25 People Share Forgotten Childhood Meals They Don’t Eat Anymore

In a world where culinary trends evolve rapidly and global flavors dominate our plates, there’s something deeply comforting about revisiting the meals of our childhood. Recently, Reddit users have been engaging in a delightful trip down memory lane, sharing the foods they enjoyed in their younger years but rarely, if ever, indulge in today.

#1

Image source: UpNorth_123, Willis Lam (not the actual photo)

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

#2

Image source: uplifting_southerner, Kai Hendry/Flickr (not the actual photo)

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

#3

Image source: nom_of_your_business, Chris Larkee/Flickr (not the actual photo)

Jello pudding pops.

#4

Image source: UpNorth_123, Willis Lam (not the actual photo)

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

#5

Image source: uplifting_southerner, Kai Hendry/Flickr (not the actual photo)

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

#6

Image source: nom_of_your_business, Chris Larkee/Flickr (not the actual photo)

Jello pudding pops.

#7

Image source: andmen2015, atodaso/(not the actual photo)

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

#8

Image source: MinkSableSeven, Ben Welsh/Flickr (not the actual photo)

Grilled cheese sandwiches, cut diagonally.

#9

Image source: Northernfrog, lady__jane (not the actual photo)

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

#10

Image source: strawbrimlk, Kiwanna’s Kitchen (not the actual photo)

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.

#11

Image source: large_crimson_canine, Cayobo/Flickr (not the actual photo)

Sloppy joes.

#12

Image source: WordsUnthought, Xiaoyin (Yin) Li (not the actual photo)

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

#13

Image source: emmyfro, Karl Baron/Flickr (not the actual photo)

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

#14

Image source: kilroyscarnival, Amy Ross/Flickr (Not the actual photo)

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

#15

Image source: Missscarlettheharlot, jeffreyw/ Flickr (not the actual photo)

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.

#16

Image source: xenpiffle, Mike Mozart/Flickr (not the actual photo)

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.

#17

Image source: todlee, wendalltwolf (not the actual photo)

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.

#18

Image source: anglerfishtacos, Tom Ray/Flickr (Not the actual photo)

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

Also drinking milk with everything.

#19

Image source: Runzas_In_Wonderland, kindlythankful (not the actual photo)

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.

#20

Image source: itsf*ckingpizzatime, Karl-Martin Skontorp/Flickr (not the actual photo)

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

#21

Image source: Ms_Emilys_Picture, Paul-Belgium (not the actual photo)

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.

#22

Image source: redrosebeetle, david__jones/Flickr (not the actual photo)

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

#23

Image source: dirthawker0, Mike Mozart/Flickr (not the actual photo)

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.

#24

Image source: Toastwich, pelican/ Flickr (not the actual photo)

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.

#25

Image source: snakeravencat, qhqy (not the actual photo)

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.