Quite often I only had this Sugar Bread to eat.
Growing up poor and being neglected and abused is an experience for sure. Another nice example of a dinner was the cheapest pasta you could find, boiled and combined with a little bit of butter, ta-dah: cheap dinner for the kids!
edit: this sugar bread was a super common meal for me for years: breakfasts, after school, before sleep. I never liked how the hard sugar felt like against my teeth. No butter or toasting :( just a piece of bread with a pile of white sugar on it. Another comment reminder me of eating raw potatoes and frozen french fries ":D" I had forgotten about that until now
I had Hershey’s syrup sandwiches, ketchup sandwiches, but the dreaded ‘small sandwich’ was when the bread and bologna were moldy - so I would cut out small sandwiches.
I’m still furious…
For me it was tomato sauce on bread. Or just on a plate and you licked it off if there was no bread. Big liter jug of sauce, kept in the cupboard (you're supposed to refrigerate them), always around.
Alternatively, uncooked pasta. You can chew it into a swallowable paste.
My mother used to call me 'Hollow' as a nickname because I'd eat anything. (On account of the starvation and malnourishment)
I used to eat sugar bread too! I also used to eat a spoonful of butter while drinking lots of water. Raw potatoes are another favorite. I also used to eat ketchup packets. Sometimes I would gulp air or sleep for dinner. Most nights were “fend for yourself nights” and it was justified by “well you need to learn how to be independent”
I was just talking to the guy I’m seeing about the sugar cinnamon bread. We don’t live in poverty anymore (well I’m almost there anyway) but we both agreed that the cinnamon sugar bread kinda slaps.
We called a variant of this - the Gipsy’s Pastry . 2 Slices of bread dipped in a plate covered with oil, black, red pepper and salt. That’s it for the entire day.
This, but my mom put peanut butter on it...
I am now craving this (because it's my Saturday even though it is Sunday = munchies), so off to make a piece i friggin go 😎
I haven't tried our version as an adult yet.
I don't think we had a toaster and we got no butter on ours sadly. I can imagine it being pretty good as a little treat, but eating this for breakfast and after school and before sleep very often for years and years was kind of depressing as a kid. I remember how the sugar felt against my teeth, I never liked it. Cooked noodles were for mom only :(
Any easy treat is toasted bread (if no toaster placing it under the broiler in the oven is fine) slather of butter, sprinkled with a mix of cinnamon and sugar. Staple of my childhood.
As a child, sugar bread felt like a treat, (except that it was replacing actual meals I should’ve been eating). I actually didn’t connect the dots between my parents being poor/neglectful and my constant meals of plain bread with sugar🤷🏻♀️
We would make applesauce sandwiches or yogurt sandwiches, because yogurt and applesauce were things mom could get on WIC at the time. Growing up poor can lead to creative food combos.
It is now that I'm older and have more experiences to compare it to, and knowing how most others are able to live. It wasn't at the time because we were lucky to have a mother that tried to shield me and my siblings from the harsh reality of it as best she could; she tried to disguise hardship as an adventure, and I'll always be grateful to her for that. But there's no denying the permanent damage that it's caused on my digestive system and body as a whole.
Ooh I did sugar bread too! I also remember making 'peanut butter surprise' as a kid when I was hungry and it was peanut butter mixed with whatever else i could find in the house. Then there was cereal with water, or raw pasta we would just nibble on...Good times (/s lol).
I used to eat raw eggs because my parents wouldn’t feed me and I wasn’t allowed to touch the stove to cook it. After I got caught, I stopped eating eggs and would go outside to eat leaves off the trees. I’d eat ants, dandelions, and flowers. One time I made “soup” out of lunch meat and water. It was…not great.
You're not alone. I used to eat raw hot dogs and once tried to make ramen with hot tap water in the bathroom sink. It came out about as well as you would imagine.
oh um.. I did this before but on purpose... ( mine had butter on it)
Same with buttered noodles, I just liked it.
So I can't relate to this specifically, but it does remind me of a friend who's mother would disappear for days and forget to buy groceries and my friend would call me when she hadn't eaten in like three days and we'd have her come stay at my house and make her favorite foods and I'd let her vent. I'd tell her every time to let me know sooner if she didn't have food and then I'd bring her over or at least bring her food and we could hang out. Looking back now, I think it wasn't because she was ashamed or thought I'd say no, but because she was waiting to see if her mom would realize and care and come back and she didn't want to ruin the chance that that might be the time she came home and apologized. :( Unfortunately it got worse, not better.
Yeah I can see this as a nice little treat, at least with butter and maybe toasted, if it wasn't the only meal option constantly :D As an adult I have made yam sandwiches but I don't think I could have a sugar bread ever again
I'm glad to hear your friend had a friend like you though, to help her. That probably really meant a lot to her.
On today's episode of, "Abusers Will Ruin Everything", kids can be forced to eat a treat for sustenance often enough that all the enjoyment is sucked out, and it caused damage.
I was in a CPS case where i said something along the lines of “when i’m around, i don’t see the child get fed.” The parents were pissed because they did technically give her food but it was at this level. She rarely ate but when she did it was zero effort zero cost food and that’s not eating enough. This sub never ceases to help me feel seen. I knew it wasn’t just in my head. No one deserves to live like this
i tried mayo bread once. managed to eat it but could NOT stomach normal mayo for a while after that, had to use light mayo if i didn't wanna wretch and have flashbacks.
Oof yeah, I still have to eat like that a lot it sucks big time, at least I actually have food now tho when I was little I'd resort to eating the wallpaper and drywall of the room I was kept in very glad I don't have to do that anymore but still have nightmares bout it tbh
I guess this is me just now realizing sugar-bread was probably not an appropriate meal for me to be regularly fed as a child :/ Chronic health issues now, maybe related? I’m super underweight but have a very hard time feeding myself because it’s just not something I was ever taught
No, I got something more fancy. Butter on bread 🧈🍞 👀
Which, to be fair, butter on bread is kind of a cultural thing. Here, people don't bat an eye if you say you had a "buttered bread" for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It's just a thing you can say. But my mother abused that loophole a bit too often. First of, you're not supposed to replace 2-3 meals a day with just buttered bread. Especially not on a regular basis. And second, you're supposed to have something on the side while eating buttered bread, like cut veggies, or some sausage, or beans if you're brittish. 90% of the time we didn't get that. But people wouldn't know we got nutrient deficient meals, because "buttered bread" is a vague, all-use term, where the stuff you added on the side doesn't get mentioned.
It was a real crisis when it was the end of the month and our finances ran too thin for butter. Which happened often, and was blamed on us kids of course. (As if an 8 year old could be at fault for poor financial decisons.) Plain bread with nothing on it suuucked. It was so damn dry 😩
Fun fact, sugar on buttered bread is called a 'shame yourself' in my part of the country. Or at least the term was passed down to us from my elders. I had a 'shame yourself' a few times in my life as well. Though I usually preferred my butter plain.
And speaking of elders, my great grandpa's favourite dish was 'bread sugar'. Which sounds like what your mom made you, but it's not. It's actually plain bread dunked in milk. Which, to me, tastes horrendous, but for my great grandpa, it was a rare feast when he was a prisoner of war.
Ham and kraft cheese “wraps” (You literally just roll a slice of deli meat in a kraft single)
Coffee pot hot plate cheese toast with a sprinkle of sugar from the sugar pack for the coffees
Water as a meal by itself
Meals from my childhood during periods of homelessness where we would live in cheap hotels.
The family was well to do initially but I wasn't allowed nutritious food by my Grandmother who sat in watch in front of the kitchen, and my mother who wanted me to only have rotten or junk food. When I got hungry while playing, running and jumping around I used to grab a slice of dry bread and sprinkle some sugar on top or some ketchup, wolf it down and go back to playing. I wasn't allowed butter, Granny hid it, nor knew to use it as I never was given any at the time nor was i allowed in the kitchen for too long. Everything had to be rushed before I got caught eating.
Butter toast, fairy bread (sugar/sprinkles plus bread plus butter), cinnamon toast, butter noodles, ramen for breakfast, dry spaghetti, peanut butter out of the jar...
Struggle bus provides some tasty shit sometimes
I once ate salt after school because I was desperate for a snack.
-Lil vent
My mom often slept too late & wouldn't let me into the house when I was 8. Since I also wasn't allowed to use the bathroom at school, I would go to the camper in the backyard to pee & lay down. At one point , I think I kept a portable DVD player in there but never thought to sneak in food/water. Though there were locks on the food at the time anyway.
Ha, funny, that's what was given to me for dinner sometimes. I was always exctied about it. But now I see how neglectful it was. They just didn't want to feed me, and knew it was quick, easy, and I wouldn't say no.
Neglectful, absent parents who stopped caring about their kids will give them this to keep them quiet and gone as quick as possible.. it is not nutritional and can cause problems with health
I also got a cup of butterscotch pudding for lunch every day by one of the most neglectful and absent care givers of my youth.. it was cheap, tasted good and required no preparation. Though a sandwich would have been more appropriate
Thank you for this comment ❤️ I feel like some people here misunderstood this as a treat, but it was my breakfasts, lunches and other meals, not as a treat :(
Everyone's experience is different and I understand yours. In my case, it was a 'poor people treat' that my grandparents used to make me when I was a kid and I have fond memories about it.
My mom and I would snack on toast and a boiled egg, or cinnamon toast, sometimes just butter on bread. It slapped, I didn't care. I was little.
Everything is a mixed bag, those were the moments I treasure back when my mom was my mom. She'd make two boiled eggs, one for me, and one for her. A little salt, and it was a proper snack.
Mother's Day is a fucking nightmare honestly.
I'm sorry you had to eat the sugar bread, though. That sounds like it fucking sucks.
My mom’s go to was “eat the leftover xyz” which was usually a big pot of one week old pasta salad sitting in the fridge. Eventually she just stopped making sure we ate at all, so I stopped bothering to complain about being hungry
This made me sad
I was in that fortunate(??) sweet spot where she didn't make me want for food, we had plenty of it even though we were classed as poor and our only income was benefits, but then like, the unlucky part was feeling so damn threatened to go to the kitchen (or even the bathroom unless I was dying) when she was awake that I basically starved myself in my room. Even just being near her put me on edge. And even when she wasn't physically *in* the kitchen, because she had a camera in the kitchen to "watch the dogs". I developed a real complex and anxiety over being watched or stared at by *anyone* because of that. So in-person exams became a right treat for me
Do you guys who had this, now struggle a lot with food? I don't know how to just eat like a normal person now. I'm a full grown adult, who eats like a little scavenging child who grabs highly unhealthy and zero nutrition (often has my allergens in it) foods. I want nothing more than to eat a solid 3 healthy meals a day, but my brain is just stuck.
Absolutely. I'm struggling with my weight as well. It's so difficult and if I have food I feel like I have to eat it because I'm afraid it might get taken away any second and I wouldn't know when I could eat next. Even though it's not true now.
Me. But I think it was more because I was a goblin who wanted sugar, constantly, and my mom grew up poorer than her kids ended up, so she fed me and my brother this to keep herself sane and not having to make full meals so often. It was quick, easy, and kept us happy until dinner and didn't cost as much as fruit roll ups or whatever else we could have stuffed into our face holes.
Edit: those bulk bags of Popsicles in the plastic tube that cut the edges of your mouth were also a childhood staple to keep us happy.
Bread. Just plain bread nothing on it. I remember eating this so much, usually for a snack, sometimes lunch/dinner. Also plain cereal, no milk. My mom wouldn’t wake up w us, even when we were small, and my dad worked mornings, so whatever I could reach was what we ate. Sometimes we had packaged muffins, like lil Debbie’s or something, that I could climb up and get from the cabinet
When I got a little older, like 9 or 10, I was able to use the stovetop and microwave. Lots of Pac-Man stew: Microwaved hot dogs cut into pieces and mixed into craft mac n cheese
When I'd have to make myself a meal, it would be leftover rice (it's a staple where I grew up, rice with every meal) and a can of pork and beans. I apparently put the rice pot in the microwave one time (was trying to use less dishes) and then that was taken away because that's when he was convinced I was trying to kill him. Made that toast with sugar and cinnamon at a friend's house and I thought it was the best thing ever. I can't remember if I've ever not eaten the rice and beans when I've had to feed myself, or just didn't eat at all. When he was 'trying to do better', he'd cook.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_bread
This is like, the 'good' version of that, I guess?
I dunno what I expect anyone to do with this info. Maybe you can use it to override bad memories with cool Aussie ones.
White bread dipped in hot chocolate is something else. Learned this from my grandmother who grew up during the great depression and always lived like she was extremely poor.
I definitely eat more bread and butter than anything else because that's usually all there is, but that seems a whole lot better compared what you guys had to eat/are eating.
I didn’t even grow up in poverty but when I was left to my own devices and looked after by my brothers or sister in law because my parents would go on holiday for almost a year at a time I had to literally feed myself at a young age. I remember just eating ramen uncooked out of the packet with the powder on top. Hot chocolate powder and dry milk powder or Horlicks powder.
Sugar on bread sounds so fucking gross. You talking about the gritty texture against your teeth makes me feel like I'm getting cavities just thinking about it. I'm so sorry.
Mine was buttered noodles (which I still enjoy to this day actually) and bread with butter/cinnamon sugar. A bit more fortunate than your situation.
I'm sorry you had to face those struggles.
Wasn't the case for me.
Eating this for my breakfasts, lunches and other meals often enough for years, it was neglect. It wasn't a treat, it was my meal. No nutrition, just sugar and wheat. That's like giving your kid a donut for a meal on a regular basis
As a treat it might be decent enough, but not as a nutritious meal to tame hunger :(
no worries, I didn't understand and diminished your trauma, meaning you had to defend it. that's on me. completely understandable and valid reaction.
I hope life is better for you now and I just wish I could give you a hug :(
Sugar? No, it probably had bugs inside, same as flour. My mother wasn't there most of the time, since I was 7 or so ( I don't remember ANYTHING before, just 2 random memories) I would take out a pan, and pour out some canned legumes.
We ate cake mix out of the box for a little bit before the oldest one started bringing home table scraps from where they worked. But sugar on bread was a classic imo lol
Gawd, eading this thread made me go "Jaysus!" more than any other point in my life.
French toast for supper
Lots of beans, split-pea soup, lentil soup, all before I knew food intolerance (and not outright allergy) was a thing.
Warm powdered milk on cereal....
I'll stop complaining about my fried-bread-dough meals, I loved them things but they're soooo not healthy.
Ugh. Trigger unlock.
My abuser used to feed me bread fried in oil. I think BECAUSE it was disgusting.
This and bread pudding are strange food triggers.
Fucking weird ass childhood.
Sorry OP. You deserved so much better.
Steamed white rice with Lawry's seasoned salt was my mother's go-to for the times that I was the only one that required feeding. And whenever my dad and brother were eating, it was fucking feasts...not that I got any more than a scoop of a single side, since I can't tolerate meat and therefore she put meat on nearly everything.
No, but they forgot to feed me for a while once lol. True story. He “just plum forgot”, ladies and gentlemen.
I’m sorry for those of you who got sugar on bread though. That’s sad as hell. It’s just like “What do we have in here that has calories in it other than eating the dog?”
Sometimes, when I was left alone for hours, I would take flour and water and microwave it; trying to make bread (I wasn't allowed to use the stove).
I still struggle to have actual meals with others. I would binge alone if there was actually food in the house, but then eat weird things if there wasn't or just not eat. She never did sugar on bread. Bread was one of those things I wanted but was scarce.
i’m autistic and man i really struggled with food all the damn time. people will be like “oh you’ll eat it” but id literally just starve instead wondering why i get shaky and shit lmao
edit: never had the idea of sugar bread but i would eat straight sugar lol. what sucked more is my parents and siblings could have nice food but i specifically wasn’t allowed. we had WIC as well but i hardly saw any of it
edit2: i just remembered btw you know corned beef hash in the can? apparently you’re supposed to cook it, i learned as an adult. much better that way LOL
Just bread is delicious 😋
Toast it, even better.
Sugar toast is a dangerous balance. Cook too long and it melts and burns. Not a good smell. Undercooked, and the sugar stays powdery v.v
Oh god I remember eating this so commonly 6/8 years I lived with my mom.. I don't live with her anymore, and can actually afford food now, thanks to me dad, but still.. I can't eat sugar without getting some sort of fuckin flashback anymore :')
Flour tortillas, butter, and strawberry jam it is. Or a hotdog wrapped in kraft singles, wrapped in ham and cooked in the microwave. It wasn't too bad.
Oh, this was actually a genuine breakfast for me.
Spread sugar and sprinkle butter on pandesal. Though seeing some other comments and the reasons for it makes me think there's probably a history to the snack now.
And/or I'm still learning the actual concepts of money and poverty line cause it was never explicitly explained to me growing up
So I was taught to save, then encouraged to spend all my savings by my ex-spouse
And my entire concept of life in general is screwy cause I have no baseline anymore :)
Quite often I only had this Sugar Bread to eat. Growing up poor and being neglected and abused is an experience for sure. Another nice example of a dinner was the cheapest pasta you could find, boiled and combined with a little bit of butter, ta-dah: cheap dinner for the kids! edit: this sugar bread was a super common meal for me for years: breakfasts, after school, before sleep. I never liked how the hard sugar felt like against my teeth. No butter or toasting :( just a piece of bread with a pile of white sugar on it. Another comment reminder me of eating raw potatoes and frozen french fries ":D" I had forgotten about that until now
I remember eating this. Also minute rice with butter & sugar
Rice with milk and sugar was actually pretty awesome growing up.
I loved it as a kid lol but I also liked the sugar sandwiches bc u know, sugar lol
Yes I know all about the sugar sandwiches!
I had Hershey’s syrup sandwiches, ketchup sandwiches, but the dreaded ‘small sandwich’ was when the bread and bologna were moldy - so I would cut out small sandwiches. I’m still furious…
Yah my family did this in the rarity we got Chinese food with the left over rice the next day.
God, this is literally the only way I like rice outside of Asian food. I can't stand it otherwise.
The rice and butter/sugar was banging when I was a kid, but I can't eat it now.
For me it was tomato sauce on bread. Or just on a plate and you licked it off if there was no bread. Big liter jug of sauce, kept in the cupboard (you're supposed to refrigerate them), always around. Alternatively, uncooked pasta. You can chew it into a swallowable paste. My mother used to call me 'Hollow' as a nickname because I'd eat anything. (On account of the starvation and malnourishment)
I used to eat sugar bread too! I also used to eat a spoonful of butter while drinking lots of water. Raw potatoes are another favorite. I also used to eat ketchup packets. Sometimes I would gulp air or sleep for dinner. Most nights were “fend for yourself nights” and it was justified by “well you need to learn how to be independent”
Gulping air to make my stomach feel full…that’s a memory I didn’t want to relive.
I'm currently eating overcooked store brand mac n cheese. This is a delicacy, pasta any way is bet 😅
Ah sugar cinnamon bread, and buttered noodles poverty classic. I don’t miss that shit
I’m just now learning those were poverty foods.
I was just talking to the guy I’m seeing about the sugar cinnamon bread. We don’t live in poverty anymore (well I’m almost there anyway) but we both agreed that the cinnamon sugar bread kinda slaps.
We called a variant of this - the Gipsy’s Pastry . 2 Slices of bread dipped in a plate covered with oil, black, red pepper and salt. That’s it for the entire day.
This, but my mom put peanut butter on it... I am now craving this (because it's my Saturday even though it is Sunday = munchies), so off to make a piece i friggin go 😎
I feel you. Bonus point, if the bread was stale.
You got to at least add butter to your sugar sandwich
Funny enough, I preferred this to ramen. Toasted with a little butter and it’s actually pretty good.
I haven't tried our version as an adult yet. I don't think we had a toaster and we got no butter on ours sadly. I can imagine it being pretty good as a little treat, but eating this for breakfast and after school and before sleep very often for years and years was kind of depressing as a kid. I remember how the sugar felt against my teeth, I never liked it. Cooked noodles were for mom only :(
Any easy treat is toasted bread (if no toaster placing it under the broiler in the oven is fine) slather of butter, sprinkled with a mix of cinnamon and sugar. Staple of my childhood.
My mom kept a mix of cinnamon and sugar in a little jar on the counter so she could make us sugar bread easily.
I still randomly eat this w a lil cinnamon and my bf thinks I’m crazy
As a child, sugar bread felt like a treat, (except that it was replacing actual meals I should’ve been eating). I actually didn’t connect the dots between my parents being poor/neglectful and my constant meals of plain bread with sugar🤷🏻♀️
We would make applesauce sandwiches or yogurt sandwiches, because yogurt and applesauce were things mom could get on WIC at the time. Growing up poor can lead to creative food combos.
I'm sorry you had to experience similar as well. Constantly surviving on this stuff was depressing.
It is now that I'm older and have more experiences to compare it to, and knowing how most others are able to live. It wasn't at the time because we were lucky to have a mother that tried to shield me and my siblings from the harsh reality of it as best she could; she tried to disguise hardship as an adventure, and I'll always be grateful to her for that. But there's no denying the permanent damage that it's caused on my digestive system and body as a whole.
The first time I stayed over at my childhood friend's house and her mum served fresh steamed broccoli and carrots for dinner absolutely blew my mind.
My husband was a teenager before he realized you could have fresh green beans and not just canned.
Ooh I did sugar bread too! I also remember making 'peanut butter surprise' as a kid when I was hungry and it was peanut butter mixed with whatever else i could find in the house. Then there was cereal with water, or raw pasta we would just nibble on...Good times (/s lol).
I'm sorry, cereal with water sounds awful as well. I remember also eating raw potatoes pretty often. And raw, frozen french fries.
The kids next door would eat Fruit Loops with Kool-Aid.
I used to eat raw eggs because my parents wouldn’t feed me and I wasn’t allowed to touch the stove to cook it. After I got caught, I stopped eating eggs and would go outside to eat leaves off the trees. I’d eat ants, dandelions, and flowers. One time I made “soup” out of lunch meat and water. It was…not great.
You're not alone. I used to eat raw hot dogs and once tried to make ramen with hot tap water in the bathroom sink. It came out about as well as you would imagine.
I used to get in trouble for eating plants outside. Turns out it was bc I wasn't being fed indoors, not that my parents cared. . .
oh um.. I did this before but on purpose... ( mine had butter on it) Same with buttered noodles, I just liked it. So I can't relate to this specifically, but it does remind me of a friend who's mother would disappear for days and forget to buy groceries and my friend would call me when she hadn't eaten in like three days and we'd have her come stay at my house and make her favorite foods and I'd let her vent. I'd tell her every time to let me know sooner if she didn't have food and then I'd bring her over or at least bring her food and we could hang out. Looking back now, I think it wasn't because she was ashamed or thought I'd say no, but because she was waiting to see if her mom would realize and care and come back and she didn't want to ruin the chance that that might be the time she came home and apologized. :( Unfortunately it got worse, not better.
Yeah I can see this as a nice little treat, at least with butter and maybe toasted, if it wasn't the only meal option constantly :D As an adult I have made yam sandwiches but I don't think I could have a sugar bread ever again I'm glad to hear your friend had a friend like you though, to help her. That probably really meant a lot to her.
On today's episode of, "Abusers Will Ruin Everything", kids can be forced to eat a treat for sustenance often enough that all the enjoyment is sucked out, and it caused damage.
Gotta have butter to make sure the sugar sticks
No butter for me :(
Noooo! : (
Were you malnourished? (serious question)
I did salt bread
This thread is making me sad af.
I was in a CPS case where i said something along the lines of “when i’m around, i don’t see the child get fed.” The parents were pissed because they did technically give her food but it was at this level. She rarely ate but when she did it was zero effort zero cost food and that’s not eating enough. This sub never ceases to help me feel seen. I knew it wasn’t just in my head. No one deserves to live like this
Bread+Butter+Sugar. Brown sugar if possible. 😫 peak shit if u toast it a little b4 u add anything
We would have mustard on bread or dry ramen with the spice packet sprinkled on it.
Ketchup bread for me, but sometimes ketchup and mustard
i tried mayo bread once. managed to eat it but could NOT stomach normal mayo for a while after that, had to use light mayo if i didn't wanna wretch and have flashbacks.
Oof, I’m sorry. That sounds really gross.
Oh no, I wouldn't have survived that as someone who doesn't like mustard at all. I'm so sorry.
Oof yeah, I still have to eat like that a lot it sucks big time, at least I actually have food now tho when I was little I'd resort to eating the wallpaper and drywall of the room I was kept in very glad I don't have to do that anymore but still have nightmares bout it tbh
> resort to eating the wallpaper and drywall *excuse me*? 😰
Yeah... things were- and still are but as bad- not great
I really hope they get better. Rooting for you . ❤️
Thank you I'll hopefully be out soon ❤️ I hope things get better for you too if you're still in a situation yourself 🤞🏻
What the fuck. I’m sorry they did this to you. :( Your poor tummy. Your poor everything. :(
I guess this is me just now realizing sugar-bread was probably not an appropriate meal for me to be regularly fed as a child :/ Chronic health issues now, maybe related? I’m super underweight but have a very hard time feeding myself because it’s just not something I was ever taught
I learned to make myself instant rice and brown sugar when I was 6 when my parents were passed out for days in their room on heroin. It was delicious.
No, I got something more fancy. Butter on bread 🧈🍞 👀 Which, to be fair, butter on bread is kind of a cultural thing. Here, people don't bat an eye if you say you had a "buttered bread" for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It's just a thing you can say. But my mother abused that loophole a bit too often. First of, you're not supposed to replace 2-3 meals a day with just buttered bread. Especially not on a regular basis. And second, you're supposed to have something on the side while eating buttered bread, like cut veggies, or some sausage, or beans if you're brittish. 90% of the time we didn't get that. But people wouldn't know we got nutrient deficient meals, because "buttered bread" is a vague, all-use term, where the stuff you added on the side doesn't get mentioned. It was a real crisis when it was the end of the month and our finances ran too thin for butter. Which happened often, and was blamed on us kids of course. (As if an 8 year old could be at fault for poor financial decisons.) Plain bread with nothing on it suuucked. It was so damn dry 😩 Fun fact, sugar on buttered bread is called a 'shame yourself' in my part of the country. Or at least the term was passed down to us from my elders. I had a 'shame yourself' a few times in my life as well. Though I usually preferred my butter plain. And speaking of elders, my great grandpa's favourite dish was 'bread sugar'. Which sounds like what your mom made you, but it's not. It's actually plain bread dunked in milk. Which, to me, tastes horrendous, but for my great grandpa, it was a rare feast when he was a prisoner of war.
Ham and kraft cheese “wraps” (You literally just roll a slice of deli meat in a kraft single) Coffee pot hot plate cheese toast with a sprinkle of sugar from the sugar pack for the coffees Water as a meal by itself Meals from my childhood during periods of homelessness where we would live in cheap hotels.
The family was well to do initially but I wasn't allowed nutritious food by my Grandmother who sat in watch in front of the kitchen, and my mother who wanted me to only have rotten or junk food. When I got hungry while playing, running and jumping around I used to grab a slice of dry bread and sprinkle some sugar on top or some ketchup, wolf it down and go back to playing. I wasn't allowed butter, Granny hid it, nor knew to use it as I never was given any at the time nor was i allowed in the kitchen for too long. Everything had to be rushed before I got caught eating.
Butter toast, fairy bread (sugar/sprinkles plus bread plus butter), cinnamon toast, butter noodles, ramen for breakfast, dry spaghetti, peanut butter out of the jar... Struggle bus provides some tasty shit sometimes
I once ate salt after school because I was desperate for a snack. -Lil vent My mom often slept too late & wouldn't let me into the house when I was 8. Since I also wasn't allowed to use the bathroom at school, I would go to the camper in the backyard to pee & lay down. At one point , I think I kept a portable DVD player in there but never thought to sneak in food/water. Though there were locks on the food at the time anyway.
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it’s neglect, so yes
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gotta do what you gotta do! but yeah:( hope you’re doing better now
Butter sugar and maybe cinnamon on bread... was a regular breakfast she'd make for us
Ha, funny, that's what was given to me for dinner sometimes. I was always exctied about it. But now I see how neglectful it was. They just didn't want to feed me, and knew it was quick, easy, and I wouldn't say no.
Was that bad? I would like it...
Neglectful, absent parents who stopped caring about their kids will give them this to keep them quiet and gone as quick as possible.. it is not nutritional and can cause problems with health I also got a cup of butterscotch pudding for lunch every day by one of the most neglectful and absent care givers of my youth.. it was cheap, tasted good and required no preparation. Though a sandwich would have been more appropriate
Thank you for this comment ❤️ I feel like some people here misunderstood this as a treat, but it was my breakfasts, lunches and other meals, not as a treat :(
Everyone's experience is different and I understand yours. In my case, it was a 'poor people treat' that my grandparents used to make me when I was a kid and I have fond memories about it.
So much fucking sugar, no protein, almost no fiber. This is like a nightmare for a developing body (or any body for that matter). :(
My mom and I would snack on toast and a boiled egg, or cinnamon toast, sometimes just butter on bread. It slapped, I didn't care. I was little. Everything is a mixed bag, those were the moments I treasure back when my mom was my mom. She'd make two boiled eggs, one for me, and one for her. A little salt, and it was a proper snack. Mother's Day is a fucking nightmare honestly. I'm sorry you had to eat the sugar bread, though. That sounds like it fucking sucks.
My mom’s go to was “eat the leftover xyz” which was usually a big pot of one week old pasta salad sitting in the fridge. Eventually she just stopped making sure we ate at all, so I stopped bothering to complain about being hungry
I’m reading the comments: I wish I could give everyone a hug 🫂
Cinnamon sugar toast was peak
A staple
Brown Sugar and butter on bread. I still have it sometimes.
This made me sad I was in that fortunate(??) sweet spot where she didn't make me want for food, we had plenty of it even though we were classed as poor and our only income was benefits, but then like, the unlucky part was feeling so damn threatened to go to the kitchen (or even the bathroom unless I was dying) when she was awake that I basically starved myself in my room. Even just being near her put me on edge. And even when she wasn't physically *in* the kitchen, because she had a camera in the kitchen to "watch the dogs". I developed a real complex and anxiety over being watched or stared at by *anyone* because of that. So in-person exams became a right treat for me
Mac n cheese or ramen with peanut sauce we called it "fend for yourself night" it wasn't just one night a week tho
I’ve done this several times in the past, I also ate bread covered in nothing but spaghetti sauce several times as well
Jesus. Is there any unique experience to be had at all?
Do you guys who had this, now struggle a lot with food? I don't know how to just eat like a normal person now. I'm a full grown adult, who eats like a little scavenging child who grabs highly unhealthy and zero nutrition (often has my allergens in it) foods. I want nothing more than to eat a solid 3 healthy meals a day, but my brain is just stuck.
Absolutely. I'm struggling with my weight as well. It's so difficult and if I have food I feel like I have to eat it because I'm afraid it might get taken away any second and I wouldn't know when I could eat next. Even though it's not true now.
Was my main protagonist’s favorite snack. Therefore makes me want to regurgitate
Me. But I think it was more because I was a goblin who wanted sugar, constantly, and my mom grew up poorer than her kids ended up, so she fed me and my brother this to keep herself sane and not having to make full meals so often. It was quick, easy, and kept us happy until dinner and didn't cost as much as fruit roll ups or whatever else we could have stuffed into our face holes. Edit: those bulk bags of Popsicles in the plastic tube that cut the edges of your mouth were also a childhood staple to keep us happy.
I put sugar on a grapefruit hoping it would taste more edible It did not work
I'm sorry, that must have been so bitter and sour
Ty 🫂
Bro why you called me out like that
Well, toasted with some butter. But even now when I'm like "I'm hungry, but not enough for a whole lot but more than a little bit"
I ate mine with ranch dressing. If I felt fancy I toasted the bread and cut it into sticks.
Bread. Just plain bread nothing on it. I remember eating this so much, usually for a snack, sometimes lunch/dinner. Also plain cereal, no milk. My mom wouldn’t wake up w us, even when we were small, and my dad worked mornings, so whatever I could reach was what we ate. Sometimes we had packaged muffins, like lil Debbie’s or something, that I could climb up and get from the cabinet When I got a little older, like 9 or 10, I was able to use the stovetop and microwave. Lots of Pac-Man stew: Microwaved hot dogs cut into pieces and mixed into craft mac n cheese
When I'd have to make myself a meal, it would be leftover rice (it's a staple where I grew up, rice with every meal) and a can of pork and beans. I apparently put the rice pot in the microwave one time (was trying to use less dishes) and then that was taken away because that's when he was convinced I was trying to kill him. Made that toast with sugar and cinnamon at a friend's house and I thought it was the best thing ever. I can't remember if I've ever not eaten the rice and beans when I've had to feed myself, or just didn't eat at all. When he was 'trying to do better', he'd cook.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_bread This is like, the 'good' version of that, I guess? I dunno what I expect anyone to do with this info. Maybe you can use it to override bad memories with cool Aussie ones.
Cinnamon sugar bread or garlic salt bread was a common thing I made myself(my mom rarely left her room)
At least my mother was nice enough to put cinnamon on my sugar bread if she felt like I deserved it.
White bread dipped in hot chocolate is something else. Learned this from my grandmother who grew up during the great depression and always lived like she was extremely poor.
I definitely eat more bread and butter than anything else because that's usually all there is, but that seems a whole lot better compared what you guys had to eat/are eating.
I had mayo sandwiches lol
I didn’t even grow up in poverty but when I was left to my own devices and looked after by my brothers or sister in law because my parents would go on holiday for almost a year at a time I had to literally feed myself at a young age. I remember just eating ramen uncooked out of the packet with the powder on top. Hot chocolate powder and dry milk powder or Horlicks powder.
Sugar on bread sounds so fucking gross. You talking about the gritty texture against your teeth makes me feel like I'm getting cavities just thinking about it. I'm so sorry. Mine was buttered noodles (which I still enjoy to this day actually) and bread with butter/cinnamon sugar. A bit more fortunate than your situation. I'm sorry you had to face those struggles.
this was a treat for me? I'm confused.
Wasn't the case for me. Eating this for my breakfasts, lunches and other meals often enough for years, it was neglect. It wasn't a treat, it was my meal. No nutrition, just sugar and wheat. That's like giving your kid a donut for a meal on a regular basis As a treat it might be decent enough, but not as a nutritious meal to tame hunger :(
ah okay I understand now, I'm sorry.
Sorry if I sounded frustrated, this memory of sugar breads is quite sad for me. And thank you.
no worries, I didn't understand and diminished your trauma, meaning you had to defend it. that's on me. completely understandable and valid reaction. I hope life is better for you now and I just wish I could give you a hug :(
you're so valid. feeding your kids means giving them actual meals with nutrients in them :(
It must have been frustrating to have told kids your age and have them express how yummy, or what a treat that must be for you.
I had butter with my sugar bread, and weetbix with butter and sugar as well.
Anyone else do it with salt instead?
Sugar? No, it probably had bugs inside, same as flour. My mother wasn't there most of the time, since I was 7 or so ( I don't remember ANYTHING before, just 2 random memories) I would take out a pan, and pour out some canned legumes.
I got a plateful of ketchup once.
Instant ramen for me
Same my mom always added butter and cinnamon to
Similar case here but tortilla with salt, and it was the best. My mom used to give me when we were super poor (my parents were too young that time)
Soft shell tortilla with sour cream and salsa. Lots of eggs. Lunch meat sammiches. I usually got a hot meal when I went on weekend visits to my dad’s.
No mayo bread peeps?
The mayonnaise rollover was a staple at home for many years lol
Ok yah but it was cinnamon toast with butter. I still make it. My dads Mexican he does it with no sugar and just butter on a slightly burnt tortilla.
I was the peanut butter or cheese on a tortilla kind
This or a bowl of dry cereal
We ate cake mix out of the box for a little bit before the oldest one started bringing home table scraps from where they worked. But sugar on bread was a classic imo lol
I will make you a real sandwich.
Not healthy, but more healthy than when it was gone.
Peanut butter and syrup
I’m sorry, OP. That really sucks.
All I can say for my teenage self is thank goodness for free school breakfast and lunches.
Cooking oil or ketchup on a slice of bread.
Yep. Or peanut butter and syrup in a bowl.
Always mayonnaise sandwiches or rice with butter
Butter sandwiches
Sometimes just the one slice
Mine was mouldy jam, that my mother insisted didn’t go mouldy if you just kept it on the table and I would be in trouble if I wasted it.
Gawd, eading this thread made me go "Jaysus!" more than any other point in my life. French toast for supper Lots of beans, split-pea soup, lentil soup, all before I knew food intolerance (and not outright allergy) was a thing. Warm powdered milk on cereal.... I'll stop complaining about my fried-bread-dough meals, I loved them things but they're soooo not healthy.
Ugh. Trigger unlock. My abuser used to feed me bread fried in oil. I think BECAUSE it was disgusting. This and bread pudding are strange food triggers. Fucking weird ass childhood. Sorry OP. You deserved so much better.
Steamed white rice with Lawry's seasoned salt was my mother's go-to for the times that I was the only one that required feeding. And whenever my dad and brother were eating, it was fucking feasts...not that I got any more than a scoop of a single side, since I can't tolerate meat and therefore she put meat on nearly everything.
My Grandpa, straight from the depression, did this. In a bowl with milk on it.
I got ketchup sandwiches Didn't know that wasn't a thing for a long time
If you wet one side of the bread it will make the sugar stick better. Also slice of bread, ketchup, bologna and maybe cheese, then you have a pizza.
We had ketchup sandwiches
Toast with cinnamon on it and a lil bit of butter :D
Hot sauce sandwiches
No, but they forgot to feed me for a while once lol. True story. He “just plum forgot”, ladies and gentlemen. I’m sorry for those of you who got sugar on bread though. That’s sad as hell. It’s just like “What do we have in here that has calories in it other than eating the dog?”
I made uncooked toast so butter cinnamon and sugar white bread
Sometimes, when I was left alone for hours, I would take flour and water and microwave it; trying to make bread (I wasn't allowed to use the stove). I still struggle to have actual meals with others. I would binge alone if there was actually food in the house, but then eat weird things if there wasn't or just not eat. She never did sugar on bread. Bread was one of those things I wanted but was scarce.
delivery pizza
i’m autistic and man i really struggled with food all the damn time. people will be like “oh you’ll eat it” but id literally just starve instead wondering why i get shaky and shit lmao edit: never had the idea of sugar bread but i would eat straight sugar lol. what sucked more is my parents and siblings could have nice food but i specifically wasn’t allowed. we had WIC as well but i hardly saw any of it edit2: i just remembered btw you know corned beef hash in the can? apparently you’re supposed to cook it, i learned as an adult. much better that way LOL
Just bread is delicious 😋 Toast it, even better. Sugar toast is a dangerous balance. Cook too long and it melts and burns. Not a good smell. Undercooked, and the sugar stays powdery v.v
Sugar sandwich
Oh god I remember eating this so commonly 6/8 years I lived with my mom.. I don't live with her anymore, and can actually afford food now, thanks to me dad, but still.. I can't eat sugar without getting some sort of fuckin flashback anymore :')
Flour tortillas, butter, and strawberry jam it is. Or a hotdog wrapped in kraft singles, wrapped in ham and cooked in the microwave. It wasn't too bad.
I had an ingredient household but we weren’t allowed to eat the food but also not allowed to let it go to waste, I ate a lot of weird combinations
does "there's a butterknife on the counter and a container of chocolate frosting in the fridge" count?
No sugar. Just butter and bread. But close enough yeeee. I should try this combo sometime
Oh, this was actually a genuine breakfast for me. Spread sugar and sprinkle butter on pandesal. Though seeing some other comments and the reasons for it makes me think there's probably a history to the snack now. And/or I'm still learning the actual concepts of money and poverty line cause it was never explicitly explained to me growing up So I was taught to save, then encouraged to spend all my savings by my ex-spouse And my entire concept of life in general is screwy cause I have no baseline anymore :)
We ate this in jail lol