Dinner At Home

Growing up we had nearly enough food, but it was not plentiful or delicious. The dinner routine was hierarchical. Dinner was prepared by my mother and was buffet style with the food on the stove and on the kitchen counter. My father would dish up first, followed by my mother, then my brothers and finally myself. My hope was always that dad wouldn’t finish eating before I got mine, otherwise, he would get seconds before I got my first plate. 

Dinners were repetitive and often we would have the same thing night after night. Goulash was common. My mom’s goulash was a high fat hamburger with noodles and a can of tomatoes. Sometimes we would have pancakes for dinner or fried chicken, greasy fried chicken. I will say mom made the best stew and if we were lucky, she would make dumplings too. A salad for mom meant lettuce with a mayonnaise/ketchup dressing that she made. The dressing itself wasn’t bad, but plain iceberg lettuce was a bit on the simple side. If we were having salad that probably meant, we were also having hamburger patties. Or meatloaf. I hate meatloaf. Sometimes for a vegetable we would have a can of green beans. I hate that too. I remember sitting for hours after dinner stalling on finishing the food. I would try to get the dog over so I could pawn some off on her but even the dog wasn’t impressed. Occasionally, we would have Jeno’s or Totino’s pizza as a special treat. Mom would cut it into eight pieces. If you know what type of pizzas these are you would know how small each pizza piece would be. They were $.99 in the freezer section at the supermarket. For a family of five, small is an understatement. But boy were they a treat. Again, I would be the last, and I would be lucky to get a piece. Sometimes if mom was especially frivolous, she might get two of them. Canadian bacon was my favorite.

Lunches were equally exciting. A typical packed lunch for me was a half bologna with mayonnaise or peanut butter sandwich with either a banana or an apple. Families could also pay for their kids to have milk during lunch. I never got any. Every so often my school would offer what they called a hot lunch. That generally meant a hot dog and chips. I didn’t get that either. Anyway, I often would skip eating lunch or just eat a little bit like half of my overripe banana. I’m trying to remember breakfast, but I think it was largely unmemorable. Mom would buy big bags of the no name puff cereal and we would eat that, often with powdered milk. Yep. Powdered milk. On weekends sometimes there would be plain oatmeal cooked on the stove or overdone, cold fried eggs or toast smothered with butter. 

Writing about food would not be complete without mentioning snacks. Kids are hungry after school, and we were no exception. I can tell you when we opened the fridge and proclaimed there was “nothing to eat” this was no exaggeration. Although occasionally we would find a large tub of store brand peach yogurt. I would like it if it wasn’t too runny. Sometimes we would find a can of chili or ravioli which was a real treat or sometimes spam which wasn’t so bad if sliced and fried. 

My dad was diabetic and had a sweet tooth so had a special drawer for his candy. It always had something good in it, but we had to be careful so missing candy would not be noticed. Sugar free hard candy and chocolates were two of my favorites. 

During better weather I would play with my next-door neighbor, Matthew Hoffman. Matthew had a “big wheel” which I loved to ride but would have to try to discourage its use because it was loud and might disturb my father who hated kids’ noise. But that’s a different story. Anyway, Matthew’s mom kept the best snacks in stock, and I would always encourage him to get a snack because he must be hungry. His mom would always send him out with a snack for me too. Usually, a Twinkie or cookies. Her name was Nancy. My mom didn’t like her because she was so quiet, and my mom liked to talk. A lot. But again, that’s a different story. 

My grandma Michels didn’t think we ate enough so was on a personal mission to feed us. This insulted my mother. But boy could she cook. Steak, baked potatoes with all the fixings, Cornish game hens, pie...every kind, cookies, ice cream, Steinfeld’s dill pickles, omelets, and so much more were always plentiful when we visited grandma. I would always be so full but could always make room for a little bit more. Grandma also liked her wine and would buy it by the jug. I don’t know if they still sell wine by the jug. She didn’t share that with us but always had some sort of pop, often root beer or 7 up for my brothers and me. And Ocean Spray cranberry juice.

Eating out was not an option for my family. I never had a kid’s meal until I bought one myself as an older teenager. We did, however, sometimes go to Kings Table for dinner. Every couple of years there would be some special occasion that would justify a Kings Table trip. It was a buffet with meat, mashed potatoes, and all the usual things you would find at a buffet. The Kings table we went to was in St. John’s. The only other two places I remember ever going to eat out were Skippers on Lombard and Sizzlers, a steak and salad bar casual restaurant. These were rare occasions and didn’t happen much until I was able to pay my own way. 

I think you can guess that I was a pretty skinny kid.