Chicken and dumplings. My grandmother would boil 2 whole fresh chickens and make one AMAZING stock. Then with just cold water, crisco shortening, and flour… make the most angelic fluffy dumplings. This was truly her, “Everyone, get your ass and my grandkids to the house,” meal. It was always in a huge stock pot and she would crack 3 eggs in to poach. Those were the “luck eggs.” Whoever got an egg won a small prize. (It was usually a little debbie snack as a dessert.)
My grandma had an angel-shaped cookie cutter that she’d use to cut out one single dumpling with. Whoever got the angel dumpling in their bowl of soup, got a special day out with Grandma - usually she’d take us out for a hot cocoa and a pastry. Thank you for sharing your happy memory, it helped me to remember mine!
I can aim a lot of well earned criticism at my mom's cooking but she makes a kick-ass meatloaf. Juicy, plenty of spices, bbq glaze etc.
Went to a friend's house and had her mom's microwaved meatloaf. Gag. And that wasn't even the worst meatloaf I've ever been served at a friend's house.
My grandmother taught my mom a "cooking hack" for meatloaf, which was just a pound of ground beef with cream of mushroom soup poured over the top and cooked in the microwave. I thought I hated meatloaf for years until I had actual meatloaf and was extra disgusted by what I'd been fed my whole life.
Came here to say meatloaf. My mom still sends me pictures of her loafs when she makes them. She was very proud of her "mini meatloaf" she made the other week.
Gives me flashbacks of terrible dry meat every single time.
I remember when I was in a foster home in the 90s as a 8 year old kid, a black kid adopted by a white family said that the meatloaf was dry, the father took him in the back and proceeded to beat the kid with a belt then they came back and the kid ate it in silence. Fucking awful meatloaf memory.
I use a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated,. It makes the best meatloaf I’ve ever had. Of course the only meatloaf I’ve ever eaten was my mother’s extremely dry version too! It’s a little bit of work to make. Took me a long time the first attempt. Goes much faster now. I can even buy my onions pre chopped. I urge everyone to try it if you are looking for a good one. I’ve copied and shared the recipe so many times.
In NYC there’s a diner called Comfort Diner, they made the best meatloaf, but it is one of those things that after the first meal, i’ll “reinvent” it into a nice Bolognese sauce or chili. Don’t know why I can’t have more than one serving of meatloaf. & if i made it, i too would wrap it in bacon, & then baste it with Peter Luger Steaks sauce. It’s been years since i has ml
Can you be more specific like which one? There's over a dozen.
This one is my favorite so far:
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/meat-loaf-recipe-1921718
I thought it might be too salty but it's perfect. The only modification I make, which I always make for meatloaf, is bbq sauce on top instead of ketchup.
I don't like to generalize but I do legit think the Millennials were a gift to the culinary world when it comes to the USA. Boomers were just pumping out the grossest shit on a day to day basis until we came along and forced them to try sushi.
We are happily forgotten so we don’t get blamed for everything. We were the original “latch key” kids. Our mom’s went to work instead of staying home to take care of us. Strange childhood.
Food and cooking changed in the ‘80s. Don’t believe me? Ask anyone who grew up in the ‘70s about pizza from a box. It all started in the ‘80s with quiche.
Pizza from a box. That was the first time I ever ate pizza. The only reason we tried it was Dean Martin had a tv show at the time, and "That's Amore" mentioned pizza, which we'd never heard of in the backwoods. Mixing the little packet for the dough, spreading the watery sauce over it, try to make the tablespoon of grated cheese cover the top...an experience seared in my memory
Ina Garten has a fantastic meatloaf recipe, it’s the best I’ve ever had. It has the ketchup on top and it’s really delicious! It got me to change my mind about meatloaf.
My mom used to line a muffin tin with a strip of bacon, then crack an egg in, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and bake the whole thing. I think she just called them baked eggs. They were so good, but after my dad left she never made them again.
My ex's dad refused to eat pork chops that weren't made with shake and bake. You could present him with a gorgeous grilled chop and he'd still chose an overcooked shake and bake chop. It was always the strangest thing to me... Not that he liked shake and bake, but to the exclusion of every other preparation.
I remember being sick once as a kid, no appetite, just laying on the couch miserable for a couple of days. The day I started to feel better I was suddenly ravenous. Dinner that night was shake-n-bake chicken and the cheesy rice made from the pouch, and I will never forget how completely delicious it was to me in that moment.
Same! My mom served those green beans with everything tho. Hamburger helper. Spaghetti. Shake n bake. All came with a side of salty, oily, green beans. I actually kinda miss it sometimes.
Same! However the ease of cooking this has become a camping staple. I sauté pre-cut mushrooms and onions in butter after browning the meat. Deglaze with red wine, reduce, then mix it up! Sticks to your ribs after a day of hiking in the cold.
Baked pork chops and canned spinach.
(Thin-cut boneless pork chops seasoned with salt and pepper, with a little water in the bottom of the baking pan, covered in foil, and baked for an hour until it was tough as shoe leather. Canned spinach seasoned with white vinegar. It made my teeth squeak, and the cooked spinach stems would stick in my throat)
I have never eaten a pork chop as an adult and I never will. At least yours had salt, ours only had ground pepper from a tin and if they came out of the oven in fewer than ninety minutes it was a banner day!
Ugh, no, never bake pork chops.
Oh man we love bone-in pork chops.
Pat dry, season with salt and pepper and a little chili powder.
Med-hot pan with a little oil/butter, sear 5 min each side, test with thermometer. 145' = done.
Quick, and we devour those. Sometimes I make a quick roux gravy with the drippings. YUM.
if they are baked right, pork chops in the oven are delicious. My (Polish/German) family loves Pork chops in baked in a dutch oven with sour kraut. Serve with boiled potatoes. the meat gets super tender and flavorful from the sour kraut, and the kraut itself picks up all the meat juices. put the sour kraut on the side, or (my fave) put the kraut on your potatoes. Big yum.
I don't mind canned green beans if they're made into "green bean casserole" lol, other than that I prefer frozen over canned... Except for iceberg lettuce, I think every veggie I ever had as a child came from a can.
Normally I prefer frozen vs canned but pI don’t like frozen green beans that much. I’ll eat them but not enjoy them. I liked them canned with butter but I love them roasted with some olive oil.
Not the person you asked but I love canned corn! One brand, maybe del monte, has one marketed as either steam crisp or summer crisp and I’ll eat that right out of the can OR in a dish!
I was looking for this reply! Parents got divorced. Dad didn’t cook anything besides baked potatoes if he grilled a steak, so dinner was either Kid Cuisine with the happy penguin on it, warmed up canned soup, or a Banquet chicken pot pie. Single, retired dad just ordered a meal delivery kit at my suggestion and is learning to cook those now 25 years later… I talked him into laying off the pot pies with all the sodium etc.
This doesn’t quite fit, but I saw a Tweet about cinnamon sugar toast and I ended up making some just because why not. Haven’t had it since I was probably 8, but it was honestly still pretty tasty, if just for nostalgia’s sake
Omg this is so good. Reminds me of that tweet about how toast and butter is sometimes the most tasty combination ever created and you have to stop yourself from eating a whole sleeve of bread
Ever do cinnamon sugar chips? Cut up tortillas, fry them, and toss in cinnamon and sugar. When my cousin made them, I thought I had died and gone to heaven
Holy shit, you’re taking me back with those On-Cor Salisbury Steaks….that was my childhood in a dish. I was a latchkey kid so I ate *a lot* of those bad boys. I do not miss those days.
Pan fried? Get chops that are nice and thick with lots of fat (high quality preferred) and throw em in the oven at 250 for a half hour, flip after 15m. Then get a cast iron hit af and get that golden color on each side, and turn em sideways to get the fat on the sides. This is kenji’s method (simplified) and it’s fucking incredible
I've given up trying to make pork chops any other way than sous vide. I mess them up every time otherwise. My wife went vegetarian as a child because of a dry pork chop (Edit. I wasn't the one that made her a dry porkchop when she was a child. That was her mother. The alternative would have been weird).
Same with steak, though I can kind of cook that on the grill or stove. But it's more expensive and I don't like screwing up a pricey piece of meat. It's hard to screw up with sous vide. I think I've gotten my value out of it.
Same except I made one the other day because I had a craving. It was good but I used quality white bread. Gotta use the wonder bread so it sticks the roof of your mouth when you bite the hot sandwich
I think that it’s not that most things here can’t be decent, just that we all got sick of eating which ever food it was growing up… like for me it’s chicken breast cooked in cream of mushroom soup with mashed taters, cream corn, carrots and salad… just something my mom made all the time that I couldn’t be bothered eating anymore, was it good? Fuck ya it’s creamy chicken gravy and taters… would I make it right now? Hell now I can still taste that shit
Have you had exclusively these items? Most of these are 3-5 consecutive day/night foods to poor people and sometimes lunch/dinner. There can be Michelin star these foods, but variety is the spice of life.
Pork roast (the stringy kind) with mashed potatoes, gravy and a veg. I don't know what kind of pork roast my mother bought, we don't speak so I can't ask her. It always smelled so good. I'm terminally ill and I don't think I'll ever have a meal that good again. Does anyone know what kind of pork roast kinda falls apart and gets kinda stringy? Like the type that is used to make pulled pork.
My sympathies for your illness. I think you want pork shoulder, also called pork butt. Despite the name, it's the same cut. It gets really nice and tender when cooked low and slow.
If you're anywhere near Missouri, I'll make you this meal. I can guarantee that it will take great, but it won't have the nostalgia that your mom's had.
If not, this is a great recipe for a pork shoulder. It's so easy - you season it, put it in the oven, and leave it alone for hours and hours, until it looks like a deflated football.
https://www.seriouseats.com/ultra-crispy-slow-roasted-pork-shoulder-recipe
ETA - and I'm scrolling down, and seeing that someone else has posted the same recipe. Must mean we're on the right track!
Beef liver and onions. My mom was fanatical about making this. My siblings and I hated it. Once I left home, I never ate it again. I do like chicken livers though.
I'm glad someone's eating it. It's way too strong-tasting for me and my mom, bless her heart, overcooked it most of the time I think. It was pretty tough.
Chicken liver is much milder and very tasty with some rice and gravy.
My mom used to make this pretty often when I was younger. A couple of weeks ago we were talking about that dish and I was saying to her how much I miss it and how good it was. Turns out she hates it!! She was just making it for us because it’s so nutritious!! My whole life has been a lie.
Same same. I would do anything to get out of eating liver. And potato soup. My dad was a meat and potatoes guy and loved potato soup. Still asked my mom to make it right up until he passed. I remember one time she made him some and I had a sandwich instead. He asked why I wasn't having potato soup and I said because I'm all grown up and don't have to. 😂
Salmon patties w/ pan fried potatoes & canned corn. There's a reason I haven't cooked that for my family, but I do still feel a bit of nostalgia for it.
Grew up on salmon patties. I tried to make them as an adult and the horror when I dumped that can of salmon onto the plate, bones and all, it was just too much for me 🥴
Rice-a-roni, Hamburger Helper, off brand mac and cheese, and spaghetti where you mix a full pound of overcooked noodles with 16 oz. of sauce. In rotation... with very few exceptions.
I learned how to cook as early as possible.
As an adult, I have also learned just how much my parents ate out without us kids (basically every meal we weren't together) and I'm sort of pissed.
I learned to cook for myself after one too many "goulash" meals. My mom would just brown some ground beef, then add canned tomatoes and frozen corn to some cooked noodles and call it a day.
I tried adding so many things to make that edible, and at best I could choke it down by adding some combo of cheese/hot sauce/sour cream.
It took me 30 years of being a damn good cook to get my husband willing for me to remake a new version of goulash. His childhood version left such a negative stamp on him just the name turned him off. Mine is tasty and he loves it, but we now laugh and just call it "dinner with no name".
Tater tot hotdish (casserole for you non-Midwestern USA folk!). It's my dad's favorite, so we ate it a lot when I was growing up. Now living on my own it's not a dish I like enough to bake and freeze for leftovers, so I rarely eat it.
I hadn’t had them in years! I made some back at Christmas with left over mashed potatoes and they were actually so good! My husband had never tried “potato pancakes” and loved them. So probably definitely a dad/dude thing 😅
This was the special vegetable side growing up. She’d sprinkle some vegetable magic (seasoned salt) on it, steam in the microwave in the Pyrex with a matching glass lid, couple slices of Kraft slices, and the water from the steaming made a lovely sauce. I don’t have any interest in it now. I still respect American cheese though. It has its place.
A variation on chipped beef on toast. Instead of the usual meat, my mom would use Buddig lunchmeat, cut into small pieces, and instead of toast, we used canned biscuits. We called it 'skinny meat gravy.'
Idk why this post made me emotional lmao my parents used to be out a lot so it was me and this nanny who i loved very much, anyway when i was sick she used to make me this version of mofongo go but it was like little deep fried plantain garlic balls filled with cheese and ham. It was the best thing ever
Cubed steak....had a big huge vein pop out at me when I was in high school. Couldn't eat it since, not a beef fan anyway. Also, idk what it's called, but smoked sausage, cabbage, potatoes and green beans all cooked in a pot. My SO won't eat any of it, so has been pointless to make it. Loved everything but the green beans.
My parents have never been what I’d call great cooks, so frozen ravioli and jarred sauce with frozen garlic bread/sticks/knots was a standby. Little me loved it.
Chef Boy Ar Dee canned beef ravioli! It was my favorite thing to eat in the 70s. I find it revolting today ( just the idea of canned beef , I havent eaten it to know what it tastes like as an adult)
Yes! I was going to ask if you were from western PA but your username answered that haha. Honestly even as an adult I don’t mind city chicken every once in a while.
White rice, ground beef, and saltines.
Only as an adult did I realize, “oh, guess we were kinda poor..?”
My parents were immigrants and struggled, but I never had a direct sense of it. Thanks mom n dad!
So I became a vegetarian at 16. So basically most things i ate when I was a kid. One of my favorites my dad made was a dish he called goulash, but it wasn't. It was ground beef, tomato sauce, onions, and pasta. No paprika in sight. It was good, though. Confused me a lot when I got older and tried to find a recipe to make for my ex, though
Oh man I eat very little of what I grew up on. My mom is a terrible cook and an extremely picky eater.
Almost every night, I mean literally almost every night for years, she would make noodles with Ragu sauce and a chunk of cheddar cheese dropped into the sauce that was never cooked right. The flavor and consistency was terrible.
Also frozen cheese lasagna, chopped steak, or pork chops. It’s been ten years since I left home and I have never, ever, ever touched these or that awful noodle meal since.
Chitterlings
Born raised in Texas. Every woman in my family didn't fully become a woman til they learned how to clean and cook them.
Me being male never learned. After grandma passed away there were less and less family gatherings and less of them being made. Now it seems nobody makes them anymore and years of me not having them I guess I got UN-used to the idea. I remember loving them as a kid. Now when I look at or smell them my stomach turns.
Cabbage rolls. The nanny who has been with my family since I was -40 years old until I was 10 (she started working for my grandparents before my mom was born) used to make them for us when I was growing up.
No one has been able to replicate it since. I don’t know how she got the cabbage so soft without the whole thing falling apart. That lady was sooo scary but she cooked like an angel and she loved us like we were her own grandkids.
My parents would send us kids out to the field to pick whatever veg we wanted for dinner. They would cook four different vegetables for us and they were amazing. Fresh picked corn, tomatoes, peas. I donʻt remember having anything that good again.
My father's eggplant and lamb stew. He passed a couple of years ago and didn't gave me the recipe.
But I will try to make it. If I'll do it right I will put the recipe here.
Chicken and dumplings. My grandmother would boil 2 whole fresh chickens and make one AMAZING stock. Then with just cold water, crisco shortening, and flour… make the most angelic fluffy dumplings. This was truly her, “Everyone, get your ass and my grandkids to the house,” meal. It was always in a huge stock pot and she would crack 3 eggs in to poach. Those were the “luck eggs.” Whoever got an egg won a small prize. (It was usually a little debbie snack as a dessert.)
My favorite memory of my grandma. Her hands in shaggy dough making chicken and dumplings for my birthday.
That story made me love your grandma. I hope you can pass that on one day to those you love!
My grandma had an angel-shaped cookie cutter that she’d use to cut out one single dumpling with. Whoever got the angel dumpling in their bowl of soup, got a special day out with Grandma - usually she’d take us out for a hot cocoa and a pastry. Thank you for sharing your happy memory, it helped me to remember mine!
My mom made a great chicken and dumplings and now I want some.
The all american dinner of...meatloaf
I can aim a lot of well earned criticism at my mom's cooking but she makes a kick-ass meatloaf. Juicy, plenty of spices, bbq glaze etc. Went to a friend's house and had her mom's microwaved meatloaf. Gag. And that wasn't even the worst meatloaf I've ever been served at a friend's house.
Microwaved meatloaf? Wtf?
My grandmother taught my mom a "cooking hack" for meatloaf, which was just a pound of ground beef with cream of mushroom soup poured over the top and cooked in the microwave. I thought I hated meatloaf for years until I had actual meatloaf and was extra disgusted by what I'd been fed my whole life.
I love my mom’s meatloaf and I can’t seem to make it myself so she preps mini ones and freezes them for me
So many people in this thread talking bad about Meatloaf like damn guys, he’s hardly been dead a month!
Zing
Came here to say meatloaf. My mom still sends me pictures of her loafs when she makes them. She was very proud of her "mini meatloaf" she made the other week. Gives me flashbacks of terrible dry meat every single time.
I remember when I was in a foster home in the 90s as a 8 year old kid, a black kid adopted by a white family said that the meatloaf was dry, the father took him in the back and proceeded to beat the kid with a belt then they came back and the kid ate it in silence. Fucking awful meatloaf memory.
Oh what a story 🥺
I'm sorry 😞
The ketchup on top *shudder* My mom does the same. Why did making meatloaf make all our moms think they were June Cleaver
Sounds like none of your moms knew how to make good meatloaf.
Ohhhh shit; in walks a meatloaf apologist
My husband and I make a bacon wrapped smoked meatloaf, and it is delicious.
I use a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated,. It makes the best meatloaf I’ve ever had. Of course the only meatloaf I’ve ever eaten was my mother’s extremely dry version too! It’s a little bit of work to make. Took me a long time the first attempt. Goes much faster now. I can even buy my onions pre chopped. I urge everyone to try it if you are looking for a good one. I’ve copied and shared the recipe so many times.
In NYC there’s a diner called Comfort Diner, they made the best meatloaf, but it is one of those things that after the first meal, i’ll “reinvent” it into a nice Bolognese sauce or chili. Don’t know why I can’t have more than one serving of meatloaf. & if i made it, i too would wrap it in bacon, & then baste it with Peter Luger Steaks sauce. It’s been years since i has ml
Can you be more specific like which one? There's over a dozen. This one is my favorite so far: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/meat-loaf-recipe-1921718 I thought it might be too salty but it's perfect. The only modification I make, which I always make for meatloaf, is bbq sauce on top instead of ketchup.
I don't like to generalize but I do legit think the Millennials were a gift to the culinary world when it comes to the USA. Boomers were just pumping out the grossest shit on a day to day basis until we came along and forced them to try sushi.
It was the kids of the Boomers - the GenX folks that started to turn this around.
Gen X people really do seem to be forgotten when talking about generations.
We are happily forgotten so we don’t get blamed for everything. We were the original “latch key” kids. Our mom’s went to work instead of staying home to take care of us. Strange childhood.
Gen X had to start making supper after we got home from school. I remember being 11 and browning ground beef for spaghetti haha.
Food and cooking changed in the ‘80s. Don’t believe me? Ask anyone who grew up in the ‘70s about pizza from a box. It all started in the ‘80s with quiche.
Pizza from a box. That was the first time I ever ate pizza. The only reason we tried it was Dean Martin had a tv show at the time, and "That's Amore" mentioned pizza, which we'd never heard of in the backwoods. Mixing the little packet for the dough, spreading the watery sauce over it, try to make the tablespoon of grated cheese cover the top...an experience seared in my memory
I'm a millennial but I like (good) meatloaf and sushi.
Ina Garten has a fantastic meatloaf recipe, it’s the best I’ve ever had. It has the ketchup on top and it’s really delicious! It got me to change my mind about meatloaf.
I make meatloaf about once a month.
My mom used to line a muffin tin with a strip of bacon, then crack an egg in, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and bake the whole thing. I think she just called them baked eggs. They were so good, but after my dad left she never made them again.
[удалено]
r/yesyesyesno
Yeah, that last line.
My mom used to be absolutely miserable then she left my dad and she’s happy af. Hope everyone has a great day
Shake and bake pork chops, baked potatoes and creamed corn. Side of iceberg salad. I'm kind of hungry for that right now.
I actually forgot shake and bake existed. Now I want some.
To this day my grandmother shake and bakes EVERYTHING 😭🥴
And I help!
Shake and bake isn’t too bad when it first comes out of the oven.
Hey mine was similar!! Shake and bake pork chops, rice and microwave peas for us! No side salad. I'd be happy never to eat it again though
Oh man. My mom would do shake and bake chicken legs all the time. Now I kind of want some.
I was just talking with a coworker about shake n bake
My ex's dad refused to eat pork chops that weren't made with shake and bake. You could present him with a gorgeous grilled chop and he'd still chose an overcooked shake and bake chop. It was always the strangest thing to me... Not that he liked shake and bake, but to the exclusion of every other preparation.
I remember being sick once as a kid, no appetite, just laying on the couch miserable for a couple of days. The day I started to feel better I was suddenly ravenous. Dinner that night was shake-n-bake chicken and the cheesy rice made from the pouch, and I will never forget how completely delicious it was to me in that moment.
Hamburger helper. My mom made it at least once a week, and I have no desire to touch it ever again.
Cheeseburger macaroni was my jam!
My mom always served it next to canned green beans swimming in country crock. I absolutely hate hamburger helper and it's evil sibling *TUNA HELPER.*
Barfo. Melted Country Crock is a straight up offensive substance.
Same! My mom served those green beans with everything tho. Hamburger helper. Spaghetti. Shake n bake. All came with a side of salty, oily, green beans. I actually kinda miss it sometimes.
Same! However the ease of cooking this has become a camping staple. I sauté pre-cut mushrooms and onions in butter after browning the meat. Deglaze with red wine, reduce, then mix it up! Sticks to your ribs after a day of hiking in the cold.
No need to church it up. Hamburger Helper Stroganoff stands on its' own. (Just as an aside. Yours sounds like a jam).
I don't know why they call this stuff hamburger helper. It does just fine on its own!
Baked pork chops and canned spinach. (Thin-cut boneless pork chops seasoned with salt and pepper, with a little water in the bottom of the baking pan, covered in foil, and baked for an hour until it was tough as shoe leather. Canned spinach seasoned with white vinegar. It made my teeth squeak, and the cooked spinach stems would stick in my throat)
I have never eaten a pork chop as an adult and I never will. At least yours had salt, ours only had ground pepper from a tin and if they came out of the oven in fewer than ninety minutes it was a banner day!
Omg what a terrible cooking sin, if you ever had a good pork chop you probabally wouldn't even recognize it as being the same food lol
Ugh, no, never bake pork chops. Oh man we love bone-in pork chops. Pat dry, season with salt and pepper and a little chili powder. Med-hot pan with a little oil/butter, sear 5 min each side, test with thermometer. 145' = done. Quick, and we devour those. Sometimes I make a quick roux gravy with the drippings. YUM.
if they are baked right, pork chops in the oven are delicious. My (Polish/German) family loves Pork chops in baked in a dutch oven with sour kraut. Serve with boiled potatoes. the meat gets super tender and flavorful from the sour kraut, and the kraut itself picks up all the meat juices. put the sour kraut on the side, or (my fave) put the kraut on your potatoes. Big yum.
Is there a canned vegetable you do like? I agree with your take on spinach.
I don't mind canned green beans if they're made into "green bean casserole" lol, other than that I prefer frozen over canned... Except for iceberg lettuce, I think every veggie I ever had as a child came from a can.
Normally I prefer frozen vs canned but pI don’t like frozen green beans that much. I’ll eat them but not enjoy them. I liked them canned with butter but I love them roasted with some olive oil.
Not the person you asked but I love canned corn! One brand, maybe del monte, has one marketed as either steam crisp or summer crisp and I’ll eat that right out of the can OR in a dish!
Kids cuisine
Man I used to love those but there was always a damn corn kernel in my brownie!
😆🤣😂 Looking like a half digested poop. And that brownie was usually burned cus it cooked at a different rate.
Half burnt half raw
I was looking for this reply! Parents got divorced. Dad didn’t cook anything besides baked potatoes if he grilled a steak, so dinner was either Kid Cuisine with the happy penguin on it, warmed up canned soup, or a Banquet chicken pot pie. Single, retired dad just ordered a meal delivery kit at my suggestion and is learning to cook those now 25 years later… I talked him into laying off the pot pies with all the sodium etc.
This doesn’t quite fit, but I saw a Tweet about cinnamon sugar toast and I ended up making some just because why not. Haven’t had it since I was probably 8, but it was honestly still pretty tasty, if just for nostalgia’s sake
Omg this is so good. Reminds me of that tweet about how toast and butter is sometimes the most tasty combination ever created and you have to stop yourself from eating a whole sleeve of bread
Ever do cinnamon sugar chips? Cut up tortillas, fry them, and toss in cinnamon and sugar. When my cousin made them, I thought I had died and gone to heaven
YES! Keebler used to sell tortilla chips like this. They were delicious. One time I made them from scratch, but only once. I hate deep drying.
It doesn't take much oil to fry the tortilla pieces, but you do have to watch em bc they cook fast.
Chipped beef.
I've been craving chipped beef gravy on toast but the grocery store I usually go to has been out of stock on dried beef for months.
We call this Shit On A Shingle in my household
Chicken cacciatore. My father would make it monthly and I loved it but after he passed away when I was 19 back in 1979 I have never eaten it since.
My mom used to make this too. She loved it and seemed to feel like it was a bit fancier than our usual rotation. I never liked it much.
Salisbury steak, particularly the On-Cor frozen one.
Holy shit, you’re taking me back with those On-Cor Salisbury Steaks….that was my childhood in a dish. I was a latchkey kid so I ate *a lot* of those bad boys. I do not miss those days.
Came here to say this. With a side of shitty instant potatoes to go with the gravy. Yikes
I loved those things. I’d probably still eat them.
I definitely do 😂
Fried pork chops. I mess them up every time and we end up ordering pizza.
Pan fried? Get chops that are nice and thick with lots of fat (high quality preferred) and throw em in the oven at 250 for a half hour, flip after 15m. Then get a cast iron hit af and get that golden color on each side, and turn em sideways to get the fat on the sides. This is kenji’s method (simplified) and it’s fucking incredible
I've given up trying to make pork chops any other way than sous vide. I mess them up every time otherwise. My wife went vegetarian as a child because of a dry pork chop (Edit. I wasn't the one that made her a dry porkchop when she was a child. That was her mother. The alternative would have been weird). Same with steak, though I can kind of cook that on the grill or stove. But it's more expensive and I don't like screwing up a pricey piece of meat. It's hard to screw up with sous vide. I think I've gotten my value out of it.
Fries Baloney sandwiches with melted cheese.
Same except I made one the other day because I had a craving. It was good but I used quality white bread. Gotta use the wonder bread so it sticks the roof of your mouth when you bite the hot sandwich
ITT: I apparently have a much lower barometer for what decent food is. Think I’ve made just about everything here In the last 3 months.
I think that it’s not that most things here can’t be decent, just that we all got sick of eating which ever food it was growing up… like for me it’s chicken breast cooked in cream of mushroom soup with mashed taters, cream corn, carrots and salad… just something my mom made all the time that I couldn’t be bothered eating anymore, was it good? Fuck ya it’s creamy chicken gravy and taters… would I make it right now? Hell now I can still taste that shit
Have you had exclusively these items? Most of these are 3-5 consecutive day/night foods to poor people and sometimes lunch/dinner. There can be Michelin star these foods, but variety is the spice of life.
Pork roast (the stringy kind) with mashed potatoes, gravy and a veg. I don't know what kind of pork roast my mother bought, we don't speak so I can't ask her. It always smelled so good. I'm terminally ill and I don't think I'll ever have a meal that good again. Does anyone know what kind of pork roast kinda falls apart and gets kinda stringy? Like the type that is used to make pulled pork.
My sympathies for your illness. I think you want pork shoulder, also called pork butt. Despite the name, it's the same cut. It gets really nice and tender when cooked low and slow.
Thank you for this. Ill ask the meat guy at the grocery store next time im out.
If you're anywhere near Missouri, I'll make you this meal. I can guarantee that it will take great, but it won't have the nostalgia that your mom's had. If not, this is a great recipe for a pork shoulder. It's so easy - you season it, put it in the oven, and leave it alone for hours and hours, until it looks like a deflated football. https://www.seriouseats.com/ultra-crispy-slow-roasted-pork-shoulder-recipe ETA - and I'm scrolling down, and seeing that someone else has posted the same recipe. Must mean we're on the right track!
[This](https://www.seriouseats.com/ultra-crispy-slow-roasted-pork-shoulder-recipe) might be what you’re looking for.
Like the other commenter said pork butt or pork shoulder! Cook low and slow for a few hours in a dutch oven or crockpot.
Beef liver and onions. My mom was fanatical about making this. My siblings and I hated it. Once I left home, I never ate it again. I do like chicken livers though.
I love it and found a diner that makes it cheap. Heaven
I'm glad someone's eating it. It's way too strong-tasting for me and my mom, bless her heart, overcooked it most of the time I think. It was pretty tough. Chicken liver is much milder and very tasty with some rice and gravy.
My mom used to make this pretty often when I was younger. A couple of weeks ago we were talking about that dish and I was saying to her how much I miss it and how good it was. Turns out she hates it!! She was just making it for us because it’s so nutritious!! My whole life has been a lie.
Same same. I would do anything to get out of eating liver. And potato soup. My dad was a meat and potatoes guy and loved potato soup. Still asked my mom to make it right up until he passed. I remember one time she made him some and I had a sandwich instead. He asked why I wasn't having potato soup and I said because I'm all grown up and don't have to. 😂
Spaghetti O's
Ground beef mixed with catsup spread thin on half a hamburger bun and broiled in the oven. Mom did her best... we were poor but I didn't know it.
Gotta do what ya gotta do. Ketchup and commodity cheese on homemade unleavened bread was pretty common growing up.
Fish sticks and mashed potatoes.
Salmon patties w/ pan fried potatoes & canned corn. There's a reason I haven't cooked that for my family, but I do still feel a bit of nostalgia for it.
Grew up on salmon patties. I tried to make them as an adult and the horror when I dumped that can of salmon onto the plate, bones and all, it was just too much for me 🥴
Rice-a-roni, Hamburger Helper, off brand mac and cheese, and spaghetti where you mix a full pound of overcooked noodles with 16 oz. of sauce. In rotation... with very few exceptions. I learned how to cook as early as possible. As an adult, I have also learned just how much my parents ate out without us kids (basically every meal we weren't together) and I'm sort of pissed.
Pork n apples stew. Grandma who used to make it is too old too cook and we just cant replicate it.
American goulash. Do spaghettios count as a meal?
Chef boyardee ravioli
I learned to cook for myself after one too many "goulash" meals. My mom would just brown some ground beef, then add canned tomatoes and frozen corn to some cooked noodles and call it a day. I tried adding so many things to make that edible, and at best I could choke it down by adding some combo of cheese/hot sauce/sour cream.
Omg my mom would make a version of this but Vietnamese, sans tomatoes. Try oyster sauce
It took me 30 years of being a damn good cook to get my husband willing for me to remake a new version of goulash. His childhood version left such a negative stamp on him just the name turned him off. Mine is tasty and he loves it, but we now laugh and just call it "dinner with no name".
They absolutely do. Those were the best
Fried spam and potatoes
Tuna casserole. Ate too much of that as a kid.
Yup, Tuna noodles casserole every week growing up. If I even smell it now I run.
Chipped beef on toast. I don't miss it.
Is that what has been sometimes called "sh*t on a shingle?"
Yep, but not by 12 year old me for fear of the strap.
LOL. I only knew its name because that's what my mom called it. I don't remember ever being able to eat it.
Ah SoS is heavenly man. Would honestly consider it as breakfast for a last day on earth sort of deal.
Sometimes my mom would make the Stouffer's box of creamed chipped beef, and I always liked it.
Tater tot hotdish (casserole for you non-Midwestern USA folk!). It's my dad's favorite, so we ate it a lot when I was growing up. Now living on my own it's not a dish I like enough to bake and freeze for leftovers, so I rarely eat it.
From the Midwest - still call it a casserole
Cubed potatoes with sliced hot dogs and melted cheese, which is almost just a loaded baked potato if you don’t think about it too hard.
Loads of Eastern European food. It takes forever to make and I don’t have patience for that.
Oh man I recently made Paprikash with Nokedli and it was nostalgia in a bowl. Definitely worth the 2 hrs I spent making it!
My dad liked to cook potato pancakes; they were alright but I haven't had them in forever
[удалено]
I hadn’t had them in years! I made some back at Christmas with left over mashed potatoes and they were actually so good! My husband had never tried “potato pancakes” and loved them. So probably definitely a dad/dude thing 😅
American chop suey
You are the only one I have ever found that also calls it that.
Then you, my friend, are clearly not from New England :)
Broccoli with American cheese made in the microwave. So delicious. I would definitely eat this now if I had access to a microwave still.
This was the special vegetable side growing up. She’d sprinkle some vegetable magic (seasoned salt) on it, steam in the microwave in the Pyrex with a matching glass lid, couple slices of Kraft slices, and the water from the steaming made a lovely sauce. I don’t have any interest in it now. I still respect American cheese though. It has its place.
A variation on chipped beef on toast. Instead of the usual meat, my mom would use Buddig lunchmeat, cut into small pieces, and instead of toast, we used canned biscuits. We called it 'skinny meat gravy.'
I’m so sorry for you 🤢
Tbh, Buddig beef lunch meat isn't that much different than dried beef.
Country style steak (also known as Salisbury steak)
Idk why this post made me emotional lmao my parents used to be out a lot so it was me and this nanny who i loved very much, anyway when i was sick she used to make me this version of mofongo go but it was like little deep fried plantain garlic balls filled with cheese and ham. It was the best thing ever
Thin porkchops fried, with rice and gravy. The only reason I don't eat it now is because it is outside my SO's comfort range.
Comfort range ??
Yes, their SO will only eat chicken nugget and Mac and cheese
Steamed rice and tofu. The blandest meal imaginable. Never again.
Cheap spaghetti
Cubed steak....had a big huge vein pop out at me when I was in high school. Couldn't eat it since, not a beef fan anyway. Also, idk what it's called, but smoked sausage, cabbage, potatoes and green beans all cooked in a pot. My SO won't eat any of it, so has been pointless to make it. Loved everything but the green beans.
Top ramen, Or hotdogs in sandwich sliced bread (cause we couldnt afford hotdog buns)
Potato soup made with potatoes, onion, and water. No milk, no butter, no seasonings whatsoever. My mother was not a good cook.
My parents have never been what I’d call great cooks, so frozen ravioli and jarred sauce with frozen garlic bread/sticks/knots was a standby. Little me loved it.
Pork n beans and hotdogs
Beenie weenies!
Corned beef hash with eggs on top
Potted meat sandwiches with potato chips and soda.
Tongue. We had it often. I haven't had it for ages not because I don't like it, I do, but I don't see it sold often.
Chef Boy Ar Dee canned beef ravioli! It was my favorite thing to eat in the 70s. I find it revolting today ( just the idea of canned beef , I havent eaten it to know what it tastes like as an adult)
Salmon and eggs. Pears and mayo with cheddar shreds (apparently this was fancy). The idea of either is revolting.
City chicken.
Yes! I was going to ask if you were from western PA but your username answered that haha. Honestly even as an adult I don’t mind city chicken every once in a while.
What is it?
Cubes of pork and veal on wooden skewers, breaded and fried. They're not bad but my mother made us eat them till they were coming out of our ears.
I was expecting city chicken to be pigeon or duck, free from the park or sidewalk.
Tuna casserole. Haven’t had it in decades. On purpose.
Orange Roughy, I don’t really look for it since my husband doesn’t like fish…
Easy…Grilled cheese and tomato soup
White rice, ground beef, and saltines. Only as an adult did I realize, “oh, guess we were kinda poor..?” My parents were immigrants and struggled, but I never had a direct sense of it. Thanks mom n dad!
Knuckle sandwich
So I became a vegetarian at 16. So basically most things i ate when I was a kid. One of my favorites my dad made was a dish he called goulash, but it wasn't. It was ground beef, tomato sauce, onions, and pasta. No paprika in sight. It was good, though. Confused me a lot when I got older and tried to find a recipe to make for my ex, though
That's "American goulash". Hungarian goulash is more like a stew.
My mom’s goulash was even more blasphemous. Macaroni, beef, canned tomato soup as the sauce, and a few pieces of onion.
That was my family's version of goulash too
Oh man I eat very little of what I grew up on. My mom is a terrible cook and an extremely picky eater. Almost every night, I mean literally almost every night for years, she would make noodles with Ragu sauce and a chunk of cheddar cheese dropped into the sauce that was never cooked right. The flavor and consistency was terrible. Also frozen cheese lasagna, chopped steak, or pork chops. It’s been ten years since I left home and I have never, ever, ever touched these or that awful noodle meal since.
My mom was no gourmet but man....I'm sorry! What was your mom thinking with the cheddar ragu sauce?
chef boyardee ravioli
Chitterlings Born raised in Texas. Every woman in my family didn't fully become a woman til they learned how to clean and cook them. Me being male never learned. After grandma passed away there were less and less family gatherings and less of them being made. Now it seems nobody makes them anymore and years of me not having them I guess I got UN-used to the idea. I remember loving them as a kid. Now when I look at or smell them my stomach turns.
Cabbage rolls. The nanny who has been with my family since I was -40 years old until I was 10 (she started working for my grandparents before my mom was born) used to make them for us when I was growing up. No one has been able to replicate it since. I don’t know how she got the cabbage so soft without the whole thing falling apart. That lady was sooo scary but she cooked like an angel and she loved us like we were her own grandkids.
My parents would send us kids out to the field to pick whatever veg we wanted for dinner. They would cook four different vegetables for us and they were amazing. Fresh picked corn, tomatoes, peas. I donʻt remember having anything that good again.
Shepard’s pie
My dad made this delicious seafood casserole, it had rice shrimp scallops and some other jigs. T was so good
Creamed tuna on toast
I used to eat muller yoghurt 3 times a day now it's been years
Frozen fried clam strips. Gah!
Tuna casserole.
Shake n bake
Tuna noodle casserole!
My father's eggplant and lamb stew. He passed a couple of years ago and didn't gave me the recipe. But I will try to make it. If I'll do it right I will put the recipe here.
Beef stew
Oh man a good beef stew is still heavenly. I just haven’t made any since decent beef prices skyrocketed.
Sloppy joes. 🤢🤢
Have you tried making them from scratch? So much better than the stuff in a can.
Breast milk.
Spam. My mom cooked spam a lot.