im stuck in a rut -HELP

jackie_w

Hi,

Im stuck in a rut when it comes to food. I used to be quite organised, and cook everything from scratch, but, about beginning of March or thereabouts, I kind of got lost (life getting in the way and I was stressed up to the eyeballs).

Anyway, I ended up buying convenience, processed food (oh the shame) and now, I cant get out of it. I have been so unorganised and would keep forgetting to take things out of the freezer, and then end up going to the supermarket and buying something. I mean today I had taken chicken breasts out of the freezer and my mind has went blank as to what to do with them!!!!! Needless to say ive made them fish & chips and the chicken breasts are still sitting in the fridge.

My freezers are full with things like, chicken (loads of chicken), beef, sirloin steak (although I have to say this does look like it has alot of fat one it yukk), gammon steaks, and 2 hams.
Now, when it comes to thinking what will I cook them for tea, my mind goes blank, and when I look through my recipe books, its like im not seeing the recipes IYSWIM.

I dont know how to get out of this rut, and im stuck as to what to make them for dinner. My oldest is a good eater, my youngest isnt really a meat eater, but loves vegetables. No of them will eat soup whereas DH and I love soup.

Another thing that sets me back is snacks. My kids (especially my oldest) is forever hungry. They eat fruit but they also want sweet things and im not very good at baking, any time ive baked something 9 times out of 10 it ends up in the bin, so im stuck with things there that I could make them.

How do I get out of this stupid rut and get back to making good old home made food.

I really need help with this.

Jackie

sunflower76

Why not post a full list of what you have in your cupboards / pantry / freezer and we can take a look at what you have and offer some suggestions as to what you can make?

With the chicken breasts you could have slapped some BBQ (or other sauce / marinade) on them and seved them with the chips.

I tend to glance at recipe books and not see what they are like you so every week I open a random book on a random page and if I have the majority of the ingredients then I cook that! It can result in some wierd and wonderful things that you wouldn't normally try!

Pooky

Why not have a family meeting and ask for their ideas, get them all to write a menu that they'd like to eat each week and try and find something they're all suggesting....

As for sweet treats, what about making up small pots of jelly...add fruit if you can get away with it too....another one that doesn't take so long to set is angel delight - mine love the banana flavour with chopped bananas. If you need something a bit more portable then go for the old favourite of choccy cornflake cake, they'll enjoy making them too.

I'm the worlds worst at remembering to get stuff out the freezer so I now do it before I go to bed - it's a habit to feed the cats, take something out the freezer and pop it in a container in the fridge to defrost.

HTH

mashup_2

On the snack front, even if you can't cook maybe your kids can. You don't say how old they are but most children love to cook and apart from the putting in and out of the oven my two have been able to bake fairy cakes, make flapjacks and simple biscuit recipes from about the age of 10. Weighing out and following a recipe is a skill they need to learn and from 10 they are much more accurate. I find too if they have made it they will normally eat it even if it tastes a little suspect!
Washing up after is a skill too and they might even progress to main meals if you are lucky. Sam Stern's books are good for encouraging children to cook proper food. Sounds like I'm encouraging child labour but a family meal is eaten by everone ao perhaps if everyone helped out a bit you might feel just a little less stressed too.
Good luck

jackie_w

Hi there,

Thank you every so much for replying.

In my freezers are -

chicken breasts (too many to count lol)
7 sirloin steaks
2 pkts stewing beef
4 pkts sausages
2 hams
pkt streaky bacon
pkt bacon
chicken pakora
vegetable pakora
5 gammon steaks
HM chicken stock (that must have been lying for about 4 months lol)

in my fridge -
1 doz eggs
yogurts
cold meat
cherry tomatoes
salad onions
milk
marg
butter
mayonnaise
natural yogurt

in my cupboards -

2 tins of spagetti
4 tins of beans
2 tins chopped tomatoes
various spices
self raising flour
bread flour
plain flour
cooking chocolate
cornflour
chocolate sprinkles & rainbow sprinkles
ground almonds
rice
pasta

So not alot in the cupboards

I really dont want to go and buy anything else until the cupboards and freezers are empty.

Jackie

jackie_w

mashup wrote: »

On the snack front, even if you can't cook maybe your kids can. You don't say how old they are but most children love to cook and apart from the putting in and out of the oven my two have been able to bake fairy cakes, make flapjacks and simple biscuit recipes from about the age of 10. Weighing out and following a recipe is a skill they need to learn and from 10 they are much more accurate. I find too if they have made it they will normally eat it even if it tastes a little suspect!
Washing up after is a skill too and they might even progress to main meals if you are lucky. Sam Stern's books are good for encouraging children to cook proper food. Sounds like I'm encouraging child labour but a family meal is eaten by everone ao perhaps if everyone helped out a bit you might feel just a little less stressed too.
Good luck

Hello there,

I agree with you with regards to children helping out in the kitchen after all how will they learn to cook if we dont show them, its just I need a bit of help too lol.

My boys are 12 and 4

Pink.

Hi Jackie,

I second Pooky's idea of sitting them all down and getting them to help you to meal plan. They'll remember things you've made before that you've forgotten all about.

I used to constantly forget to lift things out of the freezer (ours are in the garage so unless I'm out there I completely forget) so I asked Mr Pink if he would mind doing it and then I'd cook whatever he brought in the next day. That way he gets to choose what he fancies for dinner and it's become part of his regular night-time routine along with feeding the cat and locking up.

If you want ideas for what you have in the freezer, have a look at

The Complete Cooking Collection

That thread has different foods listed in alphabetical order and should give you lots of inspiration.

For snack ideas, these threads should help:

cheap/ healthy snacks

Healthy snacks for kids

Cheap healthy playground snacks

Really quick and easy/alternative snacks?


Pink

Patchwork_Quilt

Toast is a good snack and if you have a toaster, they can do it themselves.

How about making a Victoria Sponge mix in a square tin instead of a round one and then spreading cooking chocolate on the top instead of filling it with cream etc. That should be quite quick.

sunflower76

Here are a few ideas; You may need to buy a few additional bits and bobs but I hope it helps...

• Cook one of the hams and have ham, egg and chips. Use the leftover ham for a ham and chicken pie / cobbler using some chicken breasts.
• Toad in the hole
• Sausages and pasta with a tomato sauce
• Bacon / tomato ommlette
• Bacon and tomato quiche
• Chicken breasts stuffed with tomatoes & wrapped in bacon
• Chicken breast baked with a yoghurt & herb marianade
• Stewed beef (use tinned toms as a base)
• Pakoras and rice
• Gammon, pineapple and potatoes (use spring onions and mayo to make a nice potato salad
• Stir fried beef (from steaks) with rice and veg

And you've certainly got the ingedients for a victoria sponge with chocolate frosting and sprinkles!

Pink.

jackie_w wrote: »

My kids (especially my oldest) is forever hungry. They eat fruit but they also want sweet things and im not very good at baking, any time ive baked something 9 times out of 10 it ends up in the bin, so im stuck with things there that I could make them.

I made these this afternoon for my 15 year old ds who is always starving. They have a lot of butter and sugar in them but he's very slim and fit so he can get away with it. They contain lots of porridge oats and seeds too. I'm not a natural baker either, but he loves them and says they're really filling and they are sooooo easy to make.

Cereal/snack bars

5 oz butter
3 oz brown sugar
1tablespoon golden syrup

melt in a saucepan over a low heat.

7 oz porridge oats
½ oz mixed seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, sesame and linseed)
½ oz dessicated coconut
½ oz chopped nuts
small handful raisins or other dried fruit

Add dry ingredients into the syrup mix and stir until well coated.
Press into a well greased baking tin.
Cook at 180 degrees for around 20 minutes until lightly golden. Keep a close eye as they can burn easily.
Remove from the oven and mark slices with a knife but leave in the tin until completely cold or they’ll fall to bits when you try to get them out.

Nb I leave coconut and nuts out and add more fruit and seeds if these are being made for school as our school is a nut free zone.

Pink

Bitsy_Beans

A few suggestions for meals from my planner:
chicken curry
Roast chicken with cous cous (a Sainsbury's receipe- you can check out their website)
Vegetable chilli (if you want a meat free day)
Savoury sausage bake (another Sainsbury's receipe - am chuffing it as we speak!!!)
Sausage and lentil hot pot (slow cooker but could be done in oven)
Chicken and bacon potato hot pot
Chicken, Ham and spinach parcels
Chicken paella
Somerset Sausage casserole

Can you tell I eat a lot of chicken and sausage!! If you want any of the receipes please let me know and I'll post them.

As for snacks how about cupcakes? Dead easy and quick to make. Just a basic sponge receipe put into paper cases.
8oz SR flour
8oz sugar
8oz marg
4 eggs
Blitz together and cook on 180 degrees for about 15 mins (but check in case). You can make a quick icing from icing sugar and a little bit of lemon juice or water. Put it on, add some sprinkles and voila! You could also melt some chocolate instead and smear that on instead. These are something your kids could decorate or even cook if supervised.
Twinks hobnobs are very filling (although do have a lot of sugar in them) but if you want something sweet you can't go wrong with these!
Hope that helps.