vile noodles, of course). Oh, and those frozen "Chinese" egg rolls. <shudder>

    Sardines, straight out of the can.

    Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls - always anticipated these as my school lunch snack.

    Frozen "seafood" dinners...so very, very sad.

    Banquet pot pies (yeah, pretty much anything Banquet!).
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
    edited December 2014
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    Lounmoun wrote: »
    Goulash... always hated my mom's recipe.
    Things with velvetta.
    Most canned vegetables.
    Overcooked meat.
    Potatoes at every dinner.
    Canned soup.
    Boiled hot dogs. Always hated those.
    Super bland food. A spice rack is not there just to gather dust.
    Frozen dinners.

    I just want to add that my mom made good food too but very little variation or anything adventurous. I didn't have Chinese food or an avocado until I was no longer at home much less anything more exotic. I am a different kind of cook and eater than my parents were probably because I love to cook and I like to try new things. It wasn't until I was an adult that I realized my mom didn't really like to cook much.
  • MarziPanda95
    MarziPanda95 Posts: 1,326 Member
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    Nothing... I'm a 19-year-old student living off the same food as I did as a child because it's cheap and less effort >.>
    That being said, my dad used to fry spam, and I've found it tastes better (and is slightly less calories) when grilled.
  • samantha1242
    samantha1242 Posts: 816 Member
    edited December 2014
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    Tuna casserole.
    Boiled hotdogs.
    Beef stew.
    Meat from a can (Grandma's house).
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,742 Member
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    Ugh fish sticks... I actually forgot I used to eat those. With McCain Superfries and ketchup.
    Also Swiss rolls/Wagon Wheels/Passion Flakies. Perhaps I'm spoiled by living in a city with a lot of bakeries now, but I definitely wouldn't buy these over something fresh.
    I never cared for pop tarts even as a kid, but I used to like Pilsbury toaster streudels. They come with this plastic package of 'frosting' you squeeze onto it. :#

    oh man I can't eat those Toaster Strudels because it reminds me of a friend in jr high school who was bulimic and went through 5-6 boxes of them every weekend when her mom was working. Yikes.

    I don't know what McCain Superfries are, but just the other day I bought my mom some McCain sweet potato fries when I did her shopping...and they were terrible. I'd never heard of the brand 'til that day though.

    Saw some others here mention mac n' cheese and I totally agree. CAN'T eat it at all unless it's my mom's which is surprisingly made from all fresh ingredients, or my husband's that's more like pasta with creamy Sriracha sauce. But yeah...I've never liked Kraft mac n' cheese...my ex would buy the Velveeta shells n' cheese and even that was HORRID, possibly worse tasting to me. Yuck.



  • fixmyself
    fixmyself Posts: 18
    edited December 2014
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    Where I'm from, we have a breakfast food called "fateer". It's amazing, but way way way too greasy. As it turns out, fateer is the equivalent of baked puff pastry in the US. *gag*
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,742 Member
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    Lounmoun wrote: »
    Lounmoun wrote: »
    Goulash... always hated my mom's recipe.
    Things with velvetta.
    Most canned vegetables.
    Overcooked meat.
    Potatoes at every dinner.
    Canned soup.
    Boiled hot dogs. Always hated those.
    Super bland food. A spice rack is not there just to gather dust.
    Frozen dinners.

    I just want to add that my mom made good food too but very little variation or anything adventurous. I didn't have Chinese food or an avocado until I was no longer at home much less anything more exotic. I am a different kind of cook and eater than my parents were probably because I love to cook and I like to try new things. It wasn't until I was an adult that I realized my mom didn't really like to cook much.

    I can definitely relate. Meeting my current husband and learning about his childhood eating habits blew my mind. Coq au vin, curries, fresh crepes/blintzes. We were both Midwestern 1980's kids and actually my family had more money than his, but his mother was a total foodie and gourmet. He was so lucky! I didn't have Chinese food until I was 15 and my friends took me.

  • ncwingnut71
    ncwingnut71 Posts: 292 Member
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    Fish sticks
    Ham Charlotte - mom made this with bread crust, ham and some kind of gravyish stuff....wet bread makes me gag
    Rice a Roni
    Box mac and cheese
  • lngrunert
    lngrunert Posts: 204 Member
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    Lounmoun wrote: »
    Lounmoun wrote: »
    Goulash... always hated my mom's recipe.
    Things with velvetta.
    Most canned vegetables.
    Overcooked meat.
    Potatoes at every dinner.
    Canned soup.
    Boiled hot dogs. Always hated those.
    Super bland food. A spice rack is not there just to gather dust.
    Frozen dinners.

    I just want to add that my mom made good food too but very little variation or anything adventurous. I didn't have Chinese food or an avocado until I was no longer at home much less anything more exotic. I am a different kind of cook and eater than my parents were probably because I love to cook and I like to try new things. It wasn't until I was an adult that I realized my mom didn't really like to cook much.

    I can definitely relate. Meeting my current husband and learning about his childhood eating habits blew my mind. Coq au vin, curries, fresh crepes/blintzes. We were both Midwestern 1980's kids and actually my family had more money than his, but his mother was a total foodie and gourmet. He was so lucky! I didn't have Chinese food until I was 15 and my friends took me.

    I didn't have Chinese food or even Mexican food until I was in college. My parents thought Taco Bell was too exotic, lol!

    I'm a huge foodie now, and along with my hubby and teenage daughter will eat just about anything. We regularly eat Indian, Thai, Japanese and Vietnamese in addition to Chinese and Mexican, and if I mention it to my mom or post something about eating ethnic food on Facebook she thinks its so gross. I love my mom to death, but she's a strict meat-and-potatoes gal with no taste for adventure and a sawdust palate.
  • amdaless
    amdaless Posts: 12 Member
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    My mom was a pretty good cook but not necessarily a healthy cook. However there were 2 meals she'd make on occasion and I am not sure why or how she came up w/ these concoctions. One was salmon the other liver but both were in tomato sauce. Yuck! What kid wants to eat that. As an adult I don't want to eat them. :'(
  • apparations
    apparations Posts: 264 Member
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    Ugh fish sticks... I actually forgot I used to eat those. With McCain Superfries and ketchup.
    Also Swiss rolls/Wagon Wheels/Passion Flakies. Perhaps I'm spoiled by living in a city with a lot of bakeries now, but I definitely wouldn't buy these over something fresh.
    I never cared for pop tarts even as a kid, but I used to like Pilsbury toaster streudels. They come with this plastic package of 'frosting' you squeeze onto it. :#

    oh man I can't eat those Toaster Strudels because it reminds me of a friend in jr high school who was bulimic and went through 5-6 boxes of them every weekend when her mom was working. Yikes.

    I don't know what McCain Superfries are, but just the other day I bought my mom some McCain sweet potato fries when I did her shopping...and they were terrible. I'd never heard of the brand 'til that day though.

    Saw some others here mention mac n' cheese and I totally agree. CAN'T eat it at all unless it's my mom's which is surprisingly made from all fresh ingredients, or my husband's that's more like pasta with creamy Sriracha sauce. But yeah...I've never liked Kraft mac n' cheese...my ex would buy the Velveeta shells n' cheese and even that was HORRID, possibly worse tasting to me. Yuck.



    The Superfries are just crinkle cut fries. They're not bad as far as frozen fries I guess, but I'd rather just roast up some regular potatoes.

    Kraft Dinner I never actually had as a child, so in my early 20's I used to buy it for myself and make it in a bunch of different ways. I always bought the extra creamy or spiral kind and added a bunch of extra cheese, mushrooms, tomatoes (or tomato sauce) and bacon. MUCH better than plain Kraft dinner. But eating a whole pot of that fairly often probably contributed to weigh gain lol.
  • karyabc
    karyabc Posts: 830 Member
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    The benefits of a third world country. Fresh veggies all the time.

    I don't know/recognize about 98% of the things mentioned on this post.

    But yeah, deep fried fish was on my 'ew' list.

    hahahahahahhaahaha yes so truee!! i also live in a third world country , D.R.! where u from?
  • carriejones80
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    Spam, canned ravioli sand spaghetti, canned roast beef on rice, beanie weenies. I can't tolerate canned Campbell's soup. It just seemed like our meals were mostly out of a box or can and it has been the way I fed my children, especially since my divorce. It was quick and easy... Well...not any more...
  • sheepotato
    sheepotato Posts: 600 Member
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    I can't think of anything I would eat that comes from a can these days. When I was growing up most of the food lived in cans or boxes in the cupboard.