I have discovered that I don't have enough points to have lots of different foods.
This week was also a challenge due to not having money for groceries - so it helped me be much more creative.
Having run out of bread - I decided to make my own. When rationing - you use up everything... even oatmeal that you are tired of :)
I had left over oatmeal from morning breakfasts in the fridge - so I used that in my bread. I used my basic bread recipe (water, flour, yeast, and sugar) and added 2 cups of cooked oatmeal, molasses (to save sugar), and some old rye flakes that I found in the pantry.
The bread dough was much more moist then I was use to- but what it created was a beautiful loaf of bread that is wonderful in the morning.
I am starting to understand the amount of work that women did to eat well during rationing. Working 9 hour days at the Hospital, I come home exhausted and still need make supper. I don't know how women did all the work and still take care of their family. To make this bread - I worked then came home, mixed up the bread, went to the gym while it rose, then baked it around 10 pm. I am sure the women were always multi-tasking to get everything done.
I do wonder how different woman's lives are now? Did they like the ability to work or did they wish to go back to what they knew?
Things to ponder as I go through this week.
Coming up... making carrot pie! Ummmmm.
Amos and I have been having some serious conversations about the benefits of having a domestic partner. As I've been underemployed for over a year now, we've been enjoying the benefits of someone (me) doing the grocery shopping, meal planning, laundry, cooking, budget-monitoring, and other misc. stuff. (No rationing in the sense that you're using, but certainly in the "what's our budget" sense.) Each time that I return to work for more than a day here or there, everything falls apart. If I returned to work in a true full-time position, then we'd find our modern double-income balance again. Even without kids, there is just enough that juggling everything and two jobs is rather hectic. (Forgive the rambling, disorganized nature of this comment; I'm thinking about the packing for our Thanksgiving trip, the laundry that's about to finish, the bathroom that needs to be cleaned, the dishes in the drying rack that need to be put away... Oi!)
ReplyDeleteWhile I love my profession, and am not in love with housework, there is something to be said for the status quo of much of human history: one partner earning income, one running the household.
I was watching a program the other day that explained how today's quick/microwave meals came about-- basically because of the war, they explained. Ready made meals became popular because women went to work and didn't have as much time to devote to making meals from scratch. As even more women went to work by the 60's, a whole new food market emerged!
ReplyDeleteCooking meals from scratch and taking care of the home is a full time job in and of itself!!
So, being exhausted after a day of work and not wanting to cook is nothing to feel guilty about :)