From scratch

For some reason, this week I've been showing the kids the real way to make stuff, from scratch. Part of this is financial...after our big trips this summer I'm needing to tighten the belt a bit, but part of it is a desire to refocus ourselves. We're making a conscious effort to reduce the amount of pre-packaged goods we use and reduce our carbon footprint. I know it's a tiny drop in a large sea, and we don't claim to be perfect at it, but everything is babysteps.

I no longer buy individual juice boxes or waters. I have BPA-free water bottles that anyone is free to fill up and carry with them, and I make juice from concentrate or buy juice in larger, recyclable containers. I am trying to avoid single-serving products (which has been easy this summer, but will be harder when school starts) because of all the extra packaging that goes into it.

So, yesterday we made home-made ice cream, something the 7 year old has been wanting to do all summer. Our flavor of choice was vanilla custard ice cream, with chocolate chips. We have an old Krups ice cream maker that pretty much sits idle, so it's good to know it still works. The end result was delicious. I don't think you save any money this way, but it's fun! We're going to make pineapple ice to go with tonight's dinner. Just one tiny note on pineapple: this corer is the best gadget for fresh pineapple.

Then, last night, the kids helped me make pasta sauce from scratch. It's fairly easy, and you can control the sodium better. I had these great organic tomatoes, and the end result was rich and delicious.

And today? We made popcorn! On the stove, just like I used to when I was a kid. It tasted so much better than the microwave version, and took just a bit more time. The secret is that I bought my own anniversary present (yesterday, 18 years), a whirley pop. I now see why people rhapsodize over the whirley pop. It makes some mighty delicious popcorn. Perfect for today, a grey, drippy day that we were going to spend at the pool but are instead watching star wars movies. Aggregating out the cost of the whirley pop, I think in the not-very long run you can come out ahead financially. And I know that buying one bag of popcorn and using oil we have on hand is significantly less packaging than microwave popcorn.

I'm not sure how well I'll do on my anti-packaging crusade. There are some products we may not be able to do without (like single servings of mandarin oranges). But, we'll keep trying.

My boys are tepid kitchen helpers, meaning they have the attention span of gnats. But, I do find that they are more enthusiastic about food they've helped prepare.