Just an observation...

I SO agree with cooking from scratch and I have to say that is what has happened in our house pretty much from the beginning. My mum taught me to cook but I also come from an era when girls WERE taught to cook and sew at school, whilst the boys did woodwork.

For me, cooking is actually a form of relaxation - I prefer to do that whilst listening to the radio in the kitchen, rather than sitting front of the TV and waiting for the microwave to "ping". Yes, you can be very hungry when you get home from work and not want to wait but for me the trick has been to have a large (as in 1 pint) tea or water as late as possible at work or else as soon as I get in from work. That way I am less inclined to pick whilst I wait for dinner, which is as near as possible at 7pm every night.

There is far too much fast food on our shelves - what it takes is forward planning, wise shopping and a bit of determination and you CAN do it.

I noticed that too when I started eating better, I usually just go to health food stores now (which are usually at least a third smaller buildings), but when it's late and I need to go into a normal grocery store everything I could possible need is on either side of the store (Vegetables and dried grains are on one side and bottle water is on the other.), so I have to pass aisle after aisle of things I don't even consider food anymore. It's actually gotten a lot easier because I'm no longer tempted by things along the way.

I agree with you all. No one learns to cook anymore, except at the culinary institutes! And that is not always healthy! I watched a show on the Food Network last week. It featured the chef from Restaurant Impossible. He was helping to redesign and renovate a family center that serves one meal a day to disadvantaged children and their families. He talked to the children and asked them to identify some very standard veggies. They did not know what broccoli, green beans, lettuce, etc. even were. I was astounded. They all knew mac and cheese, fast food, etc. The families have no where in their community to even buy veggies. They threw in some extra money to plant a community garden that the children will help tend as part of the program. Mrs. Obama came and helped with the garden and ate a meal with the families! So sad. But so true for so many children in our country of overabundance.

I've seen that, it seems to happen a lot in cities, low income areas have 'food deserts' where hardly any or no produce is available. It's really saddening, but at least steps to improve it are being made in some areas (South Bronx and areas of Philadelphia).

Ive been telling people since I was a little girl Cooking should be a required class to graduate from every school (grade, middle, high and college)

This. But not just for girls.

We've lost the link to nature: seasonal fruits and veggies, how food is grown, how it can be prepared, how to grow your own food at home in a small garden, etc. I completely agree this would make a fantastic middle and jr high class.

--P

I'm trying to cook from scratch more, but I'm still using convenience foods, not junk, just convenient. Like I'm making quorn curry tonight, instead of prepping all the veg myself I'm using some out of a bag of frozen char grilled veg. If I didn't have two small children I'd probably do more, but making things easier is a bonus!

I did that too when my children were small - with the added disadvantage that my husband ended up in a wheelcahir when the children were 3½ and 6 months respectively. The children are now 32 and 29 and both of them can cook because we made a point of teaching them to do so (yes, even our son can cook for himself) from scratch. Hubby is now the "househusband" and does most of the cooking whilst I go out to work.

If any of you saw the programme some while ago in the UK where Jamie Oliver went into a school and showed the children what their Turkey Twizzlers were made of, it would make you sick; the children featured on the programme were truly shocked. Id love to know if that shock has had a long lasting effect on those children, who will be around 16 to 18 years old now. Did they influence their parents at all? does it influence how they eat today?

As for growing your own, it can be done to a certain extent even if you only have a small balcony by using grow bags. I'm lucky, I have a garden that is about 60 feet x 40 feet, part of which is devoted to raspberries but otherwise, I have a strawberry barrel and lots of growing bags with potatoes, carrots, cabbages etc because "conventional" gardens and wheelchairs don't really mix well (we have a lot of hardstanding rather than grass). Tending the garden can be hard work but it certainly makes you connect with where your food comes from and definitely teaches you not to take it for granted!

Oh yeah I never buy that crap! the highly processed stuff is just vile! I buy fish fingers for them, but only the more expensive ones that you can tell are just fish fillets. We're mostly vegetarian so the rest of the stuff they eat is pasta and sauces and beans on toast (my daughter's so fussy, I try her on new stuff occasionally but it's quite limited what she'll eat, she's doing ok though, my son's a lot better, hope he doesn't go the same was as her!)

I'm going to try and make all my own biscuits and cakes and things eventually as well to ensure they're healthier, but that's for another day!