Tastes change over time, and nothing makes this clearer than a quick flip through vintage recipe books. From an aggressive amount of gelatin-based meals to an unholy number of casseroles, here are 25 of the most out-there recipes from back in the day. Check off the ones you'd be willing to eat for dinner tonight!
I don't know what's hiding behind the hotdogs in this Weight Watchers recipe, but I know that it can't make this better.
Because nothing screams "I'd rather starve than eat dinner" like cottage cheese, lime Jell-O, mayo and seafood molded into one atrocity.
Do you love Spam but wish it tasted even more artificial? Consider drowning it in canned peach juice!
This is a lie. This dish is neither a party nor a sandwich. It is a monstrosity that combines olives, mayo, canned fish and white bread though.
What kind of cruel, deceiving person came up with the idea to mold liver sausage into a pineapple shape and then frost it with a gelatin/mayo concoction?
People sure loved mashing foods up into loaves back in the day. Take, for example, this hotdog-and-macaroni crime against humanity.
This recipe does call for actual pineapple, but it also calls for bananas, salmon, pickles and mustard. So eat at your own risk.
The fishy taste of mackerel that you love, now in easy-to-eat pudding form! I'm beginning to think these Weight Watchers recipes only worked because they scared you out of eating anything at all.
A fancy French name doesn't change the fact that this is boiled cabbage stuffed with three different kinds of meat.
Keeping with the vintage tradition of only serving foods inside rings of other foods, here's a cheesy carrot ring with some creamed peas in the center.
If lard, raisins and carbs are your three favorite food groups, then boy do I have the recipe for you! If these aren't your favorite foods, I'd suggest looking away.
Things that are wrong with this pizza: 1) no cheese 2) PEARS AND TUNA SHOULD NEVER BE ON A PIZZA TOGETHER.
Almost an entire stick of butter, two kinds of liver and some brandy -- what could go wrong? (Hint: everything.)
This combination of canned cheese soup and packaged tuna is the physical embodiment of a nightmare, all in one ready-to-serve dish.
"Perfection" here, meaning: a grotesque gelatinous structure with assorted veggies floating inside it.
Back in the day, people loved cutting into their dinners and finding a surprise. Judging by this dish, I have no idea why.
Casseroles reigned supreme during the later half of the 20th century. This one melds together veal and cream of mushroom soup to make a dish that looks like it's already been digested.
Literally 100 percent of chefs recommend combining bananas, olives and bacon into one bite-sized snack. That's a bold faced lie.
You know there's something fundamentally wrong with a recipe when it doesn't even look appealing in the cookbook.
Literally just prunes and what's essentially homemade Cool Whip, this recipe proves that disgusting foods don't need to be hard to make!
Looking to gussy up your boring old gelatinous meat salad? Consider using fancy lamb cutlets instead!
Take your cauliflower meatloaf and shove it. This next-level meat surprise is made up of TWO layers of meat!
Apparently, back in the '70s, Weight Watchers somehow got it in their heads that Mexican cuisine is as simple as oranges, shrimp and red onions. Paired, of course, with a mysterious blue lime dressing.
This dish uses diced chicken, a random collection of veggies, mayo and gelatin (DUH!) to create some semblance of a whole chicken.
I like this recipe because it implies that someone thought, "Hey, remember when we lit all those fruits on fire? That was sick. Let's do it again."