Neither of my grandmothers were very good cooks… one would put a roast in the oven and put peas–canned on to boil at the same time. Ditto potatoes. Then when she made gravy, she’d use tap water. Ugh. I hated peas for years. However, she made amazing Yorkshire pudding.
The other one would boil all her roasts…drove my mother crazy. Neither of them baked, so it was always store bought cookies… She kept a garden and we always had fresh vegetables… I remember shelling peas and digging for carrots.
I know for sure they loved cake with their afternoon coffee which sometimes was “ersatz” coffee or “Muckefuck” as the substitute was called. The cake would go off sometimes, especially in summer since it couldn’t be kept cool. I don’t regret that I didn’t have to eat with them very often. Soups for lunch and bread, butter, and sausages were a regular part of their diet that definitely lacked variety despite the fact that they belonged to the chosen few who had a garden where they could grow vegetables. I often wondered what they drank during the day. Drinking two and a half litre a day which is commonly recommended nowadays was probably an illusion.
