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if you're a good cook and dont like to compromise because you're busy...
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Anonymous
| what kind of ridiculous things do you do? I'm feeling really silly today. I'm pregant with #2, exhausted. I'm a FT WOHM, weekends are for seeing DC, getting errands done, and getting ready for the week. I no longer cook for an hour every evening like I did before kids, but I somehow cant seem to let go of food perfectionism. Today during naptime, instead of resting myself, I made a lasagna (and one for the freezer), prepped veggies for a shepherd's pie (reminder of that recipe courtesy of this forum), made rice for a fried rice dish later this week, boiled eggs for the week, and here's the ridiculous one: made roux to freeze from beef drippings I saved earlier in the week so the next time I roast beef I can make gravy before the roast is done. I'm insane, and tired. But at least I can have real beef gravy one of these days! Any kindred spirits out there/ |
Anonymous
| Obviously, you enjoy cooking. I don't see what the problem is. If you are looking for time savers, utilize your slow cooker. Cook in batches and freeze. What the hell, spend the money to buy the pre-cut veggies for stir frys, the pre-peeled garlic cloves-I even freeze leftover wine to cook with instead of just throwing it out. Don't stifle your creativity, accomodate it. BTW, I'd love to eat at your house (when things calm down a little). Also, check out Nigella Lawson's cookbooks-she makes good seem easy and she doesn't cut corners. |
Anonymous
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Thank goodness there's someone else like me out there! Mostly it's baking: when the baby goes down, I make cookies, cake, pie, whatever we're trying to have on hand for the week. I also make stews and soups for the freezer (or muffins for the freezer). I made apple butter (canned!) twice this fall (I did make in the slow cooker for a change, but I still had to do the actual canning).
Nearly everyone I know sees cooking as a chore and doesn't understand why I'd do that over sleeping. |
Anonymous
OP, exactly how pregnant are you?  That kind of list reminds me of what I was cooking, oh, about 2 days before I went into labor!
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Anonymous
Oh dear, I wish! Just finishing up my 1T, so we'll have to use the roux well before the new arrival. 9:21, we sound similar (though I'm not a great baker), but I get so annoyed with myself when DS wakes up and I've only taken 10 minutes to sit down and relax or east something. Must rest more! |
Anonymous
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Wow, I can both identify with your not wanting to compromise on the cooking and am impressed by your fortitude in actually accomplishing that list during naptime. Am while pregnant to boot! Maybe I am lazier than I realize or maybe the no dishwasher has effected my cook determination more than I thought.
But reading this post just reminded me of an idea I had. Wouldn't it be great to have a group of friends that could get together like once a week or twice a month or something to eat, talk and prep some meal or easy family foods to have on hand? Sort a Supper Club for dinner prep - but with ingredients we want and with our meal planning/recipes. I am a stickler for local/organic/healthy/non-processed foods but I find it a difficult to maintain with a demanding 1yr DD. And I could really use some more friends to play with myself and learn new cooking tricks. I can just see it now, a kitchen full of chatting ladies/fellas cooking, chopping and baking while the kiddies playing in the adjacent room...ah. Does anything like this exist? Or do you think anyone else would be interested in it? |
Anonymous
| I have read of clubs like that pp in the Washington Post where one family makes say 6 lasagnas, one makes 6 chickens, one makes 6 meatloafts and then everyone has a meal for each day of the week...sounds fun if you can find people interested in doing the same. |
Anonymous
I think this sounds great! |
Anonymous
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I've been using Dream Dinners for premade meals for a few months. It's been great for our family. You go (we go on a Saturday) pre mix / assemble 10 to 15 dinners, store them in your freezer, take them out to defrost and cook.
I'm not much of a cook, so better, fresher, and less expensive than take out. Not the same as from scratch e.g., fairly standard canned marinara sauce and bbq sauce reappears quite regularly. .. . |
Anonymous
I feel sorta weird saying this in an anonymous chat room, but I would seriously join this--am also a stickler for local/organic/non-processed. I have gotten totally lazy since having DD (who is 7 months). I cannot wait until she is ready for risotto... |
Anonymous
Oh my gosh, me too. Pregnant with #1 now, and I am dreading the loss of time to devote to local/organic/unprocessed food. The above idea is a fantastic one! |
Anonymous
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I love to cook so I think cooking during nap time is better than resting. I also love freezing 'real' food for later when things are too crazy to cook.
i have compromised a HUGE amount since having kids. I used to make every single thing from scratch. I have even made my own tofu and soy milk, just to do it. The one thing I will admit to here is that I now use bouillon. Also powdered garlic and onion. |
Anonymous
| I make homemade cereal bars. It started out w/ my older who had a dairy intolerance but now I just can't stomach the idea of the processed kinds. |
Anonymous
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Wow there are others like me!! I get a lot of grief from friends that I need to let more go, especially when it comes to weekday dinners. But I love good food and I love to eat my good food and I want my kids to appreciate good food.
I try to make 2 dishes on Sunday for the week and focus on weekdays on the "faster" recipes from Epicurious. Speaking of bouillon my favorite find is "Better than Boullon" it is in a jar (at WF) and it is excellent when you need extra chicken or beef broth, they also make veg too. |