I hear ya. My parents didn’t “cook”, rather they just warmed things up. We were poor so meals were extra plain. Vegetables were usually frozen (peas, corn and those nasty little carrot cubes) or canned. Never pasta other than spaghetti and no meatballs. Potatoes were boiled or mashed. My mom would try to get us to eat healthy but we’re talking the 70’s and 80’s here so there was just Canada’s Food Guide to go off.
My favourite childhood memory food has to be cereal, when I was allowed to have the sugary stuff. Pac-Man was my favourite.
We were very much middle-class but my parents were products of the Depression. I remember plenty of mashed potatoes as well, along with flocks of baked chicken. I still suspect Dad’s his ketchup-based spaghetti sauce was subconsciously inspired by what the Navy served. He thankfully discovered the wonders of Prego before my teenage years.
Both started experimenting with pastas after that. Dad learned how to make turkey tetrazzini. Mom’s idea of lasagna involved a mix of Prego, cooked ground beef, and cottage cheese layered between the noodles.
My sisters handled the baking. Usually something out of the Betty Crocker cookbook that may have been a wedding present.
Speaking of baking, cakes were usually these ones that came with a box you could put in the oven - I forget the name - but they were all one kit, just add water I think. You mixed it all up in this cardboard pan, baked it then frosted with icing that came in a little pouch.
Snack-n-cake or something like that. I remember that you also had to add vinegar with the water for the leavening action. My brother’s favorite snack back in the early 70s in the summers. He would buy them with his allowance and make himself one [and eat it all, though I could usually mooch a piece off him occasionally]
grilled cheese (Kraftsingles and Wonder bread, of course) and Campbell’s tomato soup.
Dinty Moore beef stew over egg noodles. I quit eating that as an adult when my cat went crazy after I opened a can and I realized it must smelled exactly like cat food. Ew.
Tuna noodle casserole with stale croutons on top for crunch. I make this as an adult but I have to make the mushroom soup (and the croutons) from scratch first, so it’s a big deal, not a convenience meal.
*Peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwiches.
I just had my all-time favorite for dinner. Bisquick pancakes with corn niblets stirred into the batter. I was well into my 20’s before I realized that was something my mom and grandmother made and pancakes don’t usually come with corn in 'em. I thought that was everyone’s childhood memory of pancakes.
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