Your Mom's Worst Meals...

[Oodalally13]

Can I add one about my grandma? I love her to bits, but her thanksgiving/dressing is like eating sawdust!

 

[barkley]

mom was a good cook who made a variety of enjoyable dishes-with the exception of anything that entailed SIMPLE baking. now she could do beautiful from scratch pies and cakes, but if it came to heating up frozen garlic bread slices, cooking up a batch of cookies or some pop and fresh rolls-they always ended up in her words "golden brown" (in everyone else's-burned beyond recognition).

 

[Neesy228]

My mom just never seasons ANYTHING. If she makes chicken breast, it is just chicken breast...no salt, pepper, spices, marinades. Nothing. Needless to say, everything she makes is a little bland. Thankfully, my MIL is an excellent cook and I've learned so much from her!

I'll throw in one from my Grandma too...she used to make liver and onions with a side of brussel sprouts. To this day, I won't touch a brussel sprout and I've not seen liver and onions since she passed away. (Thank goodness!)

 

[bntlyclg89]

Salmon patties (another Catholic!) and Swiss Steak... other than that a great cook!

 

[sasywtch]

I hate to say a bad word about my mom since she has passed but, she made the same things over and over. Rib eye steaks that were cooked to death the fat on them were black, meatloaf which was ok and beef stew. She babysat my kids until 6 so would make them dinner and they will tell you they always had beef stew. She just never learned to venture into cookbooks. However, she did make a mean Thanksgiving dinner as she grew up in England but came over here and learned that one. She tried to make pie crust only once and threw it away. She ordered pies from the church ladies. Her liver and onions, same as the rib eye. However, I was allergic so I didn't have to eat it YAH

I have to say something here and it's making me tear up a little: my dad never said a word. To me, that's the sign of love.

 

[firecracker725]

Not me. My mother, and her mother, and even her grandmother (who taught us all) were fabulous cooks. I feel so sorry for kids who have moms that either don't cook or are terrible cooks.

 

[POOHsie]

I've been there with the fried-up leftovers. I hate them and the way they smell. But one fried leftover I absolutely loved was fried spaghetti. Dad would take leftover cooked spaghetti pasta (no sauce on it), add butter and salt, and fry it up. You had to keep adding butter but eventually most of it would get a crisp on it (like hash browns that are riced). It was like a gourmet snack. I've made it a few times but the butter amount makes it a rare treat.

I hate most leftovers that are eaten cold. Like cold leftover fried chicken. Or cold meatloaf. Mom would make us leftover meatloaf sandwiches for school. White bread, cold slab of meatloaf, ketchup. I hated the sight of coagulated grease in the meat and I hated the soggy bread with the ketchup taste. Ugh!

 

[Paradise18]

I spent a lot of weekends staying with my grandparents. My grandmother was many things but a good cook was not one of them. I'm sure she could have written a cookbook on how to disguise burned chicken. Luckily for her, I don't think my grandfather had any taste buds.

 

[MidgeD79]

creamed chip beef on toast and liver and onions

 

[Jedana]

Did your Mom (Dad, grandparent, household help) cook anything particularly disgusting when you were growing up?

My mother's meatloaf used to be pretty bad. It had Minute Rice in it, and was very dry. She used an envelope of powdered brown dust to make a gravy for it. She finally discovered the Lipton Onion Soup recipe when I was a teen, and that was much better. DW's meatloaf was vile too, until I taught her the correct way to make it.

Any kind of beef or pork chops were cooked until the molecules changed into solid steel. Vegetables almost always from a can, even potatoes. About three or four times a summer we got fresh corn on the cob.

My father liked everything very well done and vegetables mushy. After he died, her cooking improved. To be fair, there was plenty of good stuff too.

Paternal grandmother made fishcakes. Tuna, shreds of whatever stale bread was around (rye, pumpernickel, Kaiser rolls, etc.), then coated in bread crumbs and fried (probably in lard). Hard as a rock. We called them Cannon Balls. She also used to boil beef liver and then drink the liquid it was cooked in after it cooled.

Maternal grandmother put bits of fatback (salt pork) in sauerkraut.

(At least none of them ever served a canned chicken.)

Anyone else? Even if your Mom was a great cook, Shirley she had a failure or two.

Don't call her Shirley.

Mom was a decent cook. I think the worst thing that either of my parents made was chipped beef on toast. They just never got the white gravy right. Oh, and chicken and dumplings. The dumplings would NEVER cook through---always raw in the center. /gag

Dad's girlfriend----she made this nasty casserole. Minute Rice (a whole big box), 6 cans of Cream of soup (2 each mushroom, chicken and celery), canned chicken chunks, and cheddar cheese on top. Blech.

I was better off than DH, though. His mom couldn't even make Hamburger Helper. Not kidding---she would cook it (without meat) until it was mush, then fry it with the meat. My kids had the pleasure of her chicken and dumplings too---glue dumplings is what they called it. She has made one edible meal in the time I've known her (so 8 years), and it was a shrimp boil. The potatoes were still crunchy but the shrimp were cooked.

 

[mom2rtk]

Liver and onions. There was nowhere to hide from that smell on liver and onions night.

And oyster stew. Every Christmas Eve. Why ruin a great night for kids with something like that?

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

I lived with my dad growing up. He was single for a long time and even when he married my step-mother he still did the cooking.
*I* happen to love my dad's cooking, but everyone else thinks it's gross.
Some gross to others, but faves of mine:
-Hot dogs and baked beans. It HAS to be Nathan's in Bush's beans cooked down until it's super thick
-Kraft(ONLY Kraft) mac and cheese made with a pack and a half of cheese and added Lea and Perrins(yep)
-White bread pizzas
-Peanut butter pancakes with jelly wrapped around sausage

I ate like a frat boy growing up

 

[Andtototoo]

My mother was not naturally skilled, plus my father had certain cooking rules. The result was a lot of bad food.

Example: All meat had to be fried... in Crisco Shortening. Yup. And when in doubt, put butter on top of the cooked meat in a big glob. I can remember my father buying an expensive cut of steak as a celebration dinner and it had to be fried in shortening. Neither my sister nor I knew the broiler was for anything other than storing pans until we were adults.

Example: Why bother peeling and cutting a potato when there are cut and peeled potatoes in cans? That you can fry up. In Crisco Shortening.

Example: Canned vegetables are just as good as fresh... even when you can get the fresh for free from a relative's garden. And the canned vegetables must be boiled for 20 minutes.

They also both insisted that there was no such thing as a food allergy or even a strong food preference.

Example: For some reason, while I can eat rice and hamburger, I can not eat them mixed together such as in stuffed pepper. Also, keep in mind that the rice was Minute Rice. My parents insisted that I was being "picky" when I would vomit up my stuffed pepper dinner. They would insist I eat it and I would vomit every time. My entire life they insisted -- despite all evidence to the contrary -- that it couldn't be that there was something in that combination that upset my stomach. Nope. I was doing it to be "dramatic."

I was really skinny as a kid and I think it's largely because I only ate enough to keep my body going and no more.

My mother did make one thing really well -- her turkey stuffing. We have that recipe and still use it today. There is literally nothing else that I would choose to replicate of hers.

My MIL was also a really bad cook.

 

[Dawnlight]

My mom was a single, working mom so meals were usually quick, cheap, and simple. My least favorite was Rice-a-Roni with kielbasa. Ugh, just thinking about it brings that taste to my mouth. She also was a fan of Brussels sprouts, but she always got the frozen kind and boiled them- disgusting. I had a hate for those veggies for the longest time. I love them now, but only buy fresh, usually on the stalk and roast them.

 

[xlsm]

I echo a PP that said they used to hate steak. My mom and step dad only eat it WELL done. Gross. Now that I know how I like it (medium), I love steak!
My mom also used to put SUGAR in macaroni and cheese. It was horrific. Needless to say, we ate out a lot. Of course, we ate Chinese take out so often, my DH and kids have to beg me to go to Chinese restaurants. Don't even talk to me about chicken fried rice. Thanks, mom,lol!

 

[Happy Snowman]

My mom was a good cook and although I did not like them, those that did thought they were good. I could NOT eat her split pea soup or liver and onions.

 

[Gigi22]

The PP who wrote about their mother making boiled liver took me back to one of my mom's worst meals. Liver boiled in an iron frying pan, served with ketchup. Then there was the dreaded beef stew, boiled stewing beef with carrots, onions and potatoes. Then, to thicken, she stirred in flour. The gravy was always lumpy and light gray. She made a mean t.v. dinner though. My dad's favorite treat had anything mom could do beat, he would open a can of kippered herrings and eat them out of the tin. The smell would drive us all out of the kitchen!

 

[soccerdad72]

Tuna noodle casserole - made me dread Lent every year.

 

[BrianL]

My Mom can be a GREAT cook when she knows what she's making, but she likes to experiment. Sometimes those experiments result in the most amazing things...but she never remembers exactly how she made it. Subsequent attempts range from "nice try" to "bleeech!" The stuff she does well is always excellent!

Growing up, my Grandmother was the primary cook and, well, she liked pretty bland food. Even a little black pepper was enough to have her saying "it's burning my mouth!" She's from New England, so it's not surprising. New England Boiled Dinner was a common dish. Fortunately, my Southern Grandfather could deal with the matter with pepper sauce and other treatments. He and I both never met a dish that was too spicy!

On the plus side, my Grandmother made THE BEST hamburgers, sometimes just served as the patty alone. They were so good it wasn't an issue!

 

[BrianL]

I echo a PP that said they used to hate steak. My mom and step dad only eat it WELL done. Gross. Now that I know how I like it (medium), I love steak!
My mom also used to put SUGAR in macaroni and cheese. It was horrific. Needless to say, we ate out a lot. Of course, we ate Chinese take out so often, my DH and kids have to beg me to go to Chinese restaurants. Don't even talk to me about chicken fried rice. Thanks, mom,lol!

I was in that boat too. My aforementioned Grandmother could really murder a steak. For years I just didn't like it because it was so hard to eat!

Regarding Chinese food, I always HATED it as a kid. HATED. I would eat only rice. It turns out that my family only ordered from what must be the worst Chinese restaurant to ever exist. Today I absolutely love GOOD Chinese food! I don't know what they liked about that place.