At the repeated requests of my 9 year old daughter, I bought a couple of cans of SpaghettiOs last week. While heating it up for her dinner, I took a bite (to test the heat) and jeez that stuff is crap. Soggy noodles drowning in generic ketchup with a few tablespoons of sugar tossed in. How could I have ever liked this stuff?
Today, being the first cool day of fall, I found a can of Campbell’s Tomato soup in the cupboard. I made it with some buttered toast, and although nowhere near as bad as the SpaghettiOs, I was supremely disappointed. Most of the grocery stores around here sell some fresh variety of the same (Whole Food’s Tomato Basil - yum!) thing, with some actual tomatos involved to provide some texture. Campbell’s just doesn’t measure up anymore.
I haven’t had the Campbells soup in years, and SpaghettiOs probably in 15 years, and now I’m good until I lose all my teeth. I’m afraid to try Cap’n Crunch.
What have you tried recently that you used to love?
We were pretty poor when I was a kid. There were five of us kids and my Dad worked nights. We ate oatmeal every day (except Sunday when my Dad made pancakes) for breakfast until I was about 12 or so. Nasty, thick, chewy, sticky oatmeal made with powdered milk (which, if it isn’t fully mixed, leaves small “chunks” of milk powder floating around the oatmeal). We got to have our choice of toppings: raisins or honey or both. For years, just the thought of it made me want to vomit.
So, twenty some years after my last bowl of oatmeal, I decided to take a little taste and see if anything had changed…
It was (is) just as vile and disgusting as I remembered. I think I’ll wait forty years before I try it again.
those weird ass circus peanuts (“Cecil” did a column on them)–like sweet foam rubber. Blech.
Kraft mac and cheese–I used to plague my mom for this ? She never would buy it, so I had it at friend’s houses.
Twinkies, Ho-ho’s, Susy Q’s–all disgusting.
Growing up, Saturday was Pancakes, Sunday was Bacon and Eggs, and the rest of the week alternated between Oatmeal and Cream of Wheat. My dad ate oatmeal for breakfast every day almost until the day he died.
I had some kind of bizarre craving for oatmeal earlier this year, so I tried making it, and found that I actually like it, provided that it’s made with regular oats, and something like a quarter of the “suggested” water - that makes a thick, textured food completely unlike the paste-like glop that I grew up with.
And instant oatmeal (needless to say) is vomitous, both in consistency and my reaction to it. . .
Ha! Me, too. My mom made mac & cheese with elbow noodles and Cheez Whiz. She’d add hot dogs to it. I’m pregnant and homesick and I actually made this for myself (using Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Deluxe) the other day. It was just as good as I remember .
I’ll still eat a can of Spaghetti-Os from time to time. When I was a kid, I could eat them everyday!
I used to make mayonnaise sandwiches: mayo on a slice of bread. Now, I can’t stand mayo.
For some reason, I can’t seem to make myself eat a sandwich of any kind. I used to like to make them with “luncheon meat” (Oscar Meyer product) and smush potato chips onto it.
Proper oatmeal is food of the gods. The instant stuff can be good, only put just enough water in to mix into a thick paste, then microwave it. Add a splash of cold milk, some brown sugar and cinnamon, and it’s delicious.
I used to LOVE eating extra sweet things as a kid. Extra sugar on my cereal, extra sugar in my Kool-Aid, the edge of a sheet cake with all the iceing. Now, all that sugar is far too much. Yuck.
I still love Kraft Macaroni & Cheese at age 38, and I think I always will. But I’ve given it up in my quest to lose weight.
About once a year I buy a can of Beef-a-Roni for myself. Mr. S shudders. (I reciprocate when he buys his yearly box of Lucky Charms.)
When I moved out from my mother’s house at 17, I swore off Minute Rice and Potato Buds for good. God, that stuff is awful. Basmati and real spuds for me!
Oh, and one of these days I’m going to buy a box of Zingers and stick them in the freezer. They came in a box of 10, and so a box was supposed to last a week for school lunches for me and my sister. They were supposed to thaw by lunchtime. But they made a pretty good frozen after-school snack, and the box almost never lasted the week.
Still like Campbell’s Tomato Soup (made with milk) and a grilled cheese sandwich now and then.
Still hate oatmeal, but like a bowl of Cream of Wheat on a cold winter day, with brown sugar and buttered toast and plenty of milk.
My mom used to make her own “diet” cocoa mix that we had to choke down on camping trips: powdered skim milk, cocoa powder, and Sugar Twin. Truly vile.
The only “cheese” my parents’ fridge ever saw (and still sees to this day) was Kraft Singles and my dad’s Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp Cheddar, to eat with saltines. Oh, and Cheez Whiz (same deal) and the occasional “treat” of cheese in a can. Barf. Trust me, the cheeses in my fridge today are of a much better quality.
I agree, except when I was two I didn’t shove them in my mouth. It was in a close, but slightly smaller and higher orifice, and they stayed there for days. Nothing like a trip to the ER, being strapped to a papoose board, and having giant tweezers shoved up your nose to put you off a food…
Also, I revisited Campbell’s soup recently. Bought a bunch of different kinds. They mostly went to the dog. (and when even *she *ignored it, the cat fell in and made a mess. :eek: )
My sister did the same thing with the little magnets in the colored plastic letters you stick to your refrigerator. Fortunately my mom was able to dig them out (ewwwww).
Campbell’s has been messing with their soups in recent years (you’ve surely noticed they changed the labels too). The tomato doesn’t even look the way it did when I was a kid; it’s not as red and is harder to mix with the water. So if you’ve gone off it it’s not necessarily because your tastes have changed.
I wonder if SpaghettiOs have been altered too; seems to me they taste a lot sweeter than they did when I was a kid.
The childhood dish I will never eat again? Tuna noodle casserole. Oh, and Hamburger Helper. Actually almost anything involving loose hamburger, which my mother insisted on adding to spaghetti sauce, frozen pizza, Kraft mac & cheese, and almost anything else it conceivably could be added to, in the service of her belief that people who didn’t eat meat in some form every day were doomed to death from malnutrition.
Hey all you Campbells complainers - forget the condensed stuff - But the Ready To Serve - It’s actually tasty (I like the chunky chicken noodle myself)
The stuff I really loved as a kid doesn’t even exist anymore - Whip-N-Chill - sort of an instant mousse. I remember the consistancy like it was yesterday. Sort of like real mousse, with a little styrofoam mixed in for texture. But I thought it was the most wonderful dessert on the planet. I have no idea what my reaction to it would be today.
I liived on Kraft Mac-n-Cheese when I was a kid. I can’t stand it now, I make homemade. With Velveeta!
Recently when we were trying to buy canned food in case Hurricane Rita hit us, I almost bought some Spaghettios. There were only two cans left - but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I just knew I wouldn’t like that crap now, but my brother and I begged for it when we were little. Spaghettios with sliced franks, anyone? (Where’s that pukey smilie?)
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