Many of us have lost touch with the simple joys and health benefits of old-fashioned eating habits. Certain traditions and practices that were once a staple in every household helped to encourage family bonding, promote better nutrition, and improve sustainability. Whether it’s having home-cooked meals or avoiding food waste, there are many ways to enrich our daily lives and overall well-being. Here are 18 old-fashioned food habits we should still have today.
Growing Your Own Food
Growing your own food like fruits and vegetables in your backyard can help you save money and eat more healthily. According to the BBC, “households who grow their own consume 40 percent more fruits and vegetables per day than those who do not.” You can also reduce your carbon footprint by growing your own food, and the flavor and nutritional benefits of freshly harvested produce are unmatched!
Home-Cooked Dinners
Making home-cooked dinners every day used to be the norm; however, ease and convenience have become the priority and people rarely enjoy home-cooked dinners these days. Cooking at home allows you to have control over everything that goes into your body, meaning that you can make sure your meals are healthier by controlling the ingredients and cooking methods you use. Really try and enjoy the cooking experience and experiment with new recipes and techniques!
Balanced Diet
Incorporating a range of foods into your meals makes sure that you have a balanced diet with a well-rounded variety of vitamins and minerals. Regularly eating healthily and getting the proper nutrients your body requires means you can enjoy an unhealthy treat every now and again without feeling guilty. It’s important to create long-term healthy eating habits and to consistently eat a balanced diet to improve your overall well-being.
Sunday Roasts
Bring back traditional Sunday roasts to enjoy a comforting, hearty meal at the end of each week. You can’t go wrong with succulent meat, roasted potatoes, vegetables, gravy, and everything else that’s piled on your plate for a Sunday roast. Try to relax into the long cooking process and find joy in putting together such a delicious meal. Sunday roasts also typically leave leftovers that can be used up throughout the following week.
Cooking from Scratch
It might sound pretty daunting to cook something from scratch, but it can be quite a therapeutic and rewarding process. Not relying on pre-packaged, pre-made, or frozen foods and instead using fresh, whole ingredients can be beneficial, as you’ll know exactly what’s going into your meal. You’ll also be avoiding any preservatives and additives that are often found in processed foods and making the most of the nutrients in your ingredients.
The Milkman
Back in the day, a milkman would hand-deliver fresh milk to your doorstep. This practice has long been forgotten, but bringing it back could have many positive effects! The convenience of deliveries of milk would save you the trip to the grocery store. You would also be contributing to the local economy by supporting nearby dairy farms. The milkman would deliver the milk in glass bottles too, so this would help reduce plastic waste.
Moderate Portions
Portion sizes have gotten larger and larger over the years, and America’s portion sizes in particular are far bigger than those in the rest of the world. The NCBI reports that “in two decades, the prevalence of obesity among US adults has risen by more than 30%,” as eating portions that are too big can lead to consuming excessive calories. Eating moderate portions can help you maintain a healthy weight, promote better digestion, and reduce the risk of bloating and discomfort.
Not Skipping Breakfast
Many people skip breakfast nowadays, not having the time to make breakfast or simply not finding it necessary. However, a nutritious breakfast can fuel your body and mind for the day ahead and improve concentration and cognitive function. Eating breakfast can also kickstart your metabolism, which encourages better calorie-burning throughout the day. Your parents might have been right after all when they told you breakfast was the most important meal of the day!
Canning and Preserving
Canning and preserving has become somewhat of a lost art over time, but it’s actually quite a practical and useful habit. Preserving things like fruits and vegetables can extend their shelf life and allow you to enjoy them year-round. You can also create delicious homemade jams, pickles, and sauces without harmful preservatives. Canning and preserving are also good ways to preserve excess produce to prevent food waste.
Community Cookouts
Most of our parents and grandparents would have held community cookouts in their day, so why don’t we carry on the tradition? These wholesome gatherings would foster community bonds through a shared love of food. At community cookouts, people would cook for each other and eat together, and neighbors and friends would exchange recipes and cooking tips. The atmosphere of fun and festivity at these cookouts was amazing!
Family Dinners
The dinner table used to be the heart of many homes, but families will rarely sit down around a table and eat dinner together nowadays. We should bring back family dinners and try to establish a routine that brings our families together daily. Family dinners encourage conversation and bonding and can strengthen a family’s relationship. If your kids are eating with you, it can also instill good and healthy eating habits into your children.
Using Butter Over Margarine
There has been some back and forth over the years about which is better for you out of butter and margarine, and recent research has got us returning to the old-fashioned habit of using butter. Butter has more natural ingredients and is free from artificial additives and trans fats. With butter back in our kitchens, we can once again embrace traditional recipes that call for butter’s distinct qualities.
Rarely Eating Fast Food
Forbes highlights that “between 2013 and 2016, 36% of adult Americans consumed fast food on any given day.” Eating fast food too often can have devastating effects on your health due to the high amounts of calories, unhealthy fats, and sodium it contains. Take a leaf out of your parents’ or grandparents’ book and leave fast food for special occasions or infrequent treats and stick to preparing quick and nutritious meals at home instead.
Eating Unprocessed Foods
In the past, people didn’t even know what processed foods were, let alone eat them as much as we do now! Returning to old-fashioned eating habits, by choosing whole foods that are rich in essential nutrients and free from additives and cutting out processed foods, would do great things for our bodies. There are so many health benefits to avoiding processed foods, including a reduced risk of chronic diseases.
Eating Seasonally
The older generations had a wealth of knowledge about natural produce that we should strive to develop, including knowing what foods were best to eat at what time of the year. Understanding this and eating seasonally can allow you to benefit from the higher nutritional content that seasonal produce offers. Eating fruits and vegetables at their peak freshness can also make them taste much better! It supports sustainable agriculture and reduces your carbon footprint too.
Limiting Food Waste
Nobody would let any food go to waste in years gone by, and we should follow their lead and adopt this economic habit today. Limiting the amount of food you waste can benefit the environment massively. Minimizing food waste can also help save you money, as you’ll be making the most out of the food you buy. Try to create smart recipes that use leftovers and excess ingredients to reduce waste.
Home Baking
We all love to eat sweet treats and baked goods, so why don’t we make the most of this excitement and enjoyment by baking them ourselves like our parents used to? Home baking can be a fun activity to do with your family or a calming project to do by yourself. The baked goods will taste so much sweeter knowing that you made them yourself! Over time, you can improve your baking skills and explore new recipes.
Dining Out as a Treat
Dining out used to be reserved as a celebration for milestones and special occasions, but over the years, people began to eat out more and more often without any specific reason. Treating dining out the same way the older generations did, eating at home regularly and only enjoying restaurants sparingly, would save a lot of money! It would also make the times you do eat out more special and memorable.
15 Nostalgic Dinners from the Past That Are Rarely Seen Today
The scent of a family meal cooking can bring back memories, especially if it’s a childhood favorite we don’t often have as adults. This article showcases 18 classic dinners that provided convenience and budget-friendliness for parents and are worthy of a revival. These traditional dinners from the past trigger nostalgic memories and are worth rediscovering.
15 Nostalgic Dinners from the Past That Are Rarely Seen Today
18 Foods You Should Eat Every Day
There are many foods, such as leafy greens, berries, and whole grains, which are full of things like vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that help your body function at its best. Experts recommend you should eat these 18 foods every day to live a healthier life.
Read: 18 Foods You Should Eat Every Day
15 Foods You Shouldn’t Eat After 50
Age is just a number, but not regarding eating habits. The older you grow, the more your body needs nutritious food to stay fit and healthy. While there are many things you’re encouraged to eat, when you cross 50, your go-to foods can’t look the same as they once were. Your body is changing, and so should your eating habits.
