In every 70s US home ever

Wasn't Hamburger Helper making an inflation-era "stretch the family budget" sales pitch? I don't think anyone involved really thought it truly improved upon eating a hamburger.

The oldest ad I could find was This one from 1974, which focused on the culinary aspects.

By 1979, the pitch had changed to stretching the family budget.

Fascinating!

Why have steak when you can have Hamburger Helper lol

OMG

I always thought the Hidden Valley packets kinda weird.. like, why make your own salad dressing when you can just buy a bottle of it?

But maybe it was a part of that family budget thing

A kids bed frame with assorted Wacky Packages stickers pasted to the headboard.

^this! Not me, but lots of my friends

Definitely me

I had a bunch of the stickers with the Marvel characters saying funny things.

https://townsquare.media/site/622/files/2010/04/500xmarvels2.jpg

I was always fascinated by but uneasy about the 1970's Ghost Rider

Damn those stickers look familiar, maybe my sister's 'antiqued' dresser

I was always fascinated by but uneasy about the 1970's Ghost Rider

same with Cyrillic lettering

1970s Ghost Rider was intense: he was the result of a literal deal with Satan. Plus, there was Mike Ploog's art, which was heavily influenced by the work of Berni Wrightson, who has to be the creepiest mainstream comics artist ever.

*Bernie

I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be Peter Fonda

Jeez I would

A kids bed frame with assorted Wacky Packages stickers pasted to the headboard.

oh yeah but i had mine stuck all over my desk.

My friends also had on their bedroom doors and maybe some other doors as well.

let's see if this works

https://wacky-packages.fandom.com/wiki/Hamburger_Blecher?file=03_Hamburger_Blecher.jpg

well, this will take you to an image of hamburger belcher: https://wacky-packages.fandom.com/wiki/Hamburger_Blecher?file=03_Hamburger_Blecher.jpg

sloppy joes

Manwich

A stash of unsold Grit newspapers that some gullible kid thought would earn him enough money to buy a spy camera.

fuck I tried to sell Grit and sold one to my aunt

Jesus, it still exists: DIY CHIGGER BITE RELIEF

https://www.grit.com/

Wow many things on this thread are extremely familiar. There's just one mention of the big chunky remote controls, but we had one of these. We actually inherited it when my grandparents were killed in a car accident — before that we just had a little black and white TV, but then they died and we got their color TV with an actual remote control. It confirmed my sense that my grandparents (who lived far away and I rarely saw) lived lives of great luxury.

https://compote.slate.com/images/eacaab7b-bdc7-4097-8bab-74107d1c0707.jpg

NB: YMP was the first to mention Hamburger Helper and Rice-A-Rona upthread, but this is the kind of list thread where multiple entries are fine, especially since they are usually recontextualized.

Lol at typo

Wow many things on this thread are extremely familiar. There's just one mention of the big chunky remote controls, but we had one of these. We actually inherited it when my grandparents were killed in a car accident — before that we just had a little black and white TV, but then they died and we got their color TV with an actual remote control. It confirmed my sense that my grandparents (who lived far away and I rarely saw) lived lives of great luxury.

https://compote.slate.com/images/eacaab7b-bdc7-4097-8bab-74107d1c0707.jpg

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Friday, 9 September 2022 23:40 (yesterday) link

OMG, these things - I actually had a thrilling rush of sensory memories at that picture. My grandparents had one too.

The ka-CHUNK was very satisfying.

I probably posted something like this upthread, but the original design of the remote (Zenith’s Space Command, specifically) always fascinated me. Tiny hammers hit tiny sound-producing rods!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenith_Electronics#Remote_controls

Lead engineer Robert Adler then suggested that ultrasonic sound be used as a trigger mechanism. This was produced in the hand held unit by mechanically struck aluminum rods of carefully constructed dimensions—a receiver in the television responded to the different frequencies this action produced. Enough audible noise was produced by pressing the buttons that consumers began calling remote controls "clickers". The miniaturization of electronics meant that, eventually, the sounds were produced in the remote unit electronically; however, the operating principle remained in use until the 1980s, when it was superseded by the infrared light system.

Yes, you mentioned on the second day of this thread’s existence, as a follow-up to your massive console TV post.

Well that technology background was certainly new! And totally unknown to me.

Yes. The new information was very welcome.

Again, repeat posts are not frowned upon in this thread, they are welcomed. Which in itself is a repeat post.

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence

Macrame

Macrame mucho

Ha.

Johnny Mathis albums. Although I think they were borrowed, at least in our house.

God’s Eyes.

Hi suzy, was hoping you would be back to contribute some more.

I feel like, even if there is some small thing that we may have missed on this thread, we still have all the basic DNA required to clone one of these houses if needed.

That mustard yellow rubbermaid pitcher with the white top that twists. Saw one on an episode of The Americans set in 81 or 82. Must have been a holdover from the 70s...

^Good one!

Great pick. I actually saw one at a yard sale a couple months ago... Strong Proustian Madeleine moment --- my entire 80s childhood, we drank orange juice (reconstituted from a cardboard tube of frozen concentrate) out of one of those. We had a blue-ish one too, used by my Mom to rinse shampoo from our hair when we were really little.

Tupperware parties and Avon ladies.

Fiddle Faddle and/or Screaming Yellow Zonkers

The coffee table book "Gnomes"

We had “Gnomes.” But what about B. Kliban books, maybe they were too counter-cultural for every ‘70s home, but we had all of them.

Oh man we definitely had Rubbermaid pitchers, I think including a yellow one. Also, juice concentrate! I was just thinking about the other day, how it seems to have disappeared. That was all we drank, frozen Minute Maid OJ and lemonade.

Here's an article from Vice about the decline of fro-jay: https://www.vice.com/en/article/4x5nzq/nobody-gives-a-damn-about-frozen-oj-anymore