[Closed] Food from the 70s

I'd like to point out that Vesta curries, Birds Semolina, Dream Topping, Custard and Angel Delight are indeed still manufactured. I'm responsible for the machinery. Add to that the unfathomable amount of Bigga and mushy dried peas. Who still buys those?? Apparently, we used to make Beans in Wine in a can in the 70s too. I seem to remember Boots had some strange foods in their shops.
Bit 80s, but what happened to Ritz cheese sandwiches? God I loved those.

We used to have Apeel orange juice with Sunday lunch - I'd love to try it again now my tastebuds have grown up. We used to see it as a real treat

I really want a crispy pancake now. I remember when we first acquired a Brevel sandwich toaster. Felt like kings eating nothing but toasties for a week.

I actually have a small scar near my lip where no facial hair grows. This was caused by a baked bean toastie. I never knew beans could reach such temperatures and the pain when the little ****er welded itself to my face was immense.

Good times!

Pomainge (is that how you spell it?). This may have been niche to our house but cods roe out the tin fried washed down with Nesqick powdered milkshake mix.

Why was food in the 1970s so uniformly terrible?

It wasn't. Beef Wellington, upside down cake, goulash, coq au vin, Black Forest gateau...

The problem was the terrible processed food referenced in this thread.

Those Top Deck cans bring back memories - proper soldered seam down one side - if someone could crush one of those in one hand it was an impressive effort. None of your extruded aluminium crap.

Hmmm spacedust 🙂

The thing I remember Most is the chip pan on everyone’s cooker.

Granny DOD used to use blocks of lard from the butchers and I think was still doing till departure at 90 something.

“Tip Top” tinned cream. The advert had the tin saying to the woman “you’re looking slim, mum!”

My mum used to make what she called “meat in the oven” which consisted of a casserole dish full of watery gravy with lumps of meat, potatoes and carrots floating in it.

has anyone done proper trifle yet? custard, jelly and cream, with soggy sponge bits and hundreds and thousands on the top?

and for drinkees what about cream soda? was it made by cresta or was that another drink? polar bear with sunglasses? (too lazy to google it).

We had trifle made of sliced Swiss roll, tinned loganberries and dream topping on top!

And after eating all these '70s delights,
How about Izal medicated tracing paper slidey toilet roll to wipe you arse

I quite fancy that banana ham and hollandaise

or to just spread it around

Pomainge

Pomagne I think. As a kid I was fascinated with the two-part plastic 'corks' for some reason, I always asked my parents for them to play / fiddle with.

The thing I remember Most is the chip pan on everyone’s cooker.

Remember it? I used mine yesterday.

and for drinkees what about cream soda? was it made by cresta or was that another drink? polar bear with sunglasses? (too lazy to google it).

Barr's I think. But it was probably made by various companies.

When you said cream soda I immediately thought of "American cream soda" which was a pink powder you ate with a liquorice stick, 2oz of the stuff in a little paper bag off the market.

How about Izal medicated tracing paper slidey toilet roll to wipe you arse

Not so much 'absorb' as 'redistribute.' I always figured it must just be cheap, but it was more expensive than the fluffy stuff.

Barr’s I think. But it was probably made by various companies.

you iz indeed correct, but it was corona i was thinking of. the pop man in a van where you got money back on the bottles.

about cream soda? was it made by cresta or was that another drink? polar bear with sunglasses? (too lazy to google it).

Barr’s I think. But it was probably made by various companies.

Alpine also made it back in the days when fizzy drinks were delivered to your door by hairy shouldered guys in vests and a 7.5 on truck. One of the things that defined you locality was what colour your local Creme Soda was. The stuff Alpine delivered (in St Helens) was bright apple green.

Cresta

It’s frothy, man!

angel delight no longer has sugar in it. We always used to take it bikepack and backpacking for pud - but with no sugar in it it seems rather a waste of time!

Anyone remember kellogs rise and shine powdered orange juice - again another old camping staple that no longer exists

I quite fancy that banana ham and hollandaise

^ Mods! Cleanup on aisle 6.

Admitting it is the first step to recovery tho

it was corona i was thinking of.

CORONA! Gods, yes, that's what I was thinking of also.

Why did they do pop deliveries? I remember we used to get them, but not sure why. Was it because it only came in the heavy glass bottles, so saved you having to lug them home? I mean it's not like pop was a daily essential which needed delivery like milk.

We used to have a ringtons tea delivery guy as well, always flogging some crappy patterned plates or tea caddy as an 'extra' with the delivery.

Chunky Chicken

It was chicken in a white sauce that came in a tin. A staple of the late 70s and early 80s in my house

This was caused by a baked bean toastie.

I feel your pain - always too hot to eat straight away - always too impatient, and hungry, to wait.

has anyone done proper trifle yet?

Still love proper trifle - my Mum still makes me one at Christmas time - although these days it's made with much nicer custard, and raspberries on top. Not fussed about the spongy layer - but the combination of custard, cream and fruit ... 😃

Anyone remember kellogs rise and shine powdered orange juice

Yes! I have some vague memory of once eating this straight from the packet with a licked finger. Not recommended TBH - and didn't have quite the same effect as Space Dust!

I remember there used to be loads of crazy ice lollies at the ice cream van as well, Dracula, fried eggs, funny feet, and some ice cream ones with a picture printed on it, haunted house I think.

Much more choice than today, and they had jokes on the sticks. Why did they stop doing that?!

Why did they do pop deliveries? I remember we used to get them, but not sure why. Was it because it only came in the heavy glass bottles, so saved you having to lug them home? I mean it’s not like pop was a daily essential which needed delivery like milk.

Didn't the glass bottles have a deposit on them? Pretty sure I remember taking bottles back to the local corner shop to get 5p (?) back.

I remember there used to be loads of crazy ice lollies at the ice cream van as well,

My local ice cream van did beer flavoured gummy sweets shaped like a pint glass

it only came in the heavy glass bottles, so saved you having to lug them home?

Don't forget there was a much lower car ownership - especially very few two-car households- and shopping was usually done by a stay-at-home mum. So yes - carrying  big glass bottles of liquid home wasn't ideal and aside from pop it probably explains why powdered foods like smash, angel delight etc and even powdered drinks such as Rise and Shine or Lift Lemon Tea were more popular then too.

Has to be a Swisskit for me, I was addicted to the damned things!

”I’ll risk it for a Swisskit”

On the subject of ice creams, remember Screwballs? A plastic cone filled with strawberry ice cream with a bubblegum at the bottom that had a half life of about 12 seconds. Good while it lasted though.

Ice cream too , seem to remember a lolly called a ‘Dalek’ fluro green mint and chock icecream EXTERMINATE!

Remember covering most of my dinners with “Aromat” to make the boiled to death dinner bearable – just googled and its still available 😳

Oh yes. I have a pack in the cupboard. I used to get dry bread and sprinkle that on and eat it. Strange child.

Responsible for my propensity to add salt to....anything I can 😐

One of my school friends worked on the Pop van, Ben Shaws pop. We all hated him as it paid better than the milk round and was on an evening.

Check out all the posh ice lollies!

As a povvy scheme wean I had to make do with a frozen Kwenchy Kup.
Four hours hard digging with a teaspoon to get to the juicy bit at the bottom.

My Grandpa used to make us 'Symington's table creams'. They were a posh type of blancmange to which one added milk. The colours weren't gaudy or bright, but delicate and made with proper ingredients.

I did a bit of research and it seems Waitrose still stock them.

Although I loved Angel delight but in my 20s and 30s.

I love cream soda - there was always a bottle of it at my grandparents house, he had a very sweet tooth.
Ben Shaw's brand now. My local chippy sells all their cans. 🙂

On the subject of ice creams, remember Screwballs? A plastic cone filled with strawberry ice cream with a bubblegum at the bottom that had a half life of about 12 seconds.

Our the sequel - the' Two Ball Screwball'. Which had one bubblegum at the bottom and extra one nearly at the bottom. Livin' the dream!

How about a bubbly or a dainty from Stenhousemuir, the dainty chew would extract any tooth filling no problem no matter how well it was installed

^ Blackjacks were pretty good at removing fillings/teeth etc. Nothing more charming than an inky black tongue and a gappy grin

The fizzy drink lorry thing seems to have been regional - no Corona round our parts, only Maine (bottles not actual size)

The fizzy drink lorry thing seems to have been regional – no Corona round our parts, only Maine

We had two. Alpine and Bon Accord.

Both purveyors of Pineappleade.

I remember there used to be loads of crazy ice lollies at the ice cream van as well, Dracula, fried eggs, funny feet, and some ice cream ones with a picture printed on it, haunted house I think.

Much more choice than today, and they had jokes on the sticks. Why did they stop doing that?!

Yes - much better selection of interesting lollies back then. My all-time favourite was a Strawberry Split - was also keen on Funny Feet, Haunted House, Twister, Zoom - always hard to choose.

I liked the lolly stick jokes - helped to soothe the disappointment of reaching the end of the lolly!

We had the Corona lorry down here in Hampshire.
We also had a van go round our estate, the well renowned Leigh Park, selling toffee apples.
This might've been late 60s/start of the 70s?
"SIXPENCEEACHATOFFEEAPPLE!" we'd hear the cry. This happen anywhere else?

“SIXPENCEEACHATOFFEEAPPLE!” we’d hear the cry.

CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANDY AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPLES!

We had the Corona lorry round our way in Salford.

The cherryade was sublime.

I lost a massive filling to a Drumstick lolly.

Swizzels = dentist!

Who remembers McCowan's egg and milk chews?

Tinned new potatoes - little orbs of soap. Bleugh.

CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANDY AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPLES!

Erra Macaroon Bars

I lost a massive filling to a Drumstick lolly.

I lost two teeth to a McCowan's Highland Toffee bar sometime in the 80s...

I lived in Inverness for a couple of years in the early 70s. There was American Ice Cream Soda that was a vibrant blue - or maybe that was the basic cream soda.

Drinks of my past - Hays (or Sangs lemonade) - who could not yearn for a Moray Cup?

I lost two teeth to a McCowan’s Highland Toffee bar sometime in the 80s…

I lost my heart to a starship trooper.

I lived not far from McCowans and got a visit of the factory. Amazing place and providing you didn't have plasters on your hands, you were allowed to help yourself to samples on the production line. Wham bars and the fudge were my weakness...still dream of those!

It is no wonder that us kids of the 70s have such shit teeth!

Tinned new potatoes – little orbs of soap. Bleugh.

Brilliant for cooking breakfast for four in a tiny gimballed stove as you trek across the North Sea in a Sigma 33. Just add bacon, beans, tomatoes and hot fat burns on the hands and legs.
I’m almost nostalgic.

I grew up in Aberdeenshire and we had the Bon Accord drinks van. I remember liking Bon Accord Cola, but only if drunk from a plastic beaker.

Someone revived the Bon Accord brand in the past few years but they seem to be trying to go down some sort of "artisinal" path. I tried the new Bon Accord Cola and I didn't like it very much.

Draught Double Diamond - I thought it was great but is it just my memory playing tricks?

Just remembered Tyne Brand; if it could be canned - they did!
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/lost-tyneside-factory-once-biggest-16063749

“SIXPENCEEACHATOFFEEAPPLE!” we’d hear the cry. This happen anywhere else?

We had a rag & bone chap who'd regularly rattle down over the cobbles in the back street with his pony and cart shouting "AG BOOOOE!" It was years before I discovered that it was supposed to be "rag and bone" and had just degenerated over the course of decades.

Pomagne I think.

Used to love that stuff and Cinzano. Can't imagine anyone giving that to their kids now.

Baxter's Game soup. Perhaps you can still get it, I haven't looked but used to eat that all the time.

The green liqueur (was it chartreuse?) In the sack shaped chocolate in Terry's all gold.

French bread ring any bells?

French bread ring any bells?

The Findus French Bread Pizza?

Like eating a lightly seasoned rounders bat. How exotic!

The Findus French Bread Pizza - hotter than the core of reactor No. 4 at a certain power plant.

Who remembers these?

They were a Friday night treat from Parkinson's; the best sweet shop / tobacconist in Christendom.

This was very popular in the 70s. Served with salad or as a lunchbox extra.

cromolyolly - Baxter's Royal Game soup?
Still available.
No evidence of royals in the ingredients list - and not much game either...

Ingredients
Water
Game (4%) (Venison, Pheasant)
Potatoes
Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin)
Tomatoes
Carrots
Modified Maize Starch
Onions
Venison Liver
Swede
Cornflour
Yeast Extract
Sugar
Venison Heart
Barley Malt Extract
Salt
Caramelised Sugar
Beef Extract
Spices (Black Pepper, Cumin, Fenugreek, Ginger, Pimento, Red Chilli Pepper, Turmeric)
Thyme
Coriander
Garlic Powder
Bay Leaf
Sunflower Oil

Ooh, I love a bit of Gala pie. Annoying if you get the bit that’s just white with no yolk though.

Yep love Gala pie and the above one looks high quality

I've usually got a shaker of Aromat on the go but I've run out and none of my locals have it stock at the moment.

I still love Angel Delight too.

Apparently, we were too poor for the pop man so I never got to sample any of the sugary delights available. Still got shit teeth though. 🙁

Gala Pie, salad cream and Chinese Leaf lettuce with loads of salt. Washed down with Barr Lemonade with a dash of Ribena (but not too much as it makes you wee!) and a French Fancy or two.

Sunday tea in my Gran's flat circa 1976.

10p pushed into your hand on the way out with a strict instruction not to tell your parents.

What is that aromat stuff?

I really fancy a brown derby, was my fave.

Them 70's salads with the fried bread, no wonder my and my Mates dads all ended up with triple bypasses 🙁

*s***** Bender the meaty frankfurter.

Has someone locked binners away? Thread about dodgy food and he's nowhere to be seen..?

Makes you think...

Another s**** - brown derby; I wasn't a Wimpy customer so don't know if the taste was consistent with the photo and mental image.
Hope not.

****ing ‘gala pie’. Wow haven’t heard that for a while. Still no idea what it is!

Whatever happened to galas in general though, eh? And those community treasure hunts where mom and dad and the kids would pile into the Austin Maxi with a photocopied sheet of clues, then wind up at the final clue//location which was ALWAYS a pub and ALWAYS either a fish n chip supper delivered en-masse to said pub from a local chippy, or a chicken-in-a-basket supper if the pub was a bit more a-la-mode!

Happy days.

‘gala pie’. Wow haven’t heard that for a while.

She's still got her strong beliefs.

Has someone locked binners away?

He has no interest in Wimpy, they provided real cutlery.

Treacle sponge pudding tins that you cooked in a saucepan of water.

Robertson's golliwog jam.

^ We generally had Robertsons strawberry jam 😉

As a kid I had a whole set of those gollies in a band. I loved them and it never occurred to me as a 9-yr old how horribly racist the emblem/backstory was! Which is sort of the point that these ‘golliwog clubs’ (seriously on FB) seem to miss. It was normalised in 70s but I’m surprised that it was remained their emblem until 2001 before they finally grew a pair and ditched it that year.

Worth a read for any one

Heinz Treacle or Strawberry sponge puddings from the tin with hot custard on were incredibly good. Ate them up until not that many years ago when Heinz got rid of it (2015) Why did they do that? The other brands in tiny plastic microwave tubs are nowhere near.

Baxter’s Royal Game soup?
Still available.
No evidence of royals in the ingredients list – and not much game either…

Frank - yep, that's the stuff. Never read the labels as a kid. I never think to look for it in the shops. I only remember it when someone starts talking about the food I used to eat and that. Reminds me. I'm guessing if I had it now, it would be as good as I remember. Although I occasionally have a pot noodle and those are as good as they always were.

And those community treasure hunts where mom and dad and the kids would pile into the Austin Maxi with a photocopied sheet of clues, then wind up at the final clue//location which was ALWAYS a pub and ALWAYS either a fish n chip supper delivered en-masse to said pub from a local chippy, or a chicken-in-a-basket supper if the pub was a bit more a-la-mode!

Happy days.

My God, I’d forgotten all about them. Read your post and it brought back a flood of good memories. No clue what we were looking for though. Just remember loads of kids piling in to some random dads car. Sat on each other’s knees in the back. Early 80’s safety! Always ended at a pub called The Traveler’s Rest which was great because they had Vigilante and Double Dragon arcade cabinets.

10p pushed into your hand on the way out with a strict instruction not to tell your parents.

Heart-warming.

Cheese and tomato pot noodles. Magic
Tinned fruit cocktail, with maybe 2 cherries in the whole tin.

Soup and pudding was the worst dinner ever, I hated soup and pudding days.

10p pushed into your hand on the way out with a strict instruction not to tell your parents.

Heart-warming.

when my niece and nephew were little, when we used to see them I always made a point of having a pack of choc buttons, or jelly tots or whatever, so when i took the littl'un out to the car for my sister at home time I could quickly leave them in the grab handle on the door on my niece's side.

I think she knows it was me, but we never spoke or speak about it. I don't know if my sister knows at all.

LOVE this. 😃