To rarely cook from scratch?

[Timberss]

I have two children. I work full time, so does DH. We don’t earn a lot so can’t afford to hire help, so everything’s on me. DH does lots round the house but works away for weeks at a time.

I drive the kids around to their after school activities, try to keep up with the washing, cleaning etc, but to cook as well as cleaning up on top of all the other jobs that need done, I am finding impossible.

I used to enjoy learning to cook. My parents didn’t cook much other than spaghetti bolognese, but when DC were younger, i would try some different recipes. I’m just too exhausted now and too run ragged!

Can anyone relate, or am I just a bad mum!

You’re not a bad mum, you’re just in survival
mode and home cooked food isn’t your priority it sounds like. Personally food from scratch most of the time is more important than a tidy house! Mainly as it’s what I prefer to eat. But it’s often batch cooked food or v simple meals, when things are busy.

I've got a child with possible ARFID so no cooking from scratch in my house either. I haven't got the energy or inclination to bother anymore. If that makes me a terrible parent in some people's eyes so be it🤷

Depends what you’re eating really. Cooking from scratch can be as quick as the alternatives.

You can buy everything prepped for convenience, Mediterranean veg, baby potatoes and those trays of Cajun chicken or whatever are literally just bung in the oven.

Also nothing wrong with Egg, chips and beans or jacket potatoes and that’s no effort.

Defo not a bad mum. I prioritise cooking from scratch but DH helps and I don’t work f/t. I don’t clean, tidy as much as I probably should & I can’t exercise as much as I would like.

Fridays are freezer or a takeaway so there is a break.

I prioritise cooking from scratch over quite a few things. But I like cooking and my family eating healthy meals is more important to me than a messy house!

What are you eating and feeding them?

Cooking from scratch can just be grilled chicken and salad though. It doesn't have to be fancy. We cook everything from scratch, but often very simple meat/fish with veg or salad. Or a quick pasta.

Don't feel guilty. Sometimes, something's just got to give.

There's plenty of healthy, balanced meals that don't need to be cooked from scratch.

I get how hard it is because I am a single mum of a 6 and 2 year old with a full time job which includes lots of evening time to be spent on it outside of working hours.

I got stuck in the rut of convenience foods and not wanting to cook. But actually I wanted to make more fresh food and incorporate more veg so I bought a couple of 15 minute meals type books and you can do so much actually so quickly. Like the other day I dumped mestballs in the air fryer for five minutes then tipped in chopped courgette, mushrooms, tinned tomatoes, a few herbs and some fresh pasta and made a pasta bake with v little effort. Chicken breast under the grill and whatever vegetables you have chopped up, drizzled with oil and chucked in the oven on a tray for half an hour. Slow cooker where you put a load in raw and cook it all day.

I think there’s probably quite a few good options for a halfway house where you’re not slaving over the stove for hours but also making sure freshly cooked food is eaten.

Obviously very busy nights warrant nuggets and chips or oven pizza and that’s 100% ok too!

I’m a mix and match - some nights we have what I call kids dinner - nuggets, sausages etc but I found batch cooking helps spag bol, chicken casserole etc carbonara from scratch is a quick win, on wfh days I’ll shove a chicken on in the oven, frozen veg and new potatoes or salad, baguettes for tea, fajitas are quick too. It all depends on what you like to eat though. Slow cooker is also a winner. Ultimately you’re not a bad mum though!

What are you giving your DC to eat?

no one needs complicated recipe meals at all, but especially not in the week!

but I'd prioritise DC eating fresh food over a load of other things.

my airfryer is an absolute godsend! In 20 minutes from fridge to plate I can have a variety of veg & protein (vegetarian in my case). Much better for you than beige freezer food!

but 'from scratch' doesn't mean the same thing to everyone. I Love homemade humous But I don't consider it the work of the devil to buy it sometimes. Or have beans on toast.

We do a mix - but often do “cook once, eat twice” with things like lasagne, chilli, curry etc. Tonight was a shop bought quiche with jacket potatoes and salad.

What do you eat?
also do you really need to do laundry every day? And can you not get away with just cleaning the kitchen daily?

I cook from scratch but have no kid and struggle to get dinner out before 8pm sometimes even 9pm. So kudos to anyone that can cook from scratch while also seeing to kids homework, activities etc... and still get them to bed at reasonable hour.

I would prioritise cooking over tidying myself. Batch cooking really is a huge time saver so I would suggest doing this so on the busiest days you can get these out for dinner, far better and cheaper than ready meals. There’s a programme on called the batch lady (I think) to get ideas (recipes are probably online). It’s also really about working out which short cuts are worth it and which aren’t eh we all use canned tomatoes, but I wouldn’t use ready made sauces normally.

I hate cooking, work ft and rarely cook from scratch. We tend to eat a lot of very basic food.. jacket potatoes, beans on toast, omelettes etc. Probably not the best but something has to give.

@intrepidpanda. It’s perfectly possible to get healthy meals cooked in under 30 minutes, look online at Jamie Oliver’s website, huge amounts of recipes, I get in about 5.20pm and at the latest we are eating at 6pm, it’s mostly practice plus choosing quick cook food, and 95% of what we eat is scratch cooked. Today I made anchovy pasta which took under 20 minutes including homemade garlic bread (I didn’t make the bread I admit, that’s takes 3 hours!) but I’ve been doing this for 30 years

I think you’re doing just fine x

I read 'Ultra Processed People' and that was a giant kick up the backside!! Really, really eye-opening! I still don't actually properly cook too often. It's healthier food but pretty instant - eggs, avocado, cottage cheese, bagged salad, homemade bread (the breadmaker does all the work!), proper yoghurt, lots of fruit etc. When I do cook I freeze at least one extra portion and use a lot of pre-prepared frozen veggies, which really does save significant time.

The obvious question is what sort of stuff are you feeding them?

How old are dcs? They could help with some batch cooking?

I can’t think of anything l loathe more than cooking. I hate it.

I use pre prepared stuff a lot. The tedium of chopping and stirring makes me want to scream. And l hate the taste of frozen peppers and onions so can’t use them.

I've being doing it 30 years too, but not quickly. Even a 20 min recipe seems to take me an hour.

Agree that "from scratch" means different things to different people. A baked potato with cheese is technically "from scratch" and natural.

I also hate cooking, so i live on
baked potatoes
sausage mash and beans (freeze mash portions with added cream)
scrambled eggs on nice toast
pesto pasta
pasta with mushrooms, garlic (or garlic salt for extra laziness) and philly stirred through (you can freeze portion of philly)

add in frozen veggies (meditterranean or bog standard) to the above and hey presto

I had a microwave meal from Asda tonight because it's been a mad day, was supposed to do the weekly shop but didn't get to the supermarket till 9 and just wasn't in the right headspace to plan a meal and cook. I popped in a a steam in the bag veg portion to go with it. I checked the ingredients of the microwave meal as the it was in the microwave. It wasn't even bad. There was nothing in it that I wouldn't use to cook a meal from scratch at home. With the extra bag of veg, it turned out to be a pretty healthy and nutritious meal. If I hadn't checked the ingredients I'd be feeling guilty and like I'd just ate crap. So, not everything you eat needs to mean spending ages prepping and cooking, just a quick scan of ingredients and some precut veg is an easy win.