Thursday, May 17, 2012

Commodities

When I was a fairly small child there was a government program where they would send surplus products to various distribution centers and give this surplus to the people.  I don't know what it was actually called but we just called it, "Going to pick up commodities".

I can't remember all they had but I can remember powdered milk, powdered eggs and these huge boxes of American cheese.  I think they were 5 lb boxes and, I think, we may have gotten two of them each time.  I don't recall how often this happened and I think the place they went was in Inez.  Might have been Tomahawk school.  Not really sure.

The powdered milk and powdered eggs were really great for those of us who did not have electricity.  And, even in the late 1950's and early 1960's there were quite a few people who lived without that modern convenience.  In fact, most of my childhood was lived without a lot of things we take for granted these days.  And, in my opinion, that is not an entirely bad thing.  There was no bitching of what we did not have but a great appreciation for what we did have.  Though, I would have liked to have been able to have dressed a little better when I went to High School.  Jeans were not as widely accepted then as now.

But, commodities were a big part of our life because of their non-perishable nature.  We kept the non perishables and put the cheese in my grandparents refrigerator since they did have electricity.  I suppose it is jut the childhood colored glasses I'm looking back through but that was the very best cheese I've ever eaten.  But, let me tell you this... powdered milk and eggs suck unless you're just mixing it in baking or something.  By themselves they were nasty.  As I remember.

Still, they were a great help to poor people at the time.  I don't think there is such a program these days but I wish there was.  I hate to think of hungry children when there is so much food being thrown away from our over sized restaurant servings, our buying too much and letting it spoil.  You know, in most of the world food is a lot more expensive and I think in the near future we are going to have to learn to live with that.  Our world has too  many people and not enough resources to provide for them.

You think the wars over oil (energy) have been something, just wait until we start fighting over food.  They say any large city is just three days away from revolution because that is the average lenght of time food supplies there would last and hungry people are angry people.  Kind of makes one want to become a 'survivalist' doesn't it? 

1 comment:

  1. I am learning to freeze things. If milk is near the sell by date, I freeze it in 1-2 cup portions. It isn't yummy to drink, but it is fine to cook with.

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