Cooking for a family !

[AlienMama]

Hello mums,

I was reading this article the other day in which a lady was saying that "no one has got time to cook from scratch these days". I was so surprised. I seem to cook from scratch for us 4 every day, and twice a day at weekends.

I love cooking, and feeding, but I've recently found the whole thing super tedious. My kid have different tastes when it comes to food, one has egg allergy, and I often end up cooking different meals for the two of them. I realised I spend an awful lot of mental energy planning meals. Healthy balanced varied meals. It is exhausting.

How do you all cope ? Have you got secrets to share ?

Planning is definitely the key.

I've finally got back into doing this over the last 2-3 months and I love the fact that I know what we're eating and if I have to call into the shop on the way home it is usually for only one maybe two items and I'm not wandering aimlessly figuring out what to have and paying a fortune for it as I am shopping in a local convenience store.

We cook from scratch every day. I don't find it a chore at all. We cool most foods that's are simple and quick, so 'from scratch' doesn't need to mean fancy or complicated

Tonight:
Salad - made with spinach, cucumber, tomatoes, spring onions.
With hot beetroot ( from a packet, sliced warmed 3 mins in pan)
And hallomi ( sliced and grilled)
Garlic bread also for the kids ( just small baguette, with garlic/ butter/ parsley thrown inside)

All of 15-20 mins from start to eat

Thank you Heavenlypick, I think I need to plan ahead each week & be done.

Artandco, thank you for your menu suggestion. I don't normally find it a chore, only recently, because I try to vary and come up with new meal ideas that everyone might enjoy. Maybe It's just tricky with my kids.

I think a lot of people hear the phrase "cooking from scratch" and think of meals that take a lot of time - like a proper lasagne
In reality though, if you plan ahead, have a pretty well stocked store-cupboard it can be quite quick and easy i think....

I welcome ideas of meal cooked from scratch that don't take much time ?

We often get lots of meat and fish from butcher/ fishmonger, chop into pieces and marinate. Put pieces on wooden skewers. Then freeze.
Then on day we want to eat we just take however many skewers from freezer in morning. In evening they are defrosted, and we put on a grill machine ( or under regular grill). Just add some veg/ salad/ rice.

Meal from scratch cooked fast -
Pasta in many forms , tomato and mozzarella, carbonara, minestrone ( soup can also be fast and easy) mixed mushroom and thyme, smoked salmon with broccoli and lemon, bolognese (the hardest of all) etc etc

Rice- risotto, a constant twenty minutes work but only twenty minutes. Even faster is an oven baked risotto or jambalaya. Fried rice in its many forms.

Fish- faster than the things that go with it. Salmon new potatoes and veg, tuna with stir fry and noodles, cod with peas and sautéed potatoes. Baked in a bag/foil with tomatoes and black olives. Baked with ginger chilli and garlic on noodles.

Quesadillas

I used to love cooking and would make some lovely but time consuming things. I've fallen out of love with it since having the kids and it's become a bit of a chore day to day. I try to cook once for two meals where I can so things like bolognaise, chilli etc I always make double or treble and freeze some. I like things that I can prep during the day whilst the dc nap and just put in the oven later in the day. A favourite is Chorizo and Halloumi bake, it's sweet potato, red onion, red pepper chopped up with some Chorizo (sliced from a ring) a little oil and some paprika in a baking dish (I do this during the day and put it in the fridge). Bake for 45 minutes then slice some halloumi on and return to the oven for 5 minutes. The children eat before us as dp gets in too late (they're 2.6 and 11 months)so I'm afraid they have theirs reheated the next day without the halloumi (they don't like it)but with a slice of bread or some cous cous.

That bake sounds good, nicky.

Thank you for great recipe ideas.

ooh Nicky. Your bake recipe has just been added to my meal list. Sounds wonderful :)