Pure Necessity when we were poor, but an extravagance now

fishy fishy

Can anyone remember any items we had out of necessity,when we were poor and broke in the 70's and 80's, but that we use now for pure pleasure or extravagance. I have two that always stick out.

Candles - remember when there was a power cut (which seemed fairly often) and everyone would run to find a candle. Usually there were the long cream ones that got thrown in the back of a press. They would be hauled out (filthy) and lit on top of a saucer). When the lights came back on they would never be thrown out - they would be thrown back into the back of the press. Candles were bought for power cuts, wakes and christenings only.

These days you need your fancy candles in your bedroom, bathroom, sitting room, dining room - in fact you can't go five feet without bumping into a candle and they are the first item to think for presents for those that are hard to buy for.


Lamb Shanks - one of the cheapest meats to purchase in the 70's and 80's and was regularly on the tables of those who couldn't afford much.

Nowadays you will pay up to 30 Euro for the same item in a restaurant and is considered "trendy"

LOL

Anyone else?

Ridiculous woolly jumpers.

Seaneh

fishy fishy wrote: »

Can anyone remember any items we had out of necessity,when we were poor and broke in the 70's and 80's, but that we use now for pure pleasure or extravagance. I have two that always stick out.

Candles - remember when there was a power cut (which seemed fairly often) and everyone would run to find a candle. Usually there were the long cream ones that got thrown in the back of a press. They would be hauled out (filthy) and lit on top of a saucer). When the lights came back on they would never be thrown out - they would be thrown back into the back of the press. Candles were bought for power cuts, wakes and christenings only.

These days you need your fancy candles in your bedroom, bathroom, sitting room, dining room - in fact you can't go five feet without bumping into a candle and they are the first item to think for presents for those that are hard to buy for.


Lamb Shanks - one of the cheapest meats to purchase in the 70's and 80's and was regularly on the tables of those who couldn't afford much.

Nowadays you will pay up to 30 Euro for the same item in a restaurant and is considered "trendy"

LOL

Anyone else?

Where the hell charged you €30 for lamb shanks?

They are still less than two euro each in a butcher ffs!

Some places take the piss altogether!

Duggy747

Gas cookers.

When the electricity went out you could rely on ol' gassy to boil a kettle for ya, have a nice cup of tea and wait for ESB to sort it out.

Larbre34

Condoms

Father Damo

Prominently rimmed Deirdre from Coronation Street glasses medical card kids used to end up lumbered with.

These days hipsters with no actual eyesight problem will pay 500 odd for a pair with a thick black rim just in case you didnt already know they were a twat.

washiskin

Rabbit - frequently on the table in our house in the '70's & '80's when the wages ran out, now another top-end restaurant menu favourite.
Mind you they do a better job of it than the Mammy did.....

al28283

fishy fishy wrote: »

They would be hauled out (filthy) and lit on top of a saucer).

saucer? well, la dee da Mr. French Man

fishy fishy

Seaneh wrote: »

Where the hell charged you €30 for lamb shanks?

They are still less than two euro each in a butcher ffs!

Some places take the piss altogether!

i see you haven't been out to many restaurants in the last two years Seanah. :D

Poxyshamrock

Vinyl and record players.

Shenshen

Homemade bread, preserves, pickles, etc.

My gran and mom would make these to save money, these days people will spend a fortune on a bread maker, and making your own jams and things is just soooo trendy.

davet82

al28283 wrote: »

saucer? well, la dee da Mr. French Man

saucer :pac:

we call them 'small plates for cups' in our house for short :rolleyes:

mikom

Dumpers for goalposts.

On the building site during the Celtic tiger.

Smcgie

Water - would be lucky to have running water back in the 70s, today idiots pay €1.50 for a small bottle of it.

Father Damo

Home births would be another one. Birthing pools and all that crap. My granny reckons anyone in the modern era wanting one is frankly an idiot due to the tragedies she saw with family/ neighbours who had no choice back in the old days.

JohnMarston

davet82 wrote: »

saucer :pac:

we call them 'small plates for cups' in our house for short :rolleyes:

You were lucky to have small plates! Best we could do was suck on a piece of damp cloth

davet82

JohnMarston wrote: »

You were lucky to have small plates! Best we could do was suck on a piece of damp cloth

were you the guy who'd rob our teabags off the washing line!?! :pac:

al28283

JohnMarston wrote: »

You were lucky to have small plates! Best we could do was suck on a piece of damp cloth

you were lucky to have a damp cloth, all we had was a concrete slab

Seaneh

fishy fishy wrote: »

i see you haven't been out to many restaurants in the last two years Seanah. :D

I had lamb shank for €13 a few weeks ago :P

Sea Filly

Duggy747 wrote: »

Gas cookers.

When the electricity went out you could rely on ol' gassy to boil a kettle for ya, have a nice cup of tea and wait for ESB to sort it out.

Lots of people still have them though. They'd be my preference.

Irish Guitarist

Years ago you would only wear jeans with rips in them because you couldn't afford a new pair. Now people pay €100 or more for jeans that look like they're falling apart and last about six months if you're lucky. It's hard to find a new pair of jeans that look new now.

Then there are the jeans with yellow stains. They look like the wearer has pissed on himself. Years ago you would be embarrassed to walk around with stains like that on your clothes.

Sea Filly

Father Damo wrote: »

Prominently rimmed Deirdre from Coronation Street glasses medical card kids used to end up lumbered with.

These days hipsters with no actual eyesight problem will pay 500 odd for a pair with a thick black rim just in case you didnt already know they were a twat.

"20-20 vision just a pair of empty frames/Dressing like a nerd although I never got the grades"

Seaneh

Sea Filly wrote: »

Lots of people still have them though. They'd be my preference.

I wish I had a gas cooker, I fecking hate electric cookers, gas is much easier to control heat.

fishy fishy

Seaneh wrote: »

I had lamb shank for €13 a few weeks ago :P

where

Seaneh

fishy fishy wrote: »

where

Massimo, t'was a special.
Well cooked, mash was a bit bland, sauce was nice, no veg served with it though, which really annoys me.

It was proably back in May now that I think of it :pac:

Greenduck

Even though we are still in 'recession' I look back on the 80's as being the time when people were the poorest.

Like then we didnt have things like Sky Digital, Laptops, Computers, Broadband, huge TVs, 4 or 5 games consoles etc. These items are probably common in most households today and its the norm to have them aswell.

I was lucky if we rented a video on a saturday night and got a pack of Smarties! I still dont think we are as badly off as we were in previous years and we probably take a lot things for granted still.

fishy fishy

Seaneh wrote: »

Massimo, t'was a special.
Well cooked, mash was a bit bland, sauce was nice, no veg served with it though, which really annoys me.

It was proably back in May now that I think of it :pac:

ah Massimo - not my cup of tea I'm afraid. Ate there twice and both times I felt sick after it, like as if my insides had a coat of grease on them. Had the burger once - horrible. Another time I had the chicken - it was actually floppy it was that greasy. I was thinking of the more upmarket places.

fishy fishy

Greenduck wrote: »

Even though we are still in 'recession' I look back on the 80's as being the time when people were the poorest.

Like then we didnt have things like Sky Digital, Laptops, Computers, Broadband, huge TVs, 4 or 5 games consoles etc. These items are probably common in most households today and its the norm to have them aswell.

I was lucky if we rented a video on a saturday night and got a pack of Smarties! I still dont think we are as badly off as we were in previous years and we probably take a lot things for granted still.

A VIDEO.......
we were lucky we had a tape recorder to tape the top 20 every sunday afternoon and nearly break our fingers trying to hit the "record" button and "play" button at the same time to tape our favorite songs, wishing the DJ would shut up.

JohnMarston

al28283 wrote: »

you were lucky to have a damp cloth, all we had was a concrete slab

Luxury. We had to siphon off freezing cold water from cement mixers to collect enough for a refreshing drink, and thats IF we were lucky!

Greenduck

fishy fishy wrote: »

A VIDEO.......
we were lucky we had a tape recorder to tape the top 20 every sunday afternoon and nearly break our fingers trying to hit the "record" button and "play" button at the same time to tape our favorite songs, wishing the DJ would shut up.

I painfully used to record series week by week on my video recorder/player to I'd have a full film at the end. Thought I was great that I could fast forward the ads.

My brothers made me a Kylie Minogue tape when I was 5 for Christmas, recorded from the radio. They must have got bored eventually as I just had one Kylie song, adverts and other random tunes on it.

Cienciano

Father Damo wrote: »

Prominently rimmed Deirdre from Coronation Street....

:eek:

Chuck Stone

Kitchen Roll was met with whispers and viewed as sign of a money squanderer.

Sea Filly

Greenduck wrote: »

Even though we are still in 'recession' I look back on the 80's as being the time when people were the poorest.

Like then we didnt have things like Sky Digital, Laptops, Computers, Broadband, huge TVs, 4 or 5 games consoles etc. These items are probably common in most households today and its the norm to have them aswell.

I was lucky if we rented a video on a saturday night and got a pack of Smarties! I still dont think we are as badly off as we were in previous years and we probably take a lot things for granted still.

My family got our first microwave in 2000 and our first VCR in 2001.

Sea Filly

fishy fishy wrote: »

ah Massimo - not my cup of tea I'm afraid. Ate there twice and both times I felt sick after it, like as if my insides had a coat of grease on them. Had the burger once - horrible. Another time I had the chicken - it was actually floppy it was that greasy. I was thinking of the more upmarket places.

Anytime I see lamb shank on more upmarket menus, it's usually around 20-25 euro.

Duggy747

Sea Filly wrote: »

Lots of people still have them though. They'd be my preference.

My parents have always had a gas cooker in their house, I prefer it to an electric one ten-fold. I find that you can cook food a lot better with one.

Only problem being that during the tough winters you have to keep the line from freezing over or else it's useless to you. Which is what happened Xmas day when we were cooking the turkey so kept having to go outside with the kettle. :pac:

Sea Filly

Cienciano wrote: »

:eek:

Actually did just LOL in work.

Where To

A milk room or pantry for keeping things cool in.

Now people think you are la di da if you have a pantry.

Sea Filly

Duggy747 wrote: »

My parents have always had a gas cooker in their house, I prefer it to an electric one ten-fold. I find that you can cook food a lot better with one.

Yup, I find on a leccy one, you have to use loads of hobs to have one at boiling, and one at simmer etc.

My parents recently replaced their cooker. They got an combi electric oven with gas hob, no way would my mother have an electric hob.

JohnMarston

Duggy747 wrote: »

My parents have always had a gas cooker in their house, I prefer it to an electric one ten-fold. I find that you can cook food a lot better with one.

Only problem being that during the tough winters you have to keep the line from freezing over or else it's useless to you. Which is what happened Xmas day when we were cooking the turkey so kept having to go outside with the kettle. :pac:

I agree 100% I'm currently renting a place with an electric cooker and hate it. :mad:

Also remember growing up and have a gas cooker in the house. When the line froze we would be doing the same thing to thaw it out a bit. We also had to shake the tank to see how much is left and when the flame died down on the cooker to flare it up again :pac:

Cienciano

fishy fishy wrote: »

Candles - remember when there was a power cut (which seemed fairly often) and everyone would run to find a candle. Usually there were the long cream ones that got thrown in the back of a press. They would be hauled out (filthy) and lit on top of a saucer). When the lights came back on they would never be thrown out - they would be thrown back into the back of the press. Candles were bought for power cuts, wakes and christenings only.

These days you need your fancy candles in your bedroom, bathroom, sitting room, dining room - in fact you can't go five feet without bumping into a candle and they are the first item to think for presents for those that are hard to buy for.

I hate poxy candles. When you go over to any couples or girls house they always light the "good" candles. Which are mostly scented, so the house is nauseating when you get there.
We have candles in our house for almost 6 years that have never been lit because they're "too good". When the wife is out next time i'm going to bin them all :mad: *




*i'm not

Father Damo

Cienciano wrote: »

:eek:

I had a choice between that or kissing her turkey neck :eek:

asherbassad

A lot of food that was essentially poor man's grub in the 70's and 80's seemed to have become trendy and overpriced in later years.

Back in the day only the unwashed masses ate coddle, champ, bubble & squeak, etc. Now you pay through the nose in some restaurant for a Cumberland and some spud puree masquerading as "bangers n mash".

Also I remember fresh cod being cheap and cheerful back in the 70's.....now it like friggin caviar.

Also duffel coats.

My ma still has the same gas oven that came with the house in 1972. Still cooks to perfection. Rashers are done under the grill in about 2 minutes. So toasted rasher sambo is made in the time it takes to boil the kettle.

shopaholic01

Father Damo wrote: »

I had a choice between that or kissing her turkey neck :eek:

You chose wisely:D.

Noreen1

Sea Filly wrote: »

My parents recently replaced their cooker. They got an combi electric oven with gas hob, no way would my mother have an electric hob.

That's what I have. I wouldn't cook on an electric hob, either - and there's the added benefit of at least being able to cook in the event of a power cut, and cook if you run out of gas! Win. Win.:D

Sea Filly

asherbassad wrote: »

Also I remember fresh cod being cheap and cheerful back in the 70's.....now it like friggin caviar.

That's because it was overfished and is therefore now scarce.

eth0

JohnMarston wrote: »

I agree 100% I'm currently renting a place with an electric cooker and hate it. :mad:

Also remember growing up and have a gas cooker in the house. When the line froze we would be doing the same thing to thaw it out a bit. We also had to shake the tank to see how much is left and when the flame died down on the cooker to flare it up again :pac:

Horrible yokes. Thing boils over you switch it off and has absolutely no effect for 5 minutes. Ceramic ones slightly better, gas ftw. Induction don't work with the cheap aluminium pans from China

fishy fishy

asherbassad wrote: »

A lot of food that was essentially poor man's grub in the 70's and 80's seemed to have become trendy and overpriced in later years.

Back in the day only the unwashed masses ate coddle, champ, bubble & squeak, etc. Now you pay through the nose in some restaurant for a Cumberland and some spud puree masquerading as "bangers n mash".

Also I remember fresh cod being cheap and cheerful back in the 70's.....now it like friggin caviar.

Also duffel coats.

My ma still has the same gas oven that came with the house in 1972. Still cooks to perfection. Rashers are done under the grill in about 2 minutes. So toasted rasher sambo is made in the time it takes to boil the kettle.

ah duffle coats.

everyone had one - they were bought for you to last you for the next FIVE YEARS. First couple of years you were half killed from the weight of it, until you "grew" into it. Worn day in day out, year in year out and nobody batted an eyelid. :P

Sleepy

Shenshen wrote: »

Homemade bread, preserves, pickles, etc.

My gran and mom would make these to save money, these days people will spend a fortune on a bread maker, and making your own jams and things is just soooo trendy.

Definitely, my other half loves baking but the ingredients to bake most breads cost more than the end product in the shops!

fishy fishy

Sleepy wrote: »

Definitely, my other half loves baking but the ingredients to bake most breads cost more than the end product in the shops!

yes, and years ago you had that old fashioned bowl and a wooden spoon to "mix" ingredients, giving you a workout at the same time.

Now everyone needs a "kenwood mixer" in the range of 500 Euro to mix their bread ingredients and their cream.

Seaneh

fishy fishy wrote: »

ah Massimo - not my cup of tea I'm afraid. Ate there twice and both times I felt sick after it, like as if my insides had a coat of grease on them. Had the burger once - horrible. Another time I had the chicken - it was actually floppy it was that greasy. I was thinking of the more upmarket places.

La de da.
It's a pub...

Actually, in defence of their burger, I think it's one of the better burgers in Galway.

Nevber tried the battered chicken, even the idea of battered chicken seem extremely wrong to me, never mind putting saffron into it to try ponce it up.

dan dan

JohnMarston wrote: »

Luxury. We had to siphon off freezing cold water from cement mixers to collect enough for a refreshing drink, and thats IF we were lucky!

You were posh!!! We had to squeeze horse**** for moisture like Bear Grills.