One of the coziest aspects of The Brady Bunch was when the kids got together for a snack in the home kitchen—but Barry Williams and Christopher Knight had to learn not to sip the milk and eat the cookies while filming their sequences.

On the March 25 edition of The Real Brady Bros podcast, Williams, who played oldest brother Greg Brady, and Knight, who played middle brother Peter Brady, answered listener questions about the popular series.

A listener wrote in to inquire about “the scenes with the milk and cookies.” She said, “Was any of that even edible?” Given the amount of milk in each glass, how many vats were in the fridge at once?”

Knight, 67, stated that he did not believe the refrigerator in the family’s kitchen operated, while Williams, 70, claimed it did. Still, they didn’t keep the milk there, Williams explained, “because we might not get to it for three weeks.”

“But when we had a milk scene, they would bring in a half gallon or a gallon of milk and put it in the refrigerator and hold it for the shoot,” Williams told me. However, Knight stated that the prop master stored “vats of milk” in another refrigerator somewhere off camera.

Knight stated that they did not consume all the milk in the glass. “We were very careful,” he continued, since if you drank all of the milk in a glass in one gulp, you had to drink it all over again in the next.

Williams stated he learned “to not eat” when filming sequences involving food on The Brady Bunch because “you have to match every time you take a bite.” He stated that they would start with the group picture, and by the time they came to his close-up, “It’s three hours later, and the food has gone bad, and you still have to eat it. So I learned to bring the meal fork to my face and lower it to say, “And do not eat it.”

But Knight said that it took him a long time to acquire this lesson. “You, as a little kid who’s been doing something prior to sitting down to act out this scene, are now thirsty,” he said. “By consuming half of the milk, you are assuring that you will consume half of the milk every time the camera is on you in the future.” You’ll have to drink that glass of milk. But the milk was real, and the cookies were authentic.”

Williams stated that the youngsters appeared to consume a lot more milk than they actually did, despite the fact that they only drank around half a glass apiece on average.

Regarding the cookies, he stated, “They were fresh, or at least they began that way. The meal was adequate, although due to the constraints of the shooting schedule, it was occasionally delayed. It would occasionally become very hot. Dust might occasionally be present. So it was not the most pleasant setting in which to eat, but the food was fine.”

However, Knight stated that as a young child recording the program, “you’re not really thinking about dirt and germs and stuff.” And if you’re hungry, like me, you weren’t too picky. You simply ate everything. I didn’t care whether they sprayed it with insect spray, dulling spray, or anything. “I would still eat it.”

Williams chuckled, stating that “no one else” but Knight could have brought “Peter to life.”

The Brady Bunch aired for five seasons, from 1969 to 1974.