I remember when she learned that even chicken feet had a use! My Dad being an open minded sort, especially when it came to food never said a word and tried everything she created. I can hear his voice explaining to we three children "If your Mother goes to the trouble to make something for dinner, you can be sure that it is good to eat" So we always tried it, without question and afterwards tried to find ways to avoid it again if necessary - but most things turned out fine... Well, except Head Cheese, that is.... But my Dad loved Head Cheese and was glad that he did not have to share it with unappreciative children!
Dozens of chicken feet in a big soup pot is quite the sight! Well, she never actually served chicken feet as a meal, but from my mother I learned that the chicken feet were the basis of chicken stock. Who'da thought? Apparently they have alot of the stuff that makes chicken stock like jelly when it cools -- she said it was good for us. It wasn't bad, cause I am still here to write this and the stock she made from chicken feet 'disappeared' into soups and stews and gravies.
Anyway, back to my thoughts on Earth Day -- tomorrow...
A couple of years back, someone started the idea of using cloth bags and or reuseable vinyl bags to carry groceries home in. That has taken hold in my area, tho you can still get plastic bags if you forget your cloth ones, or if you carry boxes in the trunk of your car (which is what we do).
Now lately I have been wondering why I have a whole drawer in my kitchen dedicated to plastic wrap?! A box of zip lock or no name sandwich bags now costs about $4 for a box of 100, and the thicker "freezer bags" cost about the same for just 25 bags! Now the whole idea with them is for one time use. If you take a sandwich to work or school, you throw out the bag along with the banana peel and whatever else is left over. Hmmm???
It is so easy to throw out those bits of plastic and as I keep nagging my husband, once a thing is paid for you forget what it cost you to get... But every week or two there is some sort of plastic wrap in your shopping cart. I have been wondering why we have not translated the idea of ending the use of plastic grocery bags to the same idea in our own kitchens?
Why are we buying and throwing away all those smaller plastic bags?
Plastic is everywhere, even reuseable plastic. I know that the plastic bag makers have seen the writing on the wall and sort of listened to consumers who don't want to use quite so many plastic bags, so they have created plastic containers -- not top quality that will last for years and years, but will last you longer than a bag. The problem is, most of the lids split or crack after a couple of times use either from being frozen then microwaved, or just from the pounding they get when the kids or hubby throw them in the dishwasher. And these "reuseable" plastic containers cost about $4 for 3 or 4 in a pack! I haven't counted but do those 3 containers get reused 35 times to equal the same number of plastic sandwich bags? I haven't actually tested that, so I cannot say.
There are of course the more durable plastic containers, any number of shapes and sizes that will last for YEARS and many many uses. These containers do cost more than the short term so called "reusable containers", but their price is not unreasonable for how long they will last you. In the photo above, the one with the green lid is a fairly recent addition to my kitchen -- it replaces that green "lettuce keeper" I bought at a Tupperware party about 20 years ago! I expect this new one to last at least 10 years, and the price was just under $4. A much better deal than the so called "reuseable" zip lock or no name containers.
The more durable "tupperware" or "rubbermaid" or no name containers will last you more than 10 times but more likely a 100 times longer simply because they are better made. I am going back to using these in place of putting a few leftovers in a "ziplock" that is throw out after only one use.
But that is not the place to stop at. In a more mature household -- meaning where small children are not dropping things, what about GLASS? (but then again, we never had plastic when we were children) Strangely, Glass is cheaper than plastic, if you look in the right places... For all of my leftover soups and stews along with a few other things, I am converting to glass jars. Glass canning jars, hold and freeze leftovers as well as plastic so that is my return to what my Mother did everyday on the farm -- there was no such thing as plastic sandwich or freezer bags!
With canning jars as storage containers there is usually available new lids for purchase at the grocery store -- you only need new lids if you are actually using the jars to CAN goods, but for freezer or fridge storage, the same lid well washed like the jar is useable multiple times...
And, check out your local THRIFT store for the jars. At one local thrift shop the jars are priced at $2 a dozen!! Now try to beat that for economy and sustainability.
Another thought about reuseable -- I remember the days when we would fill a quart size canning jar with Kool-Aid and screw on the lid and wander off for a children's picnic somewhere between the tall corn rows in late summer, hoping to hide for a time from a farm chore or our Mother's voice calling us to do some "work"...
So, Thanks Mom! for making old fashioned new again...
