Do you cook for your family? I mean, not just opening a box of this or that and heating it up, but really cook and bake? I know in my circles, you'd be hard-pressed to find much in the way of canned convenience foods, boxes of dried and preserved this or that, or bags of glow-in-the-dark foods. I know women who are stay-at-home moms and still they don't cook or bake much in the way of real food for their families. I don't understand I guess There is so much truly good food out there, and there is such a joy in serving my family something wholesome and fresh. Why would I want to simply cut my time and pop something into the microwave for them?
What is that commercial from a few years ago (ok...it could still be their clogan, I have no idea) "Nothing says lovin' like Pilsbury" or something along those lines? Or, I remember seeing a commercial at my Mom's recently for their bags of ready-bake biscuits now...just pop out one or two and bake. I suppose, seeing as they are still in the stores, folks are buying them, but good grief...it takes less than 15 minutes tops to put together a pan of homemade from scratch biscuits....why on earth would I pay money for some preservative-filled frozen biscuits?
Maybe I'm just weird (hush now!! be nice!!). I cook and bake for my family every day. I could do so much more, but pregnancy has taken a toll on our food menu lately, that's for sure I bake breads and rolls when we want them. I bake cookies and other snacks for us. I make our lunches and dinners using the freshest produce I have and good meats. (My mother actually paid money for those roast dinners in a bag...Thomas E. Wilson, I believe...now THAT totally baffled me! Good grief -- it was fully-cooked and ready to simply heat up and serve. Oh, can you imagine the preservatives in that one??? And she paid good money for that little chunk of glow-in-the-dark food! eeeeewwwww......) See...I certainly don't come by my thinking naturally. I wasn't raised to be a baker or a cook-from-scratch gal. We ate processed this and that my entire life. What a boon for the family it was to receive that first microwave! Goodness, I was so impressed with my kitchen prowess when I mastered cooking a hot dog (oh man, don't get me started on those nasty things!) and mac-n-cheese in that machine. I truly felt I had attained kitchen queen status at that point in my life. Looking back, that is just plain sad to admit to
These days, as I said, I bake and cook every day. We garden for the freshest foods we can get, we search out quality meats that are better for us from a health standpoint (we eat little ground beef, but opt for ground turkey, venison and such) we raise our own chickens for our eggs and meat. We grind our wheat, we buy organic oats, we try to limit our 'white' stuff and use alternatives...like that fresh wheat flour, other sweeteners, brown rice, etc. I don't look at how far we still have to go -- it's a long way! -- but I do see how far we have come over the years. We have left those boxed and prepackaged foods behind for the most part. Sure -- you might find a box of brownie mix sitting here....or a frosting tub. What do you do when a friend shares some 'great buy' with you? It may sit here and be forgotten, or we may pass it along to another friend who appreciates the packaged stuff more.
There is a legacy I want in this family from this point on is basic....home-cooked, made from scratch pure love
Note: This is another proof of the sad state of affairs in the American home today. This excerpt holds a lot of truth, and it was not intended to offend. Two weeks ago I suggested to the ladies of our church that we put together a church cookbook as a fundraising project. All of them looked at me blankly, and then more than half of them confessed that they don't cook. Most of these women stay-at-home too. Maybe this snippet will encourage you to break out your cookbooks.
Instant Meals
Today there is a booming market of dinner kits that give the illusion you’re cooking without reading a recipe, slicing, dicing, or measuring any ingredients. Even processed spices and herbs are now combined into single containers to spare you the trouble of unscrewing more than one bottle. With manufacturers determining the balance of garlic powder and paprika, forget finesse. We are fooling only our deadened palates and the souls we have robbed of food’s sentimental meaning when we forfeit our cultural history. Researchers at Chicago’s Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation found that for those born before 1930, fond images of youth were triggered by aroma of freshly baked goods, especially bread. In contrast, later generations grow nostalgic from the scent of Cocoa Puffs and SweeTarts.
Ironically, bread machines represent the only real growth area in the home baking industry. While sales of raw ingredients such as flour are dropping like ruined souffles, "no-bake" desserts have become bestsellers. "Today, many people think the term ‘baking by scratch’ means opening a box of mix" concluded a New York Times reporter who recently profiled this phenomenon. Those willing to turn on the oven need only water the mix like a plant - something a trained chimp could do.
Studies show women now spend on the average a scant quarter hour "preparing" dinner. This meal was once the bread and butter of domestic life. It embodied high esteem for the distinctly feminine craft, the continuity of the generations that had bequeathed their precious culinary legacy, the nourishing of family bonds, and a deep sense of all that home implied. It is this loss that enables us to apply the adulterated label "meals" to fortified candy bars and canned drinks.
The 20th century surrendered the power of home traditions to the almighty god of convenience - the main reason American adults visit fast-food restaurants an average of six times a month. (Perhaps the accumulated hours spent waiting in their not-so-fast lines could be applied to some home cooking worthy of the name.) Not only do we increasingly "dine" out or carry out, we are now eating solo on wheels. Vehicular techno-wonders like the jumbo cup holder have mutated into lap trays for motorists. Nine dollars buys you five separate sections to hold beverages, good, and utensils. The standard money-back guarantee does not include the promise you will taste what you eat, nor does it reimburse you for staining your clothes and upholstery.
The National Restaurant Association estimates that Americans spend forty-four cents of every food dollar for edibles (or inedibles) prepared outside the home. The attractions of that "special sauce" notwithstanding, working women don’t have time to cook anymore, and no one has filled their shoes or their aprons. We well ask whether we have lost more than the welcoming scent of some delicacy simmering on the stove after battling the gladiators through rush-hour traffic?
(Excerpt borrowed from "Simple Social Graces: Recapturing the Joys of Gracious Victorian Living," by Linda S. Lichter,
and published by Regan Books)
Kindred Spirits A ministry of Kindred Spirits Journal &
This is so true!! Unfortunately, I'm one of those that rarely cooks and I'm embarrassed at what I feed my family. (My defense is that I work full-time though... ) I do not go to fast food at all though, I tend to rely on boxed and packaged foods. But, I have been making our bread and cookies from scratch since the beginning of the year, so I am making progress.... I think if I was able to stay home, I would be cooking all the time! :) I think it's so sad that hardly anyone cooks any more!
Great article. Deanna, like you I grind my own grain (organic). We don't eat beef or pork, only deer meat along with some chicken and fresh caught fish (when dh and the kids catch some). I bake all my own breads, cookies and cook from scratch. We try to use (as much as possible) unprocessed foods. We too have a long way to go. The best thing I ever did for my family was purchase a WhisperMill. Health wise - there has been a HUGE difference.
~Carol
I've been where you are, Jenna. I was working full time away from home, and we ate things I wouldn't feed my animals now that I've learned things. Don't knock yourself -- we do the best we can with the knowledge we have at any given time. It's all we can do. As we learn things, we begin making changes...some make them fast, some make them slow. It's a process :o)
Deanna
I agree whole heartedly. I love to cook for my family. I get up at 4:45 and fix breakfast for my hubby and send him off to work with a fresh lunch. I continue to work in the kitchen till late into the evening. I do know some sahm who "can't" find the time to cook. I'm not sure why. I was talking to my cousin just this afternoon who at 4:30 pm had no idea what she was preparing for her husbands supper. Then said he would probably have to make himself something. She is a sahm!
I guess the women who still cook for their families are a very rare comodity now adays.
Kitty
Thank you for posting this article. It has only been within the last year or so that I actually started cooking anything. I had no idea what yeast was. I grew up in a family that belived if it took longer than 15 minutes to cook, order it instead. I still have a long way to go!! We do still use some boxed items but my family loves to come home to fresh baked bread and cookies made from scratch. My dh bought me some cookbooks and I am loving it. Thank you for being such an inspiration!!
~Always Planning for Whatever May Come... Mrs Survival site
~Sewing and baking, of course
~write letters
~Pasta made, dried and stored away
~barn repairs, on-going
~bush hogging & timber clean-up, on-going
~List books at BookMooch.com
~build a new mailbox post
~monthly quilt blocks
No indulgences of self will can be trivial, no denial unprofitable; Heaven or Hell depends on this alone. A parent who studies to subdue it in his child works together with God in the renewing and saving of their soul. The parent who indulges it does the devil's work, makes religion impractical, salvation unattainable, and does all that in him lies to damn his child, soul and body, forever.
Susanna Wesley
At The School Desks
We are a Christian family desiring to raise our children with the primary focus of Training their Hearts!
I have no greater joy, than to hear my children walk in truth... III John 1:4
Train up the child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it... Proverbs 22:6
Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!... Deuteronomy 5:29
Our mission in life is not to go to some far-off foreign land, but to work at home and in our churches and home communities. Our goal should not be to leave behind riches and possessions, farms and homes for our children, but a priceless heritage they will cherish enough to work fervently to pass along to their children. It has been done for generations and with God's help it can still be done. In teaching our children, we are striving toward a deep understanding of who they are In Christ. I am . . . a child of God, a gift to my parents and my country. I'm a person of great value because God made me. I can . . . do all things through Christ who strengthens me. God has made me able to do everything required of me. I ought . . . to do my duty to obey God, to submit to my parents and everyone in authority over me, to be of service to others, and to keep myself healthy with proper food and rest so my body is ready to serve. I will . . . resolve to keep a watch over my thoughts and choose what's right even if it's not what I want.
There is so much truly good food out there, and there is such a joy in serving my family something wholesome and fresh. Why would I want to simply cut my time and pop something into the microwave for them? 
I bake breads and rolls when we want them. I bake cookies and other snacks for us. I make our lunches and dinners using the freshest produce I have and good meats. (My mother actually paid money for those roast dinners in a bag...Thomas E. Wilson, I believe...now THAT totally baffled me! Good grief -- it was fully-cooked and ready to simply heat up and serve. Oh, can you imagine the preservatives in that one??? And she paid good money for that little chunk of glow-in-the-dark food! eeeeewwwww......) See...I certainly don't come by my thinking naturally. I wasn't raised to be a baker or a cook-from-scratch gal. We ate processed this and that my entire life. What a boon for the family it was to receive that first microwave! Goodness, I was so impressed with my kitchen prowess when I mastered cooking a hot dog (oh man, don't get me started on those nasty things!) and mac-n-cheese in that machine. I truly felt I had attained kitchen queen status at that point in my life. Looking back, that is just plain sad to admit to 
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