Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

[Flipped Lid]

Someone may have mentioned this way back, but pressure cookers are seldom used these days. I know they still make them, but I haven't seen one used in probably forty years.

When I was a little kid, we used to have these big family dinners (actually, lunches) at my great aunt's house on Saturday's in the spring and fall when all the men were working in the fields. The women would make homemade noodles and lay them out on newspapers on the dining room table to dry. There was always a piece of beef or a chicken (which had been running around the barnyard a couple of hours earlier) cooking in the pressure cooker and they would cook the noodles in the broth after the beef or chicken was done. The pies were usually made the day before.

There were always ten or twelve kids around and we'd get shooed out of the house so we'd be out of the women's way while they got dinner ready. The men would come in from the fields just in time to wash up and sit down for dinner at noon. Those were the best days of my life.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

My mom ALWAYS uses her pressure cooker. Always takes me back to being a kid, she'd pressure cook/fry squirrel, for that KFC taste. Can't top it!

Someone may have mentioned this way back, but pressure cookers are seldom used these days. I know they still make them, but I haven't seen one used in probably forty years.

When I was a little kid, we used to have these big family dinners (actually, lunches) at my great aunt's house on Saturday's in the spring and fall when all the men were working in the fields. The women would make homemade noodles and lay them out on newspapers on the dining room table to dry. There was always a piece of beef or a chicken (which had been running around the barnyard a couple of hours earlier) cooking in the pressure cooker and they would cook the noodles in the broth after the beef or chicken was done. The pies were usually made the day before.

There were always ten or twelve kids around and we'd get shooed out of the house so we'd be out of the women's way while they got dinner ready. The men would come in from the fields just in time to wash up and sit down for dinner at noon. Those were the best days of my life.

 

[Kahuna]

Someone may have mentioned this way back, but pressure cookers are seldom used these days. I know they still make them, but I haven't seen one used in probably forty years.

I think many younger cooks harbor a little fear about something which works under pressure. My wife used to be a little afraid to use one until she tried it. Now we use one all the time to cook up vast quantities of dried beans which we then freeze. Much cheaper than buying canned beans. They have a multitude of other time-saving uses as well.

 

[Gregg Axley]

We only used one a few times when I was a kid. I just remember that sound it made. I had the bottom part to one in my kitchen cabinet, but the top had long gone. The handle finally gave way an I believe I tossed it.

 

[Flipped Lid]

That's the other thing we used it for. All the vegetables that we canned were cooked in the pressure cooker. They are perfect for ham and beans.

I think many younger cooks harbor a little fear about something which works under pressure. My wife used to be a little afraid to use one until she tried it. Now we use one all the time to cook up vast quantities of dried beans which we then freeze. Much cheaper than buying canned beans. They have a multitude of other time-saving uses as well.

 

[rue]

We had a discussion around the campfire the other night. I did not realize that the free "time of day" phone number, the one that began, "at the tone the time will be...", has been discontinued in most places.

POPCORN...... yep.... it's gone

 

[Oldsarge]

Roladex systems, rotary dial phones, mimeograph machines, vacuum tubes, carburetors . . . shall I go on?

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Subtract the mimeograph, and I have one of each of these things and use them all on an almost daily basis lol

Roladex systems, rotary dial phones, mimeograph machines, vacuum tubes, carburetors . . . shall I go on?

 

[Rathdown]

What vintage things have disappeared in my lifetime?

All of my friends born before WWI. Nothing else really matters.

 

[Stormy]

Record stores, answering machines, comfortable airplane rides, college dorms, drug store (notice I didn't say pharmacy) ice-cream counters, department store food counters (the food was soooo good at Kress and Woolworth), and affordable gasoline

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

drug store (notice I didn't say pharmacy)

The same can probably be said about hardware stores -- NOT "home improvement centers"

 

[Effingham]

Ah, mimeographs.

Anyone else remember getting the blue mimeo-ed handouts in school to pass back, and the first thing everyone did was bury their faces in the things and take a big whiff? Ah, mimeos.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I was once talking to a WW2 vet about his wartime experiences, and he surprised me when he said he'd worked on the most important machine in the entire Allied aresenal, the one absolutely essential piece of equipment that provided the very lifeblood of the entire war effort.

And he pantomimed cranking a mimeograph.

 

[kyboots]

Ah, mimeographs.

Anyone else remember getting the blue mimeo-ed handouts in school to pass back, and the first thing everyone did was bury their faces in the things and take a big whiff? Ah, mimeos.

Boy! I would love to take a big Whiff right now!!-- Of course I realize that half the members here have no clue what we are talking about since they are under the age of 40. Geeezz!---John

 

[Shangas]

I was once talking to a WW2 vet about his wartime experiences, and he surprised me when he said he'd worked on the most important machine in the entire Allied aresenal, the one absolutely essential piece of equipment that provided the very lifeblood of the entire war effort.

And he pantomimed cranking a mimeograph.

I daresay he was probably right. The printing of information and news would've been extremely important to keeping everyone informed and keeping the war-effort running!!

 

[Warden]

We still get our milk delivered from a milk man, but it looks like it might be the end of the road for the milk bottle. They want us to move to milk bags.

Here is an old BBC news article about the change.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7447449.stm

 

[JimWagner]

Apologies if it has already been mentioned somewhere, but I miss foot operated high beam switches. For that matter I miss the days when there was light enough traffic that I could actually use my high beams.

 

[Miss Sis]

Boy! I would love to take a big Whiff right now!!-- Of course I realize that half the members here have no clue what we are talking about since they are under the age of 40. Geeezz!---John

We still had them in the 1980s at my school, so I know what you mean AND I'm a good bit under 40! Ooooo, I can smell it now....

 

[C-dot]

For that matter I miss the days when there was light enough traffic that I could actually use my high beams.

I've used mine a few times, but on deserted, pitch-black Northern Ontario roads at night. Traffic is too heavy everywhere else... I wonder why that is?

Here's something I've seen steadily disappear: Real Christmas trees! When I was a kid, my family and many others still decorated real trees. The only people I knew who had fake ones were my grandmother (because she didn't like the needles falling) and my best friend (who was allergic to pine trees, among other odd things.) But in recent years, I've seen the tree lots get more rare, and much smaller. And, everyone I visit at Christmastime has a fake tree! Where's the fun in that?
Every December, my dad and I still trek out in the razor-blades-up-your-nose Canadian cold to get our balsam fir. We have a collection of ornaments from years and years back that make it even more special. I guess that would be considered awfully old fashioned these days!

 

[LizzieMaine]

The most unforgettable part of the vintage Christmas Tree experience was realizing too late that you'd gotten a cat spruce by mistake, and you were stuck with the smell until New Year's.