I've had an epiphany - cooking varied meals from scratch does not a good mother make...

[handlemecarefully]

I really make the effort with my lo's nutrition. Cook from scratch, varied menu etc. But it takes so much frigging time up - even simple meals from the Dinner Lady cookbook or Ainsley Harriot's 'Meals in Minutes'; there is still chopping and peeling and washing of pans etc.

With an absentee husband (working all hours), two preschoolers, a puppy and 3 chickens to look after it's too much. I feel shackled to the kitchen and find myself snapping at the children and telling them to bog off because I am busy clearing up the post meal carnage.

Yesterday however I was visibly relaxed because Dh was going to be home early (18.00) and suggested bringing home fish and chips. I had time and energy for the children.

Whilst I am not going to go down the turkey twizzler route , I shall be introducing far more fishfinger and (good quality) sausage type quick meals.

I'm also going to cook only a limited repertoire of a few meals from scratch and keep repeating these(so that I become lightning fast at doing these)...I remember suggesting doing this before on here and someone counselled me not to as I would be stultifying my children's 'nutritional' development...however I reckon that's bunkum. I ate only processed peas as a child (eschewing all veggies) and favoured Bernard Matthews turkey burgers - but now have a very refined and adventurous palate.

Have you heard that expression "No one on their death beds regrets that they didn't spend more time in the office" ? I reckon that applies to the kitchen too.

My children won't remember the meals I cooked - just a mother who never had time to play with them. So hang the fecking food fascism. They will be getting healthy food (all the food groups represented) but it will be low effort and simple from now on. And they will have an unstressed mother who will play with them!!!!

Ha! Yes, I do have this rather sneaking suspicion that he will wake up on the dawn of hitting "Eighteenmonth-itis" (think Kevin from Harry Enfield) and start making demands for turkey twizzlers and cheesy poofs (actually having a bit of trouble with neighbour over latter item of food already so it could well be on the cards)

'...and my favourite of favourites that the kids aaaaalways ask for is 'picnic tea' (crackers, cheese, sandwiches, a loadof chopped up fruit, mini muffin, yoghurt etc...'.

Yay!! We do that ...it's called nibbly bits in our house. So easy and so much more appreciated than something lovingly slaved over for hours

Lol cod - you're right, I am a poof (however sadly the children don't sleep much - dd not at all during the day and ds only erratically).

Saggarmakersbottomknocker - what's your 'real' name (trying to guess who you are)? Yes, umm, I am still running...but only once or twice per week

Interesting to read all the other posts since last night. I have been going over board it would seem, and it's refreshing to hear that so many other mums have a no nonsense practical approach to meal times. My lo's had a rather time consuming home made ham, chicken and egg pie (in a bechamel sauce) in a home made pastry casing yesterday, so today they are having a bit of pasta in a creamy tomato sauce and that's that!!

Quick doesn't have to be rubbish or convenience. We had pan fried fish, new potatoes and salad last night, took 15 mins to do.

a quick halthy meal for us is asta, tuna, sweetcorn and a spoonful of mayo. Omelettes also don't take long and go down well.

hmc - it's me Potty1 did 6 miles on Sunday [smug]

It is only recently that I have become a decent cook (according to DH). What I did was to concentrate on a few meals, perfect them and then move on to the next challenge. Also, because I work part-time, I batch cook and freeze so that way we have our own home made ready meals. These meals tend to be curries, mince sauce to be used in pasta dishes/cottage pie or casseroles /stews. Meals based around baked fish are very quick, e.g bake salmon on a bed of pre-cooked spinach and leeks as soon as I get in (around 1745 hours)and by the time the DTS have been bathed, milked and put to bed (latest 1900 hours) the meal is ready to be served with a baked potato that has been cooked in the microwave or oven. Also, a stir fry with noodles is very quick and simple and can be based on anything you have to hand.

For ultra quick meal, bangers and mash and peas or a Fray Bentos pie with mash potato and 2 veg.

I've been thinking about this thread today. I love great food but can't be bothered to cook it, but we can still eat good food. A weekend staple is cheese on toast: Vogel bread, really good quality mature cheddar or perhaps some stilton, lots of slices of tomato and apple on top and homemade (not by me - yet!) chutney. Fruit and yoghurt for pudding. Simple but really, really good.

Issymum - that sounds delicious!! My DH does something similar with ciabatta bread, spread with a bit of olive tapenade, plus sliced tomatoes and goats cheese - grill for a few minutes and serve with a leafy salad. Bloody lovely!! Also falafel and pitta bread, plus loads of humus and salad is a good summer picnicky-type meal.

I'm a big fan of peasant food - doesn't have to be fancy as long as you have good quality ingredients. I made ratatouille last night which is basically just loads of chopped veggies left to stew in a pot, served with some rice. My DD loves it too.

Cheese on toast is the business,as are oatcakes (Potty 1 will vouch for that.Have just received a consignment of six dozen from rellies in Staffordshire. These will keep the children happy for quite some time.)

When we're in Turkey I never cook (eat out every day or night-hundreds of restaurants and it costs about £5 for four of us.) However,after a month of that,I itch to get back into the kitchen.

Hurrah for this thread

I love cooking and I love eating, but recently it's all become less of a pleasure and much more of a chore. Reasons - full-time work, shifts, essays and a ds who is going through a fantastically picky stage. It's thankless, really.

Soooo, my new philosophy is, as long as it's not full of additives/salt/sugar/hydrogenated crapola, as long as ds keeps on stuffing down the fruit and yoghurt the way he currently does, as long as it's reasonably balanced, I'm not going to sweat blood over the stove. Phew!

Nowt wrong with sandwiches for six weeks runnning imho as long as the bread and fillings are good. These,plain yoghurt and Weetabix and porridge are my staples.

HMC - you need to buy yourself a copy of Nigel Slater's 'Real Fast Food'. I use it all the time. I was wondering what sort of food you cooked - the pie sounds fab, but maybe for weekends only?

Tallmum, re the dishwasher. Your dh sounds exactly like mine with all that environmental stuff (he has a degree in it and thinks by quoting stats. left right and centre he won the argument).

Eventually I did some childminding for a couple of friends for a bit and said I was buying a dishwasher or else. The else being he can do all the washing up, 2 or 3 times a day, every day. Plus I wasn't going to cook him separate veggie meals anymore etc.

That was 6 months ago, he still moans but he knows what the response will be. F. off basically!

Yes Mercy. One of my favourites too.
TM,there was a dishwasher in this house when we moved in (not my thing)
Will however admit that it has got to be better (in every way) to wash one big lot than do lots of little ones all day,which is how I have been operating until now.

some great 5 minute recipes in "Jamie's Dinners"

george formby grilling machine is also brilliant for chicken, fish, vegetables etc

PMSL @ george formby!

yes its ukelele shaped

hmc - agree mostly, but you know you can spend qualidee time with the kids and cook don't you? you can't do it every day, but if they "help" you, you get the best of both. the kitchen will look like a bomb's hit it, but that can wait till the next day.

Mercy- Real Fast Food is my kitchen bible. I love Nigel Slater. If I'm ever stuck for something to cook he always comes up trumps!

Re the dishwasher thing - I remember reading something not too long ago that said that running a dishwasher once a day uses less water than washing up by hand (if you rinse everything that is). Unfortunately we don't have space for a dishwasher at the moment - that will be our first purchase when we move house!!

George Formby!!

'I'm leaning on a lamp post at the...'

Noone gets that silly name right do they?? Hear people talk about their 'lean green' machine all the time too.

Yep,cooking with children-big thumbs up to that one.

I just read in Country Living Magazine that dishwashers use less water than doing hand washes but more detergent...
We never do half loads and wait till it's really full before turning it on and justify it that way.

As my dd2 is so clingy i hardly have time to cook however, i do find that 15 minutes and getting something ready to slow cook works just as effectively as making pancakes or something (which we had for lunch today.)

I actually love cooking but just don't seem to get the time as, like i said, dd2 is so clingy!

yesterday the dds had spaghetti tossed in garlic and olive oil with a bowl of quails eggs on the side

strange but true

This thread has inspired me. I made shepherd's pie and split it into two portions to freeze one rather than having too many leftovers which the pets eat.

quail's eggs enid - did you just have them hanging around like nigel slater does?