sewing thread

Our tank is topped off monthly, and I'm on the "budget plan" where I pay the same thing every month and if I'm short, I pay up in July, I think it is. I do the same with the power company. Makes it a little easier to plan, but you end up paying anyway. They leave a slip on the doorknob showing the meter reading from the truck, and the price and a total. Then I get a glass of wine. Not from them, though. They do have a "customer appreciation" barbecue every year. They service my furnace and even sold me a new one a few years ago. I yam a bery good customer. Now that I'm on Social Security, this is gonna be interesting....

We put in a new furnace last year. Don't much matter $3.849 a gallon is still the same no matter how you pay it. Juno

That's so true.

everything

Well you are preaching to the choir on that last point, however doubt many young women today have the required skills in "domestic sciences" to cook and bake from scratch.

Bake our own breads, tough do knead the dough in either my Kenwood or Bosch mixers. Yoghurt is made in my vintage Salton unit. Cakes, cookies and such are also baked at home, etc.

Really shocks one how little today's young women know about cooking. If the meals do not come out wholly or partially out of a packet, or aren't take away, they would probably all starve! *LOL*

Only thing one will not make at home is kippers. Just can't get rid of the smell! *LOL*

Candide

I tried so hard to wait for a plug-in but my 15 year old vehicle was getting too undependable. So I replaced it with a Prius last fall... a steady 47 mph. Great, but 20+ years ago I got 43 with a Nissan. It's incredible that in 20 years we have digital TV, the iPod, the iPhone, sewing computers, and under $100 laser printers--- but the best possible gas mileage has increased by only a few mpg.

On a more positive note, since I started line drying my clothes (I need the vitamin D), our electric bills decreased about 12% on average, and we're all electric. A dryer takes a lot more fuel than most people realize.

Phae

Donkeys, mules, or oxen -- horses are for rich people.

I'm with you. It's not a difficult choice when you have no choice. :) Seriously, wheat is in almost everything (& I can't have wheat) so I have be a scratch cook. And I've learned to put some things by in the freezer for when I'm tired or not feeling well. For breakfast this AM, I had cheese and french radishes from the garden my husband planted. I need to pick some more tomorrow before they explode from all the rain. ;)

Phae

Is there a particular reason you left "young men" out of your overly broad condemnation?

Beverly

And why she included "young"?

;-) You're right, of course.

Although for many years I cooked almost everything from scratch, now that I'm old(er) I occasionally take advantage of pre-made meals. Well, Ok, maybe more than "occasionally". My older DD is a wonderful cook, and takes great pleasure in making healthy home-cooked meals for her family. Younger DD works away from home, and although she likes to cook, she probably uses convenience foods fairly often. Both sons-in-law are skilled in the kitchen as well, and both of my grandchildren (boy and girl) are being taught the skills to care for themselves.

Beverly

I don't have daughters, so cannot comment there, though my Gpddaughter and her younger sister would make that a lie for sure! ;) As would my son, who can cook a 3 course meal from raw ingredients, bake a cake, and has helped me make bread several times.

I don't make yoghurt these days as there is a lot of good stuff available cheaply here in the supermarkets. I should - we always have spare milk!

There has been a big campaign here in recent years to get kids back into cooking. James is at an accademic all boys school which never has offered cooking, but I have made sure that he can cook, sew, clean a bathroom, and operate the washing machine and dishwasher.

Smoked fish things can be a bit pongy, but I just open the windows and make sure all the cooking stuff goes straight in the dishwasher!

I was probably the last group of young ladies who had to take 'home ec' before both home ec and shop were opened up to both genders. I don't think either home ec or shop are offered much in schools these days unless you are deliberately taking technical school for your high school years. Of course I learned quite a bit already and Mom and Nana's knees. I've never had apple tart turn out as good anywhere else. Not even by my own hands anymore. My son can cook and wash his own clothes and do other domestic chores. I insisted that he learn. I wasn't going to let him be a leech on a woman who would probably work outside the home also.

AK in PA

It takes too much money for R&D to justify designing a car that no one is going to want to buy because of the price tag and untested reliability. So car makers aren't going to stick their necks out until it becomes a necessity. Can't justify that lower bottom line to the shareholders. Those poor board members would lose their stipend and prestigeous place on the board.

Years ago Amy Dyzycyn (probably spelled wrong pronounced decision) put out the newsletter "The Tightwad Gazette". She made a point of not using a clothes dryer. If she couldn't hang the clothes outside she hung them in the attic. She had a generic recipe for muffins that DH loves. During my recent clean out I found all the newsletters again. Need to review them.

AK in PA

Oooppss! Should have said lower profit margin.

AK in PA

No kidding! Our local groceries now have huge cases of already prepared foods. It used to be just a few things like potato & macaroni salads and the typical deli cold cuts but now they have at least 10-15 entrees plus everything else you need to put a meal together. If you shop in the late afternoon, this expensive counter is crowded with people. Go figure. I feel sorry for people who haven't the time to cook or who have never learned to take pleasure in the experience.

Our family has so many wonderful stories relating to meals and food. I sometimes wonder what that's like in families who buy mostly prepared meals. Instead of, "Remember the time the neighbor's dog thieved the roast off the grill...", might it be, "Remember the time that meatloaf from the supermarket was raw in the middle...". Or something like that. Honestly, I think way too many people have no idea where their food even comes from. But that's yet another story.

Phae

For those of us who are not gifted in the cooking gene, the modern supermarket is a lifesaver. I've discovered, too, that restaurants rely a great deal on packaged shortcuts, as well. My DH will eat just about anything - except avocados and artichokes - and neither of us is much of a meat eater. A little meat goes a long way here. My freezer always has a couple of bags of Bertolli's Mediterranean dinners that with a salad - I do make a very good salad - is dinner for us once or twice a week. I've finally devised a reliable chili recipe, using Rotel and S & W "Fixin's." I've always been able to make a good spaghetti sauce, but who can't? My MIL hated to cook, my mother tried very hard but it was an uphill battle for her, and for her mother and sister. I'm doing better now, thanks to Juno and the Internet, but it's truly wonderful to find good things in the grocery, especially on the days I shop and don't much want to come home and start cooking.

I've eaten peanut butter for too many years to count, as have my siblings; we are all diabetic, though I must say I was 70YO before contracting it while some of my siblings were diabetic by the time they were in their 30s, like our DM. Almost every sibling of hers was diabetic since young people, except an older brother, who like me was about 70 before being diagnosed. Strange world, sometimes. BYW, all of us still enjoy PB, several different brands, but not Adam's, which I have not heard of before. Right now, I think I have the Reduced Fat Jif in the house; tastes good to me. Emily Emily

Read the label for the list of contents. IMHO, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil is not peanut butter.

I was talking about *pre* prepared meals (above)--- not convenience foods. Entire dishes that are already cooked and ready... from the grocery. You know.... take-out.

I think most of us use convenience foods, like those you mention, at least now and then. I used to but can't anymore because they all have wheat in them. :( There are some gluten-free ones, like frozen entrees, that I do get for a quick lunch occasionally. Right now they average $4.00 each for an 8-9 oz entrée. So that is an expensive lunch for me.

Phae