Over 50's club

3 lurkers | 323 watchers

Nellers Aug 2023 9:37am, 7 Aug 2023 41,051 posts	0 Nellers I don't remember not having a fridge but I do remember that the fridge in the kitchen when I was little (so we're talking up to maybe mid-70s) was a gas rather than electric appliance. I don't remember ever seeing another gas fridge ever anywhere but your question jogged my memory. Dad worked for The Gas Board (then EMGas and eventually retired from National Grid I think) so anything that could be gas was gas because he got big discounts. Gas cooker, fridge, central heating, fire etc.
Velociraptor Aug 2023 9:38am, 7 Aug 2023 64,830 posts	0 Velociraptor My parents had a walk-in (or at least step-inside, I'm probably remembering it being bigger than it was) pantry in the first house I lived in. My grandparents, in a bigger council house of the same vintage, only had a built in cupboard. I wonder if Gran was jealous and went on and on about how her cupboard was better than Mum's cupboard, like she did when my parents were first to get a colour television. Should've asked Mum when I got a chance.
Fenland Flier Aug 2023 9:39am, 7 Aug 2023 9,634 posts	0 Fenland Flier I can remember our pantry having a tiled stone slab and I can remember using a bucket with water in to try and keep the milk. I think folk had more time back then and more butchers about so bought meat more frequently than once a week from the non existent supermarket.
riggys99 Aug 2023 9:46am, 7 Aug 2023 2,317 posts	0 riggys99 Our house built in the early 60s had a small pantry that does keep cool most of the year. We do store food in it but it’s things like bread crisp and tea bags. When we had a touring caravan the fridge could run on gas or electric.
3M Aug 2023 9:50am, 7 Aug 2023 21,800 posts	0 3M We had a fridge for as far back as I can remember... although my grandparents also had a superior model with an icebox compartment that you make ice lollies in, and could fit a block of ice cream in! You had to walk to the corner shop at the bottom of their lane and buy a block of ice cream which was wrapped in newspaper, and eventually they got a little polystyrene box to transport it in instead! We did have a weird little yellow cupboard with some kind of "holey" plaster dish built into the top, that you poured water into to cool the inside by evaporation. Was that a meat safe? We used to keep milk in it. (Why not in the fridge? Dunno!) Although living in Carlisle as a child I don't think too much heat was ever a problem in the early 1960s!
Ocelot Spleens Aug 2023 9:50am, 7 Aug 2023 37,760 posts	0 Ocelot Spleens Our old house in Wembley, 1930s. Pantry on the North facing corner. Wooden door with metal grill. Previous house in Paddington, late 1800s terrace, kitchen then scullery below ground level walk in pantry at the very back.
jda Aug 2023 9:53am, 7 Aug 2023 15,269 posts	0 jda My mother still has the fridge that I remember from my childhood. It was never big enough for a family of 5, but she refused to throw it out and get a bigger one while it was still working. It's now fine for her living by herself! But I do wonder how many times over she could have saved the price of a new one in running costs. A big chest freezer sometime around my early teens was an exciting upgrade that must have helped a lot with food storage and bulk cooking - a habit that I've also kept up.
LindsD Aug 2023 10:03am, 7 Aug 2023 63,287 posts	0 LindsD We had a walk-in pantry with a cold slab (enormous stone slab) in my parents' house, which was built in the 1930s. We also had a fridge. None of my friends who lived on the estate (built 60s/70s I guess) had a pantry. I liked our pantry. I think Mum went to the shops/market every day when we were small, before she got the freezer. I know she hated her life.
Hanneke Aug 2023 11:14am, 7 Aug 2023 108,239 posts	0 Hanneke I don't remember if we had a fridge or not when I was little. I do remember however DAILY deliveries from the baker, milkman, butcher and greengrocer. Therefore I assume we had no fridge in our first house...
Sigh Aug 2023 12:51pm, 7 Aug 2023 21,770 posts	0 Sigh I recall that Mom's fridge packed up during the heatwave of '76, and no-one noticed until we'd all got ill.