Nutrition vs Nothing

I've battling the flu. Which gives me ample time to think on this. Nutrition vs nothing. Nutrition is good healthy food, with all its components in moderation.  I have noticed several things over the past year.

1. People eat out much more than they used to
2. Food is not as good as it once was
3. Most young mothers and even older mothers don't know how to cook or choose not to!

My thoughts on this during the past week crystallized when I read a post by Leanne Ely of Saving Dinner. She calls food out of a box (for the most part) garbage. Interesting... so does my Mom, and my Sister in Law. My sister in law is a wonderful person whose family business when growing up was a health food store.
It still operates and she is still involved almost daily in its operation. Now, Mom and SIL call the boxed food garbage for different reasons and from different viewpoints both valid. So now there are three different viewpoints all calling boxed food trash. Hmm, Leanne Ely is a nutritionist, Mom is a homemaker, SIL runs a healthfood store and deals with Celiac or Gluten intolerance.
   Mom started teaching me how to cook for Girl Scout badges by letting me pick out the recipe and then enabling me to cook the meals. When I got to a certain point of ability, she would step out and let me ruin or cook the food. Not everything was really good. I remember once she was ill and we had company. I undercooked the bacon, made miserable coffee and did quite well on the toast!   I knew I had made a mess of everything but the spirit in which it was done and the graciousness of the family friends made the meal a success.
   As in all things when you are learning something you often make miserable mistakes which in this case are unedibles. I have done that more times than I care to count. The family has learned when it is a newish recipe or something that looks totally unlike any meal they have eaten before that sometimes Mom takes a bite and throws the whole thing away. So they watch me like a hawk. Thus saving them from having to be polite and eat it anyway. Those times are getting less frequent as I gain experience. (There is something to be said for age!)
    We had to cut back on box style cooking when we learned that one of my migraine triggers is MSG. Which is in just about everything that comes in a box.
  Anyway back to the point I was trying to make. Do younger women want to learn how to really cook, not just open the box? How would you go about sharing that information with others? I think that there are some misconceptions about scratch cooking that need to be overcome;

1. that it takes a long time (yes, and no)
2. it is hard (sometimes it is and sometimes just thinking ahead)
3. things will taste different (yes, they will and the gravy might be lumpy, the potatoes not quite smooth and mealtime an adventure not a destination!) Your family will have to adjust to the new meals and the dishwashing.

Cooking from scratch is better nutrition as you control the additives (salt, and sugar).  It is made with love and speaks volumes to those gathered around the table. Will it taste like anyone else's? NO! it is your creation and will in time be your specialty and to your taste. I know that it is better for our kids to eat apples than fruit rolls, chews or anything else that has fruit added to the huge ingredient list. There is the possiblity to save money as you cook from scratch unless you go down the gourmet path.

I finally did some bulk cooking two weeks ago and we have been eating the fruits of my labor this last week and this week as I laid around recovering from the flu. I am starting to feel better but still recovering. How do I know? I am starting to think about the meal we will have when Mom is back on her feet and cooking!

See all of you later,
Sorry if this is incoherent, flu does that to you!
Karen