meant Smedley tinned sausage rolls. The very concept is the essence of 70s.

Edit: and here's the proof, though I can't claim to remember the ad

We had tinned fruit salad. The cherries were a particular delight from memory.

and Findus crispy pancakes.

You're having a laff!!

I remember a typical sophisticated night out at the local Berni Inn - prawn cocktail to start - 2 miniature prawns if you were lucky, Well done rump steak - 6oz of gristle, 2 oz of meat. Side order of onion rings. Pudding was Black Forest gateaux - if you were lucky it had defrosted by the time it reached the table. Accompanying drink was Blue Nun or Yugoslavian Riesling. Lovely.

..my Mum, ever watchful of her figure in those days, would opt for 'Waistline' salad cream - the greyer end of the Massive may recall the tv ad where an animated bottle of this tasteless gloop was seen to thin out a bit and emit a cutesy 'ooh' sound. See also Slimcea Bread - like bread but with all the flavour and texture of 3mm shavings of polystyrene. And then there were 'Ayds' - a kind of slimming aid in the form of a chocolate. So dense was the material these things were made from that you were left feeling stuffed to the gills after just one, (they must have occupied their own special area on the Periodic Table). Pity the unsuspecting child who nicked several of these from his Gran's supply and, having wolfed them all down in seconds, was unable to eat again for three days, (still one of my Mum's favourite anecdotes).

When Babs and Ken or Joyce and Archie or whoever came for nibbles and drinks my folks would dish up what was thought to be classy fare for the time: vol-au-vents (ready made frozen cases) filled with chunky chicken (in white sauce) from a tin. God I loved that chicken concoction. I could eat it straight from the tin. Then there was egg mayonnnaise - piped back into the hard boiled white. I'd do the washing up and then watch TV in my room (wheeled in from the lounge) such as Saturday night horror double bill (on over the summer) - actually that may have been the 80s, it's all blurring into one heady mix of recollection. Good memories anyway.

My grandmother would grate chocolate over orange segments and sprinkle sugar over a sliced apple. Luxury I tell you. Luxury.

This was a small valleys town so we weren't exactly spoiled for choice when it came to grub but sometime in the very early 70s a French family moved next door to us and all hell was unleashed in the culinary department. Mussels, pastries, beautifully cooked meats, stews and sauces......
Double yum.

I remember having tinned peaches and condensed milk bloody lovely at my Grandma's. When we really pushed the boat we had rich tea biscuits broken up in it. Cue Homer

Banana sandwiches, swiss roll, a Blue Riband biscuit and a bag of Smokey Bacon Tudor crisps.

This is why I am a coiled spring of latent athletic prowess.

Occasionally Sandwich Spread would rear its slimy multi-coloured and unwelcome head. It looked and tasted like it had just fallen out of someones nose.

This was mashed potato infused with corned beef. A real treat. Unfortunately liver would also be a feature alongside a serving of cabbage that was boiled-to-transparency.

We had a large potato peeler bowl thing that I haven't seen since the 1970s. You poured in a large amount of washed potatoes and then fastened the lid. The lid had a handle on it that, once you turned the handle, spun the potatoes around and exposed them to revolving blades on the bottom. This "peeled" a few pounds of potatoes all at once. Genius! The drawback was that it took ages, it was quite cumbersome and the potatoes ended up being half-peeled, meaning you had to attend to each one manually.

Evap, surely?

The height of sophistication chez Yorkio in those days was a tin of Heinz cook in sauce. The curry one was first choice although the coq au vin ran it a close second. Meat was only ever chicken.

Another favourite from the house of Heinz was Toast Toppers, which I just googled a moment ago and was genuinely amazed to discover is still on sale.

tought us kids to butter white bread and dip it in sugar.
That is something I haven't eaten since the 70's!

She also tought us to lick plain crackers and then put salt on them.
I should point out that if you licked it, you ate it...still, not very appetizing.

Lots of roffles in this thread.

Findus Crispy Pancakes were amazing. Jelly with evap on it. Brown & Polson blancmange. You never see blancmange any more. I loved it.

Oh yeah, and let's not forget a halved white cabbage covered in foil with cheese and pineapple on cocktail sticks stuck in it. That is AN AMAZING SNACK. IT JUST IS.

A lot of my childhood culinary memories are Welsh. My grandma was a fantastic cook, and trips to Llanelli meant cawl pys, minced beef pie with the shortest, crumbliest pastry, bara brith, bread pudding and teisen lap. Total bliss, and the beginnings of my obsession with great British food.

Bananas and evap, was the dessert in our house, mostly all this stuff seemed to be post-war rationing food, lovely though. When I left home I experienced cooking a treacle steam pudding for the first time with it exploding as while watching Star Trek the pan boiled dry.

to have Skol lager for dinner occasionally. I think my mum may have suggested in all innocence that she quite fancied try 'English beer' and can imagine dad persuading her that Skol was best because a) it had absolutely minimal alcohol content and b) it was cheap. Our treats were mousses (with the strawberry syrup at the bottom) and creme caramel. Also offal, calves brains and sweatbreads - delicious.

Remember that?

When my father used to go and pick up this parents and bring them back to us for lunch he would always have bought a bottle of Pomagne to have with lunch.

In the 1970s there as clearly nothing like an apple based, low alcohol champagne substitute to complete a meal!

My nan had one, I used to strum the wires cos they made a lovely plinky noise when you did it.

Don't get me started on the fun you could have with the salad spinner - brilliant!

Is that the same as mashed turnip?

Sauce that went all crispy when you poured it on ice-cream. A treat when at granny's.

Party Sevens. Great for playing drums on the morning after the parents had thrown a party. Not great when the Old Man had one of his Special Headaches.

The M&S versions of Tunnock's Teacakes. And their toffees which came wrapped in blue paper.

a curry?

Or perhaps a Chinese?

You know what you need to add to make that curry super authentic? Raisins.

was a Sunday teatime treat. Leftover beef dripping smothered on toast and a hot mug of Bournvita and then off to bed.
Cold winter nights were toast cooked on the electric fire - the bread was skewered on a fork which was balanced between the bars of the fire. It was too bloody cold to stand on cold lino in a kitchen without central heating!!

A perk of working as a fire officer in London was that my dad would often come home with a few cans after a 'shout' in the docklands... problem was they never had labels so a can of peaches could just as likely be mince or beans.

The height of sophistication for my Mum was sticking veg in jellies and serving with the usual lettuce,tomato, sliced egg combo.Lime jelly with walnuts and diced celery,orange jelly with grated carrot were regular favourites.

Left-over mash from Sunday lunch, fried until browned, spread on cheap white sliced bread and covered in tomato ketchup.

Nearly as good as the fish fingers and baked beans for Saturday tea-time after the footy.

......she'd run out of lemonade one time so gave me a glass of water and put six teaspoonfuls of Andrews Liver Salts in as it "would be the same".......didn't stop shitting for a week.

Oh then there was the eau de toilette.........you can guess where that ended up......smelt nice though

........if he wasn't shagging the cushions with his lipstick out whilst we had guests he was toiletting in the most inappropriate places...my issue #1 of Soccer Monthly with Kenny Dalglish on the front scoring for Scotland against Holland was defecated upon (goes for 19 quid now) and the Ferguson Videostar (Toploader)packed up after a cocked leg shower. My, how false we were when the repair man came round and took it apart to reveal a sludge like residue inside. " Has anybody spilled a cup of coffee or tea on it ?" he asked with sincerity. "No, don't think so" we replied as the sweat rolled down our foreheads. Forgive us Father.

You can still get them now. Still just as horrible as well, I'll wager.

A 70s pudding mainstay. Following on from Birds Eye beefburgers and crinkle cut chips.

for Saturday tea in front of the telly. This was the model (albeit without the 'disco' stars). Mum and Dad were very proud of their G Plan furniture.

Comestibles might have included fish paste sandwiches and swiss roll in custard

I left the UK years ago and I'm beginning to remember why. It's a wonder any of us are still alive after a diet like that. Glad to see good old Britain still leads the world in producing indigestible processed crap.

...yes, we can certainly rely on Simon Cowell to keep that tradition flying high, Runsto...

used to involve bringing through a table from the kitchen into the lounge and placing it in front of the Raeburn fire before settling down to some lightly fried soft roes dribbled with lemon juice. Absolutely scrumptious. This tradition seemed to die out around the time of the Cod War with Iceland in the early 70's and when I latterly discovered it was the the dear old fish's male reproductive bits, the spell was broken.

Curiosity is encouraging me to track some down for old-times sake. Maybe.

Peaches and condensed milk were reserved for Sunday lunch dessert and with bread and dripping (heart attack on a plate) for Sunday tea the weekend was complete.

still basically eat like this. Uncle W's initial salad description was missing beetroot and grated carrot surely?

EDITED - why the hell did beetroot auto-correct to 'beefwood'? Everyone knows you can only have beefwood with eggmeat...

What else is needed in a salad to accompany a nice bit of steak 'n' chips?