Quiche was mentioned earlier. My mom experimented with that once and put too much dried mustard in it. We called it Egg Pie. It was one of the few things that we did not have to eat. And it became one of those long-running family jokes.

Liver was never a favorite. My brother hid the package once under the sink. After a few years went by of liver revolt by the kids, my dad would grill it outside and serve it with bacon. At last it was ok.

Chef Boyardee ravioli was my go to favorite to take on boy scout camping trips and heat up in the little pot that came with the mess kit.

Beef tongue was always a treat - served with tomato sauce.

My mother never had a bad meal. She could make cardboard taste delicious.
I on the other hand...

Mother did not make many bad meals at all, I can't even remember a standout or anything now. There were some things I ate then that I would not really 'like' now but they weren't bad at all. Always well seasoned and not bland.

Thank you for this thread.

My mother had many worst - and repeating - meals.

1. Wieners in dry corn tortillas. OMG.

Wow I can think of only one way to make it worse, using vienna sausages!

Just remembered another food related "disappointment"; this one rather minor but it still sticks with me.

Mom would often use Green Giant (r) button mushrooms. These came brined (or something like that) in a small jar; rubbery texture and vile taste. Typically used in spaghetti sauce. Hadn't had them for decades until I stayed at a B&B in York and found them served as part of a traditional English breakfast. Memories - not pleasant ones - flooded back.

I'd not think canned shrooms where part of a traditional english breakfast! Flat mushroom caps, yes.

Maybe part of the B&B experience. We had them often in our 3 weeks of B&B-ing around England. I don't mind them though.

My stepmother was overall a darn good cook, but she was able to completely ruin two dishes that I normally like a lot. First was beef stroganoff. Leftover roast beef cubed, Aunt Penny's White Sauce, and canned mushrooms. Nothing else. Always served over rice.

The second was lamb curry. Leftover lamb meat cubed, the same white sauce, bell peppers, and loads of supermarket 'curry powder'. Over rice.

My mother was a good cook, but once I was the only "child" (if one can really call a 20-something year old that) in the house, and my father out of the house three days a week thanks to an exercise program (brought on, probably ironically due to a heart attack), the meals got quite grim. She wound up cooking most night mostly for herself, and was often surprised when either I or my father showed up for meals. Most nights when she assumed we would not be around, and those meals would consist of:

• Microwave popcorn
• Cheese dreams - that is half-pieces of bread covered with a processed cheese slice and half a piece of bacon. I can only commend the bacon. Bacon is everything...

Both served with multiple glasses from a cardboard box of gewurztraminer.

The popcorn was grim, but you have to appreciate the "cheese dreams." I mean, at least it had bacon, which makes anything better.

Kidney. No matter how it was prepared. Liver I could do with enough spice. Kidney, not so much.

Mom: My Mother was generally a good cook - though she did tend to over use Campbell's Golden Mushroom soup. Most things she whipped up were pretty good. Her cheese potato casserole is legendary. However, her "meatloaf" was dreadful. It was made in a casserole dish and had large cubes of soggy bread in it. Fortunately, the recipe has been lost to time but it likely included Golden Mushroom soup. I ate it and didn't realize how bad it was until having other people's meatloaf. Mom used to threaten us with Salmon Wiggle, which her Mother used to serve on Fridays. Canned salmon, sour cream sauce, and peas. She never actually served it to us; thank God.

MIL: My wife's mother is truly a dreadful cook. Nothing edible comes out of her kitchen. She even screws up pancakes, which taste of raw flour and have a dense unappetizing texture. Her fried chicken is simultaneously burnt and raw and the gravy she makes from the grease is indescribable. Spoon that black-flecked mess over her soggy rice and it's impossible to choke down. My wife and her sister describe something called Spaghetti with Cheese as the number one horror of their childhood. It was her version of Mac and Cheese. Think overcooked broken spaghetti strands mixed with milk and shredded cheese. The cheese would congeal rather than melt into a sauce. Enjoy!

P.S. - When I read the "boiled liver" and drink the juice thread to my wife, she gagged. We once had a dog that was very ill. On the advice of a vet, we fed her cubed boiled liver. The smell was repulsive. We discarded the boiling liquid. We wouldn't feed that to our dog.

The sad part is that they would drink it, if you gave it to them. After all, they eat cat poop with no hesitation whatsover.

Bit of a staple in B&B and 3 star hotels. It's actually more rare to find proper fried mushrooms - although we usually use button mushrooms. Portobello mushrooms only started appearing about 15 years ago.

My mother had to contend with a husband who liked meat and two veg, and who would complain if she used things like herbs because it would mask the taste of the meat and two daughters who didn't like meat and two veg and all while working. All in all, she didn't do too bad - but her weak spot was the number of times the potatoes were burned. The taste of semi burned (i.e. ones which could still be removed from the bottom of the pan, so could still be served) still haunts me.

Now she has retired, her cooking is a lot more adventurous, but she still burns the potatoes...

My father insists on his fried button mushrooms with his full English! It is one of the only things he is capable of cooking himself! I agree, flat musrooms (portobello) have only appeared as part of the breakfast in recent years, button would be traditional (though thankfully I never came across canned, but then I am not a mushroom, or full English fan!)