chicken drumsticks - kid food?

[L&Lfan]

One kiddie food I used to like but now think are dreadful are Spaghetti-Os.

 

[QueenIsabella]

In our house, Stouffer's is "the good mac and cheese". We don't have it very often--my younger two could eat an entire "party size" pan of the stuff which isn't cheap! But for special occasions, that's what we have.

I don't have chicken drumsticks very often, because I'm not a fan. Don't know why--I mostly get thighs, maybe because they're meatier? If we have chicken, I never have the drums. But, I did happen to get a package the other day for cheap, so DH grilled them up with barbecue sauce, and they were delicious. I still prefer to get thighs, though.

My youngest is 12, and kind of picky, so I make a lot of comfort food. Actually, DS21 is also quite picky--he has Asperger's, and doesn't like any kind of sauce (except barbecue), or anything coated, like Shake 'n Bake. Pasta is a popular option here, as are family standards--meatloaf, grilled chicken, pork tenderloin, and a lot of crockpot meals. Oh, and I make the best chicken noodle soup on the planet--just ask my kids.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I’d rather have Kraft Macaroni & cheese than ANY other version I’ve ever tried. I usually don’t even take a helping of any other version. I just made a box last night that someone gave me in a gift basket. I hadn’t had it in over 30 years. I don’t think it’s as orange as it used to be in the ‘80s.


I also love chili dogs, corn dogs and Campbell’s Cream of Tomato soup.

Same here.

 

[scrhsa]

It's nearly pointless for me to buy chicken legs. My husband is a big man and tiny legs don't cut it Plus, he generally doesn't like chicken on the bone. That's almost all they fixed when he was in the Coast Guard.

One of my childhood favorites that I still eat is the tyson breaded chicken patties. I'll buy them every once in a while and do up a big chicken patty sandwhich. Most of my favorite childhood meals were ones my Mom made from scratch. Roast beef, okra gumbo, oyster stew and my Dad's fried fish and oysters. And I still eat all those but I CANNOT for the life of me get them to taste like my Moms

 

[Julie's Haircut]

One kiddie food I used to like but now think are dreadful are Spaghetti-Os.

Yep, I used to like most of those canned pastas as a kid and teen and even into my mid 20's. Now I think they're vile. I've been noticing "throwback" Beefaroni and others recently in the supermarket. I don't remember the cans ever being yellow. Yeah, they are "premium." So they admit their current versions are trash?

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I forgot how much I liked them! I think this is the first time I've thought to buy them since my boys left home. I used to buy them often, especially if the boys had friends coming over. Cheap, easy, and always popular. We marinated them in italian salad dressing and grilled them tonight. Do you buy packages of drumsticks?

So, this is a two part question. It kind of got me thinking about childhood favorites and foods that are, according to articles I keep seeing online, no longer popular. I still love sloppy joes, tuna casserole, chili dogs, etc. I've certainly added "newer" recipes to the mix, but I still love some of my childhood favorites. and consider them comfort foods. What childhood favorites do you still enjoy?

I will buy drumsticks, thighs and leg quarters as prices dictate. Best part of the chicken. Wings have gotten so expensive lately, they're more expensive than breasts. Why eat an expensive wannabe leg when you can just eat the leg?

As for kiddie foods.
Hot dogs are kiddy food but Chili dogs aren't exactly kiddy food.

But they're still around. I ate many a hot dog as a kid. I really don't eat many hot dogs any more of any kind.
Sloppy Joes. Still make them myself on occasion. Still popular from what I can see.
Tuna casserole or tuna salad or tuna salad sandwiches. BLECH. Didn't like em as a kid, don't like em now. But I do enjoy fresh Tuna.
P B and J. Don't really eat it any more. But it isn't going anywhere from what I can see. Still popular.
Fish Sticks. I have tried them only twice since I was a kid. I would have not thought it actually possible but the quality has fallen off since I was a kid. I just remember deep sea delights from my school's "cafeteria." It was a fish stick on a left over hot dog bun with some disgusting tartar sauce. They would do the same with tunafish. Some of us on occasion could swear we tasted essence of hot dog as if they recycled the bun after they had put a hot dog on it. I put cafeteria in quotes because my school's cafeteria was a central location. Then they trucked the food to my school where we were actually served in the janitor's closet and we went back to our rooms to eat. It was lukewarm at best. These days, they'd never pass any inspection. Gordon Ramsey would totally puke. And we often did too.
The ultimate kiddy food, and the ultimate adult food, Heck, just the ultimate food. Pizza. Still popular. Still eat it.
Chef boy R D Mom refused to serve us that. I've never really eaten it. Tried it just once. Not for me.
Mac N cheese. I make my own these days. But every so often, I hanker for the flavor of the boxed. And it must be powdered. Not that mix with the cheese in the can.

 

[amberpi]

I didn’t eat a lot of the mentioned “kids” foods as a child because my folks weren’t fans of a lot of the mentioned dishes, but I had plenty others! I actually don’t know if I’ve ever had a sloppy joe for instance, but I certainly ate my weight in pizza and tacos, etc. growing up...and now. We ate food, some healthy, some convenience, some junk. We did get lots of shells and cheese which I still stand as better than kraft...the kids disagree with me though (and god forbid you put pepper in it!), so when we have Mac and cheese, I eat it, and when we’re having tagine for dinner the kids eat that. I will say one thing, I’m far too lazy to ever cook 2 meals, like way, way too lazy. If the kids are being picky, I’m happy to lay into a pb sandwich with them though

One of my favorite “kids” food from childhood I recently bought in an instacart fury of buying - turkey and cheese lunchables. I know they are full of preservatives and probably terrible for you, but I’m not sorry.

Drumsticks/thighs happen as overgrown wings here, usually on the grill/smoker and then sauced. Heaven!

 

[Wishing on a star]

I like drumsticks and thighs!
If it is just drumsticks, I like them fried, like KFC. (don't do that to often though!)
The thing with drumsticks and thighs or leqquarters is that you shouldn't over cook them, or they do begin to cook down to the tendons.
For a healthy baked / roasted chicken, I put the legquarters in a baking pan, with like 1/2 inch of water. Season with salt, garlic powder, chili powder, and Tony Chacheres' Herbs-N-Spice... My son loves that. Sometimes just a simpler salt,garlic and parsley for DH and for me. Have to have that water, or, yes, they can over-cook or reach too high a temperature... begin to dry up and just be greasy. The way I do them, they are really good!

Mac-and-Cheese is always good for everybody!!!!
I do make home-made. Kraft just doesn't do it. Gotta have home-made with lots of quality real cheese.

No Chef-Boy-R-D for me. it doesn't agree with me???????
I did try the ThrowBack recipe.. Maybe I got an off batch, but I didn't think it was good.

 

[RedAngie]

Why does this not surprise me?

You know me too well.

 

[luvsJack]

Chef Boy R D was not something I ever would eat. My kids all liked it at one time but I don’t think any of them will eat it now. My dil used to eat it straight out of a can—literally. Yuck.

My mom cooked from scratch when she cooked and a lot of good old southern food but we still had fish sticks, hot dogs, Kraft Mac and cheese and even nights of TV dinners (with the foil covering and baked in the oven). I will still pick up the Banquet Turkey dinners and chicken pot pies. Not too awful when I come home from work not wanting to see the inside of the kitchen.

My granddaughters will ask for Mac and cheese so one night I made a great one. All the wonderful cheeses and bread crumbs on top. It was sooo good. My oldest dgd came in the kitchen while I was making the cheese sauce and asked “where is the powder?” Lol learned quickly that they weren’t impressed with the homemade stuff. So on the nights they spend with us, I just pull out the blue box. Homemade is made in holidays.

 

[DisneyHardin]

Count me in as another lover of Kraft boxed mac and cheese. In our family if we had "homemade" mac and cheese that meant Mom melted Velveeta over macaroni noodles.

 

[Floridaman999]

My boys tell me the Kroger brand mac and cheese is the closest to old school Kraft from back in the day.

 

[wenrob]

My boys tell me the Kroger brand mac and cheese is the closest to old school Kraft from back in the day.

It is.

 

[North of Mouse]

Still love chicken drumsticks (air fried now) or in chicken/sausage gumbo (need those bone pieces). Hot dogs are still a favorite too.

 

[tvguy]

I can't remember the last time we bought anything other than boneless skinless chicken. We did have drumsticks when I was a kid 50 years ago, but not sure they even sold boneless chicken then. I was a teen in the early 1970's during the beef boycott, so I kind of got burned out on chicken then. And my wife insists on chicken once a week. So I can't win.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Had chicken drumsticks myself this weekend!

 

[aristocatz]

I have a secret passion for tuna fish and Frito sandwiches and also Chef Boyardee Ravioli-completely brings me back to my childhood lol

 

[NotUrsula]

Since when is the cheaper cut of the bird classified as a "kid food"? I've never heard that opinion in my life. I make drumsticks all the time, or thighs; really doesn't matter which if I'm making dark meat. I don't do wings, though; too much bone/skin to meat ratio -- I'm not paying a premium price for weight we are not going to eat. Sometimes if we are in a "finger food" mood I'll make drumsticks from a "wing" recipe.

 

[Sparkly]

Our kid food in the UK is slightly different- Heinz canned pasta shaped like cartoon characters, fish fingers, those delicious petit filous fromage frais, dairylea in sandwiches...Haven't had the latter two in years and years.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Since when is the cheaper cut of the bird classified as a "kid food"? I've never heard that opinion in my life. I make drumsticks all the time, or thighs; really doesn't matter which if I'm making dark meat. I don't do wings, though; too much bone/skin to meat ratio -- I'm not paying a premium price for weight we are not going to eat. Sometimes if we are in a "finger food" mood I'll make drumsticks from a "wing" recipe.

Yeah, wings are rarely worth buying. I'm old enough to remember when they were sold for cheap, because they were used mostly to make soup. Now, they're more expensive than boneless breasts!

I generally prefer thighs to drums, only because they're usually sold at the same price, and thighs are meatier. But I would think a good wing recipe, made with drums, could make a great party food.