Cooking matters

I usually cook for my family or maybe for a few friends, but today I helped prepare food for the children at Youth Farm, part of The Children's Home, as a volunteer.

I've been cooking like a mad woman at home lately. I've always used cooking as stress relief, and the stress of more than four months of unemployment is considerable. It has meant me cranking out loaves of bread, pots of soup, trays of cookies, and an endless parade of other dishes. I've even taken to making homemade ice cream regularly for our friend the ice cream freak. (You know who you are, Kevin). On one hand, my husband and son and various hungry friends are pretty happy about this. On the other hand, it's hard to lose weight when there's a fresh loaf of sourdough bread on the table every night. So the idea of doing volunteer kitchen work seemed like a good solution all around.

And it was! It felt really good to show up at a kitchen and get down to work and feed a bunch of young people. I didn't do anything complicated -- mostly just prepped veggies for the salad bar and helped serve -- but later on I'll be helping teach the kids (mostly teens) how to cook. 

When the young residents are ready to move out on their own, they'll need to know how to cook for themselves, and that's a skill plenty of people lucky enough to grow up in their family homes don't ever learn. We all need to eat every day and yet I'm amazed at how we undervalue the skill of feeding ourselves and our families. For people on a budget, which is most of us, knowing how to eat well without spending much money can make the difference between having some money left over at the end of the month or being in debt. 

How many people know how to cut up a chicken, make soup from scratch, turn dirt-cheap dried beans into yummy Mexican, or make flavored oatmeal without buying pricey and sugary little packets of instant? None of these things is difficult at all, but if you didn't grow up with a parent showing you how to do it, you may not learn how.

I love to teach people how to cook. If you already know how to cook, and have any extra time in your schedule, consider volunteering. It's really very rewarding. If you don't know how to cook, and you are in the Peoria, IL, area, check out my Facebook page: From Teheux to You Cooking Classes

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