Unhealthy/Gross foods growing up

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  • JenSD6
    JenSD6 Posts: 454 Member
    Some of these really bring back memories. I grew up in the 70's/80's out in the rural Canadian prairies, my parents trying to make every dollar stretch. The big gardens were a necessity. Mom would buy a beef heart once a month for our Sunday "roast" since it was super inexpensive. And we'd have beef heart sandwiches for a few days afterwards.

    Eggs fried in spaghetti sauce was a cheap one my mom used a lot to give us some protein with our pasta. My parents still eat that quite often.

    Cinnamon and brown sugar toast. Cool Whip and strawberry jam sandwiches when no one was home to see. Cheeze Wiz instead of real cheese. Pop only on Fridays when it was homemade pizza night.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
    I don't remember ever having cinnamon sugar toast. I used to make toast, butter it and coat it in parmesan cheese though.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,742 Member
    I don't know if they still make it as I haven't seen it in a few years. But Domino used to make little shakers of cinnamon-sugar. Sometimes they were shaped like circus animals.
  • LifeWithPie
    LifeWithPie Posts: 552 Member
    edited March 2018
    seltzermint555 wrote: »
    I don't know if they still make it as I haven't seen it in a few years. But Domino used to make little shakers of cinnamon-sugar. Sometimes they were shaped like circus animals.

    Oh they're still out there!
  • michael1976_ca
    michael1976_ca Posts: 3,488 Member
    liver some how as a kid i was made to eat it. now no chance
  • Lefty1290
    Lefty1290 Posts: 551 Member
    Hamburger Helper - usually Cheeseburger.
    Cinnamon toast (in the oven - none of this 'toaster first' stuff)
    I refused to eat red sauce growing up, so, I was another noodles-butter-parmesan kid.

    My mom is a great cook, seriously awesome. I feel spoiled to have had her cooking growing up. She made pretty balanced meals (meat, starch, vegetable), she just goes too big on portion sizes and I have had to self-correct that as an adult.
  • Cbean08
    Cbean08 Posts: 1,092 Member
    I just remembered! Fun Dips and Baby Bottle Pops. My big brother played baseball since I was barely walking and I always had to go and watch his games. My parents would toss me a couple bucks and I'd always come back with a blue/green/purple tongue and sugar all over my face.
  • 1houndgal
    1houndgal Posts: 558 Member
    Ketchup and pasta mixed together.
  • jwilk241
    jwilk241 Posts: 43 Member
    Hamburger Helper immediately came to mind. This was probably the biggest "unhealthy" meal my mom used to make. I actually love it but haven't eaten it in years because I know how bad it is.
  • JenSD6
    JenSD6 Posts: 454 Member
    Hamburger Helper was probably one of the first things I learned to cook, since it was easy for a 13/14 year old to make when mom would be late.

    And Fun Dip! I loved Fun Dip! I would buy those any chance I could, which fortunately wasn't often.
  • kam3190
    kam3190 Posts: 157 Member
    2aycocks wrote: »
    We used to make sandwiches out of anything, miracle whip, ketchup and mustard. Mother also made butter and onion sandwiches. She cooked all the time so we ate well. I loved when Daddy made SOS: left over roast and gravy on toast like he had in the Air Force. And Nestle's Quik powdered chocolate in milk. Yum!

    I loved SOS when my mamaw would make it. It was the only time I was allowed to say *kitten*. When I grew up I went to a restaurant and they called it chip beef gravy and I was like WTF that's definitely *kitten* on a shingle so bring me some toast!
  • positivepowers
    positivepowers Posts: 902 Member
    My mother would make me creamed chipped beef on toast. It was white sauce with some cheap packaged deli sliced corned beef on white toast. I loved it but my dad would gag when he saw it because in the Army during WWII he ate it almost every day and couldn't look at it anymore. He called it *kitten* on a shingle, which I thought was funny and made me like it even more.
  • CricketClover
    CricketClover Posts: 388 Member
    Pear Salad: canned pear halves, a dollop of mayonnaise or cottage cheese, and a sprinkle of shredded cheddar on top of each half. I remember eating this a lot and I guess it isn't necessarily "unhealthy", the idea of it now is disgusting.
  • midlomel1971
    midlomel1971 Posts: 1,283 Member
    My mom used to make Kraft Mac n Cheese from the box...you know what I'm talking about. I'm not sure where the cheese part came in because it's nuclear-orange colored powder. And even though now I make homemade mac and cheese with real grated cheese, sometimes I love me a box of the Kraft!! Comfort food!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,030 Member
    edited March 2018
    CricketClover wrote: »
    Pear Salad: canned pear halves, a dollop of mayonnaise or cottage cheese, and a sprinkle of shredded cheddar on top of each half. I remember eating this a lot and I guess it isn't necessarily "unhealthy", the idea of it now is disgusting.

    You're reminding me if a recipe for "candle salad" in a children's cookbook I had: Pineapple ring base, chunk of banana stuck upright in it, mayo dressing "wax drips", maraschino cherry "flame" on top.

    Also, I grew up in the era of truly horrific gelatin salads, 1950s-60s. They were considered fancy for ladies' luncheons in a certain social milieu, sort of a faux aspic.

    Usually they started with lime or lemon jello (I think it may've been less sweet then, not sure), but it seems like there were some made with plain gelatin and things like tomato juice or V-8. There were vegetables in it, usually shredded; they were varied, but I remember carrots, celery, black olives in some. It could have cottage cheese mixed in, and/or things like salmon or tuna or something. Scary, especially to children. ;)

    ETA: Mayo or other dressing, sometimes on the side (or in a dish in the center of the gelatin ring sometimes, with a fancy spoon), or drizzled artistically on top. There were special jello molds for savory salads, in the shape of fish and such.
  • CricketClover
    CricketClover Posts: 388 Member
    MistressSara wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    CricketClover wrote: »
    Pear Salad: canned pear halves, a dollop of mayonnaise or cottage cheese, and a sprinkle of shredded cheddar on top of each half. I remember eating this a lot and I guess it isn't necessarily "unhealthy", the idea of it now is disgusting.

    You're reminding me if a recipe for "candle salad" in a children's cookbook I had: Pineapple ring base, chunk of banana stuck upright in it, mayo dressing "wax drips", maraschino cherry "flame" on top.

    Also, I grew up in the era of truly horrific gelatin salads, 1950s-60s. They were considered fancy for ladies' luncheons in a certain social milieu, sort of a faux aspic.

    Usually they started with lime or lemon jello (I think it may've been less sweet then, not sure), but it seems like there were some made with plain gelatin and things like tomato juice or V-8. There were vegetables in it, usually shredded; they were varied, but I remember carrots, celery, black olives in some. It could have cottage cheese mixed in, and/or things like salmon or tuna or something. Scary, especially to children. ;)

    ETA: Mayo or other dressing, sometimes on the side (or in a dish in the center of the gelatin ring sometimes, with a fancy spoon), or drizzled artistically on top. There were special jello molds for savory salads, in the shape of fish and such.

    Aspic scares me. Meat jello yuck.

    Ann-The candle salad rings a bell, maybe something I saw on tv once. Without the mayo it would be good.

    My boyfriends family loves aspic and his mom makes if for all holidays, the first time I attended an event I tried it to be nice. That is the most foul thing I have eaten, I think hers is a ground beef, celery, and onions floating around in the brown beef flavor jello. Thankfully my boyfriend also hates it.
  • BruinsGal_91
    BruinsGal_91 Posts: 1,400 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    CricketClover wrote: »
    Pear Salad: canned pear halves, a dollop of mayonnaise or cottage cheese, and a sprinkle of shredded cheddar on top of each half. I remember eating this a lot and I guess it isn't necessarily "unhealthy", the idea of it now is disgusting.

    You're reminding me if a recipe for "candle salad" in a children's cookbook I had: Pineapple ring base, chunk of banana stuck upright in it, mayo dressing "wax drips", maraschino cherry "flame" on top.

    Also, I grew up in the era of truly horrific gelatin salads, 1950s-60s. They were considered fancy for ladies' luncheons in a certain social milieu, sort of a faux aspic.

    Usually they started with lime or lemon jello (I think it may've been less sweet then, not sure), but it seems like there were some made with plain gelatin and things like tomato juice or V-8. There were vegetables in it, usually shredded; they were varied, but I remember carrots, celery, black olives in some. It could have cottage cheese mixed in, and/or things like salmon or tuna or something. Scary, especially to children. ;)

    ETA: Mayo or other dressing, sometimes on the side (or in a dish in the center of the gelatin ring sometimes, with a fancy spoon), or drizzled artistically on top. There were special jello molds for savory salads, in the shape of fish and such.

    Good grief! I had to google this because I was sure it wasn't actually a thing. But it is. And I'm never, ever going to be able to unsee it.

    https://www.thekitchn.com/the-candle-salad-a-retro-recipe-to-make-you-blush-food-history-192197
  • kaitlynncolbourne
    kaitlynncolbourne Posts: 16 Member
    When I was a kid I would frequently eat an intire can of pringles or a whole stack of soda crackers. Now when I eat those foods its so easy to over do it and eat an entire days worth of calories lol.. ive learned how to manage it thought and the healthy foods usually outweight the junk .

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