My Grandmother Didn’t Use Plastic Wrap...

As you read more and more about the impact of the environment on health, it makes you think about the lifestyle our grandparents lived. They didn’t have worries about aluminum in hygiene products-chemicals in shampoo, or plastic in microwaves or additives in food just to mention a few. Where to put garbage was not a concern. 

In The Kitchen: 

No plastic wrap? My grandmother used a glass plate to cover a bowl she put in the refrigerator with leftovers. And really, how long did leftovers stay, there was always a family member over to eat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_wrap Saran brand was the first.

Aluminum foil? I only recall seeing it, maybe, on the stove top on a baked potato cooker, something like this: http://www.improvementscatalog.com/home/improvements/26610-stovetop-potato-baker.html

I do recall grandma using wax paper and she would use a rubber band to hold it on top of a bowl. And often used by this generation were Anchor Hocking refrigerator bowls – http://www.anchorhocking.com/prodd_4293_cat_21_refrigerator_storage.html. They had glass covers.

Instant coffee? I think not. There was an on-the-stove percolator for that. And my Grandma would heat the milk for coffee on the stove. I bet she would have loved a microwave. (She didn't want one.)

Frozen foods: Her freezer didn’t have blocks of this stuff that was partially or fully precooked (aka: partially digested for you) and cooking was all from “scratch.” Groceries were purchased often and fresh!

Housework:

Windex and paper towels: She didn’t use paper towels (surprisingly invented in 1931 by the Scott Company) and she used vinegar to clean windows with newspaper. 

Mt. Laundry: There were never piles in waiting. She didn’t have a clothes dryer, and she hung her clothes on a clothesline off her back porch. Laundry hung out to dry had a wonderful fresh scent coming in. But, tell me why she never had to climb Mt. Laundry on a daily basis? My modern dryer should have made this chore an easier feat to accomplish!

Swiffers: No, she used a mop then scrubbed it clean. (I digress — I do like the disposable and cleaner way, but it is “green” to scrub the mop and helps save the environment at the same time.)

As a child, my grandmother had a hard life. She grew up very poor. Often she looked back and told me her story of having to steal bread in Poland, hiding it under her coat and how she wouldn’t share it with her brother. On my grandmothers kitchen table there was always a fresh baked loaf of locally bought rye bread. Growing up in the same house, downstairs from my grandmother, was wonderful. My grandmother was always cooking and there was always some kind of wonderful food on her stove. I still have and use some baking pans and dishes of my grandmother's and they bring me joy every time I use them. My weekly dinner of Grandma's Southern Fried chicken wouldn’t be the same using any other baking pan! Life seemed easy. It was full of tradition. 

My grandmother lived until her late 80's. She survived pancreatic cancer, being one of the first people to undergo the “Whipple Procedure.” She spoke her mind, always. She drove until she was 85. She visited me every day after the birth of my first born; she was a great great-grandmother.

With less, my grandmother’s generation had so much more. She didn’t have the luxuries we had and she definitely didn’t use plastic wrap!