I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, starting initially when I ran across a commercial for one of those convenience meals in a box that they sell at the grocery stores. It had the slogan “Today’s homemade.”
Holy puff pastry, y’all, I cannot tell you how absolutely horrified I am by that concept. That there are people out there who a) think that that constitutes homemade, b) who eat nothing but convenience foods because they think that they are easier, cheaper, and possibly healthier (what ARE they smoking?) and c) who have no concept how incredibly full of preservatives, sodium, and other not-good-for-you-things such “convenience” meals are.
People think that cooking is hard, period. And they think cooking from scratch is harder than opening these packages and cans. What, do they think we foodies chain ourselves to the stove and sweat over our meals every night? Do they think we don’t have jobs and families and other responsibilities? Please. I don’t have time to slave. My hubby will tell you I don’t do it more than once a week, if that. Yet I put a real, homemade, from scratch meal on the table almost every night of the week (we’re human, we order pizza and chinese and deli takeout from time to time too).
Am I proposing that we turn all those non-cooking people into foodies? No. Am I proposing we teach them how to make fois gras and boeuf wellington? No.
I am proposing that we start a movement, people! To teach people that good food does not have to be complicated or come from a box. That you can put a meal using fresh, healthy ingredients on the table in the same amount or less time than it takes to open those boxes and cans and microwave dinners :shudder: To show them that it doesn’t have to be complicated or creepy or topped with freaking potato chips (seriously y’all, someone recently suggested to me a casserole topped with Cheetos, ugh!). I want to start a movement wherein we RETAKE THE TERM HOMEMADE!
How do I propose we do this? Well, I have a few ideas.
1) I propose we foodies all adopt a Twitter hashtag of #retakehomemade for any time we are talking about easy, simple recipes.
2) I propose we challenge ourselves to come up with recipes in 140 characters or less. Something along the lines of “burrito filling: chicken breasts, jar of salsa, pack of taco seasoning, crock pot 6 hours low #retakehomemade”. That comes out to about 110 characters, which leaves room for RT.
3) I propose we talk about what’s for dinner! Declare your menu for the night and hashtag it with #retakehomemade.
4) I propose a weekly roundup on Saturdays here at Pots and Plots, blog hop style. Each Saturday I will post my own Retake Homemade recipe and at the bottom I will include the Linky Tools code that will allow anyone to add the link to their own recipe. At the bottom of the linky page (since I’m on WordPress.com, which does not allow javascript, it will take you to a new page) you will find the linky code to place on the entry on your OWN blog so that the SAME LIST OF LINKS will show up on each participant’s blog. I believe this will ensure the most visibility for each of us and allows MORE people to stumble across the concept and join the revolution. New linky code will be posted each week with the new round up. UPDATE: Okay, so I’ve failed miserably at the weekly round up thing. What we’ll do about this remains to be seen. In the meantime, keep cooking, keep tweeting. Maybe tag and throw Retake Homemade in the title.
5) Please link back to this original page to let people know what we’re about.
6) The focus here is on everyday meals that even the most harried housewife could throw together after a long day at work (or in the crock pot before work), using simple ingredients that would be found in your local small-town Walmart or grocery store. No dressing up boxed dinners or freezer meals. Your entry MUST BE HOMEMADE (though we’ll allow entries that use cans of “cream of…” soup, ’cause I’m southern and that’s a casserole staple).
7) I’ve made a badge that you can snag here.
