Talk about taking things for granted……..I grew up eating wonderful whole foods. My parents didn’t try to be healthy, they just were. My mother went to the grocery store and bought whole foods to prepare our meals. It really was the frugal thing to do as well.
Growing up our pantry was full of homemade tomato juice, homemade pickles, peaches, jams, and more. Each one canned as the harvest came in. Each one made from real food ingredients, not because my mother was trying to follow some special diet, but because that was what people ate. So much has changed over the years that we don’t even realize that we aren’t eating real food anymore.
When I first started cooking on my own, I was a bit perplexed. How do you prepare a meal without all of those canned staples? I really had no idea how to make spaghetti sauce without homemade canned tomato juice so I turned to popular brands at the grocery store to help. Ahhh………..look at all of the amazing meals I could prepare simply by purchasing some boxes, bottles, and cans. Of course, the problem is…………it was all highly processed. Low fat is full of sugar. Highly processed is full of salt and a whole host of ingredients created in a laboratory and not in nature. This was not the natural start that I had.
When I switched to my real food lifestyle, I began to long for that darn canned tomato juice. What once seemed so uncool to me, was now almost glamorous. During the first year of our real food journey, my aunt asked me if I would like some of her canning jars. I didn’t have any definite plan for them, but I jumped at the opportunity. I was now the proud owner of numerous Mason canning jars.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. My mother and I discussed the possibility of she and my father teaching me how they canned my treasured tomato juice. Since my schedule is always crazy, we needed to set a date for our canning class. We scheduled a Sunday after my little guy’s flag football game. If it’s in my calendar, then I can schedule everything else around it. We actually were going to do this!
I’m sure many of you are laughing at me because you are already incredible homesteaders. I, on the other hand, grew up declaring to everyone who would listen that, ” I didn’t have a domestic bone in my body.” This was quite a bold move for me.
During my lesson, I learned a couple of different recipes for the canned tomato juice. We canned 19 jars. Not bad for my first attempt! My mother told me the story of the year she set 100 jars of tomato juice as a goal. She did it too. That is just amazing to me. I also found that my memories of tomato juice spattered all across the kitchen on canning day were not completely inaccurate. My father is a lot neater than he used to be, but we still made quite a mess. I’ve got to say…….making a mess in the kitchen is kind of fun.
I’m looking forward to more domestic lessons. Preserving the harvest is a lot of work, but it is also really fun, especially when you get to share the experience with your loved ones. The more time I spend in the kitchen, the more I realize that cooking is another way for me to express my love for my family. One of my favorite sayings is, “Nothing says I love you like clean underwear.” While I still believe that, I now also feel that “Nothing says I love you like real food prepared with loving hands.”
Now it’s your turn…………..What do you do to preserve the harvest? Are you a canning pro or novice? Tell me some of your favorite food stories from your childhood. I love hear them.
I can’t wait to hear from you. Leave me a comment here and I invite you to join the fun on our various social media. Just join us by using the various buttons at the top of the page. Lots more recipes, tips and fun to be had by all! If you are new to the blog……..I invite you to check out our Weekly Challenges. This is a great systematic way to to eat more of a Real Food diet and eliminate processed food. This is the approach my family took to overhauling our diet. Remember……small changes can create dramatic changes to your overall health. Good luck!
As I told you earlier, this is an awesome post! I don't come from a legacy of preserving food, so I am a bit jealous of this! My mother was (and is) a very good cook, but she did very little in the way of preserving food. I have only tried canning once – it really made me nervous! I think you need someone who knows what she's doing to help you the first time or two. My husband and I do freeze some vegetables from our garden, although I would like to freeze more.
I was very grateful to have my folks show me the ropes with canning. It's a simple process, but there were a lot of steps to making the juice. We had 100% success rate my first time. They all sealed. My mom said the best thing to do to make sure they seal is to talk to them. Sounds crazy, but it worked! Who am I to argue with her advice? LOL!
Thank you for sharing. Some of my fondest memories are of the time that I spent canning with my family and my grandparents. I gathered up most of my Grandma's canning supplies when she got to where she couldn't stay at the house anymore. I gathered up her recipes and canning supplies. No one else seemed to mind. They didn't think they would find the time to use them.
Life should be intertwined with good food and memories. unfortunately it is not that way. I just wrote a post about the medditeranean diet. It is not about what you eat, as much as how you prepare it and enjoy it. I write at http://www.lifelesshurried.com My platform is real life, real food and loving your family by spending the time to make real memories, like those I have of canning with my grandparents. The smells, the noise, the mess, all the senses were engaged in those moments and the memories are wonderful. I had a friend who decided that she did not want her childrens memories of her to be the back of her head as she typed on a computer. I have taken that to heart. I try to make sure that I spend time with my loved ones everyday and family dinners and food seems to be key.
You are a girl after my own heart. My favorite time of day is dinner time at the table. Whether it be a quick dinner or more relaxing affair, it is always my favorite part of the day. Watching my family eat a meal that I prepared makes me feel so good. If I do nothing else right, at least my family eats meals together as often as possible. I find it amusing that the latest trends are all things our grandmothers did. Canning, eating real food, and even names. We had a whole generation rebeling against what they knew to be true. Good nutrition is not created in a factory. It is created on farms and in kitchens.
I grew up on convenience foods for sure. My mom still sneaks bags of cheese puffs, hawaiian punch, and goodies home with my kids. Her new trick is to tell my kids that certain items are "sugar free" so they will eat them (see…even the kids know better). My grandma, however, canned her entire life and I was too young to really enjoy the fruits of her labor but I did love watching her do it. I plan to give my kids these memories not opening chip bags. The kids actually are to a point that they see something at the store or on TV and try to figure out how we can make it at home!! That is super progress 🙂 Thanks for always giving me great recipes to test out on them and for spreading the word about REAL FOOD!
Heather you are doing such a great job with your kids. They are learning to make food decisions and your mom is giving them plenty of practice to try out their decision-making skills. Everyone in my family is "famous" for making something. I don't want to be "famous" for being the chip opener. That is the road I was heading down until I started my Real Food journey. My college son is very proud to bring his girlfriend home for a home-cooked meal. That makes me happy.
I will admit that I am not a cook who loves to cook… I would rather decorate, paint, garden, etc. but i do appreciate home made food and I do cook for every holiday for my little family of 5!!
Hugs,
Deb
I bet the holidays are wonderful at your home Debbie. You are so talented at everything you do. I'm looking forward to reading much more of your holiday posts. Such exciting times!
I loooooove canning tomatoes. My life would not be complete without them. I've been doing it off and on since I was a kid. Now I am starting to teach my step daughter along with all the life-lessons that went along with it – just as my mom and grandparents taught me. – yumeating.com
Chrystal you are so right about the life lessons that go with canning. I got to spend time with my parents and learn all sorts of things. There is just something about that time spent in the kitchen. It is almost magical for relationships. Your step daughter is blessed to have you teaching her.
What a wonderful post, not a canner yet, but working on it. Thanks so much for sharing on Real Food Fridays, please come and share again.