When I was a kid, we were "the landed poor" -- 7 acre mini-farm in New England. Dad was working days, and going to night-school to get his engineering degree. Mom stayed home with my sister and I, grew a huge vegetable garden, canned a lot of it, and cooked & baked every day.
We had a Jersey cow for milk (whole milk), cream, butter and ice cream (hand-churned), and chickens and ducks for eggs and meat.
We also raised the occasional pig for pork, and young steer for beef. I think we ate "everything but the oink and moo" -- after getting an animal butchered, the freezer was full of steaks, pork sausage, pork chops, hamburger, etc. By the time we were getting to the bottom of the chest freezer, it was all organ meats, brain, tongue, feet, etc. Ew.
Very occasionally we'd have a "processed" food for a treat, like jello or koolaid. Or pasta -- we didn't make our own. Nor cheese. Breakfast cereal was a treat; more often breakfast was eggs, bacon, potato hash browns, cooked oatmeal or "cream of wheat".
Mostly, though, what we ate was what we grew. Spaghetti, lasagna or pizza was made with homemade tomato sauce, with carrots, peppers, from the garden etc. Pizza meat toppings were our own pork sausage or ground beef -- getting "exotics" like pepperoni was only via an occasional visit at the local pizza place in town.
We picked fruit to can, and make into jams, pie fillings, and butters -- peaches, pears, apples, strawberries (we tried to grow our own strawberries, but never had much luck). We had concord grape vines for jams and canned juice -- to this day, I can't stand the taste of commercial jams or jellies, especially grape, and make all my own. Most of the time, we looked for orchards that would let you pick "drops" -- fruit on the ground -- for less money. A lot of what was on the ground was good enough for eating out of hand, but if not, the odd bruise could be cut out, and didn't matter for jam.
My childhood pantry was in the basement: a large chest freezer, and multiple shelves my dad built of 2x4s and plywood, filled with jars of canned fruit, vegetables, meat, sauces, jams, etc.
All that being said, as an adult I learned that my mom's cooking, while hearty, was pretty unimaginative. She had a small set of staple recipes that she made, over an over. A lot of that was working with the small budget they had. They didn't raise all that food out of some hippy back-to-the-land movement (it was the Sixties), but because they couldn't afford to do otherwise.
Today, it's easy to find recipes online. Cooking shows. Cookbooks for any cuisine. Exotic ingredients; fruits, spices, vegetables, etc. I do most of the cooking, because I enjoy it, whereas I really think my mom didn't enjoy it -- she happily switched to more processed foods and eating out more often, as my dad's income rose over the years.
There are few foods from childhood that I loathe to this day: Liver is one.
Things in my pantry that I might not've liked as a kid? Hmm. Dal (several kinds). Balsamic vinegar. Hot sauces & hot peppers (mom's cooking was often on the bland side). Flaked coconut -- mom would get the sugared kind, which I didn't and don't like; I get unsweetened. Canned artichokes.
We had a Jersey cow for milk (whole milk), cream, butter and ice cream (hand-churned), and chickens and ducks for eggs and meat.
We also raised the occasional pig for pork, and young steer for beef. I think we ate "everything but the oink and moo" -- after getting an animal butchered, the freezer was full of steaks, pork sausage, pork chops, hamburger, etc. By the time we were getting to the bottom of the chest freezer, it was all organ meats, brain, tongue, feet, etc. Ew.
Very occasionally we'd have a "processed" food for a treat, like jello or koolaid. Or pasta -- we didn't make our own. Nor cheese. Breakfast cereal was a treat; more often breakfast was eggs, bacon, potato hash browns, cooked oatmeal or "cream of wheat".
Mostly, though, what we ate was what we grew. Spaghetti, lasagna or pizza was made with homemade tomato sauce, with carrots, peppers, from the garden etc. Pizza meat toppings were our own pork sausage or ground beef -- getting "exotics" like pepperoni was only via an occasional visit at the local pizza place in town.
We picked fruit to can, and make into jams, pie fillings, and butters -- peaches, pears, apples, strawberries (we tried to grow our own strawberries, but never had much luck). We had concord grape vines for jams and canned juice -- to this day, I can't stand the taste of commercial jams or jellies, especially grape, and make all my own. Most of the time, we looked for orchards that would let you pick "drops" -- fruit on the ground -- for less money. A lot of what was on the ground was good enough for eating out of hand, but if not, the odd bruise could be cut out, and didn't matter for jam.
My childhood pantry was in the basement: a large chest freezer, and multiple shelves my dad built of 2x4s and plywood, filled with jars of canned fruit, vegetables, meat, sauces, jams, etc.
All that being said, as an adult I learned that my mom's cooking, while hearty, was pretty unimaginative. She had a small set of staple recipes that she made, over an over. A lot of that was working with the small budget they had. They didn't raise all that food out of some hippy back-to-the-land movement (it was the Sixties), but because they couldn't afford to do otherwise.
Today, it's easy to find recipes online. Cooking shows. Cookbooks for any cuisine. Exotic ingredients; fruits, spices, vegetables, etc. I do most of the cooking, because I enjoy it, whereas I really think my mom didn't enjoy it -- she happily switched to more processed foods and eating out more often, as my dad's income rose over the years.
There are few foods from childhood that I loathe to this day: Liver is one.
Things in my pantry that I might not've liked as a kid? Hmm. Dal (several kinds). Balsamic vinegar. Hot sauces & hot peppers (mom's cooking was often on the bland side). Flaked coconut -- mom would get the sugared kind, which I didn't and don't like; I get unsweetened. Canned artichokes.
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The only way to get anything even resembling decent pizza in that case would have to be to rustle up ingredients and make it from scratch at home.
