To Cook or Not to Cook...

I prefer Not to Cook.  It's not that I can't cook.  I can.  Very well, as a matter of fact.  I just do not enjoy the process.

There are some YouTube channels hosted by some very good cooks.  I enjoy watching them from time to time.  And now and then I see a dish that I might try making for myself.  But not often.  I keep a pretty basic pantry.  A fixed income doesn't include specialty items.  And cooking for just one person isn't much fun, so I try to make it as simple as possible.

I am a back to basics kind of cook as opposed to one of the gourmet variety.  I live in pork and beef and poultry country.  I have never seen leg of lamb in the meat department of my local grocery store.  I grew up on basic, good tasting simple and filling meals of meat, potatoes, vegetables and probably homemade pickles.  The closest thing to a gourmet dish that I remember from my childhood was when Dad's pancake batter got a little bit runny, resulting in very thin pancakes.  He plopped some strawberries on them, added whipped cream, rolled them up and convinced his children that they were eating "high-classed crepes."

I home can much of my own food.  I don't have a garden.  My apartment is surrounded by asphalt and concrete.  There are no community gardens in my area.  I thought about growing tomatoes and herbs in pots on the communal deck of my building, but others have tried this in the past and the pots were stolen within a couple of weeks of planting.

What I do have is a son who is willing to go to the huge Farmer's Market in Minneapolis and bring me boxes of tomatoes, huge heads of cabbage, bags of carrots and boxes of potatoes, all grown locally.  What is even better, he is willing to huff all of that produce up the stairs to my apartment, along with the jars that I need to can it all.  God bless him.  I hope his back holds out!

I can the usual suspects - corn, green beans, carrots, peas, potatoes, etc.  I also buy meat on sale and can that as well.  I am able to open a jar of mixed vegetables and another of canned turkey and dump them into a casserole dish.  Top it off with homemade biscuits, pop it in the oven, and - easy, peasy - dinner is served.  Or I take a jar of beef roast chunks and a jar of potato and carrot cubes, plop them in a pan, season and bake for a half hour and I have a meal.

I have started canning a variety of soups as the basis for quick and easy lunches.  So far I have canned vegetable, chicken vegetable, ham and bean, split pea and ham, and chili.  A pint jar is just right to fill a soup bowl.

I didn't start canning as part of the prepper movement.  I have done this most of my life.  In my family, the rule was, "If you don't work, you don't eat."  And that included working hard summer and fall, preserving the garden produce and seasonal fruits.  Dad worked a job and Mom and I worked canning and preserving.  I grew up on home canned foods and I still like them far and away better than anything I buy in the store.  The added benefit is that I know what is in them, as opposed to the ingredient list on a can that includes items that I cannot pronounce.

Some of my grown children think that I have gone off the deep end when it comes to the preservation of food.  They also believe that my tin foil hat is on a bit too tight.  That opinion notwithstanding, I continue to add home canned food to my shelves as often as is possible.  My goal is to have a one year supply of food put away.  I am nearly there.  Winters here in Minnesota can be very cold, very snowy, very icy and totally miserable.  Last winter I only had to venture out in the bitter weather three times for a grocery store run.  I hope to avoid trips to the store altogether this coming winter.  I do love winter, but only when viewed from the comfort of my rocking chair in front of my window, with a cup of steaming coffee or hot chocolate in hand and one of my crocheted afghans over my shoulders.  Add a cat in my lap and my dogs at my feet and I am one content lady.