Oh god please help me (ashamed)

[belly36]

OK, I used to work full time and DS1 (aged 4) used to go to nursery full days 3 days a week.

I worked from home on Monday and DH had fridays off. So I only had to cook meals at the weekends and mondays (for DS I mean).

Now I'm at home and he's going to nursery 3 mornings. So I need to feed him in the evening.

So far I have been a terrible mother and he has had spagetti hoops on toast twice in one week and spagetti bolognaise made with Dolmio. Not to mention sausage and mash.

I really need ideas for things to cook which can be prepared quickly as I have a newborn too. I'd love to be one of those people who has a meal planner for the whole week, not the person who looks in the cupboard half an hour before feeding time.

I have Annabel Karmel here (the book, not the woman unfortunately) which makes me weep at the level of work involved.

I have some good local shops, including a butcher and a baker with Waitrose being only a short bus ride away.

I am an OK cook when I bother, I'm vegetarian but I also cook meat.

Please any ideas? Also I need to build up my storecupboard, I see storecupboard recipies but I never have the ingredients. What should be in my (very very very small) storecupboard?

There'sa nothing wrong wrong with Dolmio or sausage and mash.

Put away the book and relax.

Give him some banana and yoghurt too

he will be fine

and make yourself a nice cup of tea

Pasta and pesto
Fish fingers, new potatoes and peas.
chicken pasta and peas.

Why can't you just feed him what you are eating?

Hey dont stress your beans .

Lots of children have less than that even.

things like cottage pie,meatballs,chicken and pasta,stews,jacket potatoes,cheesy mash and beans etc-are imo fine for a child for dinner followed with fruit and yoghurt and the jobs done.

Coco were you being 'mama' from the dolmio ad with your 'there'sa nothing wrong' comment?

You are putting too much pressure on yourself considering you are looking after a tiny baby. Go for the easy options and don't feel guilty about it. Good tip is to cook more than you need, if you are doing something from scratch and freeze the extra for using in the week. Slow cookers are good too. Bung a load of ingredients in a the beginning of the day and it cooks itself. Loads of easy recipes if you look online.
And definitely have that cup of tea!

When I cook 'from scratch' for mine, 18m and 3.3yo, I generally do something like chicken legs in the oven with potato wedges and veg.

Or lamb steaks with same, or pasta with jar of sauce plus cheese and bought garlic bread. Or a casserole type thing. Cottage pie is easy and you can freeze it.

On days when I can't be arsed, its fishfingers with peas and oven chips. Or occasionally chip shop tea about 1 x month

I am in a rut too though, as they won't eat mash, or roast potatoes, or jacket spuds. I do keep trying though. DS likes couscous, thats v quick too. It is so boring though, DD is so fussy - at the moment she would choose cheese sandwiches for lunch and tea every day.

Roast chicken. Is minimal effort involved and can provide a number of children's meals.
I do one every couple of days, so the first meal will be drumsticks with veggies, then the next day for lunch she'll have the breast meat with veggies, and then at some point what's left over gets turned into chicken mayo for toasted sarmies.

I have used Annabel Karmel, but it is totally unrealistic to cook those meals from scratch every day. Coco makes a very good point.

What I do do periodically is make a batch of something from her books - chicken or fish pies topped with mash, or cottage pie. Its acutally much easier, and I'll make six or eight little pot pies in ramekins and then freeze them. You can also sneak so many veggies into a pot pie. I cook once and have eight meals. So this morning I took a chicken pot pie out of the freezer which I will bung in the oven for DD's supper. Couldn't be easier.

Don't beat yourself up! I cook seven nights a week, and about 4 of those meals are 'convenience' meals - not readymeals, but just really quick/easy stuff like:

jacket potato with filling

pasta of some sort - tune and sweetcorn, passata & grated cheese, bolognese if I can be arsed, pesto etc

beans on toast with grated cheese

eggy bread + beans / scrambled egg on toast / omelette

pizza (I buy a cheap one and add my own toppings - veggie, ham etc)

Something from the freezer (fishfingers, fish cakes, veggie sausages etc) with mash or rice and steamed veg

You don't have to be whipping up gourmet stuff every night!

meltedmarsbars - more shame - I just eat microwave meals mainly.

We all eat different meals, DS has his at around 4.30-5pm, me and DH have different meals later on after bedtime. I am veggie and DH is a meat-eater (one who thinks veggie food is weird).

So that's 3 meals each evening (although DS and DH could have the same if the dish could be kept until later).

Make up the following and then batch freeze it
HOME MADE STUFF
Cottage pie- beef mince
Sheaperds pie- lamb mince
Spag Bol
Chicken Fingers
Fish fingers
fish pie
tuna tomato pasta
chicken and mushroom pie
Lamb burgers
Beef burgers
Mild korma with chicken, onion and peas
Mild chilli with beef and peppers

All of the above is easy to make masses of, divvy it up into portions and freeze, then all you have to do it take out what you want them to eat the night before. Have in your freezer peas, spinach, mixed veg, and have that with it.
If I am in a rush and the freezer is empty my DS has
smoked salmon, cheese, cucumber sticks, toast
pesto pasta with cheese and peas
cold ham, peas, cheese, avocado, hummus
beans on toast with a poached egg
quesidilla, with cheese, tomatoes,peppers and avo on the side.

Yoghurt/Fruit for pudding.

Hope that helps. I work 4 days a week.

Make a big stew (beef or lamb) one day and freeze lots of small portions.

Macaroni cheese.

Cauliflower cheese (quick to make, also freezes well)

A favourite of mine from Annabel Karmel's book is her Neopolitan tomato pasta sauce. It's made with carrots and cream cheese (as well as passata etc) so very nutritious. Also easy and quick to make. Also delicious!

Thanks all. I used to make a really nice macaroni cheese too, now I buy it. Just realised how ridiculous that is. I think once DS went to nursery 9-5 I got lazy/lost confidence.

Plus used to make lovely (so I am told) stews.

Feel slightly better as DS has also had roasted chicken salad this week. Even if I find raw chicken particularly icky, I have to pick it up with a knife and fork to put it in the oven tray.

Pasta is brilliant in all its variety, and is quick, easy, and healthy :

• make a basic tomato sauce - I take a tin of chopped tomatoes and simmer it with 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and a couple of whole cloves of garlic for 20 minutes. Then fish out the garlic cloves, throw them away and blend the rest. Keeps in the fridge for a week.

• then add to it as you wish. My DC have tomato cheese pasta twice a week - boil pasta of choice, stir through fridge cold tomato sauce you've made, pasta heats it up and grate on cheddar or parmesan. Serve with some veg on side.

• DH likes meat and heat, so I do same for him but add either some cut up cooked chicken or bacon and some chilli.

• creamy calming sauces are also good - this is brilliant - do a piece of chicken on the side for DH.

I grew up eating everything on toast - beans on toast, poached egg on toast, sardines on toast. These are great quick meals which if supplemented with a bit of veg on side, fruit for pud are really well balanced too. I think meat a few times a week is plenty.

In terms of store cupboard, I always keep:

• oils and vinegars eg balsamic etc
• tinned tomatoes
• baked beans
• eggs
• flour esp plain
• sugar - many different types for baking, natch!
• tinned fish eg tuna/anchovies/sardines
• coconut milk for curries
• pasta/rice/noodles/couscous
• dried fruit and nuts
• spices and herbs
• sauces eg soy/fish/ketchup etc

Sausage and mash a big fave here. Fishfingers we also have regularly. Don't be too hard on yourself!

Storecupboard:

Tinned fruit
Wholemeal tortillas
Tuna
Sweetcorn

I tried an Annabel Karmel recipe the other night. Took an eternity. However, my daughter did demolish her tea, unlike the usual reaction to quicker meals I make.

The only other thing she tends to eat with gusto is pasta with tomato sauce. I worry she eats that too often (along with tuna sandwiches, one of the only lunchtime products she agrees to).

that's not my monkey when you freeze, do you defrost before use? or cook from frozen?

Si, nickschick