AIBU to ask how you manage to cook from scratch?

[orangeblossomgirl]

i work long hours, full time. DH and i are both vegetarian and prefer to eat food cooked from scratch / not processed. How do you manage to cook healthy and delicious food every day without spending hours in the kitchen, or eating the same thing every other day?

I have loads of recipe books I never open and spices I never use and just cook the same 3 meals in rotation! Gets me thinking I should try simplycook or another recipe box to simplify the process...just bored really and tired of spending every evening cooking

We find Chinese can be pretty quick to cook and do it a couple of times a week.

Or, perhaps, an InstantPot...

Also I second getting a riverford box and meal plan around that. Soup is so easy - I often knock up a homemade soup for lunch - takes no time at all.

GOUSTO...I LOOOOVE Gousto

*i have NOT been paid for this endorsement

Slow cooker. Love veg bolognese - I tend to chop all stuff night before then just along in slow cooker in the morning with tin toms and herbs. I use same base for chilli with different herbs.

Stir fry takes minutes if veg is pre chopped.

We’ve been doing Gousto for a while and I would recommend it, to helping DP learn to cook which is great as is not all on me (he’s been unconfident not unwilling) But mostly I’ve managed by going quite simple, having meals I know how to cook in my head without much bother.

When I realised that I was relying heavily on pasta and pesto/limited variety that's when I began to menu plan.

When the kids were small I had to take into account after school activities, etc. and actually plan my cooking. So, some days myself or DH would cook again once the kids were in bed.

Batch cooking also helped because it meant I didn't have to cook every night but could rely on the freezer at times.

We eat a lot of pasta recipes that take around 15 minutes. I often do these when I have had the oven on and then use them in pasta or on pizza the next day. www.nigella.com/recipes/moonblush-tomatoes

I don't batch cook much as only have tiny freezer.

Apart from the chilli all the other stuff is just refrigerated.

Pick your meals carefully I can cook from scratch a spag bol, chilli, several variations on pasta, a paella even a chow mein in less than an hour.

We have done recipe boxes (Mindful Chef, Gousto, HelloFresh) but got hacked off with the amount of plastic packaging and sometimes dubious sourcing of meat etc.
So now we're trying simply cook, its a good halfway house.

the limiting factor we found, which was the main reason for going with recipe boxes, is the ideas for new meals to cook and the help with menu planning. Also, we were doing 5:2 so we could cut down the cost a bit!

I would seriously look into getting a freezer. You can buy a small chest freezer with a 50 x 50cm footprint for £100. When I lived in a tiny flat I had one in the living room with a throw chucked over it and a plant on top. Freezers are bloody brilliant.

I never cook soup, dahl, curry, chili, pasta sauce, cauliflower cheese etc without cooking extra portions for the freezer. I can then come home any night of the week to a home-cooked meal that pretty much just needs warming up.

Check out HelloFresh too @orangeblossomgirl

Amongst their options you can select 'rapid' meals which only take about 20 minutes.

Also to save lots of time and especially with small kids, a dishwashable mandolin saves tons of time on slicing veggies - I use mine loads.

I love my simply cook subscription. They basically provide the herbs and pastes and a recipe leaflet. They've got a good selection of vegetarian recipes and all can be cooked in about 30 minutes. Feel free to use my code for a trial box. 'smply.in/YR8428' It's easy to cancel if you don't want to continue.

1.cook ahead at the weekend - I try and have two dinners in the fridge ready

1. Slow cooker
2. Always get takeaway or eat out of the freezer (pizza, fish and chips) once a week
3. Pasta and a variety of easy sauces e.g leek and bacon pasta are a quick and easy option
4. Batch cook things like chilli, bolognaise so you have some stuff to fall back on

I use Hello Fresh for tough weeks (to be fair, your regular weeks sound like my tough ones) but it is quite pricey. I also meal plan for the entire week and then buy everything I need at the weekend. With no freezer you will probably have shop twice a week, but meal planning took away a lot of the pain because I don't have to think up a menu each day, I just cook the meal I've already planned.

Frozen chopped onion, garlic, parsley, ginger, chilli, everything.
Just as good as fresh. Takes out all the prep time.

Slow cooker. I can put something on in the morning and come home to a lovely home cooked dinner.

Otherwise, I do quick things like stir fry or omelette.

Or I make more than I need a freeze the rest for another day.

I batch cook and freeze. We have quite a tight budget and I can't afford not to. I often wonder how people afford not to cook from scratch.

get tinned chickpeas, lentils, pineapple, get passata, veg pesto, mint sauce, rice pasta basic fresh veg potatoes onions peppers mushrooms fresh toms, right now I have just fried onion, peppers, mushrooms mixed in pesto, sprinkled a bit of tobacco, lots of dried basil (fav herb!) cooked a bit added enough passata (about half a box I aldi shop :)) boil pasta & mix (half an hour cooking) chick peas can be either curried (you can buy dry spice mix) used with sweet pot & apricots& carrots & tom & spices & herbs to make a tagine with rice this can be slow cooked. You can make a basic sweet & sour using veg & pineapple base. just a few ideas

We make this homemade pizza all the time - no rising needed and damn delicious

joyfoodsunshine.com/easy-homemade-pizza-dough/

Planning and preparation mainly. And dps love of being in the kitchen and actually wanting to spend hours cooking!!
He gets home by 5:30 a lot of the time and we will eat at about 7:30, or I will get home earlier and cook.
Agree that healthy and tasty doesn’t necessarily mean cooking for hours, plenty of speedy things to be made, roasted veg couscous with a piece of grilled fish and a salsa, or even just a baked potato with a filling.
I don’t like slow cookers or batch cooking loads of things and freezing, and I don’t want to eat the same thing two nights in a row, but others prefer it or don’t have time/inclination to cook from fresh every night.
I find it easier for us because dp really enjoys cooking and can make things up whereas I struggle to think of what a random pile of ingredients can make.
I do a big weekly online shop with the basis of possibly 3 evening meals. Then he does the weekend food shopping as he wants to choose different meat/fish and whatever else.
And then for the rest of the week it’s a bit of a fridge surprise!

I plan meals, have quick favourites, eat leftovers, batch cook. But honestly? I spend time cooking. I often prioritise it even when I’ve had a long day, because it’s a recreational activity for me (usually). You can do all of these things but at some point you have to spend time doing it. You can choose when you spend the time, but that’s really the nub.