Mum learned to cook in the 40's and she was applying what she had picked up from home to her own young family mid 50's.
So, she was part of the great experimental convenience food revolution. Frozen foods, t.v. dinners, hydrogenated oils and the like.
She bought food from military commissaries and they just kept getting more and more convenient, powdered milk, dehydrated potatoes, boxed pizzas, boxes of pancake mix, cake mixes, brownie mixes, tinned chow mien, frozen juices, instant pudding then pudding in cups, Rice-a-Roni, reconstituted rice, then finally the nadir, Hamburger Helpers.
But I had moved from home by then so I wasn't subjected to much of Hamburger Helper. Still, I felt pity for my two younger sisters and youngest brother who suffered for years with the misapprehension of dehydrated spice packets being actual food. They learned absolutely nothing about genuine food. Nothing about the basics, nothing about what all those things are based on, nothing about how to spice things up without prepackaging such as taco mix or prepared soups and powdered sauces in envelopes.
I must add Mum put on dynamite holiday dinners with everything done without shortcuts.
And I must say, away from home all three younger than me did very well for themselves. So did I and my older brother. We all had similar reactions to slipshod convenience foods, we recognized what they are, some of us reacted more strongly than others. My youngest brother especially and his wife are what you could rightfully term California style food freaks.
This here is based on those Hamburger Helpers except it's better than that. No powdered onion, no dehydrated cheese. Nothing freeze dried. And still it makes me a little depressed.
It's a copout.
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