There was a day when you had to make everything yourself, you couldn't just go buy everything from Walmart. You had to churn your own butter, make your own clothes, and there was no such thing as 'instant mashed potatoes'. That's right, you had to peel, cut, boil and mash the potatoes all by yourself! GASP!!
Then came the 50's and 60's when processed and convenience foods became a staple in every kitchen. If you ask me, we can credit much of the disease we have today to all the processed food from that era.. but that's just an opinion of my own.
The point is, that in our pursuit of laziness (I guess most people call it convenience), industry has induced severe injuries to our planet. The pollutants in the products on store shelves today are unreal. The chemicals and pollutants are in everything from household cleaners, to hygiene products, to toys that break after one use and end up in another massive landfill. All of these toxins end up in sewage, and inevitably in our groundwater and in the earth. I didn't even mention our depleting atmosphere, but you know all about that already so we'll leave that one for another day.
Well, after a long hard look at my daily life and the waste that me and my family produced each week, I decided to find some solutions. I went through a period of time when I wanted to 'upcycle' everything! I discovered that just about anything can be turned into something new and useful. But after a while I thought I should find more ways to keep the unwanted trash from accumulating. I started one day by making my own cleaners. After some time with a cup of coffee and Google, I found all sorts of recipes made from natural ingredients that were actually a fraction of the price of store bought cleaners! These are so easy to make and can be adjusted to fit into any one's lifestyle, not to mention this dramatically reduces the amount of plastic containers a household will go through. But that's another blog... check back for that one, you won't want to miss it!
Then one day.. BAM.. no more food stamps. It seems as though even though we are poor and struggle to pay our bills, we no longer qualify to receive them. Bummer. Well, after a long, hard look at our budget we decided that $50 a week is what we can comfortably count on to feed out family of four. Rough, huh? Oh yea, but guess what?!?! I do it!! That's because I am super-mom!!! I'm sure that in a few years my kids will label me as tight-wad mom, but you and I know the truth.
I learned right away that giving up convenience foods was something that I had to embrace, so after a moment of silence - and maybe a tear or two - I went to work. Here are a few examples of some of the foods you can make yourself that will not only save you money, but will help the planet as well as your health;
Bread crumbs, pie crusts, rolls, vanilla extract, spaghetti sauce... and the list just goes on and on and on. So the next time you are cooking dinner, look at each ingredient and ask yourself... 'can I make this?', and I bet the answer is probably 'yes'. Most of the time, making something from scratch isn't near as difficult as you may think, the results are worth it, and everybody knows that homemade is always better!
As you begin making your own products, whether it be food or household products, it will become a part of your daily life as it has mine. I can't imagine living any other way, even when I can afford to buy convenience products, it doesn't make sense to me to do it. There are so many benefits of doing what I refer to as 'going back to the basics', that you can't afford not to give it a try!
I will continue to post blogs touching on topics like how to save big money on groceries, how to make all the wonderful things I've been telling you about, and many many more tips on saving money and going green! Keep yourself updated and always take a minute out of your day to be creative. :)
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