Do You Cook?
August 27, 2008 by Cherie Burbach
Filed under Parenting
I caught this post over at the tree hugging family a couple days ago and it got me thinking. The title of the post is:
“I don’t cook. So I made my eat-in-kitchen a fabulous walk-in closet.”
It’s about an ad that encourages people to use credit to “achieve their dreams” (like turning their kitchen into a walk-in closet.) Peggy at tree hugging family wrote about this because she encourages people to develop green habits of living. When I read this post, I instantly thought about a woman I saw on TV that had a fabulous house, massive kitchen, and completely empty cupboards. She didn’t even have plates or silverware. Her family ate out three meals a day.
I understand that busy folks sometimes grab fast food. Last night, for example, I had several appointments during the day and had to work at night to catch up. As a result, we ordered wings and fries from a restaurant near us. However, this is a rare event. Usually I cook dinner for my husband and mother every night.
After reading Peggy’s post I started to wonder if busy parents are able to cook each night or if they eat out. Or, in the case of most of my friends, do a combination of both. I enjoy the routine of having dinner every night with my family. I don’t believe eating out all the time gives us the same kind of bonding time and let’s face it – it’s too darn expensive!
I’m also not sure eating out saves us that much time. I challenge myself to find recipes that only take half on hour to cook, or can be done in the crock-pot. My new favorite is a dinner consisting of tilapia from Aldi (yes, Aldi!), rice, and biscuits. It takes half on hour from start to finish, is delicious, healthy, and costs a total of less than $2 a person. I also check out the Busy Family Meals blog here at b5 for easy recipes ideas.
My question today is if you or your partner cooks each night? If you do, what is your best advice when it comes to making dinner?
Yup, I cook every night. I am in Scotland and eating out is very expensive and there just isn’t the variety of family-friendly restaurants you have in the US. Best advice is to plan ahead. Nothing puts you off the idea of cooking more than standing in front of the fridge trying to figure out what to make with what’s lurking in there. Oh, and treat your freezer like a store cupboard. I make big batches of pasta sauce, casseroles etc to form the basis of meals – I dont freeze whole meals, but I freeze a lot of the components of them!
Loth: That’s a great tip. Freezing things in advance makes cooking much easier. Thanks!
Cherie, I’m glad my post got you thinking. : ) Thanks for the link too. I try to cook most nights. When I don’t it’s because I failed to plan ahead like Loth mentioned. Or I just want to get out. I’ve been disappointed in so many restaurant experiences, I can’t imagine having to endure that possibility each night — not that my cooking is always perfect!
Peggy: Thanks for the comment and for your post!
I’m with you on planning ahead. If I don’t, we end up eating fast food, which is usually not satisfying and expensive. The first thing I do in the mornings is pull out something for dinner that night. If I at least have meat defrosted I can whip something up pretty easily.
If we are going to have something adventurous then my wife tends to cook it on the weekend and freeze it. It does take up a lot of room in the freezer, but saves a lot of time. The only down side is if you make something like chilly it tends to become slightly waterier once its defrosted. Never thought of freezing components of a meal though, its a good idea. I cant imagine eating out all the time, the novelty would soon wear off.
Khaled
Smelly Piggies: I love the term you used: “something adventurous”! haha
P.S. Your website is really cute.
Thanks so much for the shout out, Cherie! There is absolutely no reason why people can’t enjoy healthy and delicious meals *with their families* at least several times a week. It can be fast, fun, and tasty
BTW, check out the “once a week food prep” method and the “once a month cooking” method on Busy Family Meals. I swear by once a week food prep myself
Cyndi:
LOVE the “once a week” and “once a month” food tips you give!
Perfect advice for busy families! (I like the once a week prep myself, too. I can’t think past once a week! haha)
Thanks choosen by my wife, who is quite creative she also has another called scruffymoo (neither of which are very manly) but great memorable names.