(NaturalNews) It's easy and convenient to stop by Subway to pick up a foot-long sandwich with all the works: tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, onions, mayonnaise, and a piece of chicken, all sandwiched in between two warm honey wheat buns. Have we even considered the amount of work, time, and dedication it really takes to put this sandwich right in front of our faces?

We often complain about rising food prices, but think about how easy it really is to walk the grocery store aisles, dropping food into the cart. We take so much for granted about these convenient foods. Where did it really come from? What does it take to raise the meat and tend to the crops? How much machinery was involved in processing and packaging it? How far did it travel? How much fuel did it take?

Some people talk about their preparedness plans, about hunting and growing food if the grid goes down. Do we understand what a truly self-reliant lifestyle really is? Are communities prepared to work together if the global food and transportation system suddenly destabilizes?

Conveniences detach us from reality

Indeed, a cultural shift has occurred in the last century – a shift that has made life more convenient. At the same time, these conveniences have acted like a double-edged sword, detaching people from the reality of food origins and the work it really it takes to provide and the satisfaction it brings. Food, shelter, and water are all taken for granted. The skills and hands-on knowledge of a self-reliant people have faded away, disappearing into a world of quick-stop conveniences. These conveniences have slowly disconnected the heart of the people from the truth of living.

Industrial agriculture, factory farms, and a food system that depends on fossil fuels dominate because the conveniences of grocery store shopping are just too good to give up. What happens when the trucks are no longer able to carry the food to the store? What happens when electricity can no longer keep food cold? What might happen if the region's water runs out and the tap comes to a slow drip, drip, drip? What happens when the credit cards and EBT cards stop churning out unearned funds at the cash register?

No one asks these questions because they think their dependency is invincible. The reality is that conveniences can disappear overnight, putting the arrogant unprepared in a state of panic.

Remarkable video details what really goes into making a homemade sandwich

On an episode of How to Make Everything, teacher Andy George shows what really goes into making a sandwich from scratch. After spending six months and $1,500, Andy found out what it really takes, from gathering honey to grinding wheat into flour to raising a chicken and slaughtering it.

The video below shows exactly where your chicken sandwich comes from and all the work that is involved making it. This video puts the reality of life in perspective for those who have taken their convenient lifestyle for granted.



As video blogger Andy George shows in the video, to truly make a chicken sandwich from scratch, one must till up a garden and plant wheat and vegetables such as tomatoes, onion, and lettuce that will be used as toppings. The crops must be tended to and pests must be kept out of the garden. Bugs must be controlled using integrated pest management strategies. The soil must be worked and the roots of the plants must be aerated. There are other ways to grow the vegetables; for example, the Health Ranger's mini farm grow boxes are a great strategy that use less water and no soil.

Growing crops is just the beginning. The wheat must be milled and ground down into flour. Honey has to be collected from bee hives. The flour must be baked into bread. Butter must be made from scratch. Additionally, to make pickles, one must obtain salt water from the ocean and distill it to make salt for the pickling process. To put meat on the sandwich, a chicken must be raised, fed, and defended. Once mature, the chicken must be slaughtered, cleaned, and cooked.

The process of making a sandwich can literally take half a year, as documented in this video. It's likely a challenge for even the most self-reliant, who still live in this modern-day playground of conveniences.

Sources for this article include:
TheSleuthJournal.com