Ha ha. Eight kids here. And yep, we were on the Oleo train too. I can remember going to my grandmother’s house and she gave us bread with real butter. One taste, and I was asking mom, why can’t we have this ?? Oh, and the worse ugh - POWDERED MILK. Udderly terrible. I absolutely could not stand the stuff.
I remember all that, with disgust. And Spam. The powdered milk was "Starlac". The Oleo was white, like lard, and came in a bag with a dye capsule, and had to be kneaded till it turned yellow because the dairy lobby was writing checks even then.
Same thing happened to me. I think I was eating at a Denny's with some other kids after a school dance, and we all got breakfast. All I could remember afterward was the taste of that real butter.
Thing is, Mom loved real butter, but having to budget for a family of nine on a soldier's salary kept her from buying a lot of things she otherwise would have. My parents grew up during the Great Depression, and really knew how to scrimp.