Revisiting food from your youth.

I must confess to having recently returned to the delights of tinned peach halves with evaporated milk! I also remember the exotic taste of Vesta paella - goodness knows what was in those packets! - and Surprise dried peas. Cremola was a favourite pudding for our children to make sure they got their milky pinta, can't get it anywhere now.

Cremola foam that used to foam up your nose! Only the lemon flavour though. Shiphams's fish paste: pilchard and tomato.

I still make bread pudding from dried up bread - put some rum in it. My Italian family find it very sophisticated.

The idea of spaghetti in a tin though makes them gasp in horror. They cannot really believe such a thing exits.

Was so excited when I found Crosse & Blackwell's Salad Cream in a snooty food shop in Rome. Thought I would finally be able to make egg sandwiches just like my mum's. Was very disappointed though - had an almost sweet aftertaste.

Cremola foam that used to foam up your nose! Only the lemon flavour though. Shiphams's fish paste: pilchard and tomato.

I still make bread pudding from dried up bread - put some rum in it. My Italian family find it very sophisticated.

The idea of spaghetti in a tin though makes them gasp in horror. They cannot really believe such a thing exits.

Was so excited when I found Crosse & Blackwell's Salad Cream in a snooty food shop in Rome. Thought I would finally be able to make egg sandwiches just like my mum's. Was very disappointed though - had an almost sweet aftertaste.

Minced beef crispy pancakes loved them ! Don't seem to taste as good now . Loved cod in butter sauce as well.

Crispy pancakes were lovely, as was butterscotch Angel Delight. We also enjoyed haslet.

I still love haslet and was delighted to move back to Lincolnshire and discover I can still buy "proper" whole haslets in the butchers and not that over-herbed, pre-sliced apology for it that they sell on supermarket deli counters.

My daughter and I googled what it was made from a while back, as I had an idea it was things I wouldn't ordinarily eat. I can't remember the answer. 3 things, I think. Lungs, livers and something? Or brains, bums and something else?

I like mattesons pork sausage which you can still buy but is not as juicy as I remembered as a child . Back then you boiled in bag but now it's microwave ! Can't remember how long to boil it now !

Herta original frankfurters, can't eat them quick enough

MissAdventure, the old French dish from which haslet was derived was made from intestines but the modern English version is made from ground lean pork meat, onion, white bread softened in milk, a smidgen of sage, salt and pepper. No nasties!

I used to love a biscuit called Dads Cookies no one I know has ever heard of them but dipped in my tea they were so yummy a bit similar to hob nobs but an even more yummy taste

Living with mum and dad specials:
angel delight - strawberry / butterscotch
a single jelly, usually raspberry, shared between seven ...
tinned rice puddings
tinned mandarins
bread and pullet - jam or marmite as a rule!
sugar sandwiches!!!!
pork luncheon meat with the red rind that needed to be peeled off
Birds trifles
Vesta curries

Ah, we knew how to live!

You can still buy the Fray Bentos steak puddings. We have them sometimes when I want a lazy meal. A couple of minutes in the microwave, served with mash and Farrows giant marrowfat peas and gravy. Don't know how healthy that is, but hey once in a while, does it matter?
Does anyone remember Prem? It was a kind of luncheon meat. The grocer would slice it for you on his bacon slicer.
Can't remember if he changed the blades between slicing raw bacon and cooked meats ?.
My favourite baked bean were Gold Dish beans, much preferred them to any other brand. Could never stand Heinz tomato soup, much too sweet for me.

We use to have Toast Toppers for our Sunday tea, don't think I would want it now.
Smiths crips that had a little blue twisted bag of salt inside and at school we had a tuck shop where you could buy Potato Puffs. Oh how I loved them!

spottysocks ooh Potato Puffs ! That's brought back memories of schooldays, I loved them too ?

Yummy yummy yummy memories from the past! Sugar sandwiches. red mash (beetroot with mashed potato), egg and tomato sandwiches (tomatoes skinned before mashing with almost-hard boiled eggs - looked revolting but tasted delicious), oh the joys of post war rationing! We were luckier than some as we lived in a rural area and had plenty of home grown veg to stretch out a rare meat meal in my childhood. Can remember my parents winning a chicken at the village fete and being presented with the thing still alive!! Can also remember half a pig crawling with maggots and hanging from the rafters of my parents bedroom - which I had to go through to get to mine - triple yuck!

When first married thought I was very sophisticated serving Vesta meals; wouldn't touch them with someone else's barge pole now!! Also Birds Eye mince or chicken pancakes. Had a Fray Bentos pie last year but it was all pastry and hardly any meat

Now buy organic meat or eat veggie - can't stand what passes as meat in most supermarkets. However, still love butterscotch or caramel or toffee ice cream and angel delight. Also have Carnation milk in my coffee and (very occasionally) make Scottish Tablet with condensed milk and lots of sugar!!

Forgot to mention the time my Grandma came to stay and DM had got a tin of tuna to go with a salad on her arrival on Christmas Eve. Don't know how long she'd had it or where it had come from but I woke up next morning unable to see or speak, as my face had swollen up thanks to food poisoning. Those were the days when a doctor came to call, even on Christmas Day

Swanny!!!

I used to like those crispy pancakes too Swanny rice pudding made with carnation milk was a favourite as well.
If I was ill I was given bread and milk in a bowl, it was disgusting, to this day I can't stand the smell of hot milk.
Beef tea was another cure all but quite tasty.