[smiler]

To reply 48 I remember my mum often telling me "get back and wash your ears there's potatoes growing in them "

[conan]

In the late 60s my Saturday job was in Fine Fare in Sheerness working on the wet fish counter with a lovely guy called Chris. A lot of the old dears used to come in and ask for rock salmon as it was the cheapest fish available and tell us it was for their cat, but Chris told me it was actually for themselves but they were too embarrassed to admit that they couldn't afford the more expensive varieties. One week we had 1 stone (28 pounds) of rock salmon delivered and on opening the box we discovered a stone of very expensive real Scottish fresh caught salmon in it. Chris told me that whenever one of the old dears asked for 1/2 a pound of rock salmon for the cat to slip the real salmon in the package without them noticing. Not one said a word the following week but their smiles said it all. As I said, Chris was a really nice guy.

[KeithJG]

I had a house at Kirkham near Blackpool in 1986 used to go to Fleetwood Shopping for a ride out.

Fleetwood area was so damp the fish & chip shop and all the cafes had dried hard peas in the salt cellar to keep the salt dry and loose for it to come out the nozzle.
Although this was 1986 they were 20yrs behind up North then and even the grocer shops sold apples still from wooden boxes while down South everything wrapped in plastic.

One good thing tho` Boddingtons was 76p a pint and one had a good night on a Tenner

[ashwood]

At this time a grocers in Ashford still dug the raisins and currants out of a large bin with a scoop and weighed out the required amount, these had to be washed before use. The resulting water being extremely dirty.  Sainsbury forming the butter with wooden bats.  Those were the days.

[Dave Smith]

Chips & gravy would have been a filling, and more importantly, cheap meal for a mill worker in the North. Rock salmon definitely Southern, a sweet fish with soft backbone but no other bones, which we liked. Many years ago when we had moved North, I was still working and Fleetwood still had a few fishing boats, sometimes I would go on the docks and buy fresh fish and remember getting some dogfish one time. The chap I bought it from said it was all going to London as there was  In the 60's Maidstone had a really big market, just over the bridge, going N, on the LH side by the river. All sorts from live animals to garden plants were available at really good prices. You could buy a " hand" of bananas, straight out of the orange wood box for half a crown (2/6 or 12.5p nowadays). 

[smiffy]

I must say I can't remember seeing any swap racks in shops anywhere. What I can remember though is one of my teachers at junior school organising a tea/cigarette card morning once a week where all of us kids could bring in our (sometimes quite large) collections.

I suppose that this was, on the face of it, meant to be educational and also enable exchanges and swaps in order to dispose of duplicates. On reflection though, I believe he may have been a bit crafty old b. and this was a ploy for him to acquire any rare or unusual cards that may have ended up in the hands of us naive youngsters.

It was still fun, though.

[conan]

Ah yes the tea cards...British wildlife -   birds, freshwater fish and so on. There was always one that was hard to get, to ensure that mum continued to buy the same brand I guess. Some shops had a plastic swaps rack provided by Brooke Bond that you could take your duplicates to and swap for ones you needed for the set.

[KeithJG]

We had Brooke Bond Tea also and I still have our sugar bowl made of lovely clear, crystally cheap glass that was on our tea trolley.

I loved my soft boiled egg with the toast cut lengthways as soldiers for my Saturday morning breakfast.

Although my Stepmum was an ace cook she could never boil an egg so my Father used to do them at weekends when time was not so important.

I also still have my Stepmum`s egg cup from when she was a child in around early 1920`s. She was born in 1919.

.................................

Just been laying in a hot bath and the mind went back years

Although it say`s 1960 we used Tide washing powder from the `50`s onwards......remember the advert  "Tide`s In Dirt`s Out"

Also the heavy brown paper carrier bag with the string on the top as a carry handle......when I sold my family house there were quite a few of these under the stairs in the cupboard, wish I had kept them now ....just shows you how backward we are in this modern era!

[smiffy]

Loose tea was still the thing well into the '60s - tea bags still hadn't made a big inroad with most people. We always had Brooke Bond Dividend tea (in the green and orange packets). I remember my brother carefully slitting open the outer covering in order to extract the card instead of waiting for it to be opened. I can't remember now the last time I used a tea strainer, I don't even own one anymore!

[helcion]

Rochester-bred     -

I have been helping clear a friend's house, a mining engineer in the Kent coalfield and amongst a large of amount of paperwork shortly to be pulped I found an account book from a Dover grocers.

Whilst it doesn't precisely cover the 60s that you are researching it does cover the period 12/69 to 1/75 with an item-by-item list of purchases & seems to cover most day-to-day household goods apart from butchery items.

Fascinating, but not an item that I want to retain & the family are happy for me to pass it on.

If this is any interest to you, please PM me.

Cheers

Helcion   
 

[KeithJG]

As I understand, pease pudding was more a Northern dish as they dipped their chips in it when bought at the fish & chip shop.
Just like when I lived near Blackpool they always doted on gravy and chips which to me is revolting

Foods did tend to travel up and down the country years ago as people started to spread their wings and the same food sometimes had a different name just like up North it was known as Gurnet but down South Rock Salmon but now when Googled the modern way seems as though they are totally a different fish?

Another thing we had instead of Mashed Potato was Mashed Carrot & Swede which i still have every week as it is better for weight loss.

Irish Stew was another favourite of mine but not much Irish about it just the modern name of Lamb Stew.

[shoot999]

Whenever I had fish and chips I had Gurnet, which I think may be a corruption of Gurnard. Is this just a "southern" thing, and is it also known as Rock Salmon? Or have I got this all wrong?

Rock as in Gurnet as in Huss as in Dogfish as in Tope. Basically the one with the big bone!  I read somewhere that it is on the endangered species list; so not something we see much of nowadays.

[smiffy]

Whenever I had fish and chips I had Gurnet, which I think may be a corruption of Gurnard. Is this just a "southern" thing, and is it also known as Rock Salmon? Or have I got this all wrong?

[shoot999]

I'd forgotten about smoked haddock poached in milk. When mum started cooking that it that was my signal to open up the baked bean tin. Haddock in milk, Yuk!

Had a look online for pease pudding and faggots and not that much mention of it. Seems the traditional dish is pease pudding with gammon or boiled ham. So maybe it was a southern delicacy?

I was trying to think if we got supper, and I was reminded that dad was the resident musician in the Morden Arms. So on a good night our supper was a packet of crisps and a bottle of pop. Nothing worse than being half asleep and biting into the packet of salt that you have forgotten to take out of the bag! 

[KeithJG]

When I was 16yrs back in 1964, I worked at Frindsbury fish & chip shop to earn extra money to keep my scooter running........when customers asked for just fish & chips it was always cod supplied but my Father being a Geordie they were always given haddock with chips up North.

So we always had smoked haddock poached in milk for our dinners quite often ...pease pudding also was on our weekly menus at home, it being made by my stepmum.

Another food was just simple rice pudding that my Father made in a bain marie and not the ordinary saucepan or tin of rice you get today.