by oldedude on February 3, 2024 2:56 pm
curt- We don't have or need any Chef Boyardee, Hunt’s, Slim Jim, Reddi-wip, or Marie Callender’s frozen meals in our house. Nobody needs potato chips.
A one pound package of dried spaghetti is about a dollar. The sauce is three or four bucks. You can feed a family with kids for about a dollar per person.
Raw ingredients are a lot cheaper and healthier than processed, prepackaged foods. It's not that hard to follow a recipe or wing-it to prepare a meal.
I do agree with the premise. That said....
The idea of "easier" food really ramped up when mom's started going to work. Our house was predominantly NOT Hamburger Helper, etc. That said. Mom and Dad worked full time as teachers. We learned how to add things to the "pot roast" when we got home from school, or maybe have to cook bacon for the waffles that night (a really cheap meal for the week before payday). We also became "experts" in frying "toast" in the pork chop fat (not to be confused with Native "fry bread"), because it added flavor. For families now, "fast" is a key ingredient to most family food now days. It has to be. More expectations of the work environment, higher gas prices, etc.
Honestly, it's really nice for you to eat food you can check for "organic" or such labels and use those in ensuring your food is to your liking. We really try to do the same thing. Why? because we have the time.
I don't think many households have that luxury if both parents work, etc. Then there's making sure the kids have homework done, class projects, that sort of thing. Then don't forget about team sports kids are growing up with now from the first grade.
by Curt_Anderson on February 3, 2024 3:34 pm
OD,
First off, I don't buy organic unless it happens to be cheaper than its conventional alternative. The evidence doesn't support the contention that organic is more nutritious and healthier. Do to its inefficiencies organic farming isn't even healthier for the planet. The only thing for sure about organic food: it's a lot more expensive.
Even in households in which both parents work and the kids have after school activities, Americans manage to have hours per day in which they watch computer, phone and TV screens. It wouldn't be too much of a sacrifice for at least some family members to sacrifice a half hour or so to prepare a meal from scratch. The family might like the activity.
My wife just made a delicious loaf of rustic bread with a small assist from me. It took about twenty minutes of actual labor and maybe 70 cents worth of ingredients.
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