Food is something with which I have a complicated relationship but if I were to try and put it in a nutshell for you, it’d go something like this; I eat too much of it and I like all of the wrong things. That’s not to say that I don’t like healthy food, but I have this addiction to junk that probably goes way back into my childhood, when money wasn’t hugely abundant and things like KFC were a real, once-in-a-blue-moon treat. Now, the idea of takeaway still gives me a tiny, illicit spark which is ridiculous because a) I’m a grown up and b) I usually regret eating junk immediately after finishing the meal.
The thing is, I love to cook. I’m not saying I’m very good at it and I’ve probably had more disasters than successes in the kitchen, but for me, there’s nothing more satisfying than making something for my family which is nutritious and prepared with love. But, I do have a few problems in that area. See, while I consider myself a food-lover, I probably have a rather unsophisticated palette, which means that I don’t do much inventive or off-the-cuff cooking as I simply don’t know what goes with what. I lack the confidence to experiment and to be honest, a modest family food budget doesn’t really extend to celeriac-related accidents when I have hungry mouths to feed and a limited time in which to do it. Obviously, Husband cooks dinner too but we both work and it’s only fair that we share the load.
And there’s the other thing; that mother of all bitches – TIME. I now work until 5.30pm, which means on a good traffic day, I roll in between 5.45pm and 6pm. Sausage is on a medication for her asthma that can’t be taken until 2 hours after she’s eaten which means our window for dinner is relatively small if I want my 4-year-old to go to bed at a reasonable hour. This, again, limits me in terms of experimentation.
Despite all of this, something I heard on Food and Drink last night (does anyone else absolutely adore that show?) really resonated with me and that’s that involving kids in their meal preparations can really set them up to have a healthy relationship with food. If there’s one thing that I really don’t want Sausage to inherit from me, it’s my weight and food issues so, really, the crux of all of this is this:
Husband has bought me some beautiful cookery books recently and I plan to use them to learn how to cook with different ingredients and hone my skills in the kitchen, but I need to learn to cook healthy, well-balanced, time-moderate food which Sausage can get involved with and won’t break the bank, for our day-to-day lives.
I’m sticking a linky below. It’s just a one-off thing but if you have any recipes at all that you think fit the bill, I’d love it if you’d leave me the link. I need to make some serious lifestyle changes and if there’s one thing that the last few years has taught me about the blogging community, it’s that you’re a super helpful and supportive bunch.
Thanks.
added a 10 min recipe for you, one you can involve the kids in with choppping.
there are a few ways round this. If you cook for the adults on a monday then save some of that for the tuesday for Sausage and just reheat, same again next night.
You could also invest in a slow cooker, and bulk cook, which means some nights you just need to reheat save any cooking.
I bulk cook a ,ot of the time, so I maybe cook for a week, and freeze portions so that for the next 2 or 3 weeks you are reheating.
Thanks for the linky
I watched that too! I have decided to buy all our veg from the local green grocers now as it works out cheaper than the supermarket and the little meat we do eat from the local butchers – and to involve the kids with the shopping and cooking. We prepare all our meals from scratch and usually the kids sit up on the worktop and watch but I’ll be making more of an effort to get them involved in choosing ingredients having watched last nights programme.
Have added a recipe to the linky too 😉
I’ve linked up a WW tuna recipe that we have quite a lot as it is so quick. It’s nice with boiled potatoes which actually take longer than the recipe or a potato salad if you not so worried about the calories. I second the slow cooker recommendation. You can also use them to make big batches of things for the freezer and if you dig them out and leave on the side in the morning you can just heat it through when you get home. Slow cooker chilli is a favourite here.
With three hungry boys to feed I know that they won’t always wait for a gastro delight that takes hours and actually most of the time I’m too sodding tired, but with recipes like my fish pie above the key is to keep it simple…good ingredients and simple preparation can make the tastiest, quickest meals, better than something complex that you have charred, undercooked, and over seasoned!
You NEED a slow cooker, that will solve many of your problems and you won’t believe how EASY it is, will add a few of my fave recipes now but any probs just give me a shout 😉