I've come to the realization...

that I don't cook. I used to think that I made quite a bit. We weren't eating take out and we were getting fed... so I must have been cooking the food.

So here is the the question- if you have dumped a bag of macaroni into the pot and dumped a jar of sauce into another pot have you cooked a meal? Sometimes I would heat up a loaf of pre- buttered garlic bread, too. Not always and I did make quite a bit of our bread and baking, but certainly not 100%.

I don't think I'm the only one, either. I think I am of a generation of people that think they can cook, but really only know how to open a can.

I realize this might sound insulting and I don't mean to be insulting, but just consider what I'm saying for a moment. Go to your pantry and count how many cans and boxes there are.

Until we started eating gluten free food I thought I was preparing quite a bit myself- I would have said 75% or more. Now I know I'm preparing 75% or more.

I am still using canned corn and tomato sauce, but all of our other vegetables are fresh. I am now making all my own flour and cornmeal. Most of our meat is wild or organic, but we are still eating a little boneless skinless chicken breast- maybe two or three times a month. I use one chicken breast per meal.

It makes me vaguely queasy when I reach into a bag of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. It's not really natural, is it? Where are the skin and bones? Where is the REST of the chicken? Of course- I'm like everyone! I don't want to eat the fatty skin! No one wants to eat the fatty skin!

So if I thought it was work before to feed the family it is certainly work now. Everything takes a great deal of planning and forethought. If I want to make bread or something with flour I have make sure that I have the flour or make the flour. The beans have to be soaked and cooked (no more canned beans!) The grains might need to be soaked or toasted and they might need an hour to cook. They might not, depending on the grain, but they might!

I used to be able to cook a meal from start to finish in 20-30 minutes, but now I'm happy if my prep time is 20-30 minutes. Cooking real food takes real time.

I can see how we ended up in this situation because it is a lot of work to have a full time job and still prepare a family's meals from basic ingredients. Working women demanded that life get easier and food manufacturers listened. Perhaps they listened a little too well...