Good for a Laugh! Old Weight Watchers Recipe Cards

Emma Christensen
Emma Christensen
Emma is a former editor for The Kitchn and a graduate of the Cambridge School for Culinary Arts. She is the author of True Brews and Brew Better Beer. Check out her website for more cooking stories
updated May 11, 2022
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To anyone who has ever endeavored to shed a few pounds following the Weight Watchers regime, this one is for you. These cards are a peek at what your program would have looked like a few decades ago – complete with witty and irreverent commentary from the woman who found the cards in her mom’s basement.

As Wendy McClure points out in the intro, dehydrated onion flakes and pimientos are featured prominently in many recipes. We’d add jellied anything and mackerel – there seems to have been a slight obsession with mackerel back in the day. (Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with mackerel, but these recipes…oh dear.)

It’s nice to know that we’ve moved on from dishes like “Chilled Celery Log” and “Jellied Tomato Refresher”, though we wonder what people might be saying about our favorite recipes thirty years from now…

Take a look and see for yourself! A quick word of warning – the image captions are definitely tongue-in-cheek and a few feature some strong language:

• Weight Watchers Recipe Cards from Wendy McClure

Related: Video: Eddie Izzard on Supermarket Psychology

(Images: Wendy McClure/Candy Boots)

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