My mother always did it....

[VeraBlue]

I had a mother who thawed meat on the counter, too. I do the same.

My mother was from the deep South and cooked every vegetable for hours, with a big hunk of some kind of fat (usually fatback or margarine) and a load of salt. No wonder my dad died of a heart attack at 50!

The one weird thing I really remember her doing is, at the beginning of every school year, she'd ask us what we wanted for lunch and you'd better be very careful how you answered because THAT is what you'd get everyday for the entire year! I still remember 8th grade - canned corned beef sandwich with mustard, a Little Debbie Swiss Cake Roll, an apple, and milk. Thirty-eight years later and I still can't eat canned corned beef! BLECH!!!

hahhahahahahahahahaha You poor thing.

 

[licia]

We learn from our past(usually) whether it was what we chose, or what someone else did. I'm glad you chose to use what you learned to relate better as a father. Many people don't do that and perpetuate the actions of parents and family and wonder why their life isn't better. We can make a decision to do things a better way but it sometimes takes a bit of work.

 

[VeraBlue]

I wasn't a troublemaker, had a huge river (thrity-five feet deep and 3/4 mile wide) to play in, woods everywhere, and a thirst for high-adventure. The lifestyle was great for me and allowed me to grow and become very independant and self-reliant.
Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

I had a brook, a park and loads of woods too out my back yard fence. We could wade in the brook, catch carp with homemade fishing poles, play in the county park and get lost in the woods for hours! I never imagined actually staying inside during the day!

 

[Lynan]

I'd kill to have a butcher come riding down my street, or the green guy! I'd pay dearly to have milk left in the box at the front door again!
I hate going to the supermarket because I hate giving them money! I love grocery shopping, and I love shopping for a meal on the day I'm planning it. Instead, I have to drive 5 towns away to get to the butcher, 2 towns away to get to a decent produce store, three towns away for good bread, etc...

I could not agree with you more! When I left Italy to come back to NZ 10 years ago, the Fruit and Vege guy came to our village twice weekly, a Fishmonger on Friday mornings and a butcher Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I too remember years ago here in NZ putting milk money out at night into our letterbox for the milkman to fill early next morning. And they were reusable glass bottles. Also got leg bitten by milkmans dog one day but thats another story! lol
Changed money to plastic discs after the world began to change and thieves began to take cash from letterboxes. Then it all turned to custard bigtime.
And here we are. Slaves to supermarkets.

 

[ang6073]

I was 7 when my mom passed away so I don't really remember much about her cooking skills. The one thing that I do remember that really stands out is that my mom would make us spaghetti and mix the sauce with the noodles and cut it up before she served it to us. After she died, I ate dinner at my aunt's house and we had spaghetti. She gave me a plate with noodles and some sauce spread on top. I swore up and down that it wasn't spaghetti because that's not how my mom gave it to me!

 

[JoAnn L.]

When I was growing up we only had an icebox. So no freezer. When the ice melted, we had to wait for the ice man to come. He always gave us kids little pieces of ice as a treat. Oh, that tasted so good on a hot summer day. So my mother didn't have to thaw anything out. Luckily we lived next door to a grocery store, so she got the meat fresh. What little there was. Durning those war years there wasn't much meat to be had. We ate a lot of ring baloney. Oh, it makes me shiver to think about it. I shouldn't complain, she did the best she could with dad gone for two years overseas.

 

[licia]

My grandmother and grandfather lived on a farm. When I was little I thought they were rich. They had a smokehouse with hanging ropes of sausages, great rashers of bacon and huge hams hanging everywhere inside. Next door to the smokehouse was a room filled with vegetables and fruits of all kinds. Also in an area next to the kitchen over one of the bedrooms were rows and rows of some of the same fruits and vegetables. Grandmother would send me up a ladder on the kitchen wall to get pickles or peaches or tomatoes, or beans, whatever she needed. She also had jars of cane syrup (homegrown) honey, jars of rock sugar candy. She always had two things available whenever you came whether she was expecting company or not - tea cakes and pound cake. Mom said they didn't suffer at all from the Great Depression. They had to buy very little to sustain life. My grandparents never let anyone leave without fresh veggies or canned goods.

 

[VeraBlue]

I could not agree with you more! When I left Italy to come back to NZ 10 years ago, the Fruit and Vege guy came to our village twice weekly, a Fishmonger on Friday mornings and a butcher Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I too remember years ago here in NZ putting milk money out at night into our letterbox for the milkman to fill early next morning. And they were reusable glass bottles. Also got leg bitten by milkmans dog one day but thats another story! lol
Changed money to plastic discs after the world began to change and thieves began to take cash from letterboxes. Then it all turned to custard bigtime.
And here we are. Slaves to supermarkets.

Turned to custard.....I like that expression. I may have to steal it from you.

 

[VeraBlue]

When I was growing up we only had an icebox. So no freezer. When the ice melted, we had to wait for the ice man to come. He always gave us kids little pieces of ice as a treat. Oh, that tasted so good on a hot summer day. So my mother didn't have to thaw anything out. Luckily we lived next door to a grocery store, so she got the meat fresh. What little there was. Durning those war years there wasn't much meat to be had. We ate a lot of ring baloney. Oh, it makes me shiver to think about it. I shouldn't complain, she did the best she could with dad gone for two years overseas.

JoAnn, I've always wondered about those iceboxes....Where did the ice go? How did it actually keep the food cool?

 

[Ellen]

My grandparents did ok in the depression too. Grandfather kept his job throughout. Albeit on half wage. He grew most of the food they ate, Nanna bottled the fruit for the winter. The two oldest boys were sent off to be farm labourers when they were 13. They are called the flourbag years here.

The war brought rationing, of course. But the garden held its own once again. Plenty of fruit. 3 sons in Egypt and Italy. It was far worse in England, the rationing I mean. Somehow here there were always chooks and a cow. Or a local farmer would slaughter a sheep. And barter.

 

[JoAnn L.]

JoAnn, I've always wondered about those iceboxes....Where did the ice go? How did it actually keep the food cool?

There was a door in the top of the icebox. That is where the big block of ice went. It melted slowly and drip into a pan under the icebox. You had to keep emptying it or it would run all over the floor. The outside of the icebox was wood but the inside was some sort of metal so the ice would last for a while.
We never had water in the house either, we had a pump in the back yard and the outhouse was in a shed in the back yard. She also had a wood burning stove in the kitchen to cook on. My mother had it pretty rough. But I want to tell you, no one had a cleaner house than we did. It was that way until till she died.
If any of you have your mothers yet, please tell them how much you appreciate them, before its to late.

 

[Claire]

Not only do I tell my mom weekly, last night I dialed the phone and had my best friend from my early teens talk to her and tell her!

 

[Claire]

Mom froze everything. Daddy was a sergeant in the Air Force, and when I was about 8 years old, they bought a chest freezer at a Monkey Wards scratch-and-dent sale. After that, they bought a half-cow every year or so, and when something went on sale at the commissary, Mom bought and froze. We would freeze anything from the garden, plus at one point had a farmer friend who would call us and us girls would "clean" his fields (in other words, he'd harvested all he could sell, and we'd go in and pick the last of the crop off of the plants). We also hit the cherry orchards and did them as well. Then we'd come home and prep them for the freezer. Hint: take a stick of margarine and "butter" your hands if you're going to pit a ton of cherries. Your hands will be stained for months otherwise.

Mom just thawed meat on the counter (covered and watched over) if she didn't do it overnight in the fridge. I do the same thing.

 

[karadekoolaid]

My mum cooked wonderful but pretty straightforward food. Her pastry is still famous - it just melts in the mouth. However...
Sunday Lunch was prepared first thing Sunday Morning. The veg were cooked for about 2 hours until they screamed "I Confess!! I Confess!!", and the Roast Beef always had an uninviting grey centre to it...
As for the fridge, ours was 3ft tall by 1 ft wide. Work it out!!!

 

[VeraBlue]

My mum cooked wonderful but pretty straightforward food. Her pastry is still famous - it just melts in the mouth. However...
Sunday Lunch was prepared first thing Sunday Morning. The veg were cooked for about 2 hours until they screamed "I Confess!! I Confess!!", and the Roast Beef always had an uninviting grey centre to it...
As for the fridge, ours was 3ft tall by 1 ft wide. Work it out!!!

Clive, I don't know what would be worse...your mother's vegetables cooking first thing in the morning...or my dad's 'your eggs are getting cold!" litany before 8am!