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Ohmigosh, the Desert Rose dinnerware, I'd forgotten about that! Such a staple of my childhood. One of my sisters has it now and has added many pieces to it over the years. That pattern has been around for ages!
I remember Desert Rose also and a few other patterns, but they have slipped my mind. A coupld of years, over the Christmas holiday I worked as a salesgirl at one of our local small Dept stores. I worked in the housewares dept. I think Franciscan had about a half dozen patterns.
I do remember the paper bag idea for roasting the turkey. I think we did it a couple of times, maybe in the 60s. Obviously it didn't make the turkey any better in our minds or we would have continued doing it.
I also remember, the jello sometimes being made in individual little molds and served. They were so pretty.
We didn't have micro waves to heat things: we had smaller ovens, many didn't have freezers, and deep fryers for turkeys would have made our parents or grandparents just laugh.
In 1964, when I was 17 (50 years ago) our oven was plenty big enough for the largest turkey. We had a decent sized freezer above our fridge. Same was true for my friends' houses. Wife and I got our first microwave in 1984 (30 years ago). Deep-frying a turkey, however, would have been seen as bizarre. I don't even do that today, nor would I want to.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nmnita
No one ever heard of throw away containers made of aluminum , and no there was hardly any decent way to cover the left overs, plus there was no room in the fridge anyway,
By the 1970's at least (I was married in 1974), we used disposable foil roasters. I consider rolls of aluminum foil and plastic shrink-wrap to be a "decent" way to cover leftovers, and those dated back more than 50 years ago. Before that it was waxed paper, the stuff my school lunches were wrapped in, and it worked well. How much room there was in the fridge depended entirely on how neat the family was - just like today.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nmnita
Meals wise, no dinner was complete without sweet potato casserole topped with canned pineapple and marshmellow melted over the top. Oh, and don't forget the jello salad. We always had Parkerhouse rolls to go with all the other foods.
I don't recall having any of those 3 things 30, 40, or 50 years ago - or ever. If the OP truly wants to research "the olden days", they should go back farther than that. The advent of the above was not a new age, and nobody I knew led a prehistoric life prior to that.
I made turkey in a brown paper shopping bag in the mid-70's. The idea was the meat would be moist & the skin crispy & golden brown & that was exactly what happened; my then-MIL was sure it would not work, insisted on opening up the bag & was stunned to see & taste that beautiful bird. However, I switched long ago to doing the turkey on the Weber kettle indirect method, one baste with butter or olive oil, perfect moist turkey with golden brown skin, pan in kettle to catch drippings for a great, smoky gravy. Still do not understand the big fuss over cooking a turkey.
BTW, I am probably close to OP's age & grew up in SoCal. Not everyone had Tupperware. It was only sold at "parties" & was expensive. Many ppl had the sweet potato casserole, some with canned pineapple, also canned sweet potatoes. It made me gag, I can't stand sweet potatoes, even a fresh baked one, to this day. Not all ppl had freezers, I still do not. Canned cranberries are also gaggable & I'm so glad my sis showed me how simple & good fresh, homemade is.
ScarletG, you are a bit tightly wound, dear. Get off your high horse. You need to eat more turkey, or count your Tupperware, or...something.
I grew up in the seventies. I think the biggest improvement is a dishwasher! Boy do I hate doing dishes by hand. It took forever after a big holiday meal.
This, I am guessing, is fairly regional. I grew up in old houses and apartments in old triple deckers and two families. There are plenty of apartments in my home city that still do not come with a dishwasher. Heck our last house, built in 1900, did not have one nor did we put one in. We have one now and it makes a world of difference!
We also did not have Tupperware in the seventies. Way too expensive for us. We used either a plate or plastic wrap, which never really stuck to the sides for me!
I grew up in the seventies. I think the biggest improvement is a dishwasher! Boy do I hate doing dishes by hand. It took forever after a big holiday meal.
This, I am guessing, is fairly regional. I grew up in old houses and apartments in old triple deckers and two families. There are plenty of apartments in my home city that still do not come with a dishwasher. Heck our last house, built in 1900, did not have one nor did we put one in. We have one now and it makes a world of difference!
We also did not have Tupperware in the seventies. Way too expensive for us. We used either a plate or plastic wrap, which never really stuck to the sides for me!
LOL .... I got my first (and only) few pieces of tupperware in the late 70's ..... still have the large bowl.....
got my first dishwasher when the ex and I bought our house in 1997.....
In 1964, when I was 17 (50 years ago) our oven was plenty big enough for the largest turkey. We had a decent sized freezer above our fridge. Same was true for my friends' houses. Wife and I got our first microwave in 1984 (30 years ago). Deep-frying a turkey, however, would have been seen as bizarre. I don't even do that today, nor would I want to.
By the 1970's at least (I was married in 1974), we used disposable foil roasters. I consider rolls of aluminum foil and plastic shrink-wrap to be a "decent" way to cover leftovers, and those dated back more than 50 years ago. Before that it was waxed paper, the stuff my school lunches were wrapped in, and it worked well. How much room there was in the fridge depended entirely on how neat the family was - just like today.
I don't recall having any of those 3 things 30, 40, or 50 years ago - or ever. If the OP truly wants to research "the olden days", they should go back farther than that. The advent of the above was not a new age, and nobody I knew led a prehistoric life prior to that.
I later ammended my comment to say 50 or more years ago; maybe 60. I would have changed it from the beginning but it can't be done. As for the roasters, yes, in the 70s these things were available but not in the 50s. As for deep frying turkey, who ever mentioned deep frying that many years ago? It is a new method, out in the past 10 years or so, maybe a little longer.
Yes the ovens were big enough to hold a good sized turkey, but not as large as now. The normal size was about 30 to 32 inches, now most are 36 inches. yes, by the mid 60s there were freezers above the fridge, but they certainly were not like what many of us have now.
I later ammended my comment to say 50 or more years ago; maybe 60. I would have changed it from the beginning but it can't be done. As for the roasters, yes, in the 70s these things were available but not in the 50s. As for deep frying turkey, who ever mentioned deep frying that many years ago? It is a new method, out in the past 10 years or so, maybe a little longer.
Yes the ovens were big enough to hold a good sized turkey, but not as large as now. The normal size was about 30 to 32 inches, now most are 36 inches. yes, by the mid 60s there were freezers above the fridge, but they certainly were not like what many of us have now.
At our other house we had an old circa 1940s Chambers range. It's oven was tiny! It drove my husband nuts but boy did I love that stove. We ended up selling it to a woman who restored and modernized it. I regret selling it almost everyday. My dream is to someday own another.
There really wasn't much difference between the 1950's/ 1960's when I grew up to today in preparing Thanksgiving meals.
The oven could fit a turkey just fine. Chafing dishes and multi-burner electric warming trays took care of keeping things warm. We had an extra refrigerator in the basement along with an upright freezer. About the only thing we didn't have then was microwave technology.
My family never made a sweet potato casserole ( candied sweet potatoes and/or roasted sweet potatoes were preferred) and no one would have touched a jello mold so that never appeared on the table- lol.
There really wasn't much difference between the 1950's/ 1960's when I grew up to today in preparing Thanksgiving meals.
The oven could fit a turkey just fine. Chafing dishes and multi-burner electric warming trays took care of keeping things warm. We had an extra refrigerator in the basement along with an upright freezer. About the only thing we didn't have then was microwave technology.
My family never made a sweet potato casserole ( candied sweet potatoes and/or roasted sweet potatoes were preferred) and no one would have touched a jello mold so that never appeared on the table- lol.
We actually only had sweet potato casserole a couple of times, but my inlaws had it every thanksgiving. So did a lot of our friends. We were just not sweet potato eaters, we eat more now. As for the jello mold, that is a different story, we always had them, some were really good, some awful...I had forgotten about those old chafing dishes. My parents didn't have them I don't think, but we got a couple for wedding gifts. We used them more in the 60s I think.
In 1964, when I was 17 (50 years ago) our oven was plenty big enough for the largest turkey. We had a decent sized freezer above our fridge. Same was true for my friends' houses. Wife and I got our first microwave in 1984 (30 years ago). Deep-frying a turkey, however, would have been seen as bizarre. I don't even do that today, nor would I want to.
By the 1970's at least (I was married in 1974), we used disposable foil roasters. I consider rolls of aluminum foil and plastic shrink-wrap to be a "decent" way to cover leftovers, and those dated back more than 50 years ago. Before that it was waxed paper, the stuff my school lunches were wrapped in, and it worked well. How much room there was in the fridge depended entirely on how neat the family was - just like today.
I don't recall having any of those 3 things 30, 40, or 50 years ago - or ever. If the OP truly wants to research "the olden days", they should go back farther than that. The advent of the above was not a new age, and nobody I knew led a prehistoric life prior to that.
In the 50s and 60s we had Parker House rolls and Jello salads, we didn't have sweet potato casserole, but we did have candied sweet potatoes.
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