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This may sound weird, but I never had McD's until I was 13 and was taken to one by a friend's mom. My family cooked everything from scratch, not out necessity, but out of love for good food. Meal times were about gathering with family (sometimes extended or the neighbors too) and talking, eating, and enjoying. Not just filling your gut to relieve the hunger. Sure, we went out to dinner sometimes, but it was always to a good restaurant, not some fastfood place.

My parents even made their own tomato sauce every summer (about 50 mason jars worth) and canned vegetables, made jams and jellies, etc..

I also never had ramen, spaghtetti-o's, frozen chicken patties, or anything like that until I was in high school and ate them at various friends' homes.

Both my parents cook well and would have never dreamed of filling me or my sister with sugar, fat, and preservative laden crap.

And before anyone assumes anything, both my parents also worked. They just put more of a value on decent meals over their own rest and convenience.

No Cocoa Puffs? Or Kaboom? How about Quisp? You poor thing. Man, we grew up on all those dye laden sugar filled cereals. Yummy! Actually, I bought a box of Cookie Crunch not too long ago b/c it used to be so yummy and I was grossed out. I don't want to ruin my childhood memories so I'm not even considering buying Cap'n Cruch Berry ever again.

My family sounds remarkedly similar. My mother always cooked dinner every night after working every day. And now that I'm married, my husband does the cooking--every night and because he enjoys it. He also makes his own tomato sauces. Well, we just discovered a canned one that is actually as good as homemade, believe it or not, so we switched. He was just diagnosed with diabetes, so cooking no longer holds much enjoyment for him. But we've been surprised at the poor quality of diabetic cookbooks. We've talked about publishing our own--he thinks I'm just teasing. We never canned things, though. That's really a great way to go! And I was also an teen before I ever went to McD's.

"My parents even made their own tomato sauce every summer (about 50 mason jars worth) and canned vegetables, made jams and jellies, etc.."

You obviously realize how fortunate you were to grow up in a home that valued good food! For the past three weeks I have worked 8-12 hours a day canning. I think we now officially have 'pickles coming out of our ears'. Made tomato sauce for the first time last week and was amazed at how good it can be, but gosh is it time consuming! Have been making jams, jelly and preserves out of everything imaginable, from peppers and tomatoes ... to figs and blackberries. My SIL keeps giving me tips on short-cuts and time-savings, but they are always things that cut the quality of the final product, IMHO.