Once upon a time.. we use to prepare our meals from scratch, grow our own gardens and the entire family use to also sit around the table together on a sunday night for a huge meal with dessert...
Once upon a time.
We are an evolving society. Sometimes I wonder if we are doing so at too quick of a pace. Computers, video games, iPods, GPS, microwavable dinners, processed food ready to be eaten directly out of the package. In the last few months I have been once again reminded why, I like a 1950's house wife, prefer to take the time to prepare meals from scratch. I try as hard as I can to stay away from processed food. If you look in my fridge there is tonnes of fresh fruits and veggies, and my freezer is packed full of frozen meals that I originalIy prepared from fresh ingredients. I too am guilty of convenience, you will find some of that in my freezer, but only a small portion of it.
Food related issues in the news of late is making me proud of my culinary skills and the fact I don't eat meat... where do I start? First it was the tomato, mushrooms and lettuce recalls, then the Maple Leaf meats, now processed cheeses are being recalled due to Listeria. Listeria isn't just making people sick, they are dying. It is times like this that people need to start thinking about going back to tradional ways of eating/cooking (ie preparing your meals with fresh ingredients). There are so many benefits from it and is something truly satisfying from knowing you're eating something you prepared yourself, you will be healthier and it tastes so much better!
I hear over and over people complaining about convenience, no time to cook, blah blah blah... there are ways around that. When you do cook, triple the recipe and freeze single serving portions. Or my favourite tool, get a slow cooker. Throw everything in the night before, turn it on before you go to work and when you get home, a meal is waiting for you.
I already eat well and healthy, seeing these news stories made me realize I can push it up a notch. Growing up we always had a garden, this past summer my Aunt sent me back on a regular basis with tonnes of stuff from her garden. So, over the winter I am going to start seeds for my own container garden. I have tonnes of window space and the knowledge on how to. Being able to walk out to my balcony this summer and cut fresh herbs had me thinking why stop there. So I won't. My dream would be to live in a place where I could have a garden of my very own, but this will do for now.
I don't want to be the preachy Vegan, I really don't, but all of these food scares should be hopefully waking people up and making them realize that meat and convenience need to be reconsidered. I don't own a microwave haven't for quite some time and trust me, I can prepare a meal in under 20 minutes, that is only 15 minutes more than a microwave dinner. Is a frozen dinner or a package of sandwich meal, really that much more of a convenience. Also take into consideration other things such as MSG and sodium, all those foods are packed with them.
Let's get back to tradition, I want to... and I have the big ass table for the Sunday dinners :)
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