Healthy Food Choices Now Verses Then

Healthy food choices have changed through the years. What types of food were consumed in the old days and how were they kept. Healthy food choices are not as nutritous now with all these bad choices.

As I walked through the grocery store, I see rows upon rows of packaged foods, ready to cook, put in the microwave, or place in the oven. Or, I could walk over to the deli and pick up my entire meal, ready for devouring. Now, in my earlier days, things were different.

Our family lived on the farm. We raised and grew most of our food. A typical main meal would consist of roasted chicken, potatoes and gravy, corn, fruit salad, bread, butter, jam, apple pie, milk, postum, or coffee.
We planted a garden in the spring and ate vegetables as they came ripe. Our garden consisted of potatoes, peas, beans, radishes, lettuce, onoins, cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, kohlrabi, and squash. Canning and freezing was done to preserve the vegetables for eating in the winter. I counted 500 jars of canned goods on our basement shelves at one time. This is just the canned goods; we also had a frozen supply.

Conjure up a huge bowl of bright red strawberries served up with sugar and cream. With this we ate buttered bread. Raspberries would also be served with sugar and cream. Our mom had a strawberry patch near the gravel road. She gave out huge bowls of this fruit to neighbors who would be traveling by on the road. We had apple trees, so pies were made as well as applesauce. We planted watermelon, cantelope, and pumpkins in our garden. Watermelon and cantaloupe were enjoyed in the summer. A huge row of rhubarb grew by the garden, as this would come up every year. This was eaten as sauce, also canned or frozen for future use. Pumpkin was used for pies or desserts. In season, we picked wild grapes off the vines in treesand made grape jelly. Elderberries grew in some areas, so more pie filling.

Chickens, ducks, and geese were housed in seperate buildings on the farm. Chicken eggs were used in abundance for our meals and baking products. Duck and goose eggs were put under a "setting hen" and hatched out of the eggs. When grown, ducks and geese were harvested and put in the freezer for our food supply. Chickens were also harvested and frozen.

Our dairy herd supplied us with milk and cream. The pigs were raised, also beef cattle, and these were harvested and cut into meat lengths for putting in the freezer

Flour and needed supplies were purchased. We sold eggs by the case, so this money was used for baking supplies and staples for the home. We baked our bread, buns, coffee cake, rolls, biscuits, doughnuts, bars, or whatever we desired. It was work, but a pure joy of eating! Holidays brought forth different treats. One especially tempting was nuts. These were purchased in bulk in the shell. So we cracked many a shell for eating enjoyment.

Before water was piped into the house, it was carried by pail from the central well system. This was our drinking water. A ciste
for washing water was usually near the house.

"From scratch" means you put the ingredients together to make your meal. I thought then, this was the way of things everywhere. Another big difference from then to now was we ate what was on the table and put in front of us. There wasn't the complaint, "I don't like this!" As now everything seems to be on "fast" speed, let's be thankful we are able to choose the food for our table.