​I was horrified, although I don't know why, I shouldn't have been surprised, earlier this week to see an ad on TV for herbs. McCormicks brand, these herbs are in tiny little packs, just enough for one recipe. And they are supposed to make you an amazing cook.

The ad on the website says "Cook like a TV chef with pre-measured pots of herbs and spices."

According to the ad, just using the combination of herbs and spices in these packs turns you into a TV chef!

Poppycock!

It is no wonder home cooking is an almost lost skill. What they do is dumb down intelligent people. They destroy self-confidence and intimate that we are too stupid to be able to successfully follow a recipe and measure the herbs and spices ourselves, resulting in a disastrous meal. These silly little pots do not make you cook like a TV chef!

Do not for one minute believe that you need to buy your herbs and spices in tiny little pre-measured pots - you don't. In fact that is the most expensive way to buy them.

You don’t even need to buy them in little glass jars; there are cheaper ways to buy your herbs and spices, even in the supermarket. You can buy them from Asian and Indian grocers, greengrocers and wholefood stores. Supermarkets sell a range in cellophane bags, Hoyts brand, that are much better value than those in glass jars. 

The little pre-measured packs cost $2.48 - a hefty addition to the cost of your recipe - and each pack contains between 7g and 12g of herbs and spices. That's the equivalent of between $20.70 and $35.40 per 100g packet or a hefty $207 and $354 a kilo!

Either way you look at it, it's very expensive way to season a recipe.

Or give bought herbs the flick completely and grow your own. Herbs are very easy to grow in the garden, in pots, even on a windowsill.

Do not for one minute believe that you cannot measure the ingredients for a recipe yourself. You can!

All you need is a set of measuring spoons, available at any discount store, homewares store or supermarket for just a couple of dollars, and you can measure the herbs and spices needed for recipes yourself. You don't need to spend an extra $2.48 to season your meals.

Don't allow the marketing geniuses to dumb you down. These little packs aren't convenient, they are nothing but expensive, designed to undermine your confidence in your ability to read, shop, measure accurately and follow directions. They cost a small fortune and the packaging just helps to fill your recycle bin.

It's not just herbs and spices that have been dumbed-down. What about cake mixes? Packaged salads? Marinated meat? These are all very simple things you can do yourself, that are pushed at us as being more convenient and easier.

It is this very dumbing-down of perfectly simple homemaking tasks, under the guise of convenience, that has made modern homemaking so expensive.

Please, please, please don't allow them to do it to you.

Say no to the expense, say no to the supposed convenience and say no to the dumbing down of Australian homemakers.

Pizza is just about everyone's favourite food. It's easy to make (try our Penny Pinching Pan Pizza), tasty and these days it can be healthy too.

When you MOO pizza, using fresh herbs turns what could be a tasty pizza into a gourmet delight. And what better way to have fresh herbs for your pizza than to grow a "pizza garden" by growing some of the herbs that are commonly used on pizza.

A typical pizza garden will contain basil and oregano, and perhaps thyme and parsley.  You could also grow some of the other things that often go into pizza sauce, like garlic and roma tomatoes.  If you want to make the garden larger, you can also add some common pizza toppings like capsicums and onions.

A pizza garden is ideal for container gardening and is a wonderful introduction to gardening for children. Since children really love pizza, they should be able to relate to this type of garden very well.  They’ll also have fun knowing what goes into one of their favourite foods.