My next few blog posts will be addressing exactly how we can do this.
Now, for anyone new to my blog, I don't want you to get the wrong idea, I'm not going around hollering that the world will end.
But I do believe things have changed a whole lot from when we were kids, and it's not going back to the 'good old days', folks.
We hear a lot of people talk about how things were simpler when they were younger. I think nostalgia is one part hazy memory and one part wishful thinking.
Things weren't simpler, they were different.
Some of us were kids. We didn't have to worry about money for payments, rent, groceries, how we would stay warm and so on. Someone one did that for us.
We didn't have to worry about how we were going to get from point A to point B.
Someone else did that for us.
We didn't have to worry about what we were going to eat.
Someone else figured it out, got the food and made it into meals for us.
Welcome to adult-hood.
Now all that is up to us. And some days, it's bloody terrifying figuring all that out for ourselves, and in some cases, being responsible for others.
Our dollars don't stretch as far as we need them to, no matter where we live.
Some of us have examined going out to eat less and learned how to cook more often at home. I've been on both sides of this line.
I remember when I was a kid, we ate out a lot. But I also remember the pies my mother made. Sometimes three at a time. I remember she made bread by hand, back before bread machines.
Now that I am an adult with a family of my own, I'm fortunate enough to say that we eat at home more often than out. Because my partner enjoys cooking, because I enjoy cooking (most of the time) and because we live out in the bush where restaurants are scarce.
But even when we lived in a city, we ate at home more often than not.
There are folks who will tell you this is more expensive than eating out. There is no way that a home-made roast chicken dinner with vegetables and rolls is more expensive than Swiss Chalet! Eating at home with your family, even one night a week for busy families, has more benefits than many spare a thought for.
Increased connections with your family. Increased opportunities to talk. Better food that is prepared, we hope, with a good heart, instead of with thoughts of money. A better understanding of food itself. If you buy ground beef/chicken/turkey/pork and make patties for burgers, you will know what's in your burger won't you? The same cannot be said for burgers from a fast food place that really isn't all that fast. If we were to make up a pro/con list for eating at home more often, you might be surprised when the pro list ends up being longer than the con list.
Then again, perhaps you already know this.
Over the next few weeks, I'll be talking about taking back control over our lives. It can start with as simple a step as cooking more often at home. We'll talk about how you can change your grocery shopping habits to start developing even a small safety net in case you want to eat more often at home but find yourself out of time, the grocery store short of something, or heaven forbid, if you suddenly find you have no choice. (I once had to pawn some jewelry to make sure my kids had food, so I understand being desperate.)
We'll talk about emergencies and what might happen where you are, and who to come through them as comfortably as possible.
We'll talk about how we can be ready if life throws curve balls at us, and how to prepare our families for hard times ahead.
We'll talk...realistically and with common sense.
I hope you'll join me in this discussion.
