Maybe it's because I like food that I don't find it a challenge to prepare meals everyday for my family.
Breakfast is usually very simple -- a few pieces of toast with butter and jam. Lunch is usually leftovers from the night before, or sandwiches if we are out and about, or jacket potatoes with an assortment of toppings. Dinner is the main meal in our home so it's the one that I cook from scratch every day. On Sunday the importance of the Sunday Lunch takes over so I spend most effort at preparing a full roast on that day.
Even though I enjoy preparing and cooking food, I don't want it to take over my life by spending more time in the kitchen than I have to in order to prepare a decent family meal. I manage this in a few ways:
This series is growing! We have two new contributors to the series: Erin from Seven Little Australians and Counting, and Nicole from One Magnificent Obsession. Please head over to see what they have to say about how to manage cooking and homeschooling at the same time:
- In Plating Up, Erin shares how the key for her family to successfully juggle cooking is organisation.
- Nicole talks about Realistic Meal Planning for Homeschool Moms and shows us how to avoid eating Chik Fil A every night.
- Lucinda lets us in on How to Ensure Your Kids Eat Healthily When You Don't Enjoy Cooking.
- Julie shares her Strategies for Cooking Healthy for a Family and tells us about five strategies for preparing healthy meals when time is an issue.
- Chareen shows us how she is Homeschooling and Cooking a Healthy Adventure for her family.
- Bernadette reveals her Hippie Method: Food Philosophied, in which she tells us how she makes easy, delicious, and (relatively) healthy food from scratch - almost every day.
- Savannah has a Cooking Tip for the Home School Mom which promises to show us that even if you don't enjoy cooking there are ways to conquer the "What's for dinner?" question without calling Dominoes!
This post is linked up to:
1) Hip Homeschool Hop - 5/7/13
2) Hearts for Home Blog Hop #16
3) Homeschool Mother's Journal: May 10, 2013
4) Collage Friday - A Big Change and A Big Sale!
5) TGIF Linky Party #75
6) Creative Learning #14
7) Weekly Wrap-Up: The One That Was a Roller Coaster
8) Share it Saturday - Sensory Play Ideas
9) Sunday Showcase - 5/12/13
You are so right about practice. The more you do it the easier it is to put dinner on the table. So glad you are a part of this series, Hwee.
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by and leaving your kind comment, Savannah! :-)
ReplyDeleteI think working fast is a good one. I would probably be so much quicker if I could focus on doing one thing at a time, but I get so distracted I end up taking out the rubbish, watering the plants and rearranging the spice drawer while I'm trying to cook! I shall take your very sensible list and try to put it into practice! :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm about keeping it simple and quick too. Can't say I always like cooking, I go through phases.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lucinda and Erin, for stopping by and sharing your thoughts. I just like cooking and preparing food. I think it's the chemistry and change that take place from raw materials to scrummy food that excites me. :-)
ReplyDeleteI need to work on making a complete list to avoid multiple trips to the store each week. This would be both a money and time saver. I totally agree with keeping it simple. Now that spring is here, we are cooking out on the grill most nights. I love easy clean up!
ReplyDeleteOne thing I do to help cooking meals and saving time is to make double batches and serve the meal twice, warming it up on the stove or microwave, and having different side dishes so it seems like a totally different meal. For example, I might roast a lot of boneless chicken and one night is roasted chicken with rice and veggies and the next chopped chicken salad.
ReplyDeleteRobin - thank you for stopping by and sharing your tips. Making a weekly list has been a big step for me towards cutting on trips to the supermarket. Cooking out on the grills is such a summer thing to do in the UK. I'm glad to hear that you're already enjoying it where you are!
ReplyDeleteJessy - I work very much the same way as you do, i.e. cooking larger portions and warming it up for the following days. It really saves time and effort. Thank you very much for sharing your tip with us. It really works, doesn't it? :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat tips! Thanks for sharing with us at Share It Saturday!
ReplyDeleteColleen at www.sugaraunts.com