biig said:For sure Donna. But for me, I have enough aggravation in life right
now, that I refuse to let anything on this group get under my skin....
consequently, my laughing response to the original post......Sharon
Hello there - I am the original post and I don't think I ever
mentioned the word organic. I don't buy organic food per se -
sometimes it just so happens that something I buy is labelled organic
but I don't specifically go looking for this type of product (except I
always buy organic free-range chickens because we all know what has
gone into the other sort!)
So you found my post amusing? Well, he who laughs last laughs
longest as they say - and I hope your present general aggravation is
relieved soon.
There has been massive medical and media coverage recently about
unhealthy food and families who are possibly not aware of what
processed food is all about. Some governments are even spending heaps
of money to educate people who don't eat the right food. So it is
not a fanatical few as you seem to think, but a serious global concern
- mainly affecting Western countries of course, and particularly
fast-food consumption.
I appreciate that some people live in regions where scarcity and high
priced fresh produce determines what they can afford to eat. I am
lucky in that I live in a country where good quality fresh produce is
available year-round - yes, even tomatoes and salad ingredients.
And I do appreciate that a balanced outlook is better than all-out
fanaticism about food.
What I was attempting to do was not to preach from a soapbox, nor to
the converted, but to point out that really good nutritious meals can
be prepared economically using unprocessed ingredients. Such cooking
takes more time - and time is very precious in the many modern homes
where both parents work and the kids are participating in all sorts of
out of school activities that lead to separate eating habits. I have
a couple of daughters who are in this situation, so I fully appreciate
the short-cuts that the cook often takes.
I've also been there myself, but have to say that many modern
processed foodstuffs were not available 20 years ago. And I often
spent one weekend day a month (usually a Sunday) to prepare meals and
freeze them. We ran out of them before three weeks was up, but it
was an attempt to avoid too many quick-fix meals that were unhealthy.
And, yes, I do sometimes splurge and have a high-fat, high-carb. meal
- usually of the fast-food style. I am not a fanatic, but I do try
to buy food without preservatives or other additives where I can. I
don't bake my own bread, but buy it from a bakery nearby that promotes
its bread as containing no preservatives. It is certainly quite stale
by the following day, as opposed to the plastic-wrapped loaves that
have a use-by date 6-7 days ahead!
It's relatively easy to make such items as chicken stock from scratch
and freeze for use later. It takes about 4 hours to do it properly
and doesn't require constant attention . And it's not too difficult
to locate preservative-free canned vegetables, is it? I can find
items like this very easily in the supermarket and we have very
limited brand choice in this country with a population of only 4m. I
find it takes no time at all to create pasta sauces using crushed
tomatoes or tomato puree rather than use the so-called quick and easy
commercial sauces, which are full of preservatives, salt, etc.
Cheers - and good luck with your cooking - and the aggravation!
Daisy
Carthage demands an explanation for this insolence!
