What Do You Make Homemade & Why This Could Be A Lost Skill

Decades ago when I was a little girl, I can remember sitting at my maternal grandmother's kitchen counter or table and watching her make everything from scratch; and today I was reading a post made by a prepping blogger called Daisy Luther on the organic prepper website about how we, as a generation, have lost the art of cooking from scratch.

This is a quote from the article that had me intrigue and thinking more about what she was saying:

Cooking from scratch is actually an analogy for today’s society. Those who take the road less traveled are considered eccentric throw-backs to a far away time

Is this how people actually view those who cook from scratch? Make their own meals without the pre-packaged garbage? And is this what our instant-gratification society has become?

Are we considered eccentric? Are we considered living in a previous lifetime? Or are we looked at as wasting our time?

My Homemade Beef Broth

Granted a can of this beef broth would have cost me under $1 at the local grocery store; but I know there are no preservatives in this jar of homemade beef broth. Plus it didn't cost me an extra penny as I had some beef soup bones from the 1/4 cow we had butchered a few months ago.

Lacto-Fermented Sodas

Saving money on buying sugar-riddled sodas and making my own lacto-fermented drinks and sodas has become a new way of life for me. Giving up soda was a hard habit, but in the long run it's healthier, cheaper and I know every ingredient that goes in here.

I can remember when my grandmother would travel up north to the farmer she and my mom used to get some of their garden vegetables and fruits that they couldn't grow in grandma's city lot garden.

We'd spend endless hours on the weekend days picking apples for applesauce, apple butter and dried apple slices for grandma's famous apple crumble cake. We'd pick blueberries until our fingers were dyed purple. We'd sit in the dirt in between rows and rows of strawberries; sneaking a few sweet berries as we picked. Then mom, grandma and my aunt would spend another two days making jellies, jams and preserves from this bounty of berry goodness.

But I guess it's much easier for people to walk into a grocery store or specialty store and buy a jar of organic strawberry jam.

Things I've Made Homemade Instead Of Buying At The Store

Over the years, especially when my kids were still at home, I was on a tighter than tight budget and out of necessity more so than lifestyle choice, I made so much of our food from scratch. I would buy in bulk as there was a Mennonite Bulk Store less than three miles from our home. I would get most of my spices there (this was before I discovered the world of dehydrating), rice, beans, mixes, flour, sugar... you name it, they had it!

I would make my own:

• Dough for everything- pizza dough, bread and rolls/buns, cookie, pies
• Tomato everything- pizza sauce, marinara, salsa, chili
• Pickles- dill, bread and butter
• Treats for snacking- Pop-Tarts, brownies, cookies
• Those helper meals- ground burger, pasta and seasoning with NO chemicals included

Not only did I save money, but I also taught my daughters how to cook, bake, grocery shop on a budget and how to provide healthy choices of food in their lives.

I find it sad that people have become a throw away society and purchasing items they could be making themselves. It doesn't really take me longer to make a loaf of bread or some cookies. It's all about time management and planning ahead.

I am thrilled to know that my youngest daughter, who has two little ones of her own, is a stay-at-home mom to them and she cooks and bakes every day. She has plans for a garden but wants me to help her plan it out. She used cloth diapers on her two children (just as I did with my three when they were little) and she is a budget-conscious almost 26-year old. She knows the values I instilled upon her all those years ago are tried and true because she lived through them herself. She is a walking statistic that making your own is the way to live.

What do you think? Is homemade and cooking from scratch going wayside to more convenient ways of cooking and living?

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