I've listened to Xenia. How do I outsource cooking? Could I find someone to do this:

[PeachesMcLean]

I work full time and hate the fact that DS is collected by a childminder, from whom I collect him at 5.30, then by the time we've got home and I've cooked tea, it's 7pm and he's too tired to do much and goes to bed at 8pm.

So, taking Xenia's advice to outsource everything you don't like doing, could I find someone to cook supper for us each night?

And perhaps even to collect him from school? Cos then he could do various after school activities as well. To be fair, CM is good because DS gets to play with other children there. And she is quite nice as well....

Am I mad? And how much would you expect to pay for someone to cook a simple but healthy family meal each evening???

Do people actually eat them thrn???

The ones peopel gave us used to be crushed in the dog's dinner.

Peaches. My friend has a housekeeper. She comes everyday, she spend the day cleaning the house and cooking. When my friend comes home after tennis, or lunching, or browsing at Harvey Nics, and her nanny delivers her kids home from school, she puts what her housekeeper cooked in the microwave. One meal for the kids. One meal for herself and her husband when he comes from work.

Doesnt it sound just perfect?

ahhhh to lead a charmed life....

I think it is all about arming yourself with an array of recipes that you can cook very quickly!

I always cook from scratch and rarely spend more than 15mins in the kitchen.

Tonight we had crab linguine - scrape the brown meat and white meat from a small crab into a bowl, stir in a glug of olive oil, a pinch of seasalt and a small chopped chilli. Mix together. Cook pasta, remove from heat and mix through the crab mixture.

Or pasta with pancetta. Chuck some pancetta into a sauce pan and heat over moderate gas util rendered down. Chop in some mushrooms and cook through. Cook pasta then stir in pancetta. You can do exactly the same with tinned tuna, although I add a whirl of natural yoghurt to moisten it a bit!

Omelette - whatever you like!

Fritatta - peel a load of onions and sweat in pan, peel and slice spuds - stick in pan on top of onions. Cook for an hour or so, then mix in a few beaten eggs. Cook until just set then serve.

Couscous with roasted veg. Peel mixed root veg, cut into chunks, slug over some olive oil and stick in oven for an hour or so. 5 mins before serving, pour boiling water over the couscous, chop some herbs through. Pie roasted veg on top and serve.

Soups usually only take a very short time to prepare - just chopping veg. Cook and serve with nice bread.

How about noodles - warm up some chicken stock - stick in some noodles and a finely chopped chilli (optional) then finely chop a carrot, some mushrooms and whatever else you have to hand. Stir through - leave for a few minutes to warm through then serve.

Or lamb shanks - prepare the night before in roasting tin - stick in the oven as soon as you get home. Peel and chop some potatoes, put in a foil parcel with rosemary and lemon juice - seal parcel and stick in oven with the lamb. Cook some french beans to serve.

Pork chops - peel an onion and slice and layer in a casserole dish. Put pork chops on top and put a small slug of white wine (or cider if you have it) in with them and some thyme. Stick in the oven for 40 mins. Serve with mashed pots and veg.

There are countless recipes you could do - make up a big batch at the weekend if you need to. I do this for chilli, curry, casseroles, macceroni and cheese, lasagne etc and then freeze - these are ready to warm through when you need them.

my friend has a live in au pair. she works 25 hours a week and gets £60 a week.

Definitely agree with moondog that you need a repertoire of easy, healthy meals. However, shepherd's pie is a long PITA in my book.

You might need to spend a bit more on raw ingredients than you are used to, but I find that chargrilled meat or fish with a couple of steamed vegetables and some basmati rice only takes 15 minutes from first opening the fridge door to being on the table. Breaded veal escalopes with pasta and tomato sauce (which you can mega bulk make and freeze) is very quick. Last night my stepsons were over and my partner was away and we had chargrilled organic hamburgers (absolutely not junk food), a great baguette, a bowl of cherry tomatoes, a bowl of rocket, a handful of crisps and ketchup. They were delighted.

I think you need to think more about menus (based on what it is easy for you in your area to shop for) rather than outsource straight off.

I agree with Anna. We spend a lot of money on good food, but not a lot of time cooking.

I always have my freezer stocked with cubed beef and cubed pork, lamb shanks, Turkey joint, whole chicken, chicken drumsticks, chicken breast, lamb kebabs, pork and lamb chops, minced beef.

Then, potato, rice, pasta and couscous.

fresh vegetables, such as carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, beans, sugar peas, cherry tomaotes, lettuce and cucumber.

Throwing a meal together is quick, easy and healthy.

I do resort to cooking sauces sometimes. Uncle Bens for Sweet and Sour chicken, various Waitrose own brand curry sauces for chick curry, both served with rice.

Kebabs with rice/couscous and steamed veg

Chicken drumstics and thighs, quick marinade, either sweet chilli or a coconut/lime/coriander variety, with rice and steamved veg.

Whole home marinaded chicken.
Pancakes!
Spaghetti with beef bolognese sauce!
Pizza now and then too!

But I guess what it boils down to might be whether you like to cook and throw together meals or not....

I'm going to stick my nose in here and say that I read something more into the OP than just 'how can I get my cooking done?'

Peaches, would it be true to say that you feel you aren't spending enough time with our ds and maybe you resent the cooking as being more time spent away from him in the evening?

The reason I ask is bacause I feel this way a lot. When I get in from work at 6.15pm I really cannot face cooking an evening meal which goes on the table about 6.45/7pm, spending 15-20 mins with me eating it and ds refusing to eat it, then clearing it up and getting ds ready for bed. It just seems such a waste of time to me. I appreciate that is not how others feel but it is how I feel.

I have thought about this a lot and for me a lot of the resentment is to do with my dodgy relationship with food but a lot of it is also that I would so much rather be doing something else with ds, anything else rather than making the evening meal.

I do find that on the days I am home this is much less of an issue as I'm happy for ds to play on his own or to 'help me' as I cook. I still dislike the cooking but I don't feel I am doing it at the expense of spending time with ds as we have spent some of the day together.

On work days my resentment of time spent in the kitchen knows no bounds. The way I cope with this is a combination of pre-planning and preparing meals and having a dh who does a lot of this anyway.

I think that if you could do sme pre-preparing of meals and maybe also get the cm to feed your ds on a couple of nights a week you would have some evenings when you collect your ds (at say 6pm - with him having eaten at 5.15pm or so) and you will have two hours which are more relaxed with ds. On the other evenings you can cook something easy or pre-prepared

Would that work do you think?

If this is actually how you feel

I work 3 days a week, have twin boys at nursery and most of the time we have home cooked food. I cook on my days off and freeze. I also have a repertoire of easy meals that can be cooked within 30 minutes. The boys love steamed salmon with mash potato, carrots and broccoli. Easy, nutritious and healthy. Pasta bakes are quick and easy too. Make a tomato sauce the night before using onions, garlic, oregano and tinned tomatoes, simmer for 20 minutes, poor over steamed veg and or meat like cooked chicken, grate some cheese on top, bake in oven for 10-15 minutes and voila!

It just takes organisation, willingness and a bit of imagination.

Good luck!

Or you could let him have school dinners and then tea only needs to be a sandwich, fruit etc, or baked beans on toast.

He can eat it in the kitchen while you prepare dinner for you and dh - can have a chat at the same time.

Do you or dh have a work canteen?

Even if an aupair cannot cook, it is fairly simple to show her how to chop up vegetables.

For me, the timeconsuming bit of cooking is not in the actual cooking, but in the preparation and washing up. But prep and washing can easily be done by an aupair with a bit of organisation on your part.

I plan weekly menus, have an ongoing shopping list, do 1 big grocery shop a week. Do as much prep as I can over the weekend (3 hours for the week's meals). Most meals will double up for another day.

On the night before, take whatever I need out of the freezer to defrost for the next day.

On the day itself, lay out the vegs on the chopping board in the quantities I need. Gasp the instructions to the aupair as I hurry out the door with dd at 7:15 am.

By the time I am home, cooking should be about 15 mins + 5-10 mins serving out the food and laying the table. Washing up is done by aupair.

If you only wanted 15 hours a week I'm sure you could find a live-in au pair for 40 pounds a week - she could always find a bar job or cleaning during the day if she wanted extra cash.

Evening all. Thanks so much for all these ideas. I'm going to have to go through them properly.
Feeling a little sheepish - can't believe I got so upset about food last night.
Only thing I don't get about lots of these quick meals is that there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of veg involved. I do try and do a proper balanced meal and maybe I'm just putting pressure on myself but I do want to eat a bit healthily.

Moony, sorry I called you Nigella.
Lazycow, I think you hit the nail on the head. This isn't MN, it's CBT.

That sounds like you don't have to prepare anything Sal - problem I found with meat in a slow cooker was that you still have to brown it / heat it thruogh first.

Not the case with veggies???

Ruby, I've just snorted outloud and now DS wants to know what I'm laughing at. Thanks!

M&S Cook range
Easy, quick, tasty, healthy, cheaper than an au pair.

Sorted.

lol Ruby re shagging dh.
Peachy,I took the Nigella comment as a compliment.

Ruby, I've posted a few recipes on MN.

If you can

-make a decent vinaigrette
-roast a chicken
-understand that a base of onions and garlic can take you a looooooong way
-make a decent marinade for grilled/bbqd meat
-do an omelette
-stirfry a load of veg chopped to same size and finished off with a bit of sherry,soy and cronflour
-get a good cupboard of staples together

..you can master just about anything.

Tell me what you want a recipe for.

Moony, I can do all that and can even make a roux.

The recipes I want are quick to cook, which DS likes, which DH finds satisfying and which I find healthy. And I want a week's worth.

Seriously, I think we need a MN Cookbook. These things are all over on different threads, surely they just need pulling together?

Rightyo then. Start a thread and make your remit clear.

I would add though that given the choice, any kid will go for the stuff that we parents might not choose.You have to make a decision and stand firm. It may be impossible to please all the people all the time. One choice.Like it or lump it.No nagging,no moanig,no comments. Up to the kids.

My ds has just refused the pasta with salmon and cream for the second night running.