Need some Mumsnet confidence boosts

[Kc1009]

Hi All,

So I'm on a complete downer and never asked for a boost on her but I will try anything at the moment. I feel like a total and utter failure as a mum and a wife. I have been with my husband (manchild) for 11 years now and married for 6, I have two Lovely (evil) girls aged 3 & 4. and I am failing in all departments especially cooking...............

every meal I cook is either uncle bens, homepride, or erm hang on homepride or maybe dolmio if the husband is not home.
Every time I try and cook something from scratch it is a disaster, epic fails all round, i have NO confidence what so ever in the kitchen but I am so desperate to be able to cook from scratch, such as shepherds pie, chilli, spag bowl, some other lovely meal that i cant do from scratch.

I find recipes and get all excited and panic and pull out good old homepride. people say to me "oh i just chuck in a bit of this and a bit of that and hey presto" seriously it is not that easy (Sobbing)

My husband is always moaning that all i ever do is mince and chicken, well that's because that's all i know. i tried a pork and apple hotpot thing at the weekend, potatos on the top didn't cook and pork was a dry as a bone. (yes i sat upstairs sobbing eating a bar of galaxy whist pretending i was putting on a new pair of socks, One day someone will realise my stash of chocolate is in my sock draw and I'm not actually going to change my socks but eating chocolate so i dnt have to share Evil mummy)

Needless to say i feel so useless as i am a stay at home mum and the best thing i can do is clean, not cook, not look after my children, just clean. House is always spotless even with two young children and a manchild in the house.

Ive even thought about trying to find cooking lessons but no such luck there. So here i am, can some of you lovely parents help me!!!!!

Thank you for reading

[ShowMeTheElf]

If your beef stew is bland and watery OP, make sure you taste everything before serving and tweak if necessary: if your stew is too watery, add a little flour or cornflour (make it into a thin paste with cold water first) so it doesn't go lumpy). If it tastes too bland season with salt and pepper or add a stock cube or some spices or herbs.
The mistake I made with stew when I was starting out is that I used 'better quality' meat and cooked it more quickly. The best stews are made with really sinewy cuts cooked long and slow. Try something like shin beef, fried off really quickly on high so the surface is well browned. season, put into dish and sprinkle over some flour. Add carrots, onions, whatever you fancy, stock to just cover, and pop in the oven for at least 3 hours on low. Take out and taste so you can tweak as necessary. Beef takes more salt than you think.

[OldBootNewBoots]

waves - I'm a useless cook too with an incredibly fussy DH. Almost everything I touch turns out badly :) I made a grey leek/potato/mushroom soup this weekend I'm going to have to bin as who is going to eat grey soup? That said, my best successes have been from River Cottage Baby & Toddler - good for all ages, they have a puff pastry spinach 'pizza' and spag bol you can use as the base for a cottage pie if you stick sweet potato mash on the top that the kids and DH love. Mumsnet's youtube food channel has some good ideas too.

[ShowMeTheElf]

Old, mushroom soup is always grey or taupe... If it tastes good, eat it :-D

[OldBootNewBoots]

i know, it's unfortunate that the mushrooms look like little bits of slug. I may try blending :)

[Kc1009]

Wow, have not been able to get back on this for a while, Badcat Christ you make me look awful look at you go you must be so so proud of yourself and your mum must be as well.

Thank you so much for all your messages, you have certainly made me feel better and I have actually for the last two nights cooked from scratch, last night I did a chilli husband moaned it was dry but i thought it was ok. and there was 4 clean plates at the end so thats all that matters and tonight I did a stew and omg it was lush, even the husband loved it, 3 clean plates my oldest refused to eat it before she even sore it hit the plate, (phase I'm hoping).

so tonight I am investing in a instant pot pressure cooker been arguing with myself for weeks but due to black Friday I thought I would take the plunge. so will be turning to mumsnet.

Thank you so much for your insight and any lovely recipes please please share, my confidence has only grown because of you guys.

[Shizzy]

Good on you Kc1009!

[hollinhurst84]

Jamie Oliver ministry of food is a great book

Chilli - if it does turn out dry then serve it as tacos with lettuce, sour cream, cheese etc

This is a mega easy curry recipe, just check the chicken is cooked and I leave the peppers out as I don't like them!! The first thing he puts in is coconut oil but use any oil

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=937236373016966&id=201801253227152&refsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com%2FJoeWicksTheBodyCoach%2Fvideos%2F937236373016966%2F

[hollinhurst84]

Oh I forgot fajitas - sometimes I cheat and get frozen crispy chicken type pieces, cook them then in a wrap with salad, sour cream, sweet chilli sauce etc

Here's a really easy chicken pie recipe too
https://www.thebodycoach.com/blog/holdtightforjoeschickenpie73.html