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  • From: Emery Mitchamore <emitch@att.net>
  • To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] cooking at home
  • Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:19:27 -0600

Just to illustrate the point: I'm 65, a "retired" Mechanical Engineer and full-time commercial gardener/grower.  Today, I'm boiling new potatoes for the first time.  My wife taught me.  That's how bad this problem is.

On Nov 16, 2009, at 7:31 PM, Tradingpost wrote:


Terrific, Ken, but that Jamie Oliver piece is too good to leave just a link.  Here's the whole enchilada ...
paul tradingpost@lobo.net
-------------------------------------

Get ready! Better food is coming
This British chef promises he can improve your dinner -- and even your life. Here's how, in 9 easy steps.
By Jamie Oliver November 15, 2009
http://www.usaweekend.com/09_issues/091115/091115jamie-oliver.html

Simple, nutritious, downright tasty food doesn't have to break the bank.

Today, we face an epidemic of bad health and obesity. But the great thing is that both can be stopped if we take responsibility for the food we put into our bodies and learn to cook for ourselves. Although nearly 75% of Americans eat dinner at home at least four nights a week, I've been told that few of them cook dinners from scratch. Sadly, the same can be said for my homeland, England. We consume way too much fast food and takeout, and our waistlines and overall health are paying the price.

Luckily, learning how to cook simple, nutritious, tasty food doesn't have to break the bank, and in the end, it will change your life! Here are ways to start.

Learn to plan ahead.

If you want to save up to 40% on food bills, then learn how to create a food budget. The easiest way is to sit down with the people you live with and plan out the week ahead. After you figure out who will be eating and when, start picking meals. Grab cookbooks and magazines, or pull up a recipe website and let each person pick out something.

For more insightful tips and information, including recipes, check out Jamie's new book: Jamie's Food Revolution

Think about choosing a variety of foods and colors. With most families I've worked with in the United States and England, all their food is a drab earth-tone color. That's a serious problem. Add some vegetables, and have a salad once in a while.

Sainsbury's, the grocery chain I work with at home, did loads of studies, and we found out that many people "sleep shop" at the grocery store, buying the same stuff week after week. Most of it is food that is bad for you, or because there is no variation, it drives people to get takeout several nights a week. So you've bought groceries and you're paying for takeout. You can quickly see how the cost adds up. And in both countries, anywhere from 15% to 40% of our food ends up in the garbage. If you simply thought about what you may eat in the next week, you could eliminate this hideous waste and reduce your food bill.

Get others involved.

Whether it is your kids, spouse or flatmates, start cooking together. It's our responsibility to pass know-how down to the little ones or a friend in need of basic skills.

We live in a time where everyone wants to wrap kids up in a safety blanket and not let them pick up knives or cook, and I completely disagree with this. By not getting kids involved in meal preparation, you're not doing them any favors. Cooking can instill confidence and let young ones take ownership in something.

When it comes to new foods or vegetables, parents often will say things like, "They'll never eat that." But 10 minutes later, the child is loving it because she has created something good. The same principle applies to friends: Let them have some ownership and experience what it is like to create something new.

Try, try again.

Remember the last time you tried something for the first time, and it turned out exactly how you wanted? Most likely, it wasn't even close to being perfect. The same goes for cooking. Now, I don't want to promote telling a lie, but if your child, girlfriend, boyfriend or flatmate is starting out cooking and makes something for you, lie! If you say you don't like it or insult the effort, it could crush their confidence, and you may ruin their future in cooking. They put effort into that meal, and it may not be great the first time, but maybe on the second or third try, it's going to take off. At that moment, when they get it right, watch their face. When you capture someone's enthusiasm and you offer them something to be proud of, the snowball effect of learning and excellence is completely radical.

Another problem I encounter is that people find a great recipe, but they don't have all the ingredients, so they carry on cooking anyway by improvising. Afterward, they say, "Why didn't this taste good?" My answer: Because you didn't follow the directions. If you don't follow a map, then you don't get to where you want to go. Recipes are your map.

Cook in batches.

Batch cooking will save you a huge amount of time and money and teach you how to use your freezer efficiently. The basic principle is taking one recipe or dish, which I call the "mothership recipe," and transforming it into two, three or four other meals. For example, if you make a big batch of Bolognese sauce (traditional meat-based spaghetti sauce) and toss it with spaghetti, you have one meal. The next day, use the sauce and turn that into cannelloni or lasagna by adding other noodles and ricotta and mozzarella cheeses. Later in the week, use the sauce in Italian-style burritos.

After you learn how to cook in batches, you can cook once and have maybe five to six meals stashed and ready to go for you and your family. Better yet, learning how to turn one dish into two, three or four other dishes doesn't take two, three or four times the effort -- it just takes a little planning.

Stock the basics.

I wouldn't ask you to climb a mountain or go skateboarding without having the right equipment. The same goes for your kitchen. I'm not saying you need to buy a ton of new gadgets and utensils. I cook all the time, and I only use three knives. You also don't need an army of pans -- just a couple of good, thick-bottomed, big ones. Eventually, when you get more comfortable cooking, you can buy extra stuff.
All you need is a couple of good, thick-bottomed, big pans.

The second part is your pantry. For $80, you can get cheap, versatile ingredients -- flour, rices, couscous, spices, condiments -- to cook an enormous range of dishes. The great thing about having a well-stocked pantry is that if you go home with some fish or chicken, you can make that protein into a Moroccan, Spanish, Italian or French dish. These pantry staples will make it go where your taste buds are leading you.

Look around you.

Put a 1-mile, 5-mile and 10-mile circle around your city on a map and find out all the great things that are being sold, cooked or grown within those circles. Generally, there will be amazing food within these circles at some stage of the week. Most likely, there are butchers, fresh fish or produce sellers and a handful of other great local product vendors.

One of the best ways to find all of this bounty is quite simple: Ask managers at food shops, "Where did you get that?" Look for farmers markets. When you get there, ask the vendors where they get their meat or vegetables. Never be afraid to ask. Once you find a great shop, continue to support it. If you go once or twice a week, they will start to remember you, and you can learn more about what you are eating. Also, I have learned so many great recipes from butchers and fishmongers -- how to make burgers or take some cheap stew cuts and turn them into a fantastic, flavorful meal.

Eat real food, not additives.

After sitting through hours of nutritional training, I can tell you one of the easiest tips to eating better: Look at the ingredients on the back of the food when you are grocery shopping. If it reads like a science experiment, then put it back on the shelf. If it has things in it that remind you of your grandma's pantry, then buy it. All the food in the world that most people love can be made without extra additives. Whatever foods get you going -- burgers, chips, kebabs, pizza, tacos -- the real versions don't have all that stuff in them.

Stop snacking.

Snacking, in my mind, is the big evil. No one is an angel 100% of the time, including me. I like chips and chocolate. But I've never, ever met an obese family that didn't treat snacking like meals. In many cases, people are eating close to seven "meals" a day. And many drink soda or sweetened drinks all the time instead of water. What ever happened to treating snack foods like they were only for special times? This boils down to taking control of your eating and learning moderation. If you can't stop snacking at home, then stop buying those foods, or have someone shop with you. Take active steps to curb your addiction to snack foods.
Look at the ingredients on the back of the box.

Grow something.

No matter if you live in the city or the country, grow some herbs, greens, even chilies. Learning how to grow food will definitely change you. Herbs do amazing things for your body, and you can use less salt when seasoning your meals because you are putting more natural flavors into your cooking.


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E. E. "Mitch"  Mitchamore










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