Leg warmers, frosted jean jackets, and hair spray surrounded my daily life in the 1980s. Along with fashions like pinning jeans and ratting hair, I have vivid memories of some 1980s food. Some of them I haven’t eaten for years. My busy working mother cooked and prepared most meals from scratch, but when she needed to feed us in a pinch it often consisted of opening some cans or putting together a ready meal. Most of these meals I remember being pretty terrible. I was curious if they actually were as bad as I remembered them, and if my children would think the same thing. I chose 5 meals from my childhood for my kids to try.
We used the following rating system:
1 Star- Never eat again
2 Stars- I could maybe try it again
3 Stars- It’s ok. I could eat it a few times a year
4 Stars- I could eat it once a month
5 Stars- It’s Amazing! I could eat this once a week
Chicken Chow Mein – 3 Stars
Chinese cuisine hit the 1980s food scene along with electric woks. We ate some fabulous fresh stir-fries made on our electric wok. Then there was this weird meal my mom occasionally tried to pass off as some sort of Chinese cuisine. I thought it was terrible. My husband specifically requested I make this when he was not home, because of the memories he has connected to this meal. Did they still produce such a terrible meal? I found it. On a shelf in the ethnic food aisle sporting a new label stating, New and improved taste. I bought the package of Chow Mein crunchy noodles that went on top of it along with the minute white rice my mom used to make. The whole meal took about 10 minutes to assemble. Quick and easy. It looked just as bad as I remembered it. Surprisingly, my children both rated it a 3 star. Emily loved the crunchy noodles. and Malcolm said, Well, it’s not that great but I could eat it again. I gave it a 1 star, it really was just as terrible as I remembered.
Beef Stroganoff Hamburger Helper-3.5 Stars
Beef Stroganoff with a creamy sauce, bits of mushroom and slices of beef over noodles is a delicious dish. Hamburger Helper Beef Stroganoff is another story. Hamburger Helper was something I made when I babysat or that we had very occasionally. Again the whole meal took about 15 minutes of prep time, along with a pound of hamburger. The 1980s were heavy on meat when it came to supper meals. My daughter Emily who loves noodles of all kinds rated it 4 stars. My husband and son gave it a 3-star rating.
SPAM Melts-3.75 Stars
Austin, Minnesota is the major SPAM producer in Minnesota. They even have a SPAM museum that is fun and interactive. You can learn the whole history of how SPAM feed the soldiers in World War II and how countries like South Korea and the nation of Hawaii are major importers of this treasured processed meat. The last time I ate SPAM a co-worker from South Korea had made a meal of fried SPAM with veggies that we ate on a seaweed wrap with rice. As a child, we hardly ever ate this, but when we did it was in the form of a SPAM melt. A SPAM melt consists of a slice of SPAM put on an open-faced bun with sliced cheese on top of it. The whole thing is heated in the oven and then broiled to melt the cheese. Basically, it tastes like a salty ham sandwich. Yeah, take ham and then add some salt, you’ve got it. My daughter gave it a 3-star rating and said, “It’s not my favorite thing.” She also didn’t finish even half of it so I think she was a bit generous in her rating. My son gave it a 4-star rating along with my husband.
Meatloaf & Mashed Potatoes-3.75 Stars
The history of Meatloaf may go back all the way to the 5th century. In the 1980s, a decade where beef and particularly red meat was considered healthy for growth and development, meatloaf was still going strong. I pulled out a couple of recipes looking for something similar that my mom made. I went for the version made with bread crumbs instead of oatmeal. As a child, I remember being repulsed by the warm ketchup mixture on top of the meatloaf. The actual star of this show was the mashed potatoes. Apparently, I don’t make them from scratch very often. Emily gave the meatloaf 3 stars. She said it’s good. I wouldn’t have it every month or five times a year, maybe just 3 times a year. She gave the mashed potatoes 5 stars. Malcolm shared my dislike for the ketchup mixture. I give it 4 stars because of the mashed potatoes but because of the ketchup, I give it a lower rating.
French Bread Pizza-4.5 Stars
As kids, we made Pizza on English muffins and toasted them in the oven. A version of French Bread pizza showed up in our school cafeterias. I suspect it was made out of leftover spaghetti sauce mixed with hamburger and then put on a bun with cheese. Using pizza sauce and quality French Bread this actually turned out pretty good. This meal got a 5-star rating from my son Malcolm, and a 4.5 from Emily because it had too much meat.
-What are some meals you remember eating as a kid? Have you served them to your children?
