When its Slim Pick'ins
Coming soon to a table near you
Start here, very important short video
Yes, I have anxieties about this subject. I hope you watched the above video. It won’t matter if you are a Democrat or Republican, old or young, rich or not rich it is going to affect us all. Those who control the food control the people.
So I asked around. What I’ve heard from lots of people is that food production, this growing season, has been a dismal failure, to say the least, in parts of the U.S. that much is true. There were a few farmers who said they had a good yield this year. But more to the norm were other farmers saying that the crops that did make it through the suffocating heat were attacked a by famished animal population before they could get it harvested. Have you heard this too? Would you share what is happening in your area, looking ahead to 2023?
Farmers Market people are telling us that their precious efforts at growing for the public was ruined too, by night time foragers, even when there was electric fencing. Somehow the deer got over and the rabbits and other small critters got under or through. Even the Moose population are wondering south for swampier pastures. And I got wind of some down south cattle and sheep ranchers saying they have had some of their livestock loaded onto trucks in the middle of the night by marauders.
Hubby and I were discussing the 40% food inflation that has happened already this year, and the above video over breakfast this morning. I kind of felt guilty for eating a breakfast after watching that video. Yes, as it turns out the video is spot on.
“I just got word that grocery giants, Kroger and Albertsons are going to merge and become the largest grocery chain ever! They are buying out the competition. What are young families going to do?” Hubby lamented with a sigh. “I feel bad for anyone raising children now days. It’s going to get awfully hard, how many young people actually know how to cook from scratch like our grandmothers did? People will starve without doordash!”
Who owns Kroger- it will bow your mind!
This weeks Thanksgiving Turkey price.
When he was talking about the younger crowd not being able to cook, a picture of my grandmother came to mind. As my memory scene unfolds, Grams is in the kitchen with her apron tied around her robust waist protecting her day dress. She is joyfully rolling out the egg noodles she had just made, then with a sharp knife and expert precision she cuts the dough into 1/4 inch wide noodles. If my memory serves me correctly she was making chicken noodle soup for our supper, I was about 10 or 11, I think. The noodles had to dry a few hours before adding them to the soup. There they lay, on the counter as she busied herself with other chores. I didn’t dare touch them for fear of a smack on the hand. Grandma’s have eyes in the back of her head, ya know.
At that, I shook off the memory, jumped up from the breakfast table and ran to my makeshift library/ office in the back bedroom. There on the 3rd. shelf of an old wooden bookcase were my grandmothers, my mothers and some antique cookbooks I had picked up at thrift stores over the years. I came back to the kitchen table with an armload of ancient cookbooks.
“Here,” I said a bit winded as I unloaded them on the table. “What do you think about getting our girls interested in antique cookbooks? Most of these other old cookbooks I purchased at Goodwill or St. Vinnies for a quarter.” (One of my hobbies has been trying out old recipes from old cookbooks. Whose grandmother didn’t have a least one Betty Crocker cookbook in their kitchen?)
“Probably wouldn’t hurt.” He said with an essence of doubt in his voice. “You can try I suppose, what’s it gonna cost me?” I didn’t answer that.
One thing old cookbooks have in common they use ingredients of the time period. Most recipes have the ability to substitute ingredients you don’t have with something you do have. Did you ever wonder how early Indians cooked a squash or pumpkin? No, me either, hehehe. I did read somewhere, however, that they boiled it. Yep, the Indian cook put the whole pumpkin into a pot of boiling water over an open fire. To use what they had at their disposal, it became a sweet meal even boiled. Cut it open, scoop out the seeds and slather it with birch or maple syrup and some dried fruit and nuts. Oh so yummy!! They ate with the seasons.
Making a meal taste good is going to be very important if food prices go through the roof or some food items become unavailable in the future. There is this thing called “appetite fatigue.” It is a real thing, a diagnosable condition, where people simply stop eating due to eating the same bland food day and night and day and night for a long time. Eventually, the aflicked become weak, malnourished and more susceptible to disease. It happens frequently in elderly people and toddlers during austere conditions.
Understandable, people would get sick of eating the same thing for days or weeks. Think unflavored, pasty white rice. So, one of my favorite books was printed in 1972, not quite ancient by my standards but close enough. “Forgotten Arts-Growing, Gardening, and Cooking with Herbs.” It is chocked full of great advice and recipes;
How to make herb salt and seasonings Basic marinade
Herb butters Basic herbed rice pilaf
Herbed vegetables Candied mint leaves
Fish fillets baked in herb butter Skin creams and more
I also have a compilation of recipes and how-tos from the civil war era. These recipes were from desperate times and severe shortages, right down to boiling a boot for sustenance. Everyone should know how to make “Hard tack and pemmican.” Not the most tasty foods in the world but they kept our fighting men alive, one author stressed.
Working class supper-1820 America 16 min. video. Interesting!! I actually made a supper using her ingredients on my stove. Of course, I added some flavorings (Onions and garlic) and carrots for appetite appeal. But overall it was pretty good!
To wrap this up, what I am suggesting is that now would be a good time to gather information on food preparation, food storage and a seasonal diet. The time is now! If, by any chance, you are already a stocker upper and have stuff in your pantry for a year, might I recommend an invaluable book by a lady named Vicki Tate—Cookin’ With Home Storage. My book is so used the binding needed replacing and I am a seasoned grandma, I still use it all the time.
Cooking from scratch--getting started
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