Getting By In The Kitchen

 And maybe kidding the kids a little..

I know that none of you need any help from me on this issue.  But recent discussion has brought a lot back to me.  I am reminded of a time of actual scarcity during the upbringing of our children.  They were right in the middle of growing up.

And we were pretty broke.

Years before, I had absorbed the teaching in the book Diet For A Small Planet, F. M. Lappe', I believe, which everyone has heard of.  It's about combining foods that are not primarily protein foods to achieve an amino acid balance, providing complete proteins.  I knew that they could be healthy and full if I was careful with my combining.

We kept them fed by some good old methods that everybody knows, but are not done so much now, but might very well be again.

I made a lot of soups.  My children actually didn't know that kids don't like soup! 

I had trouble getting them to eat beans.  I found that sweetening beans makes people eat them. Ha.

This is the period of time when I made tofu starting with soy beans.  I know that a lot of people think they hate tofu, but it's a lot easier to eat than soy beans!

I found that the children would always eat a filled bun, even when I had to fill them with curry flavored soy grits and carrots.  

This of course, brings up the subject of bread.  Bread is cheap to make and all life forms love it.  We ground wheat to make flour.  Not entirely. Some white bread makes people happy.

Of course, we were not going to McDonald's much at all.  Almost all food they ate came from my hands.

A baked potato and a glass of milk is a complete meal and very cheap.  They thought it was great.  I always had butter in the house.  The cost is worth the benefit in butter.

I cooked eggs and oatmeal quite frequently.  We didn't go meat free, but we didn't buy a lot of it.  I made yogurt, I never did get into making cheese, which actually surprises me.

I made a lot of hummus.  That and bread make a complete protein. On and on it goes.

GS and I were just discussing possible coming scarcity and I stressed that they have some supplies upstairs.  He says they do.  Even his people have heard of what might be coming.  Every time I get hold of a young relative I preach saving food supplies.  

My grandchildren cook.  Not sure how it happened.  Maybe they learned it at home and from us.  It's such an important thing for their health and financial state.

Sometimes, times of scarcity are happy times.  I am reminded of another book.   

In it, he describes his life as child immigrant to this country, in the logging areas of Washington state, in fact.  It's a great story, and details his gratitude and happiness at just being here, even though times were tight.  He became a professor at the University of Washington eventually.

Just my thoughts tonight.  I think we can still be happy.  The old book says that until the end, seed time and harvest will continue.  I take that as a promise.