You can ferment that!

Fermenting your own foods to make sauerkraut, pickles, yogurt, or kimchi probably sounds kind of crazy. The type of thing that only a person living in the middle of nowhere or someone who is unemployed would even consider attempting.  I can assure you that nothing is easier.  It will take you less time to make a jar of your own pickles then it would to select a jar from the wall 'o pickles probably available at your supermarket.

From left to right:  Red cabbage sauerkraut, bok choy kimchi, sauerkraut with jalapeno, sauerkraut.

Step 2: Start Simple - Whatcha got?

Sometimes I'm inspired to prepare something involved, but we do an awful lot of  "whatchagot"  meals (soups, stews, rice dishes).

With very little time, planning or inspiration you can whip up easy whatchagot dinners if you keep some basics in your kitchen like: rice or couscous, bouillon, garlic, and carrots.

Brown and wild rice, carrots and red pepper

Step 1: Find your kitchen.

Cooking has really changed in our lifetimes and the lifetimes of our parents and grandparents.  It used to be something that wasn't really thought about very much. Our grandparents mostly just prepared something for dinner that was based on what they had eaten as children, usually culturally influenced "standard" dishes.  Since the 1960s, what it meant to cook has changed dramatically.  At times it had been such a chore and women felt that they had to bear the responsibility of all of the shopping and cooking.  This burden, in a time when woman were also working, led to the idea that the quicker and the easier the meal the better.  

The dawn of the prepared foods.