Monday 19 December 2022

December 19th

 A couple of weeks ago I had a big tidy up of my fat recipe folder - which is polythene pockets in a very old ring binder. Some of the pockets had split and every time I moved the folder half the things fell out.

A big sort out and many recipes that had been saved but unused for years have gone into the recycling. The useful recipes put into  some new polythene pockets and everything is tidy again.

At the back of the ring-binder were 2 polythene pocket things full of Christmas Cuttings and clippings from old magazines, some dating back to the 70's.


When I started maternity leave in 1980 one of the ladies I worked with in the library gave me a whole pile of old Family Circle Magazines to keep me occupied during the rest of the waiting time. I seem to remember it being  a nice little magazine, more down to earth than many that came later.

Perhaps pages from one of those old Family Circle mags is that discoloured collection in the middle, featuring Mary Berry - years before she became more famous through Bake Off.
I use her Christmas cake recipe and there are cuttings there that I refer too when I'm doing the spiced nuts each Christmas, but other than that I've not looked at them for years.

I put all the Christmas cuttings back in their pockets - perhaps someone will find them useful after I've gone!

 
Back Tomorrow
Sue

30 comments:

  1. can you please share your Christmas cake recipe?

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    1. It's on the recipe page, scroll down to Victorian Christmas Cake

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  2. I remember Family Circle and yes, it was a good magazine. Not as "aspirational" as most today.

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    1. More about family than clothes and beauty I think

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  3. Family Circle was excellent. It started in 1964 and initially was only sold in Supermarkets. Within twenty years, it sold half a million issues each month. Then when Prima was launched in 1986, sales declined rapidly. The final edition was in 2006..I have FC recipe clippings in my Christmas folder too!

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    1. Yes I read that on wiki too, didn't realise it had carried on for years after the 80's

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  4. Ha, I have one of those as well. Must go through it.

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  5. I have one of those recipe collections, I still use at least one of my saved clippings, the rest have memories attached, I can't use them (non vegetarian) or can't throw them (hand written in my gran's sloping script) so they sit their clear plastic holders and keep memories!

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    1. I haven't got any hand written - except by me .

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  6. I remember Family Circle as being a supermarket magazine which either came with the purchases at the till or perhaps we paid for it. It was never a magazine that mum actually made a point of buying, it was just something to do with a supermarket. I remember flicking through it and thinking it was all recipes and stuff.

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    1. It wasn't a give-away and yes, lots of recipes.

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    2. Yes but it definitely had something to do with a supermarket chain.

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    3. I remember paying 80 or 90 pence for it and thinking it was expensive at the time, looking back it was much better value than any magazines available now....in my opinion.

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    4. Yes, it was much better than Woman or Woman's Own which my mother eventually gave up buying.

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  7. I loved Family Circle and remember being disappointed when it ended and there was another magazine around that time I enjoyed which also folded probably around 2000 which is going to bug me all day as I cant remember its name!

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    1. A title called "Living" popped into my head - think it was similar to FC

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    2. Yes, it was called Living, I used to buy both in the 70s and 80s as they both had recipes and craft articles in them. There's nothing as good as them these days.
      Fiona

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  8. Yes, I remember Family Circle too, but can't remember getting it regularly. Home ad Freezer was another and I still have a couple of their books, recipes which I used for Christmas cake, mincemeat etc. Funnily enough it was only a week or so ago that I gave someone a tea loaf recipe from the Christmas book.

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    1. I've never had a magazine regularly - could never afford it - until now having the Radio Times.

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  9. I liked Family Circle too. The Tesco freebie foodie magazine is always quite nice.
    Alison in Wales x

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    1. A lot of my saved recipes came from the free Somerfield magazine - I never bother to pick any of the freebies up now -

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  10. I remember FC. I've always liked reading recipes and thinking that sounds good; then never actually making the recipe. I have cookbooks and even a 3 x 5" wooden box filled with cards holding recipes. I have not opened the box in 5-6 years. I'll take a look today.

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    1. My Mum had a box of recipe cards that were collected bit by bit. I don't remember her using them at all

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  11. I remember my Mum buying Family Circle when she shopped at the 'big' Tesco in the late 1960's, it seemed a huge shop then but was perhaps the size of the smallest Tesco's now.

    That recipe stash is a wonderful trip down memory lane. I sorted through most of my old saved recipes ripped from magazines a few weeks back, I really need to get around to doing the last folder, but I'm sure there will be nothing as fascinating as yours.

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    1. There were so many that I'd never used. Now main meals are the basics and cakes rarely made and deserts are fruit - all very boring when I think about it

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  12. That is a fun treasure trove of old recipes to look at! I see that Mary Berry has a Christmas dinner show on my TV tonight so I may have to watch to see what are her favorites for Christmas dinner. I don't cook as fancy as she does, tho. We are having tacos for Christmas as it is most popular with my grandkids! :)

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    1. My folder was full of so many cuttings and photo copies, it's much tidier now. It will be traditional roast for Christmas here

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  13. I need to go through a whole tub of recipes saved from magazines. I weeded through it once early in 2020 and given that I have only dug through it once since then, means I could toss most of it. Maybe it I put them in an easy to use binder I would use them more. I think I will set of goal of purging half, wish me luck.

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  14. I really need to do that too! I 'collect' too many recipes. Some of them I've tried and not liked. Others don't suit our tastes today. Another project to add to the list!

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