My grandfather grew up on the Dearborn/Detroit border in the 1920s and 30s, the son of Polish immigrants. His mother, my great-grandmother, did not trust the "new-fangled" grocery stores and bought the bulk of her food at farms in the country and preserved the excess. Grandpa said the family would get in the car and drive to the country (which nowadays would be areas like Farmington Hills and Dearborn Heights) to buy produce, milk and even meat ... on the hoof. They would buy piglets, turkeys and chickens live and bring them home. They always had a turkey or piglet or two in the yard. His job when he was a boy was to feed and take care of these animals. Great-grandma made her own sausage, soup stock and who knows what else and wasted nothing. Once in a great while for special occasions she would buy some beef, but it was a big treat in those days. It wasn't until the 1950s as the suburbs grew up and they aged that she finally succumbed to the grocery store. Both of my great-grandparents on that side lived into their late 80s