Quote:
Originally Posted by HorseSoldier
I'd guess by 2000 most farms that had 20th century cooking appliances would have had to add a separate cookhouse or add on an additional room to serve that purpose. Even those lucky enough to salvage pre-gas/electric stoves and such, it's probably much easier to put them in a new room/building versus gut and redo an existing kitchen. Plus even in secure areas where farms won't be mini-villages just for mutual security, the relative inefficiency of post-nuke agriculture means farm kitchens will be feeding lots of farm hands and workers.
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ARE we talking pre-fall-of-wall eastern Europe? Even western Europe, it depends on the location of the farm. Even in the 80's many of the Bavarian farms still had wood stoves in addition to the modern. A 'summer kitchen' is nice if you're using wood stoves in summer. In addition to the wood stove, think of the clay bake ovens for bread? The kitchen on traditional farms was one of the largest rooms in the home since much of the processing is done in the kitchen, hence a summer kitchen would be large enough to cut up hogs and cattle perhaps, in addition to making cheese, butter, cutting kraut, etc etc.
And yes, going to manual/muscle labor will increase the need for extra hands. The farmer becomes the defact LAND LORD again with people working for room, board, and perhaps a share of profits if there are any.
What is the easiest and most nutritional way to prepare food? Generally speaking it is in soups and stews, meaning large pots on the stove for a long time. With this method the nurtients leached into the liquid do not escape. Compliment this with sizeable protion of heavy crusty bread from the oven to provide the bulk of the calories.