I don't know if it was from her days as "Sister Mary Gregory", or if my Mom was raised like this, but when I was a youngster we had a very strict menu in our house. My Dad was a meat and potatoes man, so we never had things like pizza for dinner, or tacos, or spaghetti. I introduced these into our household when I was in junior high. Even then our taco meat was actually sloppy joe meat, and usually reserved for a time when my folks were going out to dinner. I took cooking in 4H when I was maybe eleven, and that's how spaghetti finally made the menu.
We had things like pizza and sloppy joes, but they were on the lunch menu only. Breakfast would vary, but Saturday was always pancakes and sausage, and Sunday was bacon and fried eggs.
Monday: Hamburger of some sort, meatloaf most likely. Might be hash if there was left over roast. (gag)
Tuesday: Baked chicken, with baked potato and a veggie. One of the better nights, unless the veggie was canned peas.
Wednesday: Steak night. The cheapest cut available, and it usually was "onion steak" meaning topped with onion soup mix and broiled. This is better known as "The reason Joanie rarely eats steak." If it wasn't steak it could be some random hot dish or new (shudder) thing my Mom was trying.
Thursday: I can't recall, so it was probably a day where we might have hot dog hot dish (DA BOMB!) or something nasty like liver. We didn't have "Cheery Chops" on the weekend, so that could have reared it's ugly head on a Thursday too. My sister still makes that God awful stuff. *shudder*
Friday: Fish. Always fish. Good thing we all liked fish. It was kind of fun when we were a little older and the family got a deep frier. Then we had fried shrimp and clams and "exotic" things like that. Plus we always had spinach on Friday. The canned kind. Ish.
Saturday: Pork, in the form of chops or steak. They were cut thin, and must be broiled enough to be crunchy...... Not as bad as what they did to steak.
Sunday: Pork roast or beef roast with potato, onion, and carrots, or there might be ham!
We had dessert every night of the week. It was usually cake, but sometimes pudding. Of course I had to eat my dinner to get to that point, so I many times I didn't have dessert. Most people fondly remember their mother's cooking. I am not one of them. I think the only thing I make that is from the good old days is Hot Dog Hot dish. (DA BOMB) I did love her garlic bread and home made buns though, and she made amazing cookies! So there is that. Lemon tortes, fudge....... yeah, she had a good handle on the desserts!
After much consideration, maybe with three young kids and a part time job the menu schedule was just a way to make her own life easier. I know that when I had a household to run and was working full time I would create a two week menu to shop off of, and that comes directly from watching my Mom. It makes things a lot less easier when you don't have to think about what's for dinner. However, there weren't any cheery chops or liver on that menu, and many times I eat dessert first, just because I can! ;)
We had things like pizza and sloppy joes, but they were on the lunch menu only. Breakfast would vary, but Saturday was always pancakes and sausage, and Sunday was bacon and fried eggs.
Monday: Hamburger of some sort, meatloaf most likely. Might be hash if there was left over roast. (gag)
Tuesday: Baked chicken, with baked potato and a veggie. One of the better nights, unless the veggie was canned peas.
Wednesday: Steak night. The cheapest cut available, and it usually was "onion steak" meaning topped with onion soup mix and broiled. This is better known as "The reason Joanie rarely eats steak." If it wasn't steak it could be some random hot dish or new (shudder) thing my Mom was trying.
Thursday: I can't recall, so it was probably a day where we might have hot dog hot dish (DA BOMB!) or something nasty like liver. We didn't have "Cheery Chops" on the weekend, so that could have reared it's ugly head on a Thursday too. My sister still makes that God awful stuff. *shudder*
Friday: Fish. Always fish. Good thing we all liked fish. It was kind of fun when we were a little older and the family got a deep frier. Then we had fried shrimp and clams and "exotic" things like that. Plus we always had spinach on Friday. The canned kind. Ish.
Saturday: Pork, in the form of chops or steak. They were cut thin, and must be broiled enough to be crunchy...... Not as bad as what they did to steak.
Sunday: Pork roast or beef roast with potato, onion, and carrots, or there might be ham!
We had dessert every night of the week. It was usually cake, but sometimes pudding. Of course I had to eat my dinner to get to that point, so I many times I didn't have dessert. Most people fondly remember their mother's cooking. I am not one of them. I think the only thing I make that is from the good old days is Hot Dog Hot dish. (DA BOMB) I did love her garlic bread and home made buns though, and she made amazing cookies! So there is that. Lemon tortes, fudge....... yeah, she had a good handle on the desserts!
After much consideration, maybe with three young kids and a part time job the menu schedule was just a way to make her own life easier. I know that when I had a household to run and was working full time I would create a two week menu to shop off of, and that comes directly from watching my Mom. It makes things a lot less easier when you don't have to think about what's for dinner. However, there weren't any cheery chops or liver on that menu, and many times I eat dessert first, just because I can! ;)
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