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!!!!

I will do my crunches while muttering your mantra next time I'm in the gym Sal...

I can quite honestly say that my dd had never been given food until she went to nursery that wasn't home cooked. I had never given her jars or packets of anything. Even though I worked full-time I just cooked extra of what I was eating and froze it. Which is why I absolutely detest school dinners, she has packed lunches. After watching Jamie Oliver last year she never had them again :)

Do you know, though I see myself as a good mummy who always cooks from scratch, I've juse realised we have had stir fry with pasta or potatos every night this week?

Hi Potty - you put me to shame with your 6 mile run at the weekend! I've lost a lot of fitness and can only just manage 3 miles currently (and generally go puce afterwards). Most train a bit more!

my mum always cooked from scratch and i always wanted to help her so from a very young age i new no differant i just carried on the habbit when i got my own house and to be honest it not to much more time consumming and same as expatinscotland i use a slow cooker most days, they are a time saving god send.
my worry is that with all todays convenience foods the next generation of children will be very unhealthly and homecooking(from scratch) will be a thing of the past. my children know how to cook all the basic recipies my 8 year old can bake cakes and cook lasange from her memory.

handlemecarefully i agree with what your saying we to have one day a week where we get a take out or go out for a meal but you can have so much fun with the children whist cooking, my kids can't wait til it's time to prepare tea it's a real family bonding time for us, mind you that will probably change when they get older and would rather be out hangin out with there friends.

Had similar Epiphany when we bought a George Forman. Can now bung some salmon on it while boiling some baby new potatoes and peas. Et Voila! meal in seconds and no effing peeling and chopping. Which I despise! Always bulk cook and freeze too, especially for DS. I have a great collection of cheap Asda tupperware which is v hnady.

Also baked potato beans and cheese is a fave in our house. Cheap and quick. Hurrah!

Like a lot of you on here, its the "time" thing that has started to affect the cooking i do now. I childmind somedays until 6pm. Id i'm lucky, the mindees will have had a nap during the day (doesn't happen very often) and i will start whatever we are having then. I haven't really been one for cooking to freeze. However, DH is away for four months, so am starting to do more bulk cooking now, as i am on the go the whole time. My youngest Ds, who is 6 has been a real handful since his dad went away and has refused to eat anything other than fish fingers for a week. However, he had them with broccoli and cheese sauce and potatoes last night, with rice and stir fry on Thursday, with beans on Wednesday , with cheesy pasta on Tuesda and potatoes, carrots and sweetcorn on Monday, so i don't feel too gulity.
I have a huge pan of lentil soup cooking at the minute as he loves that.

I'm in the camp that says good food doesn't have to be difficult. TBH hmc I would never make a pie unless it was with leftover cooked chicken/ham and frozen sweetcorn. And I get dd to do all the pastry mixing for me!

Good quality convenience food like sausages from the local butcher, fishfingers, salami, houmous, and yes, quails eggs (dd now picks up a packet every time we go to waitrose and eats half by the time we get home!) are staples of teatime at this house - together with bread and butter and cheese. If I've cooked (ot taken previously cooked from the freezer) a proper meal at lunch time (shepherds/fish pie, stews in the slo-cooker, cous-cous with chicken and veg, pasta, omelette) I'm much more relaxed about them then having a snacky tea, followed by fruit or yoghurt, and then a biscuit, sans roginated (as dd says) fats natch, and milk at bedtime.

Definately get yourself a slo-cooker. I tend to put everything together in the eveinging and leave it in the fridge, then I just have to turn it on when I get up and it's ready for lunch. and you can put potatoes, lentils or pearl barley in with everything else to provide a true one pot meal.

I spend Sunday am cooking and tend to do the same things:
pancakes (I make loads, the dds have them that morning then I keep the rest in the fridge for the next couple of mornings)
bolognaise sauce (the dds have this twice a week for tea, they love it)
some sort of huge casserole (chicken tomorrow - we'll all have it Monday night and then I'll freeze the rest)
some sort of other pasta sauce (spicy sausage v popular with all of us, made with fabby italian sausages, toms, onions, garlic and a bit of chili, cooked for nearly 2 hours)
a fruit crumble

I would never make my dds a homemade chicken pie from scratch. They do like leftover chicken in a bit of white sauce in a pie dish with a pastry lid (bought pastry)

I admire you cook-in-bulk-then-freeze people, and those of you who cook seperately for children/dh and yourself.

I let dh cook at the weekend because I enjoy to have a break from it! Shudder at the thought of having to do a mega-cook-session at the weekend...

emkana I don't cook in bulk that way but I do cook double quantities nearly every time I cook because I work 3 days and so really need to get the food on the table pronto on those days.

And I have even been known to make a chicken pie from scratch with homemade shortcrust pastry. And when it was DS's birthday I made meat and potato pie/cheese and onion pie for 12 adults and 5 children - this was after his official party was over. Not sure this liking for pies is a good thing though as I struggle to get rid of my muffin top which is obviously more of a pie crust.

I work full time and at weekends still feel a bit awkward about what to give DS (aged 2) for meals, guess it doesn't really come naturally if you[re not doing it every day.

i try to cook and freeze, but can't remember the last time i made anything that complicated! just bought a slow cooker so will experiment with that.

we go out for lunch at least one of the days at the weekend and DS eats what we eat, usually pizza, pasta, salad etc. otherwise i make massive use of frozen veg, in little chunks that can be bunged in the microwave, cold meat, like ham or chicken, that doesn't need cooking, sandwiches, fruit in every shape and form (again, no cooking) yoghurt, porridge, eggs etc.

i tend to keep it really simple, due to lack of time and imagination more than anyhting

and why oh why is there always a direct ratio between time taken to prepare a meal and willingness to eat it amongst toddlers????????? that's something that puts me off slaving in the kitchen as well as whatever i spend ages cooking is usually the food that is rejected

i dont see why you are all too busy to cook
if you are too busy to cook then what si left in life?
i mean eatign is living surely?

cnat stand the htough of spending half a day a week cooking.

and enid you are so rammed up yer own arse

So do you cook every day then cod?

I cooked two dishes of the mac cheese w bacon/leeks today at lunchtime when DS was doing dot to dot at the kitchen table, DD was sleeping and DH was being a lazy arse. We had leftovers from today's dish because took DS and his friend to the football and all had hotdogs so only half portions of dinner. Leftovers will do for lunch tomorrow for me and the kids.

every single day sometimes 2 evening meals too

i look froward to eating

Oh have to admit I am quite a fan of eating.

its to me like saying " oh breathign i amm faaaaar too busy to breathe"

think you will have upset somebody.

Cook 3 nights a week otherwise sooooooooo much is thrown in bin

I'm in the baulk and freeze camp, but I don't ever spend half a day cooking at the w/e. Just the two or three times a week that I cook from scratch I don't double up I make 3/4 times the quantity and freeze. This means every time I cook from scratch I have meals for three more days that only need heating up.