There have been a lot of discussions lately in Gather as well as other Internet groups about using convenience foods to have more time left to spend with family.
As far as I'm concerned, that is a crock and a cop-out!
With the price of food steadily rising, ready-made convenience foods are also more expensive. You can feed a family of four several healthier home-cooked meals for pennies per person if your money is spent wisely.
The excuse that you work full time and have little time to spend in the kitchen is not necesarily valid when you can place a home-cooked meal on the table in 30 minutes or less.
If you have a crockpot or slow cooker, learn to use it for best advange. If you don't have one, it would be a good investment. Your meals cook while you're away at work.
The other excuse that you have small children underfoot can be taken care of when you pal with other moms in your neighborhood to take turns for a couple of hours a week looking after the toddlers so that the other moms can prepare and save a few do-ahead meals in the freezer. Older children can help you in the kitchen and I guarantee you they will enjoy it if you turn it into a game and don't critize anything they do wrong.
Where there is a will there is a way.
I raised 3 small kids and my husband's teenager. I was a stay at home mom for several years and I worked part time for a while when the kids were small and later full-time after the last one went to High School......I was also very involved in their schooling, PTA and extra-curricular activies (sports, Scouts, Campfire Girls, 4 H), so I was always busy.......but I cooked during all this time. I confess that I had a cook for several years after I started working full time, (thank you, Queen Esther!), but still during that time I was able to get in the kitchen and cook meals to eat two nights a week and during weekends.
All three of my children are good cooks today and I credit it to their helping me when I was in the kitchen cooking when they were growing up.
In this day and age when we have so many convenient gadgets and the latest in cookware and equipment available, cooking can also be a lot fun.
What better way is there than spending time with family while spending time in the kitchen? It is quality time. It is a way to prepare to nourish your bodies as well as your souls. It is a way to monitor and control the quality of the food that goes into your bodies. It is a time honored way to show your family how much you really care......besides taking pleasure in giving of yourself and showing off your talents in the kitchen.
As I mentioned in comments on several articles around Gather..... it does not have to take a lot of time to cook meals from scratch. It is healthier for you and your family.....and if you can't come up with your own creative ideas, there are hundreds of cookbooks out there that point the way to cooking easy meals with few ingredients.
You do not have to be a "gourmet cook" to prepare good, nourishing meals.
As many of you know, I love to cook....but I don't particularly like to spend all day in the kitchen, and I don't unless the meal I'm preparing is a complicated one for a special event or holiday. I do not do complicated often, I can tell you that!
For everyday meals (and even fancy ones) there are many little shortcuts, hints and tips that will help in making the time you spend in the kitchen a bit more fun.
It takes the same amount of time to double a recipe.
It takes the same amount of time to bake 2 or 3 pies, cakes or casseroles at one time. Saves on energy also, as you're using the same oven just once to prepare 2 or 3 meals.
Quiches are easy to make and very forgiving. Quiche and a salad make a good combination and can be a very satisfying meal. You can use almost anything as an ingredient with quiche and you can use deep dish ready made shells to good advantage. You are feeding the family something you made and taking advantage of a convenience packaged food item! If your husband claims he doesn't do quiche....just call it an 'egg pie'.
Buy ground beef or turkey in bulk when it is on sale. Mix your own meat loaves, meat balls and hamburgers all at one time, using the same ingredients. Store in plastic freezer bags and freeze.
You can also use some of the ground beef or turkey and make ahead chili or spaghetti sauce to save in the freezer. Save in ziplock bags and store flat to save space.
Find out how your freezer can be your best friend. It's like having your own private deli or fast food joint!
You can make soups out of any ingredients. Soup and a homemade sandwich will be healthier and more nourishing than a burger and fries from take-out. Soup can be made in large quantities and frozen in portions of how-ever many people are in your family.
Don't get me wrong. I am not adverse to using some convenience foods, but I use them to add to foods I'm preparing from scratch...as you can read in this article, where I used store bought pasta sauce as an ingredient in the chicken fricasse....even though I like to make my own pasta sauce (see link below).
Get your children involved in helping prepare the meal. They can peel veggies, and depending on age, cut them. They can mix ingredients. They will feel great pride in their accomplishments when they help in the kitchen....and who knows? You just might be grooming the next Great American Chef!
The following is a collection of articles I have written in the past to make your kitchen experience more fun and less drudge, plus more....
I hope you can find some ideas on how these tips can save you time and money.......and give you extra time to spend with the family doing "other" fun things! ;-)
Leftover juices and canned syrups
Making the taste of truffles go farther
MAKING FRIENDS WITH YOUR FREEZER
EQUIPPING A NEW KITCHEN - Back to Basics
More Kitchen Tricks, Hints & Tips
And here are some ideas on getting started making quiches or 'egg pies'....remember, it is easier to make several at a time and freeze some of them for later.
Sonia's Deliciously Easy Onion Pie
"Ratatouille" Pie - for the real men who claim they don't eat quiche
Inexpensive and yet easy, healthy and good..!
Pimento Cheese Spread...plain and simple
Cuban Red Bean Soup "A La Crock-Pot"
Miscellaneous info
Using your emergency food stock
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link to this page
Comments: 43
BTW - with a cuisinart even pie crusts are easy. Then you KNOW what is in the food you are serving your family - that is so important! Again - thanks! I hope you win some converts.
Meanwhile, thought I'd post a link to a "casting call" for the Food Network's new kitchen training show. Might be up somebody's alley here.... ; )
Food Network casting call
Dead on! Lack of time is no excuse not to cook and having more time with family is no excuse not to cook. Not cooking is pure laziness and indicates a lack of concern with your family's health.
As far as I'm concerned, that is a crock and a cop-out!
Sing it, Sister!
- same as puff pasty.....I know how to make it, but there is a brand that makes an excellent one and saves me some time.....;-)))
Ms. M: MM: Thank you for your comment and the link!
Donna: I would love to read your take on the subject....Woman, go forth and write!
Kevin: I just felt someone had to speak up for the masses...hehehehe! So many people are been led like lambs to slaughter. It is time they learned cooking from scratch doesn't necessarily equate to hard work or taking time from the family.
St. Joy:...I'm singing as fast as I can....!
Patricia: So glad Aaron sent you to me....and I can always take in another child...;-)))
I cooked 3 meals a day, working full time, while my daughter was growing up. We had a lot of pasta or rice, sugo and salad, but no "fast food."
The answer to the "age old dilemma" is time management.
Your choir is here in force, I see, and joining me in the Amen! I just hope the neediest of "sinners" are out there in the congregation--and actually listening!
I'm with Richard. Crusts are so easy to make in the Cuisinart that I refuse to use store bought crusts. Don't think one has ever even once entered my house. Really, while a Cuisinart makes the crust a snap, even using a fork isn't all that hard.
I, too, have done 3 meals a day while working full time. If you value your family's health, it's a no-brainer. My bro and SIL disagree--so my niece has eagerly been helping me in the kitchen and learning to cook since she could barely see over the edge of the counter.
Donna, go forth and write indeed! This is a gospel that needs repeated preaching!
As to the neediest "sinners" .....there have been 17 views and only 11 comments - counting mine.....so somebody out there is reading....maybe they just don't want to hear the message.
Gee, someone ought to write a book about getting in the kitchen and Cooking With Your Kids...
I need to go check out some of your recipes. They sound awesome!
Janet, it is well worth the effort to cook for the family whenever possible....Glad you can at least cook at work sometimes...
Aaron, hope you like the Arroz Imperial... I love it. As to saffron, yes, it is very expensive but I think well worth it in some recipes...for others, if you can find the Bijol, that will work, but of course, the taste is not the same.... You need to read the labels on the yellow rice mix, sometimes loaded with MSG. The mango parfait should be delicious! Buen apetito!
Donna, I had the same reaction except I was eating a Rainier cherry.... I almost swallowed the seed ;-)
Thank you, Adelaide...hope you enjoy the recipes.
fine article, and thanks for keeping the conversation going. you know I'm already on the cook from scratch side -- hope more people will try it out just because it can be fun and creative if for no other reasons. and congrats on the book, too, Beth.
.....and thank you too, Kerry!
You mentioned MSG in one of your responses and I wanted to mention that there's nothing inherently wrong with MSG. It occurs naturally in tomatoes, grilled meats, parmesan cheese, soy sauce, and hundreds of other foods. But just as you want to control the amount of salt, fat, sugar, and even sweet and sour in your food to get the best possible flavor, you want to do the same with MSG. When you buy processed food you don't get those choices.
Thanks, yes...I know that MSG can be found naturally in many foods, after all, it is made from a sea weed!
But many people are allergic or have reactions to MSG....I am one of them and so is my sister and one brother.....I try to caution people from adding MSG to any food.....yes, it defines and increases the taste, but the consequences are not pleasant (to some people)
;-)
So good to 'see you' again...I've been missing both you and Deb since this whole Gather thing changed so much....and I was gone for so long.
I love an old fashioned pot roast with potatoes and carrots! .....but being Cuban, I HAVE to serve it with white rice ;-)))
I have two of them Tonia....a small 2 cups one I use all the time and a large 10 cup I use for get togethers and for catering. I can cook rice on the stove, but why when the rice cooker is so convenient???
This is a fabulous article.
I hope to see an article about that! LOL
Apryl, that is the way it's supposed to be....families eating together and sahring a meal and their day....unfortunately, there are too many distractions and schedules to meet in this busy age.... but families can still make it a point to eat together once or twice a week or whenever possible.... ;-)
Don't worry about learning to cook for two...continue cooking for larger group and freeze the rest for days when you can't or don't want to cook!
We have to teach our kids as much as possible for how to cook or they will rely on buying all these convenice items and think it's a good way to feed the family all the time.Some of my sons teenage friends have never been even givin the chance to crack an egg,It's a shame..They come over and cook things at our house...They think they don't have to learn because they are boy's ~~~ (My boy's will know how to fend for themself and help out in the kitchen they help out alot).
I always hear that people don't have time to cook from scratch ~ I don't like to spend all day in the kitchen too , I freeze things for those days I don't want to cook,use the crockpot sometimes so I don't have to tend the stove...
I like the way you posted to make your meatballs ect..all at once and freeze,I buy 90% meat in bulk ,so that is a good idea,as I freeze it already,just taking it a step further and make into the meals I'm gonna use it for.
*Cooking,*Anything & Everything To Do With Cooking*
It was so good to hear your voice at the Gather preview.
Connie, it was good to hear your voice also! Thank you...and thanks for your article/post on the upcoming updates!
Kitchen time is quality time. A lot of talking gets done over a cutting board. Especially if the topic is sensitive or difficult, it's sometimes easier to discuss things if your hands and eyes are busy doing something else. It takes the pressure off. There is a comfort in kitchen work. Doing routine tasks is calming, and frees your mind to do other things, or to just relax. The thing I hated most about being single was having no one to cook for.
Now that there are just the two of us - we yak while I prepare and he sets the table and pours the drinks or steams the corn and potatoes. It's a great way to unwind and spend time together.
Good quality food is important - everybody should make it their business to know what they are putting into their bodies. I don't mind cooking from scratch, if you know what you are doing some of it is as fast as so called fast food and so much better for you.
By the way - glad to see you back:)
Thanks...I'm very glad to be back