"Saerah" > wrote in message
...
> yeah, i and i get lectures from my in-laws about how im "depriving" my
> daughter because i make her homemade cookies and such instead of buying
crap
> pre-made. heh.

I have to wonder how much of that is due to their own
experience in trying to cook for themselves. Let's face it,
if you don't like to cook, then what you cook is very likely
going to be inferior to what you can buy, in terms of flavor
and consistency. On the other hand, those of us who DO
like to cook know that we can turn out meals that are a lot
better than anything we'll get pre-packaged in the store, or
even in most restaurants.

Bob M.

Donna wrote:

> What you are saying about baking from scratch is so true.
>
> I didn't realize it until (probably 25 years ago) I gave my classes a
> writing assignment in which they were to write logical directions for how to
> do something. It was just a short assignment.
>
> I mentioned that they could choose to write the steps in making a cake if
> they wished.
>
> Without exception, the ones who chose the cake option began their
> compositions with "Take a cake mix. . . ."
>
> These girls were taking a home-making class at the time, and I mentioned it
> to their home-making teacher. She said, "Oh yes, we bake all our cakes with
> mixes!"
>
> My home-making teacher would turn over in her grave. . . .
> Donna
>
>
>

Yep...my Home Ec. teacher taught that mixes were more economical. To
hell with economics when they taste like a board. When baking bread I
feel like the bread machine or Kitchen Aid are cheating.

I used Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts for the first time last
Thanksgiving. They're alright but nothing like the real thing. We'd
spent most of the week in the hospital as my dad had a bypass and valve
replacement the Monday before Thanksgiving...Mom was in the hospital
with him until about half an hour before dinner and the boys aren't all
that helpful in the kitchen. The pie crusts were a move of despiration
to have pies for dessert and a meal flying solo on a big meal. Gawd...I
have to justify my using them.

I have certainly noticed that the number of people that make anything
from scratch has diminished a great deal. I'll never join those
ranks...that easy food just doesn't taste as good. I find preparing a
meal after work to be stress reducing...something that just popping
whatever into the microwave cannot do.

Jessica

"Jeff K" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>> I'm not sure your premise is correct to start with. Over the past
> decade or
>> so there seems to have been a real revival of interest in high
> quality
>> cooking at home. Witness the proliferation of cooking shows, unusual
>> ingredients available in average supermarkets, and so on. I think
> this
>> resurgence of interest is perhaps in reaction to a period a while
> back when
>> people were relying too much on canned and processed foods.
>
> I'm skeptical that the current infatuation with the Food Network and
> other cooking shows represents a revival of interest in cooking from
> scratch at home. I wonder what percentage of the people who are hooked
> on these shows actually try to replicate what they see. People watch
> these programs just for the spectacle, and the Emerils and Mario
> Batalis of the world are delivering showmanship rather than expert
> instruction in how to prepare food. It's all too easy for the at home
> audience to sit back passively and salivate over meals they know they
> are never going to make themselves.
>
> Jeff
>

Do you have any evidence for your opinions?


--
Peter Aitken

Remove the crap from my email address before using.

"Steve Calvin" > wrote in message
...
> With lives seemingly getting busier and busier do you see the end of
> "scratch" cooking in the future? Just looking backward, my Mother
and
> especially my Grandmothers cooked everything from scratch. Breads,
> cakes, pies including the crusts, stews, soups, sauces etc...
>
> Today is seems as though the number of people who routinely cook
from
> scratch is dwindling. People are migrating to canned stews,
spaghetti
> sauces, sauces in general, soups, etc. I know quite a few people
who
> don't cook, period. They either do take out, go out, TV-"dinners",
> frozen stuff like pot-pies, and even premade and frozen PB&J
sandwiches
> for gawd sakes! Now I admit that I don't routinely make bread but I
> pretty much make much everything else "the old fashioned way."
>
> Anyone else noticing a decline in folks like us who enjoy cooking
and
> make the time necessary to indulge ourselves?


I think this demise is clearly indicated by the state of supermarket
shelves and the weekly food section of major newspapers. Instead of
content rich newspaper food sections devoted to cooking like we used
to have, what remains is a measly few pages with only a few recipes
and the rest devoted to features on dining out, ordering out and
wines.

The L.A. Times used to have an outstanding food section. At one time
this weekly section was so large that it was divided up into two
sub-sections of the newspaper and often totaled 40+ pages. Each
edition had dozens of recipes published after they had been tried,
tasted and often improved upon in the Times' own test kitchen. In the
last 10-15 years, however, the Times food section has been in a long
term decline. A recent food section was 10 pages containing merely 6
recipes, not counting one that was part of an ad.

The food section was formerly supported by the supermarkets whose
advertising used to fill 10-15 pages. But supermarkets are now
deriving a lot more revenue from the sales of prepared or
semi-prepared food items to working families and individuals who are
doing little or even no cooking at home. In view of this changed
trend, advertisers reached the point where they saw little advantage
in targeting readers of food sections primarily geared to traditional
food preparation and cooking. The loss of that advertising and its
effect on food coverage in the newspaper is a direct result of changes
in urban society. The SF Chronicle last year lamented that there has
been an entire American generation lost to cooking.

"Sam D." > wrote:
> The L.A. Times used to have an outstanding food section. At one time
> this weekly section was so large that it was divided up into two
> sub-sections of the newspaper and often totaled 40+ pages.

Something similar happened with the Washington Post over the years, though
it sounds like it was never as good as the L.A. Times. The food section used
to be published twice a week, but at some point within the last dozen years
or so, they dropped back to just Wednesday. It used to be in the Sunday
paper too.

> The food section was formerly supported by the supermarkets whose
> advertising used to fill 10-15 pages. But supermarkets are now
> deriving a lot more revenue from the sales of prepared or
> semi-prepared food items to working families and individuals who are
> doing little or even no cooking at home. In view of this changed
> trend, advertisers reached the point where they saw little advantage
> in targeting readers of food sections primarily geared to traditional
> food preparation and cooking. The loss of that advertising and its
> effect on food coverage in the newspaper is a direct result of changes
> in urban society. The SF Chronicle last year lamented that there has
> been an entire American generation lost to cooking.

One of the things that bothers me in this change is with the addition of
these prepared items from the shelves, something else has to go in a fixed
size store. I know in my supermarket, the raw meat selection has definitely
shrunk to make way for more prepared or semi-prepared meats. Though I can't
put my finger on exactly what was there before, one aisle is now dominated
by a seemly infinite number of "juice boxes". Some of the things that
vanished from the store until I (and surely others) complained were
anchovies and kosher salt. Not that it disappeared, but I remember one day
an older customer asking a young clerk where the worchestershire sauce was
located. The clerk had never heard of it! I guess if you buy everything
already prepared, you don't need a lot of these things... and don't have a
clue as to what they are.

"Jessica V." > wrote in message
...
> Donna wrote:
>
> > What you are saying about baking from scratch is so true.
> >
> > I didn't realize it until (probably 25 years ago) I gave my
classes a
> > writing assignment in which they were to write logical directions
for how to
> > do something. It was just a short assignment.
> >
> > I mentioned that they could choose to write the steps in making a
cake if
> > they wished.
> >
> > Without exception, the ones who chose the cake option began their
> > compositions with "Take a cake mix. . . ."
> >
> > These girls were taking a home-making class at the time, and I
mentioned it
> > to their home-making teacher. She said, "Oh yes, we bake all our
cakes with
> > mixes!"
> >
> > My home-making teacher would turn over in her grave. . . .
> > Donna
> >
> >
> >
>
> Yep...my Home Ec. teacher taught that mixes were more economical.
To
> hell with economics when they taste like a board. When baking bread
I
> feel like the bread machine or Kitchen Aid are cheating.
>
> I used Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts for the first time last
> Thanksgiving. They're alright but nothing like the real thing.
We'd
> spent most of the week in the hospital as my dad had a bypass and
valve
> replacement the Monday before Thanksgiving...Mom was in the hospital
> with him until about half an hour before dinner and the boys aren't
all
> that helpful in the kitchen. The pie crusts were a move of
despiration
> to have pies for dessert and a meal flying solo on a big meal.
Gawd...I
> have to justify my using them.
>
> I have certainly noticed that the number of people that make
anything
> from scratch has diminished a great deal. I'll never join those
> ranks...that easy food just doesn't taste as good. I find preparing
a
> meal after work to be stress reducing...something that just popping
> whatever into the microwave cannot do.


I agree with you. Cooking from scratch not only provides tastier and
more wholesome results, but it is also therapeutic.

"Jeff K" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> I'm skeptical that the current infatuation with the Food Network and
> other cooking shows represents a revival of interest in cooking from
> scratch at home. I wonder what percentage of the people who are
hooked
> on these shows actually try to replicate what they see. People watch
> these programs just for the spectacle, and the Emerils and Mario
> Batalis of the world are delivering showmanship rather than expert
> instruction in how to prepare food. It's all too easy for the at
home
> audience to sit back passively and salivate over meals they know
they
> are never going to make themselves.


I agree with you. Most of the people I know who watch these shows say
they do so because they find them entertaining in a way that is
non-confrontational and non-controversial, unlike so much other TV.
But they don't ever cook anything that's demonstrated on these shows.
Besides, you can't follow a concise recipe anyway from these shows
until you look it up the recipe on the internet, which I don't think
most viewers ever bother to do.

Leila wrote:

> Another reference - the New Yorker magazine profiled the Viking stove
> company last year, and one thing they noted was how many people putting
> in $50,000 kitchens don't actually cook in them. Kitchen as trophy, I
> guess.

I know people like that. My brother and his wife have a good fried who has
a kitchen most of us would die for. She had it for more than a year before
she even turned on her oven. Her fridge had a quart of milk and a bag with
a two croissants in it. I just heard that she is getting new appliances.
If I had gas here, or room enough in my kitchen, I would gladly take the
oven off her hands.

Last year we were invited to our neighbours for dinner. They have a
beautiful kitchen, but it's a slightly different scenario. They disappeared
about an hour before dinner and left us to be entertained my her daughter
and son in law. I thought maybe something was wrong, but it turned out they
were downstairs in the cooking kitchen cooking a feast of fresh made pasta,
baked fish, chicken......

Bob Myers wrote:

> I have to wonder how much of that is due to their own
> experience in trying to cook for themselves. Let's face it,
> if you don't like to cook, then what you cook is very likely
> going to be inferior to what you can buy, in terms of flavor
> and consistency. On the other hand, those of us who DO
> like to cook know that we can turn out meals that are a lot
> better than anything we'll get pre-packaged in the store, or
> even in most restaurants.

That was an issue with my parents. My mother loves to go out for dinner. My
father hated it. He didn't like spending money on dinner when my mother's
cooking was better than most restaurants.

My brother and his wife used to go out for dinner at a local eatery every
Friday night. We went with them a few times and rarely got out of there for
less than $60. Normally on a fRiday night I would pick up some salmon to
grill, a fresh loaf of bread, some Bibb lettuce, an avocado and a bottle of
wine. It took less than 20 minutes to throw dinner together and it was a heck
of a lot better than we would have had at the restaurant for three times as
much. It wasn't much work and there was not a lot of cleanup.

"wff_ng_6" > wrote in message
news:HfCJd.28858$Os6.22592@trnddc08...
> "Sam D." > wrote:
> > The L.A. Times used to have an outstanding food section. At one
time
> > this weekly section was so large that it was divided up into two
> > sub-sections of the newspaper and often totaled 40+ pages.
>
> Something similar happened with the Washington Post over the years,
though
> it sounds like it was never as good as the L.A. Times. The food
section used
> to be published twice a week, but at some point within the last
dozen years
> or so, they dropped back to just Wednesday. It used to be in the
Sunday
> paper too.
>
> > The food section was formerly supported by the supermarkets whose
> > advertising used to fill 10-15 pages. But supermarkets are now
> > deriving a lot more revenue from the sales of prepared or
> > semi-prepared food items to working families and individuals who
are
> > doing little or even no cooking at home. In view of this changed
> > trend, advertisers reached the point where they saw little
advantage
> > in targeting readers of food sections primarily geared to
traditional
> > food preparation and cooking. The loss of that advertising and its
> > effect on food coverage in the newspaper is a direct result of
changes
> > in urban society. The SF Chronicle last year lamented that there
has
> > been an entire American generation lost to cooking.
>
> One of the things that bothers me in this change is with the
addition of
> these prepared items from the shelves, something else has to go in a
fixed
> size store. I know in my supermarket, the raw meat selection has
definitely
> shrunk to make way for more prepared or semi-prepared meats. Though
I can't
> put my finger on exactly what was there before, one aisle is now
dominated
> by a seemly infinite number of "juice boxes".

I have notice all the same changes in local supermarkets in So. CA.
Even ethnic markets are showing the same trend toward more prepared
foods, although not to the same extent as the mainstream markets.

I think all the newspaper food sections have gone into a similar
decline during the past 15 years.

Arri London wrote in message >...
>

>LOL bread is one of the quickest things to make from basic ingredients,
>taking about five to ten minutes to mix and knead in a decent mixer. It
>can rise and then bake while one is doing other things.
>

right, *IF* you have a mixer. otherwise, its a massive effort. especially
when you have a toddler who wants to grab pieces of raw dough to eat....

--
saerah

TANSTAAFL

CrzyBitch (3:25:06 AM): I'm a secret agent, and a princess




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Saerah wrote:

>
>
> >LOL bread is one of the quickest things to make from basic ingredients,
> >taking about five to ten minutes to mix and knead in a decent mixer. It
> >can rise and then bake while one is doing other things.
> >
>
> right, *IF* you have a mixer. otherwise, its a massive effort. especially
> when you have a toddler who wants to grab pieces of raw dough to eat....

How can having a toddler wanting to grab raw dough be a problem? A toddler should not
be anywhere near enough to a mixer to grab the dough.

Bob Myers wrote in message >...
>
>"Saerah" > wrote in message
...
>> yeah, i and i get lectures from my in-laws about how im "depriving" my
>> daughter because i make her homemade cookies and such instead of buying
>crap
>> pre-made. heh.
>
>I have to wonder how much of that is due to their own
>experience in trying to cook for themselves. Let's face it,
>if you don't like to cook, then what you cook is very likely
>going to be inferior to what you can buy, in terms of flavor
>and consistency. On the other hand, those of us who DO
>like to cook know that we can turn out meals that are a lot
>better than anything we'll get pre-packaged in the store, or
>even in most restaurants.

yeah, i think that has a lot to do with it. i was once at my SIL's house,
sitting at her kitchen counter drinking coffee, when we were discussing food
budgets etc. I pay a premium for quality foods, but since i prepare nearly
everything from scratch (with the exception of most yeasted things and
sauces, condiments and the like), I am spending quite a bit less. To her
"home-cooked" is a taco meal kit. All the kids' snacks are bought
individually packaged. once she gave me a 4 pound package of chicken tenders
because they had a tendon in them that my BIL won't eat. I was in the middle
of telling her how to easily extricate the offending evidence that the meat
was, in fact, a chicken, when she told me that that was too complicated. Of
course, this sort of thing makes it all the easier to impress with simple
dishes like turkey noodle soup (an after-Thanksgiving offering as thanks for
the turkey carcass, which would have otherwise been thrown out. :> )

--
saerah

TANSTAAFL

CrzyBitch (3:25:06 AM): I'm a secret agent, and a princess






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On Tue 25 Jan 2005 08:11:05p, Dave Smith wrote in rec.food.cooking:

> Saerah wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> >LOL bread is one of the quickest things to make from basic
>> >ingredients, taking about five to ten minutes to mix and knead in a
>> >decent mixer. It can rise and then bake while one is doing other
>> >things.
>> >
>>
>> right, *IF* you have a mixer. otherwise, its a massive effort.
>> especially when you have a toddler who wants to grab pieces of raw
>> dough to eat....
>
> How can having a toddler wanting to grab raw dough be a problem? A
> toddler should not be anywhere near enough to a mixer to grab the dough.

The point is, she doesn't have a mixer. She would be kneading on the
benchtop an the kid would grab from there.

Wayne

In article >, "Sam D."
> wrote:
(snip)
> >
> > Anyone else noticing a decline in folks like us who enjoy cooking
> > and make the time necessary to indulge ourselves?


> The food section was formerly supported by the supermarkets whose
> advertising used to fill 10-15 pages. But supermarkets are now
> deriving a lot more revenue from the sales of prepared or
> semi-prepared food items to working families and individuals who are
> doing little or even no cooking at home. -snip-
>The SF Chronicle last year lamented that there has been an entire
>American generation lost to cooking.

Did you know that somewhere in the last 20 years, the proportion of
freezer space has increased in refrigerator-freezer combos? There's now
more freezer space than there was in 1982 and less chiller space. Not
sure when the shift happened, but I discovered it quite by accident when
I bought the same total size unit only to discover that I didn't have as
much fridge space as I needed!! I cursed it (and myself) every time I
opened the door. After 2-1/2 years, we bought a new unit - larger and
with a bottom freezer besides. Couldn't be happier. Notice how much
of a supermarket is now devoted to frozen food.
--
-Barb, <www.jamlady.eboard.com> 2005 Pirohy Marathon pics added 1-23-05.
"I read recipes the way I read science fiction: I get to the end and
say,'Well, that's not going to happen.'" - Comedian Rita Rudner,
performance at New York, New York, January 10, 2005.

In article <HfCJd.28858$Os6.22592@trnddc08>, "wff_ng_6"
> wrote:
(snip)
> Though I can't put my finger on exactly what was there before,
> one aisle is now dominated by a seemly infinite number of "juice
> boxes".

Hey, have you noticed Hormel canned chili now comes in a box?
--
-Barb, <www.jamlady.eboard.com> 2005 Pirohy Marathon pics added 1-23-05.
"I read recipes the way I read science fiction: I get to the end and
say,'Well, that's not going to happen.'" - Comedian Rita Rudner,
performance at New York, New York, January 10, 2005.

Dave Smith wrote in message >...
>Saerah wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> >LOL bread is one of the quickest things to make from basic ingredients,
>> >taking about five to ten minutes to mix and knead in a decent mixer. It
>> >can rise and then bake while one is doing other things.
>> >
>>
>> right, *IF* you have a mixer. otherwise, its a massive effort. especially
>> when you have a toddler who wants to grab pieces of raw dough to eat....
>
>How can having a toddler wanting to grab raw dough be a problem? A toddler
should not
>be anywhere near enough to a mixer to grab the dough.
>

i agree. i do not own a mixer. i have a large board on which to knead dough,
but no counters higher than my daughter can reach at this point.

--
saerah

TANSTAAFL

CrzyBitch (3:25:06 AM): I'm a secret agent, and a princess




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On Tue, 25 Jan 2005 13:18:48 -0500, Steve Calvin
> wrote:

> With lives seemingly getting busier and busier do you see the end of
> "scratch" cooking in the future? Just looking backward, my Mother and
> especially my Grandmothers cooked everything from scratch. Breads,
> cakes, pies including the crusts, stews, soups, sauces etc...
>
> Today is seems as though the number of people who routinely cook from
> scratch is dwindling. People are migrating to canned stews, spaghetti
> sauces, sauces in general, soups, etc. I know quite a few people who
> don't cook, period. They either do take out, go out, TV-"dinners",
> frozen stuff like pot-pies, and even premade and frozen PB&J sandwiches
> for gawd sakes! Now I admit that I don't routinely make bread but I
> pretty much make much everything else "the old fashioned way."
>
> Anyone else noticing a decline in folks like us who enjoy cooking and
> make the time necessary to indulge ourselves?

If you want to get all misty over the demise of "old
fashioned" cooking, look at what they did 150 years ago.
Now you can cry.

sf

Oh great.. the old food snobbery debate.
I don't cook because I never learned.. but am learning now. Does this make
me better than those who choose to not cook? Of course not.
Please.. is this the best topic you could come up with?
Why not share some of your fabulous recipes instead?
lucy

"Rusty" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> >They either do take out, go out, TV-"dinners",
>>frozen stuff like pot-pies, and even premade and frozen PB&J
> sandwiches
>>for gawd sakes! Now I admit that I don't routinely make bread but I
>>pretty much make much everything else "the old fashioned way."
>
>>Anyone else noticing a decline in folks like us who enjoy cooking and
>>make the time necessary to indulge ourselves?
>
> If it wasn't for the freezer and microwave, many people would starve.
> My sister hardly ever uses her cooktop or oven.
>
> Rusty - Sacramento, CA
>

"Sam D." > wrote in message
...
>
> "Jessica V." > wrote in message
> ...
>> Donna wrote:
>>
>> > What you are saying about baking from scratch is so true.
>> >
>> > I didn't realize it until (probably 25 years ago) I gave my
> classes a
>> > writing assignment in which they were to write logical directions
> for how to
>> > do something. It was just a short assignment.
>> >
>> > I mentioned that they could choose to write the steps in making a
> cake if
>> > they wished.
>> >
>> > Without exception, the ones who chose the cake option began their
>> > compositions with "Take a cake mix. . . ."
>> >
>> > These girls were taking a home-making class at the time, and I
> mentioned it
>> > to their home-making teacher. She said, "Oh yes, we bake all our
> cakes with
>> > mixes!"
>> >
>> > My home-making teacher would turn over in her grave. . . .
>> > Donna
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>> Yep...my Home Ec. teacher taught that mixes were more economical.
> To
>> hell with economics when they taste like a board. When baking bread
> I
>> feel like the bread machine or Kitchen Aid are cheating.
>>
>> I used Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts for the first time last
>> Thanksgiving. They're alright but nothing like the real thing.
> We'd
>> spent most of the week in the hospital as my dad had a bypass and
> valve
>> replacement the Monday before Thanksgiving...Mom was in the hospital
>> with him until about half an hour before dinner and the boys aren't
> all
>> that helpful in the kitchen. The pie crusts were a move of
> despiration
>> to have pies for dessert and a meal flying solo on a big meal.
> Gawd...I
>> have to justify my using them.
>>
>> I have certainly noticed that the number of people that make
> anything
>> from scratch has diminished a great deal. I'll never join those
>> ranks...that easy food just doesn't taste as good. I find preparing
> a
>> meal after work to be stress reducing...something that just popping
>> whatever into the microwave cannot do.
>
>
> I agree with you. Cooking from scratch not only provides tastier and
> more wholesome results, but it is also therapeutic.

I choose exercise to reduce stress.
lucy

"Melba's Jammin'" > wrote:
> Did you know that somewhere in the last 20 years, the proportion of
> freezer space has increased in refrigerator-freezer combos?

I wouldn't know... my refrigerator is over 30 years old! ;-)

I suppose I ought to get a new one just to save energy, but hey, my total
November electric bill was only $17. If I wanted to do something about my
electricity usage, I'd cut down on my Christmas lights!

> After 2-1/2 years, we bought a new unit - larger and
> with a bottom freezer besides.

When I do finally get around to getting another refrigerator, that's what I
want... a bottom freezer one.

> Notice how much
> of a supermarket is now devoted to frozen food.

About five years ago they remodeled our local Safeway. It used to have the
low open freezer bins that you reached down into to get the food. Now they
have the six foot tall freezer units with glass doors. I presume it saves
them a lot of energy, but also gives them about twice the capacity of
before.

Now the whole question is whether we will have a neighborhood supermarket at
all. This Safeway was scheduled to close in a month or so, and the
replacement wasn't scheduled for several years out. There's a big
redevelopment project that was to be Fannie Mae's new headquarters, but with
that big accounting scandal, they canned it. My hope is we keep our
neighborhood supermarket for another year or two. There's nothing like
having a supermarket within walking distance of your house. Some weeks I go
there almost daily.

"Fifo" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> Steve Calvin wrote:
>> With lives seemingly getting busier and busier do you see the end of
>> "scratch" cooking in the future? Just looking backward, my Mother
> and
>> especially my Grandmothers cooked everything from scratch. Breads,
>> cakes, pies including the crusts, stews, soups, sauces etc...
>>
>
> I don't know why you are assuming that my mother's cooking was somehow
> an improvement over a SPAM sandwich (sorry mom!).
>
> Time one issue. Cost is another (cheap canned and frozen food). Skills
> and traditions probably a third. A lot of the traditional recipes call
> for hours of work. I enjoy spending 4 hours making a cassoulet as much
> as the next guy but that can't happen on a Tuesday - I got to work.
>
> It's just a change and not necessarily a bad one. There are tons of
> high quality prepared foods and there are tons of people who while they
> don't cook every day, enjoy cooking as a hobby.
>
> Fundamentally, one of the bigger changes is probably the fact that
> women don't stay home to cook all day and wait for hubby to come home -
> they go out and have more succesful careers than hubby. No time for
> cooking.
Fifo,
I agree with you. This thread is just, sadly, more of the same. Much more
self-aggrandizing here than actual recipes. And of course, in a cooking
newsgroup, EVERYBODY cooks from scratch. lol.. except me. I am learning, in
order to improve the quality of foods we eat, but am not fanatical (or
should I say yet?) I live in the real world.. I work, and when I come home,
I would rather spend time with my family, than most of the evening in the
kitchen, cooking. I spend time with them, and we either play in the backyard
(basketball) or we all go for a walk after dinner.
I thought this was a friendly thread in which I could pick up some cooking
tips. But, it is just like the other newsgroups.. much talk about
themselves, and very little real solid information a new person could use.
lucy

Lucy wrote:

>
> > Fundamentally, one of the bigger changes is probably the fact that
> > women don't stay home to cook all day and wait for hubby to come home -
> > they go out and have more succesful careers than hubby. No time for
> > cooking.
> Fifo,
> I agree with you. This thread is just, sadly, more of the same. Much more
> self-aggrandizing here than actual recipes. And of course, in a cooking
> newsgroup, EVERYBODY cooks from scratch. lol.. except me. I am learning, in
> order to improve the quality of foods we eat, but am not fanatical (or
> should I say yet?) I live in the real world.. I work, and when I come home,
> I would rather spend time with my family, than most of the evening in the
> kitchen, cooking. I spend time with them, and we either play in the backyard
> (basketball) or we all go for a walk after dinner.
> I thought this was a friendly thread in which I could pick up some cooking
> tips. But, it is just like the other newsgroups.. much talk about
> themselves, and very little real solid information a new person could use.
>

That's rich Lucy. You complain about people talk about themselves after telling
us how you like to spend time with your family, going for walks and playing
baseball. It's not particularly self aggrandizing to point out that a lot of
people work and still manage to do home cooking. This thread never was about
recipes. It started off with a comment about the increasing number of people who
have given up on home cooking and gave up cooking from scratch.

"Lucy" > wrote in message
m...
>

> Fifo,
> I agree with you. This thread is just, sadly, more of the same. Much more
> self-aggrandizing here than actual recipes. And of course, in a cooking
> newsgroup, EVERYBODY cooks from scratch. lol.. except me. I am learning,
> in order to improve the quality of foods we eat, but am not fanatical (or
> should I say yet?) I live in the real world.. I work, and when I come
> home, I would rather spend time with my family, than most of the evening
> in the kitchen, cooking. I spend time with them, and we either play in the
> backyard (basketball) or we all go for a walk after dinner.
> I thought this was a friendly thread in which I could pick up some cooking
> tips. But, it is just like the other newsgroups.. much talk about
> themselves, and very little real solid information a new person could use.
> lucy
>

Here's a tip for the busy householder. Cook in stages. Do the cutting and
some mixing ahead of time and store until you are ready to actually cook the
meal.

zuuum wrote:

> "Lucy" > wrote in message
>
>
> Here's a tip for the busy householder. Cook in stages. Do the cutting and
> some mixing ahead of time and store until you are ready to actually cook the
> meal.

Another tip. Don't say "I don't have time". Say "I have time but I spend it
doing other things." :-)

Who wouldn't love to take a vacation in Dave's world? No children in the
kitchen, gourmet meals, and plenty of energy after work to prepare them.
(Not everyone has a desk job).
Lesser mortals can only envy..
lucy

"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
...
> Saerah wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> >LOL bread is one of the quickest things to make from basic ingredients,
>> >taking about five to ten minutes to mix and knead in a decent mixer. It
>> >can rise and then bake while one is doing other things.
>> >
>>
>> right, *IF* you have a mixer. otherwise, its a massive effort. especially
>> when you have a toddler who wants to grab pieces of raw dough to eat....
>
> How can having a toddler wanting to grab raw dough be a problem? A
> toddler should not
> be anywhere near enough to a mixer to grab the dough.
>

Dave Smith > wrote in
:

> Bob Myers wrote:
>
>> Sure, 50 years ago (or maybe a bit longer), pretty much everything
>> people ate was scratch-built, home-cooked, etc.. But that was
>> because they HAD to - there was simply no alternative. And quite
>> frankly, a lot of that "home-cooked" food simply wasn't all that
>> great. It MAY have been healthier or tastier in some cases, just due
>> to the use of fresh ingredients and lack of added chemicals - but
>> then on the other hand a lot of that "Mom's home cooking" was nothing
>> but starch-and-fat-laden crud.
>
> 50 years ago a lot more people had maids and cooks. Even in houses
> where food was made from scratch it was done by the cook.

Really? 50 years ago? I wouldn't have thought there were a lot of people
with maids and cooks in the 1950s. Not that I have experience of other
countries, so I could well be wrong (often occurs! I'm pretty positive
this didn't apply in Australia. Most certainly none of my family had
maids or cooks within any of the history that I know of, and that's a bit
longer than 50 years (I've just turned 40).

I know my in-laws had maids/housekeepers at times during the 70s (long
before I knew them), but that was when my FIL was posted overseas with
QANTAS (Mexico, Hawaii), and QANTAS provided a house and housekeeper. The
family of a woman at work had maid/cook when she was growing up, but they
lived in Malaysia.Other than that, I've never known of anyone who had
maids or cooks, other than the reallllly rich people I read about in
magazines/newspapers/books.

I'm inclined to agree with the post you were replying to - a lot of
things were cooked from scratch because people had few alternatives. Now,
with a lot of alternatives (and not all prepared/convenience foods are
pumped full of chemicals, or rubbish quality) people who don't like to
cook, don't necessarily need to do it.

I love to cook, though don't always have a lot of time for it, but not
everyone does. Doesn't make me any better than those who don't want to
spend time on the preparation of a meal, or the baking of a cake. I also
like to embroider and do other handicrafts and make some of the presents
& cards I give for Christmas, birthdays etc. I don't expect that someone
who doesn't enjoy doing this should do it. I have a friend who makes most
of her own clothes, loves to spend time doing this - hates to cook, and
basically only does it because it's cheaper than eating out every night!


As a child (in the 70s), my mother cooked a lot of things from scratch -
not all of which tasted all that great <g>, though her icecream was
pretty tasty. I think this had a bit to do with trying to save money. As
her health worsened though (she was never well), less was made from
scratch.



Rhonda Anderson
Cranebrook, NSW, Australia

Rhonda Anderson > wrote in
.5:


>
> As a child (in the 70s), my mother cooked a lot of things from scratch
> - not all of which tasted all that great <g>, though her icecream was
> pretty tasty. I think this had a bit to do with trying to save money.
> As her health worsened though (she was never well), less was made from
> scratch.

Oops, just realised that looks like I mean that my mother was cooking
things from scratch when SHE was a child in the 70s. I meant when I was a
child.. Have to improve my proofreading <g>


Rhonda Anderson
Cranebrook, NSW, Australia

Dave Smith > wrote in
:

> zuuum wrote:
>
>> Many families now have no one at home to prepare meals, and those who
>> do have the time, often found to be without cooking skills or
>> knowledge.
>
> I am not terribly sympathetic to the lack of time argument. My wife
> was a dedicated school teacher who spent a lot of time in the school
> after class and had a lot of work to do at home. I had a 45 minute
> commute for a lot of the time I was working.

I don't think any of us can really judge the veracity of someone else's
"lack of time" argument unless we know exactly what they have to fit in
to the day, and all the circumstances of their life.

I may be wrong, but from the way you've written this post I take it that,
to you, a 45 minute commute was a significant time impost. I'd love to
have a 45 minute commute. Mine currently averages around 1 1/2 hrs each
way (depending on time of day, whether the trains are running anywhere
near on time [there've been a lot of problems with NSW railways in past
year], and whether I make my bus connection). Sometimes it's a bit less,
sometimes it's more. It's an improvement over when it was always 1 3/4
hours each way. However, to others I've known (or met in my travels) my
commute would be preferable to their 2 to 2 1/2 hrs each way.

Some people may have very long workdays, others may have health issues
(themselves, or family members) which impact on their available time.
Some may get no assistance from their partner in getting housework etc.
done (it can put a severe crimp in my cooking plans if I get home and
have to clean before I can start cooking) or may have an elderly parent
to look after. Some (as I was some years back) may be studying part-time
as well as working full time. Others may be working a second job.

Yes, sometimes it's just that people would prefer to do something else
with their time (and there's nothing wrong with that), but sometimes it
just may be that their available time is severely limited.

Rhonda Anderson
Cranebrook, NSW, Australia

Rhonda.. ditto!
lucy

"Rhonda Anderson" > wrote in message
.5...
> Rhonda Anderson > wrote in
> .5:
>
>
>>
>> As a child (in the 70s), my mother cooked a lot of things from scratch
>> - not all of which tasted all that great <g>, though her icecream was
>> pretty tasty. I think this had a bit to do with trying to save money.
>> As her health worsened though (she was never well), less was made from
>> scratch.
>
> Oops, just realised that looks like I mean that my mother was cooking
> things from scratch when SHE was a child in the 70s. I meant when I was a
> child.. Have to improve my proofreading <g>
>
>
> Rhonda Anderson
> Cranebrook, NSW, Australia
>

Rhonda Anderson wrote:
> Really? 50 years ago? I wouldn't have thought there were
> a lot of people with maids and cooks in the 1950s. Not
> that I have experience of other countries, so I could
> well be wrong (often occurs! I'm pretty positive this
> didn't apply in Australia. Most certainly none of my
> family had maids or cooks within any of the history that
> I know of, and that's a bit longer than 50 years (I've
> just turned 40).
>
> I know my in-laws had maids/housekeepers at times during
> the 70s (long before I knew them), but that was when my
> FIL was posted overseas with QANTAS (Mexico, Hawaii), and
> QANTAS provided a house and housekeeper. The family of a
> woman at work had maid/cook when she was growing up, but
> they lived in Malaysia.Other than that, I've never known
> of anyone who had maids or cooks, other than the
> reallllly rich people I read about in
> magazines/newspapers/books.
>
> I'm inclined to agree with the post you were replying to -
> a lot of things were cooked from scratch because people
> had few alternatives. Now, with a lot of alternatives
> (and not all prepared/convenience foods are pumped full
> of chemicals, or rubbish quality) people who don't like
> to cook, don't necessarily need to do it.
>
> I love to cook, though don't always have a lot of time
> for it, but not everyone does. Doesn't make me any better
> than those who don't want to spend time on the
> preparation of a meal, or the baking of a cake. I also
> like to embroider and do other handicrafts and make some
> of the presents & cards I give for Christmas, birthdays
> etc. I don't expect that someone who doesn't enjoy doing
> this should do it. I have a friend who makes most of her
> own clothes, loves to spend time doing this - hates to
> cook, and basically only does it because it's cheaper
> than eating out every night!
>
>
> As a child (in the 70s), my mother cooked a lot of things
> from scratch - not all of which tasted all that great
> <g>, though her icecream was pretty tasty. I think this
> had a bit to do with trying to save money. As her health
> worsened though (she was never well), less was made from
> scratch.
>
> Rhonda Anderson
> Cranebrook, NSW, Australia

During the 50's here in America it was not unusual (at least in our house)
to have domestic help. We had a series of housekeepers who frequently cooked
dinner for us. They mostly cooked from scratch although that might have been
because of the lack of availability of prepared foods. It wasn't until the
60's that I remember seeing much by way of "mixes" in the kitchen.

I committed a grave social error (probably one of many) as a youngster when
visiting someone's home with my parents. Trying to be socially correct I
complemented the hostess by saying, "This cake is really delicious, what
brand of mix do you use?". One of these days I'll learn the "social
graces". =

--
Pete Romfh, Telecom Geek & Amateur Gourmet.
promfh at hal dash pc dot org

Not in every case,my wife enjoys cooking and makes much from
'scratch'.Just made a big pot of spaghetti sauce.Makes home made soups
quite often.Makes a great apple,blueberry pie.Is it really people being
busy or just too lazy.

sf wrote:

> If you want to get all misty over the demise of "old
> fashioned" cooking, look at what they did 150 years ago.
> Now you can cry.
>
> sf

No arguement at all with that sf!

--
Steve

Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it.
Autograph your work with excellence.

Yup,those 'prepared foods',loaded with fat,salt and strange
chemicals.Perhaps that's why one in three Americans is obese.A boon for
the medical profession and the mortician.

On Wed 26 Jan 2005 05:44:41a, Pete Romfh wrote in rec.food.cooking:

> Rhonda Anderson wrote:
>> Really? 50 years ago? I wouldn't have thought there were
>> a lot of people with maids and cooks in the 1950s. Not
>> that I have experience of other countries, so I could
>> well be wrong (often occurs! I'm pretty positive this
>> didn't apply in Australia. Most certainly none of my
>> family had maids or cooks within any of the history that
>> I know of, and that's a bit longer than 50 years (I've
>> just turned 40).
>>
>> I know my in-laws had maids/housekeepers at times during
>> the 70s (long before I knew them), but that was when my
>> FIL was posted overseas with QANTAS (Mexico, Hawaii), and
>> QANTAS provided a house and housekeeper. The family of a
>> woman at work had maid/cook when she was growing up, but
>> they lived in Malaysia.Other than that, I've never known
>> of anyone who had maids or cooks, other than the
>> reallllly rich people I read about in magazines/newspapers/books.
>>
>> I'm inclined to agree with the post you were replying to -
>> a lot of things were cooked from scratch because people
>> had few alternatives. Now, with a lot of alternatives
>> (and not all prepared/convenience foods are pumped full
>> of chemicals, or rubbish quality) people who don't like
>> to cook, don't necessarily need to do it.
>>
>> I love to cook, though don't always have a lot of time
>> for it, but not everyone does. Doesn't make me any better
>> than those who don't want to spend time on the
>> preparation of a meal, or the baking of a cake. I also
>> like to embroider and do other handicrafts and make some
>> of the presents & cards I give for Christmas, birthdays
>> etc. I don't expect that someone who doesn't enjoy doing
>> this should do it. I have a friend who makes most of her
>> own clothes, loves to spend time doing this - hates to
>> cook, and basically only does it because it's cheaper
>> than eating out every night!
>>
>>
>> As a child (in the 70s), my mother cooked a lot of things
>> from scratch - not all of which tasted all that great
>> <g>, though her icecream was pretty tasty. I think this
>> had a bit to do with trying to save money. As her health
>> worsened though (she was never well), less was made from scratch.
>>
>> Rhonda Anderson
>> Cranebrook, NSW, Australia
>
> During the 50's here in America it was not unusual (at least in our
> house) to have domestic help. We had a series of housekeepers who
> frequently cooked dinner for us. They mostly cooked from scratch
> although that might have been because of the lack of availability of
> prepared foods. It wasn't until the 60's that I remember seeing much by
> way of "mixes" in the kitchen.
>
> I committed a grave social error (probably one of many) as a youngster
> when visiting someone's home with my parents. Trying to be socially
> correct I complemented the hostess by saying, "This cake is really
> delicious, what brand of mix do you use?". One of these days I'll learn
> the "social graces". =

"Servants" in the home in the US was far more common up until the stock
market crash in the late 1920s. Few people could afford that luxury after
that, although certainly some did. Through the mid-1960s, my grandmother
had a housekeeper, two maids, and a full time cook. My aunt had two maids.
My mother had a housekeeper. What cooking was done by outside help was all
from scratch. I remember the first time my mother used a box mix to bake a
cake. Her comment was, "I suppose it's alright for us to have once in a
while when I don't have much time, but I would never serve it to company."
And she never did!

Wayne

Wayne

Back in the days of the Great Depression,my uncle made plenty of
'alcohol' in his cellar,sold it out the hatchway door.

Many people just don't know what 'garden fresh' is.Vegetables bought
from a store can't compare with those picked fresh.People don't realize
that corn starts to convert its sugar into starch shortly after
harvesting.By the time it gets to a store,most of the sugar has
converted to starch.It's nothing compared to freshly picked corn.People
think the store bought corn is great,because they haven't enjoyed fresh
picked corn.

On Wed 26 Jan 2005 06:16:00a, T wrote in rec.food.cooking:

> Yup,those 'prepared foods',loaded with fat,salt and strange
> chemicals.Perhaps that's why one in three Americans is obese.A boon for
> the medical profession and the mortician.

LOL! Someday we may see combination establishments like "Mayfair's Family
Restaurant, Internist, and Mortuary".

Wayne

Rhonda Anderson wrote:

>
> Really? 50 years ago? I wouldn't have thought there were a lot of people
> with maids and cooks in the 1950s. Not that I have experience of other
> countries, so I could well be wrong (often occurs! I'm pretty positive
> this didn't apply in Australia. Most certainly none of my family had
> maids or cooks within any of the history that I know of, and that's a bit
> longer than 50 years (I've just turned 40).

I never met anyone in the 50's, 60's or 70' who had a maid or outside
cook. Guess I just knew a lot of poor folks. ;-)

--
Steve

Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it.
Autograph your work with excellence.

"Bob Myers" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Saerah" > wrote in message
> ...
>> yeah, i and i get lectures from my in-laws about how im "depriving" my
>> daughter because i make her homemade cookies and such instead of buying
> crap
>> pre-made. heh.
>
> I have to wonder how much of that is due to their own
> experience in trying to cook for themselves. Let's face it,
> if you don't like to cook, then what you cook is very likely
> going to be inferior to what you can buy, in terms of flavor
> and consistency. On the other hand, those of us who DO
> like to cook know that we can turn out meals that are a lot
> better than anything we'll get pre-packaged in the store, or
> even in most restaurants.
>
> Bob M.
>===============

Thank you Bob! You said it perfectly!!

Cyndi