People who love cooking for their families every single bloody day……

[Zippidydoodah]

…..and I’m sure there must be someone out there! 😜

Please could you inspire me? All I feel is seething resentment and verging on rage that I have to cook every. Single. Night.

I’ve tried “dump bags”- horrible name but amazing concept- nobody liked them.

The kids eat way too much beige and we don’t eat anywhere near enough vegetables. I’m genuinely scared for our future health!

Help us……please!

My trick is 10 staple recipes that I precook and batch freeze and I also have a slow cooker and a great recipe book for it and a great recipe book for the air fryer.

Re veg, you put it in the bolognese and blitz it with the veg stick Blitzer - so you dump in mushrooms, carrot, peppers, aubergine, courgette, anything really. Same goes for things like fish pie.
My DC eat a ton of veg and fruits because I did this when they were young.

Breakfast is porridge chia seeds and berries and honey or avocado on homemade bread (bread maker) or eggs and bread and milk type stuff.

If they don’t eat veg, then have you tried puréed veg soups with like cheese panini on the side type stuff?

In the winter, also fruit smoothies to keep up vitamin levels and avoid colds and ideally fresh squeezed orange juice. Natural yoghurt, milk, honey etc mixed with the fruit smoothies. Most kids will acquire the taste of fruit smoothies and can have with breakfast, if they are bingeing on cereals.
Essentially, it is a question of what they eat over the whole day. Bury the veg and stack up on the fruit if they won’t have veg. And if they only have eg raw carrots and cucumber or peas then at least it’s something. I always kept a tub of raw peeled carrots in the fridge in water when mine were litte - easy snack.

and of course - the oldest trick in the book is to cook with kids. Once you get them involved, most will actually eat it.

I reached the end of my tether during lockdown, when I realised I had planned, shopped for, and made every single thing we had eaten. Every meal, for six people, with alternatives for vegetarians and those with allergies, for all those months. After that we got the children cooking, and they now do meals for us.

Yes, this was just hideous. 3 meals a day for six people here, too. I need to get my kids cooking but I think I’ll have to start with weekends, as they are so tired during the week after school.

Thank you @Araminta1003 😊

Mine is vegetarian so has to eat vegetables!

But kid-friendly things he will eat which are minimal effort:

Quesadillas (wrap with refried beans and cheese. Jalapeños if your kids will eat them. Microwave for 1-2 mins, serve with sour cream/guacamole.

Katsu curry (chopped tofu, carrots, potatoes and peas, boiled then stir in katsu curry blocks). Serve with rice.

Massaman curry (tofu, potatoes, cashews plus massaman paste and coconut milk)

Daal and rice - buy the daal if you don’t want to make it yourself.

Egg, peas and tofu fried rice.

Egg fried rice with mixed frozen vegetables

Egg fried noodles with tofu, tenderstem broccoli, carrots and sweetcorn

Pasta with pesto, peas/broccoli and sliced boiled egg (yes this one is weird but DS loves it and it has protein and vegetables)

Gnocchi with blue cheese and broccoli (boil gnocchi. Bake in overproof dish with a bag of broccoli (or kale also works well), a tub of cream cheese, a block of dolcelatte and a splash of balsamic vinegar. I appreciate this also sounds quite niche, but DS has always absolutely loved this, always comes back for seconds.

I think everyone finds their own groove with this.

I am not a freezer person - I have tried batch cooking and freezing and, except for one or two things, I tend to find I forget about it for months or I don't fancy it when it re-emerges. Picky, I realise and I know it works well for others.

I also don't like to have a really rigid weekly menu.

What works for me is a flexible routine. Which loosely:

Once a week, often on a WFH day, a big batch of something - lasagne, enchiladas, cottage pie, similar - we eat that twice that week, leftovers in fridge as (see above freezer doesn't work for me)

Two nights a week - when the kids have activities - something quick and easy, my go tos are egg fried rice and vegetables, salmon/trout and vegetables, quiche and salad, soup and cheese toasties

Remaining three nights, something from my slightly more complicated but still under 30 mins range - curries, both Indian and Thai, pasta bake, gnocchi, paella, tagine, shakshuka

With kids and vegetables - we did the just putting them in front of them anyway technique and while they have gone through some picky phases they now eat most vegetables

I missed your post about your DC not liking vegetables. I feel your pain. My meal plan and shopping list came about because I have a DC with ARFID. The pain of trying to come up with meals that worked for everyone was horrible.

Lots of hidden veg sauces and serving the same veg with every meal for made life easier, even if it “doesn’t go” eg carbonara with a side of asparagus (actually the flavours work, even if it’s not traditional), cucumber sticks on the side with almost everything 😂. I used a multi level steamer pan (including boiling some veg in the water) and a small oven dishes for roast veg so I could cook different vegetables for everyone else alongside the safe veg or served salad separated out 😂 A teaspoon of the non safe veg would go on his plate in case he was ready to try it. Then fruit with breakfast and for pudding at every meal, every day. Fruit might not be as healthy as vegetables but it’s better than nothing!

I HATE IT. I hate everything about it. I hate thinking and planning ahead. I hate having to remember to take something out of the freezer. I hate having to decide what to cook. I hate searching for inspiration. I HATE IT ALL.

Pasta with pesto, peas/broccoli and sliced boiled egg (yes this one is weird but DS loves it and it has protein and vegetables)

This actually sounds tasty! 👍

You are my people. Solidarity.

@Zippidydoodah there are days when I'd be happy with a glass of wine and a cheese sandwich. (By cheese sandwich I mean, one slice of bread, folded in half, no mayo or butter and a chunk of cheese). Why can't 2 13 year olds be the same?! 🤷‍♀️

I'd hate it too so I just don't do it. Partner eats his own meals, kids like beige food, stick it in the air fryer and job done.
Why all this stress over planning and cooking. I do think some people like to make their lives harder.

I don’t like to make my life harder! (Hence this thread!) I just can’t justify giving my kids beige every day 🤷🏻‍♀️

It sounds like you have 2 problems - meal prep motivation/time and the kids not eating vegetables.

For meal prep we have certain meals which are batch cooked and (always) in the freezer plus easier convenience foods - both for busy days.
Stuff that I always batch cook and never only make one meal of:
-bolognese (can also use for lasagne)
-chilli con carne
-meatballs (I freezer without sauce and then either make/freeze red wine gravy or a tomato sauce packed with veg)
-casserole or stew base (I usually cook the chicken or sausages on the day I want them but can freeze this as well)
-chicken/veg/pulse curries
-soups (in the winter we like pea soup with smoked sausage. I also freeze lunch portions of soups for my lunches)
-if DH does a big joint we will slice and freeze leftover meat (happens if we do lamb or pork, there's never anything over from a chicken in this house!)

Cupboard/frozen staples for a quick meal
-tinned soup (add tins of pulses and soup pasta)
-smoked sausage, tinned ham, strips of bacon for soups/stews/pasta
-green and red pesto
-millions of types of pasta
-fish fingers and frozen white fish or salmon that can be parcelled up in foil and chucked in the oven.
-we'll buy massive trays of chicken thighs or breast and either fry them up or poach them and then freeze in small bags to chuck into pasta or a casserole/stew base.
-burgers/sausages in the freezer.
-lots of different types of beans/lentils to bulk out meals.

We'll tend to stick to a pattern so the days we're both working will always get something out the freezer in the morning so all we have to do is heat up and cook some rice or pasta. This does mean making sure we batch cook on weekends or on days off, with more batch cooking happening during school holidays if we're off.

As for adding veg, we have vegetables with every meal. Sometimes it's hidden/blended (soups, stews, casseroles, bolognese) and sometimes on the side (broccoli, carrots, frozen peas, tinned sweetcorn). Sometimes raw (if we do burgers we'll have chunks of red pepper and slices of cucumber and ~I'll often dish these up before the burgers and home made wedges are done. Before the kids know it, they've cleared their plate. Jamie Oliver has a recipe for a good blended veg sauce. I will make things like pumpkin pancakes sometimes on a weekend which they love (freeze well - I use a Hairy Dieters recipe).

I really feel for you having to deal with kids who reject things. If I give mine the choice they'd choose hot dogs and pizza every time and there are still things they both struggle with (mushrooms - fine if I cut really small but if they can tell it's a mushroom they're not happy!).

There was a great thread on here a while ago from a poster who'd slipped into endless takeaways after bereavement and so much helpful advice was given...will see if I can find it for you.

There was a great thread on here a while ago from a poster who'd slipped into endless takeaways after bereavement and so much helpful advice was given...will see if I can find it for you.

@PatienceOfEngels that would be great! Thank you!

You sound so organised. Thank you for the guidance. Sounds like I need to run my freezer down, defrost and refill with batch cooked dinners!

Found it!

This was the thread:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5072629-takeaways-every-night

And this was the update thread:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5139108-update-on-the-thread-about-eating-take-aways-every-night-with-with-the-kids

What helps my attitude is to change the concept in your mind.

So yes you might be in the kitchen but with radio/podcast/music/audio book on it's not too bad.

Make the kitchen a space you don't mind being in, get fairy lights, lamp, rug, cushioned chair. Declutter, have a book in there.

Make it a nice space for you with a good speaker and use it as time to indulge a bit of media and almost meditative jobs like chopping veg etc.

I find being organised is the only way I can cope. We are a ND family and need structure and routine to function. And we all function better when eating home-cooked food so I try to balance convenience with whole foods (and can only do that with my freezer prep).

DH does his share of the cooking as well and we both work part-time so only 2 days when we're both working (which I know makes it way easier than people doing full time).

Today we both happened to be off but had a meeting at DC school right before dinnertime. Pulled pork out of the freezer this morning, potatoes peeled and in water ready to put on before we went to meeting, pre-cooked red cabbage (my kids love this!). All I had to do when we got home was put everything on the hob and cut up an apple to add to the cabbage - done in 20 minutes and hardly needed any looking after (I got to finish my book while everything cooked and the kids watched TV).

I enjoy it. But why bother to make new and different things if you don’t? I read new recipe books for inspiration and find them on kindle book deals. I’m pretty good at it and regularly cook Ottolenghi type dishes pre kids.

If you don’t like cooking, then you can do curry Monday, pasta Tuesday, soup Wednesday, taco Thursday kind of thing? Kids really don’t mind repetition.

I don’t do batch booking either. I don’t like cooking for many days ahead. If I have time in the weekend, I bake.

I cook daily and have 2-3 week rotation

• soup, with a salad, some nice baguette, fruit salad to finish. Might do some cheese or sausages on the side.
• Indian food (we eat a lot of it because we are Indian)- kids like a potato curry, okra, chicken curry, egg curry, fish curry, prawn curry, chickpea curry, dal, paneer. We eat Indian food at least 3 times a week.
• A plain noodle soup- you can use a premade broth and then toppings as per taste- boiled egg, crispy noodles, coriander, spring onions, chillis. But the base is a broth with noodles.
• sometimes I buy premade dumplings (Chinese ones) and then make a simple noodle soup on the side and serve it. You can add pak choi etc to taste. You can get ramen broth in the supermarket.
• cheese quesadillas with guacamole, sour cream. Sometimes a Mexican salad with it.
• baked fish marinated in yoghurt and spices. Served with rice and some green beans sautéed in butter.
• Pasta. Pesto pasta. Pasta sauce with hidden veg. Lasagna. Bolognese. All of it.
• Homemade pizza. Buy the dough, add the toppings to taste.
• roasted chicken thighs marinated in yoghurt and Indian spices with sweet potatoes.
• Savoury pancake/crepes. You can put cheese, ham, spinach in it. And then chocolate ones for dessert.
• Various things with meatballs if your kids will eat them. You can do curries and pasta and soup.
• what we call ‘breakfast for dinner.’ French toast, avocado, sausages, mushrooms and lots of fruit to finish. Could replace French toast with toast and scrambled eggs. Or Greek yoghurt with honey and blueberries to finish.
• baked salmon with teriyaki sauce with veg or egg fried rice.

I am fed up of doing several different meals every sodding day and mine are 15, 18 and 21 plus DH. Take me back to when they were much younger and ate what I gave them.

Surely at 15/18/21 they can cook for themselves?!

Love this thread. Mumsnet at its best. Women supporting each other. Good luck OP.