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?
@reonlouw called me over here! I do, indeed, make as much as I can from scratch, and that goes for virtually every meal. I have long escewed pre-prepared vegetables and buy what we don't get from our garden, either in the village or from a greengrocer in the nearest town.
If you cook from scratch, there is no such thing as a quick meal so I long ago began ignoring those dreadful time guides in recipes that clearly are for chefs that have supersonic knife skills and someone else who will peel the mount of pumpkin or butternut that will go into the soup. Not to mention the spuds and the onions that are so often the reason for a good cry! Which, incidentally I will be having a little later because onion marmalade is on today's "to-do" list.
So, regular, from scratch things in my kitchen on a weekly basis: yoghurt, pasta and then whatever stock I need to be making for the market: hummus (and the tahini for it), chicken liver pate, cottage cheese, pickles, marmalades, jams and chutnes. These last, when I get them, I am happy to take the produce that the farmers can't take to market or to the canneries - too small, slightly damaged - as happens with fruit, and in the case of zucchini, too large. I cant' stand waste. I am the daughter of parents who grew up in the Second World War. It rubbed off.
All that, though and I love doing it. Fiddling in the kitchen and harvesting one's on produce? Nothing beats it.
I can't wait for this year's crop of brinjals and tomatoes, not to mention chillies. Oh, and a friend of mine from the UK, messaged me that she's bringing me two types of special tomato seeds when she visits at Christmas. I can't wait!
@goldendawne I have learned that some folk get this and others not. That said, it astounds me that people come to a rural village and a) complain about agricultural activity going on around them - like the vehicles taking harvested crops where they need to go and b) who insist on pre-packaged vegetables from the supermarket which must come from miles away and via their distribution centre 100+ miles from us, too, and not from local growers.
Here endeth today's rant.
I'm off to the kitchen to cry! LOL
Great post!
Thanks for tasting the eden!
Bravo! We would all be much healthier if we ate whole foods and cooked from scratch. My parents grew an incredible garden and put up all kinds of food which we ate throughout the year. I had no idea the blessing that was and I haven't inherited their green thumbs, but I still keep trying.
My husband and I went on a modified Paleo diet 2 years ago and just by eliminating the processed food and doing a small amount of exercise I lost 60 pound and feel so much better.
Great post!
I learned quite a bit from my mom and grandma about stocking the pantry, making homemade and being thrifty in the kitchen and around the house.
CONGRATULATIONS on the lifestyle change! That is awesome!
Thank you!
My mother was a 70s SuperMom who both ground her own meatloaf with a handcrank on the kitchen counter, and was the first female bank manager in the usa! I make most things from scratch and try to grow as much as possible. Great inspirational post!
Oh yes!! My mom and dad had one of those cranks too! They used to grind up pork and make homemade kielbasa (yeah, we're 100% Polish)
I have similar memories of both my grandmothers but know of no one in my generation (friends and family) who can prepare anything from scratch. I just read a post of @fionasfavourites about preparing chutney (a South African favourite) from scratch. (https://steemit.com/steempress/@fionasfavourites/charmingchutney-b4mwy02l1a) It does seem to be a theme today.
#steemitbloggers
It sure does seem to be a theme!
I've never made chutney before (and that is fermented if I'm not mistaken- I'll have to check out her post).
Excellent posts! Cooking from scratch is so much healthier and is actually very fun. I love making use of every part of ingredients I have instead of throwing them out. Like with broths, as you mentioned you know exactly what is in there plus you have the satisfaction of making it on your own.
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Oh yes! When my daughters were still at home and we would cook and bake on Sundays (I was doing the once a week cooking cause of our crazy schedule back then) they learned so much but it didn't seem like work to them.
Too much to list but here's some:
Kefir cheese
Yogurt
Butter
Sausage
Bacon
Ketchup
Spaghetti sauce
Pickles
Jellies
Fire cider
Kimchi
All regular meals, from scratch
Oh yes.... GREAT list! And you reminded me of more of my own too.
Kefir is the best! I love it in my breakfast fruit cups.
Kimchi is one I have not made yet but it is on my list. This may be one for me to consider over the winter months to experiment with.
If someone can do something better than you can and you can afford it, pay them. If you can do it or earn far more than the cost in the same time, pay them. Otherwise, do it yourself, whether it be baking a cake or changing the brake pads on your car or making new kitchen cabinets. Maybe you'll need to learn how, but in the end you will have a better and/or cheaper product and have fun doing it. Oh, the skinned knuckles gained while working on your car? Battle scars for which you earn bragging rights. WELL worth the pain.
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Cooking from scratch is coming back, it has to, because processed food is killing us. I cook everything from scratch - everything - because all three of my children have Crohn's disease and their health is far better when they eat real food.
Yes eating healthier when suffering from an illness is mandatory.I have an auto-immune disease and my hubby has high blood pressure- we are on a low sodium menu planning here.
Looks like a lost art to me. I can barely make a few things, while my mother had no trouble stocking up the pantry with homemade stuff.
However, nowadays I try to make a lot of meals from scratch. Right now, I'm going to make some dough for a spinach pie. I was surprised to see you can buy broth where you live, here it is unheard of - that's one of the few things I'm good at :)
Still, I think there is some hope for the future as young people become more aware of all the dangerous products in store-bought food. I was not nearly as health-conscious as my almost 20yo daughter.
Oh spinach pie!!! Are you planning on sharing the recipe? I love spinach; fresh from the garden in salads, on sandwiches, added to casseroles and evens soups. It's one of my favorite greens.
I am now calling you "wise woman" and following you.
It is great you know so much and your daughter is following in your wise woman footprints.
I never drank any sodas until lately the Blue Sky Ginger Ale which I have some of occassionally. Can you make gingerale?
lol- thank you!! I just love learning new skills and perfecting the ones l already have
No never made ginger ale but I do make a ginger bug to make my own sodas. Not sure if that counts
A ginger bug?
It is a fermentation starter- I wrote about it here
Water, chopped ginger and organic sugar cane