Growing up, home-cooked meals were few and far between in my household. Not because my parents were incapable of cooking, but simply because the value of a meal made from scratch was completely lost on my brothers and I. Why spend hours chopping fresh veggies and baking extravagant casseroles if we were perfectly content eating frozen peas, boxed mashed potatoes and rolls that came from a can?

Redditors have recently been discussing the foods that they ate growing up but rarely or never have today, so we’ve gathered some of their “nostalgia meals" down below. From foods that only a kid’s palate would enjoy to things people ate solely because their parents made them, enjoy scrolling through these delicacies and be sure to upvote the ones that transport you back to childhood!

#1

Grilled cheese sandwiches, cut diagonally.

Image credits: MinkSableSeven

#2

Fish sticks used to be a lot more common. Think it was an easy no stress way to get me to eat dinner.

Image credits: emmyfro

#3

Cereal. Breakfast almost every day was cereal. Now I can’t stand the stuff.

Also drinking milk with everything.

Image credits: anglerfishtacos

#4

Stuffed cabbage rolls; every Eastern European country has a version of this dish.

Image credits: kilroyscarnival

#5

Lots of casseroles made with canned “cream of” soups.

I can’t do casseroles these days. As a kid, chicken and rice casserole was the best! But now, it just doesn’t hit.

Image credits: Runzas_In_Wonderland

#6

Sliced tomato sandwich. We ate them on white butter crust bread. Mayo, salt and pepper.

Image credits: andmen2015

#7

Cow tongue. My parents made the most delicious tomato based stew with cubes of tender and meat.

Cow tongues used to be super cheap when I was a kid. I haven't seen cow tongues for sale since I starting buying meat.

Image credits: Bunnyeatsdesign

#8

Eggo waffles with melted sharp cheddar cheese. It was such a regular breakfast in my family that I didn't realize it wasn't a common meal until I moved into my first apartment. I told my roommate she was welcome to the Eggos and cheese, and she was confused.

Image credits: thesphinxistheriddle

#9

Coke float. Can of Coke in a glass, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Image credits: Northernfrog

#10

A dish my mom called oven stew. Basically it's ground beef, veggies and potatoes layered and baked in a casserole dish. Sort of a lazy, Americanized shepherd's pie.

It's not too difficult to make, but when I make it, it doesn't seem to come out right, so I've given it up. Every once in a while I'll have my mom make it for a birthday dinner.

Image credits: snakeravencat

#11

Poached eggs in buttered toast. It's been 20 years or so.

Image credits: uplifting_southerner

#12

My mom used to make enchiladas that called for a can of cream of celery soup. I loved them. They are the blandest, whitest enchiladas, but they taste like childhood. They also contained an entire container of sour cream and a pound of cheddar cheese. I'm not sure I could stomach them now.

Image credits: televisuicide

#13

Jell-O with canned fruit cocktail inside to make it “healthier”.

Image credits: UpNorth_123

#14

Meatloaf. My mom was an awful cook, and meatloaf is generally awful, but for some reason my mom's meatloaf was amazing. I can make every other dish she actually made well (there weren't many lol), but I have no idea how she made the amazing meatloaf. I should actually have another go at recreating it, I miss my mom and her meatloaf.

Image credits: Missscarlettheharlot

#15

A can of Campbell's soup was 'pasta sauce' growing up.

Image credits: ch0w0

#16

Baked beans with cut up hot dogs. I always looked forward to this meal as a kid, but my mom recently admitted that she only made it when she barely had any money.

Image credits: strawbrimlk

#17

Shepherd's Pie. Always my favourite thing my mum made but I've never bothered to make it.

Image credits: WordsUnthought

#18

Hamburger Helper and other box meals. I bought a box of the cheeseburger one for nostalgia's sake years ago and it tasted like bland chemicals.

Image credits: Ms_Emilys_Picture

#19

Kielbasa and sauerkraut. My mom would take a bag of sauerkraut and empty it into a 9x13 pan. Then she would cut up kielbasa and quarter potatoes, cover it with foil, and bake in the oven. I’m a pescatarian now. My husband doesn’t eat cabbage but I’ve found ways to remake some of the food I used to eat like shepherd’s pie, gyros, Chickenless pot pie, tator tot casserole, etc. I’m trying corned beef tomorrow.

#20

Oh man, My mom would heat up a family sized pack of those cheap, frozen Salisbury steaks with gravy and serve them with instant mashed potatoes. I'd always make a messy sandwich from it all, and be super stoked when she said that's what was cooking. Simpler times.

#21

Lots and lots of fried fish.

Their hobby was going camping/fishing in the summer. We filled freezers with fillets. We took the chest freezer camping with us! You'd have thought we were subsistence fishermen fishing for our dinner. Get up at 5am, go out in the boat til noon. Come back in, clean the morning's catch. Go back out. Stay on the water til dark. Come in and clean the evening catch. Day in, day out, every day of every "vacation" I was ever dragged on with them.

Image credits: RLS30076

#22

Ha, gluten. Coeliac disease sucks.

Image credits: Snowf1ake222

#23

Crab and lobster. It's a bit cheaper when you can go pluck it out of the ocean for the cost of a tank of air. The stuff, today, that's sold... seems low-flavor and stupid expensive.

#24

American “goulash” which is just like… spaghetti but with elbow pasta. My parents made it constantly because we were poor lol. That and spam with potatoes.

#25

Velveeta grilled cheese sandwiches.

#26

Grew up lower-middle class with parents who weren’t great cooks (at the time), so hot dogs and Kraft dinner were the staples.

Also, soft boiled eggs placed in little holders with the tops broken off. Paired with toast cut into skinny strips to dip into the yolks. Not sure if there is a real name for this, but we called them Dippin’ Eggs.

Image credits: Alleggsander

#27

Chef Boyardee pizza! Still would love that!

Image credits: andreasmom

#28

Spaghetti and country crock. God bless my single dad, but I've got tomato sauce money now.

Image credits: Straight_Positive423

#29

Chipped beef on toast, fried bologna sandwiches and spam in any form. Ate so much of these growing up I can’t even consider it.

Image credits: IcedHemp77

#30

My parents are Peranakan and Teochew Chinese but immigrated to the US when I was young. I grew up eating a lot of Singaporean home cooking. Pork and peanut soup, nonya chicken curry, steamed sea bass, fishball soup, tau yu bak, achar, yong tau foo. I didn’t realize how much time some of these things take to make until I moved out. My mom did her best to pass down heritage recipes to me. I miss them a lot and have been trying to cook more Singaporean for my family.

Image credits: Toastwich

#31

Ocean fish. My dad fished for the family and we ate fish 3 times a week. Now I don’t trust the majority of supermarket fish and can’t afford the specialty seafood stores near me. I am glad I spend summers in Maine near enough to get fresh.

Image credits: Shilo788

#32

Kraft Dinner (What we call the blue box mac n cheese in Canada) Used to love it as a kid, now I cant stand it and just make my own mac from scratch.

Image credits: Reddit4Quarantine

#33

Beef liver. My grandma knew how to make it very well, and my mom does as well. If you don’t do it right it tastes like dirt. I’ve made a chicken liver pate that was very delicious, but also a lot of work.

Image credits: MrsChiliad

#34

Kielbasa. My parents cooked it a lot for us growing up but I rarely have it now.

The only thing that comes close are these tillamook zero sugar meat sticks I bought that taste exactly like it, lol.

Image credits: carissadraws

#35

Chef Boyardee. I purchased some of the ravioli in a can recently. I tried it and was really surprised at how disgusting it was. I remember it fondly from childhood.

#36

Sloppy joes.

Image credits: large_crimson_canine

#37

Fried bologna. My dad made a mean fried bologna sandwich with a slice of American cheese on wonder bread with mayo. On special occasions we also got our sandwiches with a fried egg or Lays potato chips added between the layers of bologna.

#38

I have distinct memories of chopped up hot dogs and easy mac. Getting to be the one who got to scrape the spoon was a huge deal back then.

Aside from that, I think we had an actual stouffers truck occasionally come by and drop of frozen lasagna? I always hated it, but I could be misremembering that one.

#39

My mom’s Swiss steak. She kept all of her recipes in her head and only wrote a few down for me when I got married right before she died. Wish I had her recipe!

#40

What was that salad with crunchy chow-mein noodles and canned mandarin oranges? I'm guessing that recipe dates back to the 50's/60's/70's, but I remember people still making it a lot for picnics and potlucks in the 90's. Personally I haven't seen it since then, though.

#41

Fried breadcrumbs with noodles and ketchup. Used to love this! Oh, and bread with margarine and a little sugar sprinkled on top.
Nowadays I eat a bit healthier. ?.

#42

Two things:

1) Spinach omelets. My dad used to make with frozen spinach in a box
. That was his entire scope of cooking for a kid. I did get iron and protein, though.


2) Crockpot beef stew. My mom used to set this up in the morning (she got up at about 5) and serve dinner when we were back home. I have a crockpot now, but I can't make a meal the way mom did.

#43

My age can probably be determined accurately by:

* Individually wrapped Kraft cheese slices
* Cottage cheese
* Campbell's cream of X soup
* Swanson's TV dinners
* Pepperidge farm turnovers.

#44

Frozen TV Dinners in foil: Hungry Man, Banquet etc.

For those of you born after maybe 1980, this was before microwaves. A foil tray, usually with three compartments: like Salisbury steak for the main dish, something like corn and carrots in the side, and a brownie for desert. They took like half an hour to reheat. There was a fried chicken dinner that had an apple cobbler. I can still smell it. No microwave Hungry Man dinner can match it.

They went spectacularly well on TV trays: folding trays you could set in front of you so you could eat while watching TV from a sofa or recliner. Before the VCR, you either watched Candid Camera when it aired at 9pm, or you missed it.

#45

My mom made a semi-homemade Hamburger Helper when I was growing up using ground beef, green peppers, onions, and Manwich sauce. She'd make a pot of that with macaroni and we'd eat it topped with cheddar cheese. With a side salad. Always a side salad.

#46

Pinto beans and cornbread for dinner. Bologna sandwich for lunch. ALL. THE. TIME!

#47

Chicken breasts baked in Italian dressing with Pasta Roni. Mom's go-to.

#48

Kidz Cuisine frozen dinners.

#49

Chili rice. Just like it sounds, make some rice, heat up a can of chili, and then mix together and enjoy. I would usually eat it with some sliced white bread or saltine crackers.

#50

My mother was a terrible cook and we were also poor, so at least 1 night a week, we had "Chicken a la King." It was canned chicken, cream of mushroom soup and a jar of pimentos. Heat that up and serve it over toasted white bread. I don't think I've had it in 25 years and I'm ok never having it again.

#51

Canned chicken chow mien Chinese food that came with a can of crispy fried noodles. I think the brand was Chung King or something like that. This served with rice and tea was exotic

#52

When I was a kid, I ate Cream of Wheat for breakfast nearly every day. I’d add a little butter and brown sugar, and sometimes, I’d add cornflakes on top for a little crunch

#53

Tuna Noodle Casserole - an abomination I'm thrilled to never have plonked down in front of me again. Miss you, mom, you terrible and beloved cook.

#54

Mom used to make lasagna from scratch. She didn't make the noodles, but she'd make the sauce and meat from scratch. It was always so damned good.

Then she discovered Stouffer's lasagna, and we never had it again. Stouffer's is fine, but I want the stuff made with love.

Dad's signature dish was Cream Chipped Beef, or as Granny lovingly called it, Shit On A Shingle. Toast, white gravy, roast beef. It was something.

Not a common dinner anymore... I guess Banquet Table buffet when my folks were feeling lazy

#55

She'd make bisquick pancakes and scrambled eggs, breakfast for dinner, but it never made sense to me that pancakes should be sweet (with syrup), so just for me she would microwave up a little bit of spaghettios to go on them. I'm 40ish now, and a professional cook, but still kind of crave this. I might make some this week

#56

Egg rolls ... but not the kind you would find in a restaurant. Hers were filled with shredded cabbage, ground beef, and cheese. They were good as hell and HUGE.

#57

Taco night with all the white people fixins. Crunchy shells, ground beef, shredded cheddar cheese, lettuce, diced tomato, and miiiiiiiiiild salsa.

#58

Creamed new potatoes with peas.

#59

Anything grilled. Hot dogs, hamburgers, hobo baskets (chicken, rice, bell peppers, onion). My dad loved grilling and was very proud of the food he would make. Especially his hamburgers ❤️‍? I miss him so much. I can’t wait to buy a grill one day.

#60

Margarine & Miracle Whip.

#61

My mom's leftovers meal mixed with hamburger which she called "goulash." It is not goulash. I have made goulash 2x. That wasn't it. 

#62

Cube steak. I like to refer to it as "meat gum" (it was just so CHEWY).

Canned spinach. My mom would season it with white vinegar, and the stems ("strings") would get caught in my throat.

You couldn't pay me enough to eat either one today.

#63

Beef, especially ground beef.

Ground beef was cheap growing up. It was the hurried homemakers answer to everything.

Now it’s something that I consider a treat. Same as lamb, high quality pork, nice offal or game/waterfowl.

Steaks are a rarity.

#64

Jello pudding pops.

#65

Liverwurst. Ate it on rolls all the time with my German oma, haven’t had it in years.

#66

Both parents worked full time and didn't know how to cook but to their credit we always had a meal on the table. Haven't had any of these in years but staples included:

-Rice a roni with ground beef

-Hamburger helper

-Oncor veal parmesean patties with egg noodles on the side

-shake and bake pork chops

-some sort of canned Veggie (these should be illegal)

-canned biscuits

-impossible cheeseburger pie

-sloppy Joe's and frozen onion rings or tater tots

-stereotypical white people tacos

-meatloaf and boxed mashed potatoes


I thought I didn't like vegetables because all I ever had growing up was canned or, if it was fresh like a rare zucchini, nuked in the microwave or boiled until it was literally mush. Once I found out veggies can be crisp and seasoned, turns out I love them.

#67

Canned corned beef hash and Dinty Moore Beef Stew. Yuck.

#68

My mom was a fantastic cook. Really involved recipes, holidays, breads from scratch whenever she could etc. Her best dishes were Swedish meatballs, arroz con pollo, Cuban black beans that would make an abuelita cry, pastisio, and a surprisingly *amazing* cracked wheat bread. 


But she had 2 kids, worked full-time, and became a widowed single parent at one point and time was a crunch.






So sometimes she would buy this frozen turkey block. It was white meat and dark meat sort of "pressed together" into a rounded mound and frozen with turkey gravy in a black tray, you could microwave or bake.




G-d was it delicious. I haven't had it in DECADES, I don't even know what it was called. Add a box of Pasta-Roni and steam some frozen vegetables in the microwave with a dash of Cavenders Greek seasoning and I'm 14 years old again. I loved having a sliced with both the white and dark parts of the processed "block".

#69

McDonald's. It was a victory as a kid, but a defeat as an adult.

Bologna sandwiches. Keep that c**p away from me!

Plain grilled cheese sandwiches. Just don't think about having them now, always adding things to make them melts.

#70

My mom made these things called "porcupine meatballs". It was her quick-fix dinner. They were regular beef meatballs but they were made with soy sauce and white rice rolled in. I never learned the recipe and I miss them so much.

#71

Creamed Corn. Ham loaf. Sphagettio's (w/ scrambled eggs). I have a really long list.

And the list of things I eat now that never even entered our kitchen as a youth is even longer.

Travel really expands your taste horizons. Age reduces my ability to eat thing that are sweetened. And Ham loaf is just gross.

#72

##Entenmann’s Boston cream pie
I swear it was one of my favorites. Haven’t seen that anywhere in decades. They also have a good **devil’s food cake.**

And **the pound cakes used to be heavy**. Now they’re damn near tiny squares.

#73

Really good cheese and crackers. That was our family Sunday lunch growing up, a bunch of different really nice cheeses and some crackers to spread them on. Now that I live alone and do my own shopping I know that good cheese is really f*****g expensive.

#74

Kidney beans. My mother loved them. At some point I said I have eaten my last voluntary kidney bean. If some chili has them in there I won't be that fanatical about it, but enough is enough.

Weirdly, I like other types of beans. But those big mushy things are done for me.

#75

Rabbit everything burgers to hotdish. Rabbit was in almost all of my meals growing up..

#76

Jenni-O Turkey loaf was like a weekly thing at home when i was young...and Hamburger Helper a couple times a week too.

#77

Homemade fried chicken. It was our Sunday dinner every week without fail. I make it like 1-2 times a year at most. I don’t want the grease in my kitchen.

#78

Pork chops.

I know how to cook them correctly now, I just...don't.

#79

Grits and cream of wheat. I haven't made them in years but they were a common staple when I was growing up.

#80

Stuffed Artichokes. My mom would make them for us for lunch sometimes. I don't know how she made them and she passed recently.

#81

Toaster strudel, Lean Cusine

Peanut butter & marshmallow fluff sandwiches.

#82

Fried okra and fresh strawberries. Store bought strawberries are not the same as off the vine.

#83

A full and different dinner every night consisting of an entree, two sides, and a side salad. Honestly, I don’t know how my mom did it. I’m a quick frozen meal kinda gal now and if I cook a full meal once a month I’m exhausted by the effort.

#84

Rice a Roni. Haven't had it in at least 15 years.

#85

Biscuits and molasses. Idk if it was a Maine thing but for many meals we would have biscuits as a side dish. We ate them buttered with a smear of molasses. It been at least 30 years since I’ve had it.

#86

My dad always used to make macaroni with canned tomatoes with some salt and pepper. Cheap, filling, and too no time to prepare. Probably not the most healthy thing, but we didn't really have a ton of money

#87

Hamburger gravy was white gravy. My mom called it a milk gravy. Back then hamburger was the poor person’s meat.

#88

We ate skirt steak a lot as a kid because it used to be super cheap.

#89

Leftover cold roast meat (pork, chicken and beef) and raw fried potatoes (thin sliced spuds cooked in cast iron until crispy on the bottom).

#90

Shells and white cheddar pasta from a box. Used to be one of my favorites as a kid. Now I'm not even brave enough to try to sample it again, I'll just enjoy the memory.

#91

Salmon patties. My uncle was the cook in the house, and he and I were the only ones out of all of us that enjoyed salmon. So, when no one else was hungry he would make us a couple. They were so delicious but I haven't had them since I moved out at 18. May have to ask him to make it again soon, for old times sake.