memories of shopping

Back in the early eighties my Mum wrote about her life and gave a copy each to me and my brother in large photograph albums along with some old black and white photos.
I'm now copying it along with memories from my Grandma and what we know about my Great Gran and my own memories for my boys and their boys.

The following is from Mum:

Shopping was fun when I was little - nothing was pre-packed. 

There was no plastic or polythene and all goods reached the shops in bulk and were weighed out by the shop assistant. 

Sugar came in blue bags - about 1cwt, in each I should think, and the assistant would use a scoop and weigh it out, then make a cone out of paper, twist the bottom and put the sugar in, folding over the top deftly and neatly so that none came out. 

I was always fascinated by the speed and accuracy with which this was done. 

All dry goods were sold in these paper cones before paper bags came into favour. 

Butter was the other interesting commodity - it came in a large block and the required amount would be cut off with a pair of butter pats, patted this way and that until it was a neat shape and swiftly wrapped in greaseproof paper. 

Assistants were expert at cutting off just the right amount and rarely had to take any off or put any more on. 

Bacon was sliced to order, and different thicknesses were numbered. When cooked the bacon was delicious - it didn’t ooze salt as it does now, but just just crisped up beautifully. 

Salt came in a block, about 10”x4”x4”, and my job was to cut this up as required and put it in a large jam jar - a horrible job if you happened to have a cut in your finger! 

Biscuits were weighed out from a 7lb tin, and the residue were sold very cheaply as broken biscuits, [these could still be found when I was a teen] and usually contained a good proportion of cream wafers, as these broke most easily! 

There were very few tinned goods and if things were out of season you just didn’t have them. Fruit was a luxury, which was why we always had an orange and a few nuts in our Christmas stocking - a great treat. 

Apples were for the summer, and bananas rarely if ever. Grapes were strictly for the sick as they were expensive. There was a Music Hall joke about snobs who always had a bowl of fruit in the parlour window, to kid everyone they were rich!