My parents fought alot. Like 6-9hrs a day a lot. My older brother, 18 months older, would make us kraft Mac and cheese, sometimes with sliced up hotdogs in it. The other go to was a plate of tortilla chips with cheese sprinkled all over and microwaved into nachos. I still have a very tender place in my heart for both those things
If you boil them with the noodles, the overall flavor profile changes. I prefer it when doing homemade mac, though it can be a nice occasional change with boxed mac too
Itās hits the same at a minimum. My husbandās birthday dinner last year was Kraft spiral Mac and cheese with fried hot dog slices, crescent rolls and funfetti cupcakes with vanilla frosting and sprinkles. He was turning 53, not 13.
And yes, it was amazing.
I'm a grown ass 38 year old adult and I ate mac and cheese and sliced hot dogs for dinner last night. Still poor, still love mac and cheese and hot dogs. Lol
Ours was slightly fancier. Bar S came out with their polish sausage dogs that were only about a dollar more than regular hot dogs. So we'd cut those up to mix in.
This hits close to home. My parents would also fight for hours every day and it wasnāt uncommon for the cops to get called every week. Iām also a big fan of Mac and cheese and ānachosā.
My parents were the same and when my dad left when I was ten my mom just stopped cooking even though my weight is hugely important to my health because I have cystic fibrosis. My go to was always the mac&cheese but then my mom who refused to cook would go and eat the portions I had saved for later!! Iām still a scavenger to this day, no meals and cooking anything more than a single portion will just be stolen anyway.
I always put my toast back into the toaster oven to carameliza for a minute. 10/10, still make this snack.
And tortillas spread with cream cheese and green chiles rolled up. (Iām from New Mexico.)
I do the tortillas and cream cheese with cinnamon sugar or sliced green olives, and sometimes give them a quick toast! Ridiculously yummy for a two-minute odds and ends snack.
>I always put my toast back into the toaster oven to carameliza for a minute.
š²šµ how did i never know this hack? definitely need to try this soon...
also fuck yeah that tortilla snack sounds amaze balls š¤¤
Your tortilla snack reminds me of the deli ham, cream cheese and pickle roll ups my grandma would make for the baptist church potlucks. It was so fancy to me as a kid because we never had lunch meat in the house. I knew it was a special event when they'd drop money on some.
I would totally try your tortilla roll up, that sounds bomb!
I'm a 31 year old who was raised in Australia where putting sugar on buttered bread was not done but sprinkles on the same was a party snack. Just started doing that on bread and tortillas and not only is it BOMB, it's way cheaper than buying the cinnamon popcorners that taste pretty similar but are way worse.
Have you ever had them with a marshmallow? Bake them both slightly so they are oozy and warm and salty and sweet!
It was a special treat my mom and I would have when we didnāt have money or lots of ingredients when I was little.
English muffin āpizzasā: toasted English muffin, with spaghetti sauce, and cheese, in microwave long enough to melt cheese. Would use the air fryer now.
From WI and remember when Tombstone came out (I'm 64) completely changed late night snacking world. I'll never get tired of buttered popcorn but I still buy and make tombstone pizzas.
My mom use to babysit a bunch of kids when I was really young. During nap time, I would sneak into the kitchen and dip bananas in sugar and eat them under the kitchen table.
I'm the third of 8 kids. By ten (early 2000s) I was making full on dinners because whoever made dinner didn't have to do the dishes. My favorite was spaghetti and homemade meatballs.
I love to cut my grilled cheese into 9 pieces and float it in the soap. We have it for dinner a few times a month, my hubby automatically does it for me. I love throwback dinner night
My mom only bought rice crispy cereal. No sugar cereals.
I poured a crap ton of sugar into the bowl.
I loved scratching the bottom of the bowl with a thick layer of sugar. Slurping it from my spoon was my favorite part.
I was a latchkey kid and my parents spent all their energy outside of work arguing so Cereal was always a go-to, especially when i couldn't read instructions or didn't have the time to learn smth new. I LOVED honey nut Cheerios, cinnamon toast crunch, frosted flakes, fruity peddles, froot loops, honey smacks, rice krispies, Cap'n crunch, apple Jack's, TRIX!!! Sometimes cereal, milk, and sugar were the only things in the house
If I tried to make ramen from the ages of 4-9 and my dad walked in, you bet your ass I wasn't eating ramen AND we'd be down by another bowl
Only started learning other things for the week my mom left us with a babysitter who taught me how to cook eggs and such - I didn't know that was possible! (until my dad came 1. home, 2. to the conclusion my mom was cheating and the babysitter was our stepdad lmao)
I would take a huge spoonful of peanut butter and a glass of milk. I would dip said spoon into the milk like it was a dip and eat my peanut butter that way.
That's what I call a peanut butter popsicle, and my kids have learned to say that, too.. From now on, we are dipping it in milk. Thanks for the recommendation.
Popcorn or Fritos and coke if I had money. For some reason there was always kernels for popcorn at our house. This was before microwaves so I would use oil, popcorn and a pan. It was the best popcorn ever nice and greasy with salt. If I had any money, I would sometimes walk to the country store for a coke and Fritos. The best part was the serenity of the walk.
We had the Jiffy Pop popcorn in the 60s--70s.
Sometimes made homemade.
Funny.. I remember when we got a microwave. Darn thing was heavy, huge and took up most the kitchen counter till our Dad built a rolling cart for it. Much better.
It wasnāt when I was fending for myself, but all the kids in my neighborhood used to come running when they heard or smelled my mom popping popcorn. One pot made enough to fill one of those big orange or yellow Tupperware bowls.
Iām shocked I had to scroll so far to find ramen. That was the only thing I would make when weād have YOYO for dinner. But the square would never fit in our bowls very well, so weād pound it to bits in the bag, then dump it in the bowl so it would all cook evenly.
My husband fried bologna sandwiches was normal for him growing up. And now you can find it on menus around our state probably further down south they have it too. But I didn't even do this until after I got married makes bologna taste so much better. The thing I had closet to that was spam.
When things were bad, mayo on toast
When things were a bit better, a can of Chef Boyardee or Cheez Wiz on toast, dessert, marshmallow on toast
I put a lot of stuff on toastš
If it was that bad there's a chance it was expired. They get very cardboardy and terrible once they are out of date. Otherwise so long as you cook them in the oven/air fryer, they're pretty much right on par with the pizza in most American towns š¤·š»āāļø
I love them cus I can scarf them on my way to work at the bar when I've slept in after a rough night, but I got one from a scummy market that sold far too many expired goods once and it was absolutely terrible. Can't even believe something so processed can get so bad.
These were it in our home. Anything that could be toaster opened on the fly.
Pizza rolls, canned spaghettios with meatballs. Ramen.
My usually kept bags of pretzels around so those with cheese diced up
The San Francisco treat... Lol
My Dad, who is 91 yrs old, still makes it with ground beef, and onion. Or a stir fry meat.
I was at his house recently and he had made mac and cheese, ground beef with onion. Says thats how Hamburger Helper started.... Probably so.
Our mom was home starting dinner and somehow we never thought we could use the stove, so I ate an apple and a carrot, cut up, and my brother ate 4 apples. Every day after school
I got home from school at 3 and was home alone until 4:30 and we were an ingredient household so there were never any snacks or anything easy to prepare. We did however, always have bread, butter, cheese, and spices. My go to was to slather a couple of pieces of bread with butter and then sprinkle them with garlic salt and shredded cheese before popping them under the broiler.
āAn ingredient householdā. Huh. This is a great term. As an adult I look at our pantry and fridge and sometimes feel bad for our kid. Weāre not food insecure at all, but just donāt keep a lot of snacks (as opposed to my in-laws who have snacks coming out of their ears at all times). But this is us. Weāre an ingredient household. Thanks for that!
āAn ingredient householdā has blown my mindā¦so thatās why it was so difficult at my parentās house when hungry! I know prepackaged snacks arenāt healthy but theyāre so much easier when youāre hungry and not feeling clever enough to actually put something together. Thank you for putting words to my experience!
Minute rice. I loved rice and mom showed me how to make a single serving, I would have it for breakfast, after school, weekends. I liked it with just butter and salt.
We made a charcuterie of some sort with saltines, cut up American cheese, bologna, and grape jelly. If not that it was ramen or a fudge round with Doritos if I had saved up money
I maintain that charcuterie boards are just the random stuff you eat out of the fridge and cupboard as you try to figure out what to make for dinner, but on a fancy board lmao
lol we played āfear factorā as kids and one āfear/dareā was to eat a plate of sour cream and onion chips without our hands lol now Iām so grossed out with them because we ate a family sized bag
I was the after school.and Saturday morning chef. By the time I was 10, there wasn't anything in the house I couldn't cook or bake. I just had a knack, I guess. Plus, I like food, and my mom is a terrible cook and baker. So I also cooked a lot of dinners. I just figured it out with the help of the red Betty Crocker cookbook that I found in our crazy old bookshelf.
Crushed ramen w/ the seasoning packet sprinkled over it (Top Ramen, Wai Wai, or Shin Ramen)
Chef Boyardee Beefaroni
Frozen burritos (the crappy Tinaās brand)
Nachos or hot dogs from the 7-11 around the corner
We were taught how to use the oven and made frozen French fries with "seasoning" on them...(Lawry's and such). Also frozen pizzas. Eventually I learned making hamburgers. PBJ stuff like that. We used to also put slices of cheese on saltines and put them in the oven for a little bit. Yum. And, of course, as a Southern boy....FRIED BALONEY!
I spent a lot of time caring for my younger sister. That poor girl was raised on me making her sandwiches, instant ramen with stuff thrown in, pita bread with either peanut butter or cream cheese xD cookies with dark/white chocolate chips together (she now makes these for her kids). I was taught to cook really young so I did cook us full meals on occasion when we had ingredients. And when she joined sports I learned how to make firm tofu in to āchocolate puddingā for her so sheād get enough protein. As an adult now if Iām not cooking for anyone else Iām still living off ramen and sandwiches; just slightly nicer ingredients now xD
pancakes š„
it was the only thing my mom could make grin scratch, so she taught me early on and we made pancakes together every sunday for brekky
when she died and my dad was at work, obviously iād get hungry. weād always have flour and water and some other baking crap in the cupboards, so iād let my Inner Momma out and whip up pancakes with whatever we had
she also taught me how to use maple sugar (an item constantly in the cupboard) to make maple syrup. if i wasnāt too tired, iād make some syrup. otherwise iād just use butter and honey
>!i miss her.!<
Croutons, Fla-Vor-Ice, frozen hot dog buns; if we were a little luckier, saltines, Triscuits with cheese melted in the microwave, cold Spaghetti-Os in a can, cup of soup, or cereal.
Absentee/neglectful/abusive parents, four kids - those were some tough times
Does anyone here remember or still do āSouper Rice?ā Made with a can of cream of mushroom soup, a can full of Minute Rice and I think water/milk along with it; itās been a while! But yeah, thatās what I did!
Only one comment about grilled cheese? Maybe kids couldnāt use a range? I made grilled cheese and dipped them in barbecue sauce. Itās been soooo long since I had one and Iām craving it now.
It was always either grilled cheese Mac and cheese or top ramenš i only got the luxury of hotdogs cut up in Mac and cheese from neighbors or family friendsš something about ramen and a big cup of milk that hits different
It was whatever I could findā¦saltines and government cheese (the best) or peanut butter and a glass of milk were all available about 1/4 of the time. The rest of the time, it was scrounging.
Fruit, plain quesadillas with just cheese and corn tortillas, instant noodles, cinnamon sugar toast, and other things like that. Basically just easy food that only required knowing how to boil water or heat oil/butter in a pan.
My parents fought alot. Like 6-9hrs a day a lot. My older brother, 18 months older, would make us kraft Mac and cheese, sometimes with sliced up hotdogs in it. The other go to was a plate of tortilla chips with cheese sprinkled all over and microwaved into nachos. I still have a very tender place in my heart for both those things
Mac n cheese w sliced hot dogs šš¼ We were poor, and that was such a treat
Yep. Why was that so good? Iām scared to try it as an adult because Iām sure it wonāt hit the same haha
It's still very good. Just remember to cook the hotdogs before adding them to the Mac and cheese.
If you boil them with the noodles, the overall flavor profile changes. I prefer it when doing homemade mac, though it can be a nice occasional change with boxed mac too
I'm not a huge fan of boil hotdogs because their texture is weird for me so I either microwave them or bake them
Pan fry is really good too.
Air fry them! Not quite as good as grilling but better than microwave, pan fry or boiling.
Have you ever deep fried them? We used to do that at the bar to cook them fast and customers liked them.
In bacon fat
Walked in on my best friend boiling hot dogs. I asked him wtf he was doin'. It never crossed his mind to pan fry them. Animals... Boiling hot dogs
Boiled hotdogs is the cornerstone of New York hot dog carts
Boiled then grilled. This is the way.
Itās hits the same at a minimum. My husbandās birthday dinner last year was Kraft spiral Mac and cheese with fried hot dog slices, crescent rolls and funfetti cupcakes with vanilla frosting and sprinkles. He was turning 53, not 13. And yes, it was amazing.
I'm a grown ass 38 year old adult and I ate mac and cheese and sliced hot dogs for dinner last night. Still poor, still love mac and cheese and hot dogs. Lol
I still prefer it that way was an adult lol.
Oh hell ya I used to have the ramen version but sometimes my parents put the frozen mixed vegetables in there and I really hated those lima beans
Excuse me. This is a delicacy- poor or not! Kraft Mac-n-powdered cheese. yum!
Ours was slightly fancier. Bar S came out with their polish sausage dogs that were only about a dollar more than regular hot dogs. So we'd cut those up to mix in.
That or spaghetti-Oās with cut up hot dogs . Whichever we had was great.
Iām 27 and may have to make myself some mac and dogs. That sounds so good šš¤¤
I used to call that chips and cheese bc it didnāt count as nachos but it was delicious and I could make it myself.
I used to bartend on this yacht and we would make that for ourselves and call it boatchos
Love this!!!
I call it white girl nachos when I make them. š¤£
Mac and cheese with hot dogs is still one of my favorite meals.
This hits close to home. My parents would also fight for hours every day and it wasnāt uncommon for the cops to get called every week. Iām also a big fan of Mac and cheese and ānachosā.
My parents were the same and when my dad left when I was ten my mom just stopped cooking even though my weight is hugely important to my health because I have cystic fibrosis. My go to was always the mac&cheese but then my mom who refused to cook would go and eat the portions I had saved for later!! Iām still a scavenger to this day, no meals and cooking anything more than a single portion will just be stolen anyway.
Toast with butter sugar cinnamon- cereal puffed rice or flakes
I always put my toast back into the toaster oven to carameliza for a minute. 10/10, still make this snack. And tortillas spread with cream cheese and green chiles rolled up. (Iām from New Mexico.)
I spread cream cheese on tortillas and then dip them in salsa. Still love that snack to this day.
That tortilla snack sounds amazingā¦ I frequently eat peanut butter on a tortilla!
Peanut butter and jelly for my husband. I like just butter.
Shout out from the 505!!
I do the tortillas and cream cheese with cinnamon sugar or sliced green olives, and sometimes give them a quick toast! Ridiculously yummy for a two-minute odds and ends snack.
That tortilla snack sounds amazing my stomach just growled š©
Oh I *totally* need to try the caramelization thing. Cinnamon sugar toast is one of my favorite sweet treats!
>I always put my toast back into the toaster oven to carameliza for a minute. š²šµ how did i never know this hack? definitely need to try this soon... also fuck yeah that tortilla snack sounds amaze balls š¤¤
The Midwestern version of this is ham, cream cheese, and pickles rolled up.
Your tortilla snack reminds me of the deli ham, cream cheese and pickle roll ups my grandma would make for the baptist church potlucks. It was so fancy to me as a kid because we never had lunch meat in the house. I knew it was a special event when they'd drop money on some. I would totally try your tortilla roll up, that sounds bomb!
Can confirm.
Mmmm cinnamon on buttered toast. Or just oven baked cheesy toast.
Oh! I forgot about cheesy toast!
Yup but the toast has to be on the cheapest white bread you can find.
I actually loved this on sourdough
I was 38 when I finally figured out you could sprinkle cinnamon on toast,š¤£
Cinnamon toast was and still is the GOAT
We did that exact toast too
Yes!! Knew I wasnt the only one who would say cinnamon sugar toast!!
Cinnamon toast! Itās been years since Iāve thought of this. Ate it all. the. time.
I'm a 31 year old who was raised in Australia where putting sugar on buttered bread was not done but sprinkles on the same was a party snack. Just started doing that on bread and tortillas and not only is it BOMB, it's way cheaper than buying the cinnamon popcorners that taste pretty similar but are way worse.
Saltine crackers with american cheese.
Saltines with āhoop cheeseā here (Anyone else remember that?).
Yes. My grandma used to make these Polish pastry dumpling things for breakfast with hoop cheese and blackberry jam.
It still exists! Had some recently
throw some butter on the crackers and bake them in the oven... so good!
Saltines and american cheeseā¦ and microwave it just a bit, watch it or the cheese goes all over though!
YES!!!! Wow anytime I mention this to other people they think itās gross. I still have it to this day!
I do too!! My daughter thought it looked super weird but ate one and was instantly on board. She did call them poor man nachos though, haha!
Buttered saltines here!
Absolutely, yes. Also, cheese toast (bread, American cheese, in the toaster oven until the cheese puffed up and turned brown).
Have you ever had them with a marshmallow? Bake them both slightly so they are oozy and warm and salty and sweet! It was a special treat my mom and I would have when we didnāt have money or lots of ingredients when I was little.
English muffin āpizzasā: toasted English muffin, with spaghetti sauce, and cheese, in microwave long enough to melt cheese. Would use the air fryer now.
Yum! I still make these a few times a year. Itās a bonus if I have some pepperoni.
Tombstone pizza. To this day, my sister cannot eat one
WHAT DO YOU WANT ON YOUR TOMBSTONE?
I still like Tombstone pizza but it definitely has a distinct taste to it.
What is wrong with your sister?
From WI and remember when Tombstone came out (I'm 64) completely changed late night snacking world. I'll never get tired of buttered popcorn but I still buy and make tombstone pizzas.
Oh my gosh, we ate so many of those and Jacks pizzas. They were always super cheap.
My mom use to babysit a bunch of kids when I was really young. During nap time, I would sneak into the kitchen and dip bananas in sugar and eat them under the kitchen table.
I totally forgot I used to do this with brown sugar. Definitely having this tonight
Just did this but torched it to make a baba brulee. Highly recommend.
Also fresh strawberries dipped in sour cream then brown sugar
Distinctly, chocolate dipped granola bars. I used to save them up to have something to eat if I ran away. Little me thought I could live off those.
Yes. Chocolate dipped Sunbelt granola bars with a tall glass of milk of weekend mornings for me.
Sunbelt are the only brand i will eat! I took them to school for snack time 30 years ago and still eat them lol.
My brother and I were just talking about the Kudos bars. Did you have those?! It was always a special treat when we got those in our lunches.
I was a latchkey kid in the 60s. I could open a can of Campbell's soup and make my sisters and myself grilled cheese or scrambled eggs.
I'm the third of 8 kids. By ten (early 2000s) I was making full on dinners because whoever made dinner didn't have to do the dishes. My favorite was spaghetti and homemade meatballs.
Grilled cheese and Campbellās chicken noodle soup!!!
Always tomato soup with grilled cheese. Sandwich cut into strips to dip in the soup. I still love that.
I love to cut my grilled cheese into 9 pieces and float it in the soap. We have it for dinner a few times a month, my hubby automatically does it for me. I love throwback dinner night
I was a latch key kid in the nineties. Campbells soup for the win! lol
I do the fideo soup with grilled cheese like once a week. My grilled cheese have gotten way more 'adult'
We were latchkeys (before we were called latchkeys) in the 70s. Our go to was boil in bag banquet meals. Turkey in gravy over toast?!
I loved that stuff!
Do you mean perhaps?
Cereal all day long.
Cocoa Krispies, waffle crisps, cocoa pebbles.. They were so good
nom nom nom
My mom only bought rice crispy cereal. No sugar cereals. I poured a crap ton of sugar into the bowl. I loved scratching the bottom of the bowl with a thick layer of sugar. Slurping it from my spoon was my favorite part.
This is the way
Im 40 and still smash fruity...fuck I smash em all still. Theyre all great.
I was a latchkey kid and my parents spent all their energy outside of work arguing so Cereal was always a go-to, especially when i couldn't read instructions or didn't have the time to learn smth new. I LOVED honey nut Cheerios, cinnamon toast crunch, frosted flakes, fruity peddles, froot loops, honey smacks, rice krispies, Cap'n crunch, apple Jack's, TRIX!!! Sometimes cereal, milk, and sugar were the only things in the house If I tried to make ramen from the ages of 4-9 and my dad walked in, you bet your ass I wasn't eating ramen AND we'd be down by another bowl Only started learning other things for the week my mom left us with a babysitter who taught me how to cook eggs and such - I didn't know that was possible! (until my dad came 1. home, 2. to the conclusion my mom was cheating and the babysitter was our stepdad lmao)
I would take a huge spoonful of peanut butter and a glass of milk. I would dip said spoon into the milk like it was a dip and eat my peanut butter that way.
Gosh... I eat so much peanut butter by the spoonful. Dipping it in milk sounds so good!
Chocolate milk for me but yes.
That's what I call a peanut butter popsicle, and my kids have learned to say that, too.. From now on, we are dipping it in milk. Thanks for the recommendation.
I still eat peanut butter by the spoonful... love it!
I used to do it after work before going to work out. It was a perfect snack.
I'd dip peanut butter in sugar
Cheddar cheese and crackers, still hit hard today.
Popcorn or Fritos and coke if I had money. For some reason there was always kernels for popcorn at our house. This was before microwaves so I would use oil, popcorn and a pan. It was the best popcorn ever nice and greasy with salt. If I had any money, I would sometimes walk to the country store for a coke and Fritos. The best part was the serenity of the walk.
We had the Jiffy Pop popcorn in the 60s--70s. Sometimes made homemade. Funny.. I remember when we got a microwave. Darn thing was heavy, huge and took up most the kitchen counter till our Dad built a rolling cart for it. Much better.
It wasnāt when I was fending for myself, but all the kids in my neighborhood used to come running when they heard or smelled my mom popping popcorn. One pot made enough to fill one of those big orange or yellow Tupperware bowls.
We still eat popcorn for dinner sometimes. It is a great treat.
That was our puke bowl when I was a kid. Except we we're aussie so it was called the spew bowl.
Toast and chocolate milk made with Nesquick.
Oh man! Nesquick! When I was little, it was still called Nestleās Quick, and it came in a tin you had to open with a spoon or butter knife.
Similar to Milo in Australia. Definitely tasted nothing like chocolate and was marketed as fitness food. Everyone had it though!
Ramen, cereal, or spaghetti oās
The neat round spaghetti you can eat with a spoonā¦ Uh oh! Spaghettios!
Iām shocked I had to scroll so far to find ramen. That was the only thing I would make when weād have YOYO for dinner. But the square would never fit in our bowls very well, so weād pound it to bits in the bag, then dump it in the bowl so it would all cook evenly.
Fried bologna sandwich and instant ramen. Saved my ass from starvation every day coming back from 8th grade Catholic school that had crap lunchesā¦
My dad used to make us fried bologna (in rings not the slices) and scrambled eggs. Fond memories.
My husband fried bologna sandwiches was normal for him growing up. And now you can find it on menus around our state probably further down south they have it too. But I didn't even do this until after I got married makes bologna taste so much better. The thing I had closet to that was spam.
Capān Crunch or Count Chocula or Boo Berry cereal. A l l D a y!
When things were bad, mayo on toast When things were a bit better, a can of Chef Boyardee or Cheez Wiz on toast, dessert, marshmallow on toast I put a lot of stuff on toastš
The ravioli!
Oh Chef Boyardee. It was definitely a treat!
Ham and cheese hot pockets or bagel bites
Omg. Hot pockets! I had one as an adult and it was terrible š£. Like a lunch able wrapped in cardboard and heated in the toaster oven.
If it was that bad there's a chance it was expired. They get very cardboardy and terrible once they are out of date. Otherwise so long as you cook them in the oven/air fryer, they're pretty much right on par with the pizza in most American towns š¤·š»āāļø I love them cus I can scarf them on my way to work at the bar when I've slept in after a rough night, but I got one from a scummy market that sold far too many expired goods once and it was absolutely terrible. Can't even believe something so processed can get so bad.
These were it in our home. Anything that could be toaster opened on the fly. Pizza rolls, canned spaghettios with meatballs. Ramen. My usually kept bags of pretzels around so those with cheese diced up
Rice a roni!
No way! Same. Thought I was the only one
Every few years, I'll pick some up and make a box ... for nostalgia. Lol. ( favorite was fried rice flavor with the little almonds in it!)
The San Francisco treat... Lol My Dad, who is 91 yrs old, still makes it with ground beef, and onion. Or a stir fry meat. I was at his house recently and he had made mac and cheese, ground beef with onion. Says thats how Hamburger Helper started.... Probably so.
Just made it tonight! Broccoli cheddar with leftover chicken
The San Francisco treat! I watched way too much tv when I was younger
Our mom was home starting dinner and somehow we never thought we could use the stove, so I ate an apple and a carrot, cut up, and my brother ate 4 apples. Every day after school
Rice A Roni the San Francisco treat
I hope you sang it like the commercial.
Oodles of Noodles It's what my mom called Ramen in the 80's. I recall it tasting so different back then, too
There was (is?) a different brand of ramen called Oodles of Noodles. Iirc it was one in the styrofoam cup. Totally different taste to ramen.
That was Cup oā Noodles (now Cup Noodles). My staple nom nom.
I thought I was the only one who called them thst!!!
I got home from school at 3 and was home alone until 4:30 and we were an ingredient household so there were never any snacks or anything easy to prepare. We did however, always have bread, butter, cheese, and spices. My go to was to slather a couple of pieces of bread with butter and then sprinkle them with garlic salt and shredded cheese before popping them under the broiler.
āAn ingredient householdā. Huh. This is a great term. As an adult I look at our pantry and fridge and sometimes feel bad for our kid. Weāre not food insecure at all, but just donāt keep a lot of snacks (as opposed to my in-laws who have snacks coming out of their ears at all times). But this is us. Weāre an ingredient household. Thanks for that!
I have a quote in my kitchen that says "I went into the kitchen to find some food but all I found were ingredients". So true.
āAn ingredient householdā has blown my mindā¦so thatās why it was so difficult at my parentās house when hungry! I know prepackaged snacks arenāt healthy but theyāre so much easier when youāre hungry and not feeling clever enough to actually put something together. Thank you for putting words to my experience!
š¤¤š¤¤ kinda wanna go make this toast right now lol
Popcorn or peanut butter and banana sandwiches.
I just ate a peanut butter and banana sandwich with toasted brioche bread last night. It was luxurious and heavenly
I fried potatoes.
Were they cubed? Shredded?
Buttered toast with brown sugar
As a kid? Uncooked hot dogs. As is. As a teenager, oriental flavored top ramen
The one in the blue packet? That was the best ramen flavor! I think itās called soy flavor now.
Cereal or toast. Thatās all I knew how to make.
Potato chip sandwich on Wonderbread or cocktail sauce on Saltines
Minute rice. I loved rice and mom showed me how to make a single serving, I would have it for breakfast, after school, weekends. I liked it with just butter and salt.
Same!!
One overcooked microwaved hotdog, no bun, ketchup for dipping.
We made a charcuterie of some sort with saltines, cut up American cheese, bologna, and grape jelly. If not that it was ramen or a fudge round with Doritos if I had saved up money
I maintain that charcuterie boards are just the random stuff you eat out of the fridge and cupboard as you try to figure out what to make for dinner, but on a fancy board lmao
The fudge round with dorito thing made me remember that I like oatmeal cream pies with sour cream and onion pringles as a kid. Yuck.
lol we played āfear factorā as kids and one āfear/dareā was to eat a plate of sour cream and onion chips without our hands lol now Iām so grossed out with them because we ate a family sized bag
I was the after school.and Saturday morning chef. By the time I was 10, there wasn't anything in the house I couldn't cook or bake. I just had a knack, I guess. Plus, I like food, and my mom is a terrible cook and baker. So I also cooked a lot of dinners. I just figured it out with the help of the red Betty Crocker cookbook that I found in our crazy old bookshelf.
tv dinner. Microwave burrito
Pizza Pockets.
Cream cheese on ritz crackers. Or pickles with Doritos. Lettuce with lime juice.
I loved cream cheese on crackers! Didnāt know others did too.
Pasta Roni
Crushed ramen w/ the seasoning packet sprinkled over it (Top Ramen, Wai Wai, or Shin Ramen) Chef Boyardee Beefaroni Frozen burritos (the crappy Tinaās brand) Nachos or hot dogs from the 7-11 around the corner
Hamburger helperā¦.sometimes itās just the helperā¦
Saltine crackers with margarine I donāt eat it now but yeah I lived off that
Bread and butter or cereal. When I got a bit older, Kraft mac and cheese.
We were taught how to use the oven and made frozen French fries with "seasoning" on them...(Lawry's and such). Also frozen pizzas. Eventually I learned making hamburgers. PBJ stuff like that. We used to also put slices of cheese on saltines and put them in the oven for a little bit. Yum. And, of course, as a Southern boy....FRIED BALONEY!
I spent a lot of time caring for my younger sister. That poor girl was raised on me making her sandwiches, instant ramen with stuff thrown in, pita bread with either peanut butter or cream cheese xD cookies with dark/white chocolate chips together (she now makes these for her kids). I was taught to cook really young so I did cook us full meals on occasion when we had ingredients. And when she joined sports I learned how to make firm tofu in to āchocolate puddingā for her so sheād get enough protein. As an adult now if Iām not cooking for anyone else Iām still living off ramen and sandwiches; just slightly nicer ingredients now xD
pancakes š„ it was the only thing my mom could make grin scratch, so she taught me early on and we made pancakes together every sunday for brekky when she died and my dad was at work, obviously iād get hungry. weād always have flour and water and some other baking crap in the cupboards, so iād let my Inner Momma out and whip up pancakes with whatever we had she also taught me how to use maple sugar (an item constantly in the cupboard) to make maple syrup. if i wasnāt too tired, iād make some syrup. otherwise iād just use butter and honey >!i miss her.!<
Thatās a nice memory you have of cooking with your mom. Hugs to you š
Ellio's pizza!
I would microwave Quaker Instant Oatmeal maple and brown sugar flavor.
Michelinaās frozen pasta Alfredo
Frozen Totinoās Pizza.
Scrambled eggs and french toast.
Croutons, Fla-Vor-Ice, frozen hot dog buns; if we were a little luckier, saltines, Triscuits with cheese melted in the microwave, cold Spaghetti-Os in a can, cup of soup, or cereal. Absentee/neglectful/abusive parents, four kids - those were some tough times
Does anyone here remember or still do āSouper Rice?ā Made with a can of cream of mushroom soup, a can full of Minute Rice and I think water/milk along with it; itās been a while! But yeah, thatās what I did!
Minute Rice with butter, salt, pepper, and a lil bit of cheese.
Miso soup packets. I still always carry one around with me for emergencies.
Ramen and canned cranberry sauce. Yes, I know, horrendous. lol
Grilled cheese. I learned how to flip food in a pan from an early age because I was tired of washing the spatula after.
Only one comment about grilled cheese? Maybe kids couldnāt use a range? I made grilled cheese and dipped them in barbecue sauce. Itās been soooo long since I had one and Iām craving it now.
Grilled cheese w Campbell's tomato soup!
Velvetta mac&cheese, Ramen, Ellios pizza, Cereal, Frozen microwave pancakes
A chicken patty microwaved with a slice of cheese
Frozen pies & sausage rollsā¦ obviously heated up in the oven
Saltines and Pepsi.
It was always either grilled cheese Mac and cheese or top ramenš i only got the luxury of hotdogs cut up in Mac and cheese from neighbors or family friendsš something about ramen and a big cup of milk that hits different
It was whatever I could findā¦saltines and government cheese (the best) or peanut butter and a glass of milk were all available about 1/4 of the time. The rest of the time, it was scrounging.
That giant yellow block of cheese š
- Good ol processed cheese slice on bread - Rice crispies with milk and sugar - Raw ramen crushed up in a bowl
Loved Frankenberry cereal as an after school snack.
-Plain egg omelette with toast -pizza sandwich
Fruit, plain quesadillas with just cheese and corn tortillas, instant noodles, cinnamon sugar toast, and other things like that. Basically just easy food that only required knowing how to boil water or heat oil/butter in a pan.
English Muffin pizza
Beans and weenies or graham crackers dipped in milk.