Reviving the old ways of ‘scratch cooking’
Just a quick glance at the label of a number of packages that our food comes in these days is enough to give you an idea about the stuff we are eating under the disguise of food. The lost wisdom of scratch cooking is the need of the hour as it invites one a walk away from the processed food and opens a whole new world of possibilities of feeding oneself.
The name Scratch Food may seem less self-explanatory however the fundamental idea is very simple it dictates that one must do their utmost to stay true to the nature of food as much as possible avoiding the processed ingredients.
Not an Easy Cookie
If you are not willing to invest time and energy into this endeavour then it may seem a nearly impossible task, as its very hard to escape from the commercially processed ingredients. However, if you put your mind to it, you will gradually but surely attain the ability to appreciate the organic food and locate processed food.
What is Include
Well once you do your mindful exercise of differencing the food you’ll find that most of the food that constitute a scratch cooking masterclass is already in a Prepper’s survival kit. This includes rice, dried beans, peppercorns, sea salt, unprocessed dried and fresh spices, herbs, fresh fruits, vegetables and of course fish and meat. The list goes on and on but as you can see the list is already rich enough for an array of various tasty meals; and that even without any processed material.
The Idea is Simple, yet amazing
The fact of the matter is that scratch cooking is not as complicated as many would have us believe; it is all about the right mind-set. Being able to feed yourself and those around you without ever needing to run to the supermarket is truly a skill; a skill that can one day save your life. The idea is very simple and involves creativity; first step is to figure out what goes into your food, or what you fancy in your meals, and then simply try to look for ways that you can grow them yourself without spending a lot of time and money in the supermarkets.
Easy Cheese
Not many people are familiar with the amazing fact that you can actually make your own cheese (a basic form of it of course) simply using milk, fresh lemon juice and some salt. Warm half a gallon of milk (by milk I mean non pasteurized milk that does not come from a cotton or a bottle from the store) with ¼ cup of lemon juice with a pinch of sea salt; you can also use vinegar if you don’t have lemon juice available.
Help me Honey!!
If you have a sweet tooth or two or even thirty-two scratch cooking have you under its umbrella, though a bit tricky it can help you maintain your cravings alive and kicking though not that aggressively. The thing about sugar is that even the raw sugar undergoes some kind of processing at some stage of its production, however a little less processing then those shinning sugar grains that put diamond to shame. The best alternative to sugar if you wish to scratch cook would be honey or home processed maple sap; however, you need to tweak your much loved recipes to accommodate the new unprocessed and far more friendly sugar alternatives.
What do our Ancestors teach us?
The ancient people did not have superstores and yet they survived and often lived a healthier life then all of us. The reason being their attitude towards food and nature; almost all the ingredients in the meal on an ancient dinner table came naturally from their environment. The art came down the generations orally till we could write them down; you can easily find books from the centuries bygone that contain ancient wisdom of natural cooking without the need of any processed ingredients.
All images: Public Domain