When my mother died I had been over at her house for about a year taking care of her in the day while my sons were in school. I'd make dinner and leave it warming for when my brother came home from work. He took care of her in the evenings. I took care of her in the day. He got used to my cooking then, but for some reason he thought that I boiled those potatoes. So, my mom died and I didn't think that I needed to be over at the house every day. We were young, but he was 28 and I was 32. I thought for sure he knew how to cook a little. He didn't. About two days after all the family left he called me to ask how to boil a potato. "Mmmmm...you put it in a pot with water and put it on the stove. You turn on the eye and let the water boil until the potato is soft." Then he asked me if that was how to boil a hotdog too. I lost a little faith in his intellect just then.
The truth that keeps missing me is that my brother loves potatoes. He especially loves them baked. Over the week we had gathered bits and pieces of left overs in the fridge, enough roast or sausage gravy for just one person, a couple of scoups of sour cream, assorted vegetables, but not enough of any to make a serving. I put the vegetables in the stone soup freezer bag. Then put potatoes on to bake. I cut a small head of broccoli and steamed it. Then I cut the roast up finely and added it to the sausage gravy. I heated that up in a frying pan by adding a quarter cup of water, and sour cream just for variety. And there we had dinner. And we used up left overs while keeping dinner fresh. My brother really doesn't like leftovers if he can identify them from another meal. There were too many kids in our family to have ever eaten them as children. So we are spoiled that way. But I am adverse to throwing even a few scraps out right now.
Here is the thing. I think the food distribution system is on the edge of collapse right now. We might be on the brink of a famine. Crops aren't being planted of harvested. And meat packers are showing themselves to be the hustlers they are. We can't afford to waste anything. I have a freezer full of meat and a pantry lined with canned vegetables. I have dried beans, rice and pasta. I'm pretty sure that I could feed us through the summer. But what happens in the winter?
I used to grow potatoes in plastic garbage bags. I thought that I could do it here, but Ken pointed out that it would draw pests to our house. We live by the railroad track. It will. He's going to bring me some of the 5 gallon buckets that people are so fond of using for almost everything. They throw them away where he works. I'm going to attempt to grow them in those. We can put a sturdy wire mesh over the pails. Someone told me that I'd need to get seed potatoes to do that. I've never bought a special potato to grow plants with. I just use whatever potato that is getting past it's prime and growing "eyes". Then I get really crazy and start thinking where I could put a chicken coup and rabbit cages. No, I'm not really planning to do that. My brother is a picky eater. I don't think he'd eat a family pet. And that is what he make them. He doesn't remember when the older ones of us were small. We almost always grew our own meat. I'm sure if I cooked a rabbit I'd be accused of slaughtering Thumper. It's just that the short term future isn't looking so bright to me. And that is if we manage to survive the Pandemic.
It's time for me to stop, to go to bed. After all, "Tomorrow is another day."
KEEP HOPE ALIVE! (rev. jessie jackson)
ReplyDeleteI love to cook, and usually don't have time to do that. Since I haven't been working for a month and a half, I've been doing at LOT more cooking.
ReplyDeleteMy hubby grows them in a large garbage can. Obviously a clean one, not the one we've been tossing our refuse into. There are TONS of ideas out there on how to do that.
I see not-so-good things coming up food-wise, too. We've been building up a supply of things to eat as well.
I love your idea of growing potatoes. And applaud your use of leftovers. Perhaps, just perhaps we are going to come out of this pandemic less wasteful. Which I think would be an improvement.
ReplyDeleteI love a good baked potato too, served the way you describe but I put pepper on it too. Simple but divine tasting!
ReplyDeleteYou are wise to ponder about how things will look in the near future. Planting in containers is such a good idea! I have done that with my tomatoes this year but will have a large garden and I will freeze or dehydrate most of my veggies.
ReplyDeleteStay well and safe.
I too find I cannot throw anything away and bravely eat all my leftovers, sometimes rearranged into a new dish. But today I actually threw away a few pounds of potatoes because they had grown too many whiskers. seed potatoes are used because they are free of any kind of disease whereas ordinary potatoes might have some blight or other.
ReplyDeleteIt is difficult to buy small quantities for one, I don’t eat enough potatoes and even a small bag will last me longer than their lifespan.
I understand. I lived alone for 6 years before I moved here last summer. Buying most things in small enough amounts was a challenge. I could buy one or two potatoes, bananas or carrots. But it's more expensive than buying a bag of potatoes or carrots. For me, it was the size of cooking anything. Even the smallest dish needed several meals to finish it.
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