With the best will in the world, whilst I was working I would end up buying convenience food - I don't mean ready meals and microwave chips - but things like shop-made pancakes, the odd currant loaf, ready-made pizza and the like...
Since I gave up work to stay at home with my toddler, the kitchen is running more smoothly - and I find we are ordering virtually no take aways, are less tempted to stop out for cake and coffee, because there is usually something better to eat at home, and I've cut out a lot of convenience food shopping.
This is what I've done so far:
- Started using the breadmaker to make Raisin Bread - so much nicer, and so much less sugary than the supermarket version;
- try to make a fruit cake-type cake or loaf every week, so that there is always something sweet to eat;
- moved to making my own pizza dough and toppings - a huge improvement on the shop ones.
- batch cook - now I have more time I find I can get 4 or 5 different options in the freezer - so tend to have soups, stews, spag bol, chowder etc ready to defrost.
will avoid lots of shop bought products - so will only eat sponge or puddings or scones etc if I make one - cooking up batches of pancakes etc. Would always make custard from scratch etc.
However, I still buy stuff like baked beans, bread (as it seemed a bit of chore to bake every day for sandwiches), danish pastries, hot cross buns, crisps (surely you can't make these at home?), biscuits (blush), tomato sauce, pasta and noodles and the like?
Am I missing a trick? Do other people make things like this at home, or do I have the balance right, and the other stuff isn't worth the extra effort?