The Food Part of the Reid House -Cherry

Does everybody remember the locked freezer out in the garage? Mom would stock up on wonderful goodies for lunches from the Hostess outlet Store….there were things like Ding Dongs, Twinkies (cake like tubes filled with cream), Zingers (cake like tubes filled with cream but were coated in a strawberry type frosting smothered with coconut), little powered sugared donuts, Etc.  OH how fun when mom brought home a haul from the Hostess store….. You just knew you would be the envy of the school lunch bench! At this time I would like to make a CONFESSION… I knew the key was just right on top of the freezer and I would use that key especially if there was nothing to my liking in the kitchen and I had just been swimming, OH those hostess treats tasted SO dang good….funny how tastes change cause you couldn’t pay me to eat any of that stuff now…ok if you paid me A LOT I might… especially if there was nothing else in my kitchen and I just finished swimming.

I remember cereal being a big staple around our house. Captain Crunch, Life, Rice Krispy’s, Chex, Cheerios those were the favorite cereals and then it seemed like there was ALWAYS corn flakes but that was definitely the EMERGENCY cereal that you ate ONLY when the good stuff was all gone. Speaking of emergency’s there was also an EMERGENCY Candy….it was that horehound brown stick of sugar that Grandma Reid always got for Dad, mistakenly thinking he loved it….when apparently he didn’t because he always had a drawer full (top drawer of his “Chester drawers”) and if you really needed some candy you could find it there but you really had to be desperate because while it was candy it really wasn’t very good.

Another staple was white bread, We always had that on hand, if we were hungry we were told go have a piece of bread.

Cranberry Juice…..There always seemed to be a gallon of it in the refrigerator because it helped fight Dad’s kidney stones…it was completely off limits to us kids and we were told we wouldn’t like it, but it always looked so refreshing….and while it was off limits AGAIN confessing I was known to take a little sip from time to time. And to this day I LOVE cranberry juice.

About  family dinner I remember LOVING the nights Grandma would come over and make dinner because when she cooked it was like having a “Sunday” dinner on a weeknight. I loved her pasta dishes, I loved her enchilada’s I loved her meat and potatoes meals and especially her gravy and her baked rolls. I loved her cakes and pies. AND while it wasn’t common to have dessert every night if she made dinner you could count on dessert. One meal she would make at least once a month was Liver and Onions….NOW  this meal I HATED it was PRUE tortoure, it smelled bad, looked awful and tasted like the most vile thing you’d ever want to eat, despite Grandma telling us how beneficial it was for us. You didn’t have to eat it but if you didn’t NO dessert. I always ate it Dessert was not something I ever wanted to miss. I STILL hate liver,  one thing I remember hating as a kid but love now is brussel sprouts I thought those mini heads of lettuce were just green balls of nastiness but now I love them. On regular nights that Grandma wasn’t cooking for us I remember liking spaghetti or burrito nights.

Sunday Dinner or Dinner when company was over were by far my favorite…..NO expense was spared there was always at least 4 things you loved whether it was fresh rolls (if we were really lucky there would be mom’s orange rolls), a yummy salad with a great dressing, a jello of some kind, a potato side dish, a fresh vegetable and a main dish probably some kind of beef. My favorite was Swiss steak. Does everyone remember when Michael went through his Potatoes ONLY phase? Even when we would have this great company meal all Michael would eat was a plate full of mashed potatoes.

Of my childhood favorites I still to this day say Mom’s stuffing is the best in all of the world. And I feel like I’ve talked too much about food, I’m hungry so that’s all I’m going to say on this subject.
                 Food there was always Dad's goulash. Dad picked whatever there was in the house and made dinner out of it. Sometimes it was really yummy others not so much. I don't ever remember going to bed hungry not once in my entire childhood. I know that there was always popcorn always butter cheese eggs tortillas and lunch meat. There was usually chips and salsa. I remember going to the grocery store often. I remember that the first day after Mom had gone shopping we feasted on all the "good" stuff. I remember it didn't take us long to clear out the cupboards. I remember we would walk to Gemco and 7 11 to buy candy. I remember that once Cherry go Mr. Blue I wanted her to drive me to 711 everyday. I never liked Brussels sprouts or lima beans. I still don't care for lima beans. Moms stuffing and orange rolls will always be my favorite part of Thanksgiving. It just doesn't seem like Thanksgiving to me without them. I love good food and I am sure that comes from being a Reid.   -Natalie
       I remember a big pot of grease sitting on the stove. Solid white like Crisco. -Mike
       
       I remember having to be quick on the draw at the dinner table when food was served. There was always enough, it just always went quickly. Dad's spaghetti was always one of the best dinners, his mashed potatoes were always a tasty treat as well. Slurpees after a soccer game were also a favorite. -Joey

Survival Food STAPLES

Funny that there seemed to be an endless supply of corn tortillas and cheese. I think that I became an expert at frying them up like chips by the time that I was eight. Homemade Nachos were almost a daily occurance. La Fiesta was a favorite resturant and I used to try so hard to make my chips taste just like theirs. The perfect amount of crisp and salt. For some reason I remember those giant bags of carob chips. Zingers were great right out of the deep freezer but they weren't there more than a few days after mom made her weekly shopping trip. I remember groceries costing almost $300.00 It is a good thing that Dad was always a good provider! One of my favorite meals growing up was potatoe soup and BLT's. That plate would be spilling over with BLT's and moments after the prayer empty. One thing that is universal to Reids is we know how to consume good food! -Natalie