I can totally see your point, and one of the things that bugs me to no end is that now that George needs certain special grocery-type items, our weekly food bill has gone up noticeably. I'm lucky to have a favorite produce stand in town (for the most part, the prices are usually almost half what they are at the grocery store, and the produce keeps for at least a week, sometimes two). I'm not sure why the stuff that's so bad for you is cheaper, but I do also suspect that the reason why stuff like Kraft Mac & Cheese, Hamburger Helper are so popular has to do with our society's love of convenience foods. And I think that a LOT of people just don't know how easy it is, and how much cheaper it is, to make things themselves.
Knowing how to cook has been a huge benefit -- I can make a huge pot of from-scratch chicken soup, spaghetti sauce, or chili, freeze it, and have PLENTY for very little money per serving (three guesses what fills up my freezer during the cooler months). But I know that a lot of those things have been passed down in my family and that a lot of other families might not place such a huge emphasis on cooking. And that's unfortunate-- it really is a lost art. One of my family's favorite stories is how, during the Depression, my great-grandmother kept enough food on the table to feed all five of her kids because she made her own pasta, grew her own tomatoes to make her own sauce, and they kept chickens. But that was a different time back then and we simply do not have the time (or, in many cases, the know-how) to do half of that stuff. (Also, keeping chickens in this day and age? Not such a great idea unless you're on a farm.)
I had a point, really (lost the thread there for a sec). Mostly I think that cooking things up in bulk is a skill that's been lost over the years. It also takes time, and that is one hell of a rare commodity for a lot of people these days. Hence the popularity of convenience foods. *sigh*
...And I'm not sure I could watch that documentary -- "Supersize Me" STILL gives me the heebie-jeebies, and it's been ages since I've watched that!
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Knowing how to cook has been a huge benefit -- I can make a huge pot of from-scratch chicken soup, spaghetti sauce, or chili, freeze it, and have PLENTY for very little money per serving (three guesses what fills up my freezer during the cooler months). But I know that a lot of those things have been passed down in my family and that a lot of other families might not place such a huge emphasis on cooking. And that's unfortunate-- it really is a lost art. One of my family's favorite stories is how, during the Depression, my great-grandmother kept enough food on the table to feed all five of her kids because she made her own pasta, grew her own tomatoes to make her own sauce, and they kept chickens. But that was a different time back then and we simply do not have the time (or, in many cases, the know-how) to do half of that stuff. (Also, keeping chickens in this day and age? Not such a great idea unless you're on a farm.)
I had a point, really (lost the thread there for a sec). Mostly I think that cooking things up in bulk is a skill that's been lost over the years. It also takes time, and that is one hell of a rare commodity for a lot of people these days. Hence the popularity of convenience foods. *sigh*
...And I'm not sure I could watch that documentary -- "Supersize Me" STILL gives me the heebie-jeebies, and it's been ages since I've watched that!