YA Series book about eccentric family trying to win a contest by eating unlabeled cans of food

[Mr.Ellenbogen]

"Does anyone else remember a book (series of books) about growing up in an eccentric family (I know, that covers a lot of YA books). One chapter had them eating food from unlabeled cans (they had removed all the labels in an earlier chapter to try to win a contest). The father would shake the cans to try to figure out what they were before opening them."

This is from a peer of mine and I'm 50, so I'd date this in the late 70's / early 80's. Thanks.

[SamSpayedPI]

Sorry; I can't help, but I definitely read this too.

[Mai]

I can't help much either but I was wondering... could this be a Happy Hollisters book written by Jerry West? I grew up in Spain and this is the only collection I had about a family by a U.S. author. I read them in Spanish (they were called "Los Hollister"). Your description sounds familiar but what I remember is the kids wanting to be helpful and washing the cans in the sink with soapy water. All the labels come off and then they have to eat "mystery cans" because they don't know what's in them!
The other series I had from foreign authors were mostly written by Enid Blyton but I don't think they were about families...

[Rachel]

It sounds like something the Blossom family might have done in the Betsy Byars series. Title list here: https://www.goodreads.com/series/9856...

[SamSpayedPI]

Mai wrote: "what I remember is the kids wanting to be helpful and washing the cans in the sink with soapy water."

In the U.S. it used to be quite common to collect and send in cereal box tops, Ovaltine labels, Campbells soup can labels, etc. for prizes.

[Mai]

That could explain why they did it then. Maybe they were just impatient to send the labels and didn't want to wait for the cans to be opened. Thank you :-)
Did you read any of the Happy Hollisters books? (since the story sounds familiar to you too)

[Rouan]

Mai wrote: "I can't help much either but I was wondering... could this be a Happy Hollisters book written by Jerry West? I grew up in Spain and this is the only collection I had about a family..."

I read the Happy Hollister books too and I remember that scene; although I don't remember which one it was in.

[Andria]

Here's a list of all the Happy Hollister books and brief synopsis of each, in case it jogs anyone's memory. I scanned it and didn't see any mention of canned goods or labels. https://thehappyhollisters.com/have-y...

[Sue]

I think this is one of the Bagthorpe Saga books by Helen Cresswell.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bag...

[Andria]

Excellent clue, Sue! I believe it is Absolute Zero: Being the Second Part of the Bagthorpe Saga

See mention of missing can labels in this review: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...

[CLM]

There is also a book called Canyon Castaways by Margaret Leighton in which the characters are marooned and have to eat canned goods without labels.

[Anna]

Definitely one of the Bagthorpe books by Helen Cresswell.

[Daisy]

Seems like a long shot, but there was something like this in Sister of the Bride. It wasn't a contest, but the newlyweds were given a bunch of unlabeled cans of food and they made dinner out of whatever they blindly chose...

[M]

I agree with the Bagthorpe Saga suggestion, but I think this happens in the first book, Ordinary Jack, where a competition mad member of the family strips the labels off the tins, to use in entries.

[SamSpayedPI]

Ordinary Jack for M's link.