How many of your SS choices were values/beliefs-based vs. financial?

[Beekissed]

Yes, Free, I know what you mean! I can't imagine how folks eat that stuff all the time, if they have ever had the real thing~real food from an honest to goodness garden or orchard. When I have to eat store bought veggies(and especially when others serve commercially grown meats), I feel like I'm slumming!

 

[freemotion]

Yeah, and they are thinking, poor girl has to grow her own food!

Growing up, my best food memories are of meals all grown, wild picked, and made from scratch by our family. The BEST tasting, and now I know from my studying and researching, the most wholesome and nutritious!

Had some of my pepper today in a beef stir-fry inspired very loosely by a General Tso's Chicken recipe.....yowsa! I will have to learn to use a lighter touch when sprinkling that pepper onto anything!

(Control yourself, Bee, family site here..... )

 

[FarmerChick]

Some of my best memories growing up was my trips to McDonalds while on vacation or something. Wendy's triple juicy cheeseburgers!

the little greasy diner with the best french fries ever.....the decadent desserts that Mom might have bought---the cotton candy and candied apples at fairs!

I sure didn't care about homegrown food when I was a kid! Even though among the yummy junk Mom made us eat good..LOL

 

[Beekissed]

FC, I remember hamburgers from when I was little also.....and they didn't taste like the greasy cardboard one can purchase now days. I try to tell my kids how things used to taste back then but its futile, really. Even restuarant meats and veggies were better back then.

I think, as a nation, we have slowly been lulled into accepting substandard foods~first at fast food places and grocery stores, now school lunches~that we have forgotten that it wasn't always so. Beef used to taste GOOD! My dad used to eat a big ol' steak every year for his birthday and we used to buy him one as a gift each year. I'd be hard pressed to find such a thing now that would be edible. Good thing he's a vegan now!

I'll tell you what I have found: Now that people have eaten this substandard food for this long, they actually prefer it to anything homegrown or natural. I know people who won't eat a farm raised egg because they are too "rich" or too "yellow". Some won't eat a garden tomato because they are too "acidy" and the corn is too "sweet" for my liking, etc, etc, etc.

Some folks prefer corn fed animals to get the "grass" flavor out of the meat. When I was growing up, there wasn't any grass vs. corn flavor of meat....it was all mostly grass fed.

 

[me&thegals]

I think I'll join y'all on this little side trip

I have to admit that when growing up, I fantasized about restaurant food, box mac 'n cheese and anything processed! Soda, please!!! My mom made everything from scratch and we grew quite a bit of it in our garden.

These days, I'm right back to where mom had us, only WAY farther down the grow-it-yourself continuum, so I have hope for my kids Right now, they think the good life is to be found at McDonald's or in a Dorito bag, but they still are wonderful eaters at home and I really hope someday they will truly understand the difference between health and quality versus garbage and that yummy MSG flavor

 

[DrakeMaiden]

As with a few of you, my primary motivation was mostly trying to reduce my impact on the planet. Ever since I was in high school, I was very absorbed with the amount of resources I use. Especially in the last 5 to 10 years, I have focused on how to change my behavior to conserve as best as I can. It has become somewhat of a challenge that I enjoy. And I also enjoy feeling like a pioneer. Perhaps we here are the "nouveau pioneers" in a way?

My husband grew up in a family that was particularly frugal, so some of that washed off on me early in our marriage.

I've mentioned this before . . . he and I have always tried to live below our means. Not only is it good for the finances, but it can also open your eyes to how other people live in order to just scrape by. I think self-induced deprivation is a good thing. You learn what you are made of.

Funny enough, when I was in high school we all had to choose a quotation as our senior quote. Mine was "Forget the Joneses."

 

[freemotion]

"Forget the Joneses..." I love it!!!

Yup, pioneer ways fascinate me, too....but I am happy to have electricity, indoor plumbing, and a thermostat when I am sick....however, we are far more prepared to do without if we have to than most people!

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I had a friend at the time, who's last name was Jones. She didn't like my quote. :/

 

[FarmerChick]

 

[FarmerChick]

I ain't kidding no one
I sure like my conveniences of our time....I just limit what I will buy or use or need.
So many choices, so much to choose from....it gets mind-numbing.