Being a home body though has many positives (in my eyes at least). I like to bake and potter around in the kitchen. I bake bread every 2 or so days. I have a Thermomix which makes it a lot easier but even before I purchased my Thermy I was making my own bread. It tastes so much better for starters, and I like knowing exactly what goes in my bread. We use organic flour and organic spelt and I usually grind up some spelt grain into fresh flour (Thermy does anyway) as flour loses most of its goodness in a short time after being ground. The extra bonus of making your own bread? My house smells like a bakery every other day and there really are few other smells that are so wonderful.
I also bake my own cookies, cakes and snacks for the kids. I like to know that we aren’t eating too many preservatives and that there really is nothing nasty in what I’ve made. We try to restrict our kids intake of artificial colours, preservatives and flavours and keep our processed sugars to a minimum too as DS1 doesn’t react kindly to too much sugar. We actually don’t even have sugar in the house. We use organic rapadura which is sugar cane juice that hasn’t been bleached or processed or spun into crystalline structure. It’s therefore still full of the molasses which is normally removed and hence still contains all the mineral salts and other goodness. It IS still a sweetener though so we do still restrict the children’s intake but it isn’t addictive like sugar thankfully as it tastes all caramelly good too!
I also love to preserve, although things are quiet on that front at the moment as all my equipment is packed (we’re planning a tree-change move this year) So far I have bottled peaches, apple, pasta sauce, tomatoes and nectarines using the Fowlers Vacola water bath bottling technique and equipment (I have a stove top unit) and I make jams and sauces too. I’ve currently got lemon marmalade, mango chutney, tomato sauce, sweet chilli sauce and possibly some strawberry jam left over too. I’ve also recently bought a canner with my dear friend Corrie-Lyn and we are planning to can and preserve everything in sight! I can’t wait. Knowing that we can grow it, pick it, prepare it, preserve it and then eat it and that it is free of pesticides, chemicals and BPA (home canning is done in glass jars) and that it doesn’t support a big multinational company or send m profits overseas (or anywhere for that matter) is really exciting. AND it is cheaper than buying even the home brand products once you have your basic equipment. There is only a little expenditure each year for seals.
Rabid Little Hippy 