PLEASE help us eat properly!!!

Pink_butterfly_3

Hi

My and DH have never had the best diet, and since having our kids (18 months and 4 months) it has hit rock bottom.

For example, I don't think we've had anything but takeaway for the last two weeks :eek: ! Its difficult because my DH doesn't get home until 6.30/7.00pm so by the time the kids are in bed and we've settled down we can't be bothered to cook anything. When we do get a big shop we end up getting either getting ready meals or buying fresh and then wasting it all and getting takeaways. We already spend a fortune on two lots of nappies, formula etc. etc. so we really need to cut dowm on this ridiculous spending!

I really want to get out of this lazy lazy routine but I feel it would mean ME doing all the preparing and cooking and to be honest, i'm certainly no delia!!

Can anyone give me any tips on how to sort our diet out? Can I make meals and then freeze them? Should I make a meal plan??

Please help :A

elona

Have you had a look at the slow cooker threads.

I have a 6 and a half litre Morphy Richards one and I can throw in veg, stock cube or chicken or ham hock and have a huge pot of soup later in the day. It will cook while you are out - or busy.

Toxic_Lemon

Yes, I agree about the slow cooker. If you really want to be lazy, buy a bag of casserole frozen veg, some meat and a pack of casserole mix (Coleman's or Schwartz, etc). Add with water and leave for the day.

I reckon that's faster than picking up the phone!

lynzpower

First off, your best bet is to understand baby-steps. None of us became delia overnight, even delia herself!!

Menu plans are a brilliant way to start.

Lots of healthy, nutricious & cheap meals can be made quickly- think about good quality pub food, it can be on your table in 20 mins.

Some meals I make that are really quick, cheapish and highly nutricious

1. Chicken or turkey stir-fry.

Take chicken or turkey or frying steak cut into small strips
take peppers, mushrooms, courgette, mange tout onion etc cut into small strips ( this should take less than 5 mins)
tablespoon of oil in a wok or frying pan
chuck the meat in and quickly quickly stir till the meat is coloured.
Add the veg
Add a shop bought sauce ( i get ours from tescos or chinese supermarkerts wher ethey are cheaper)
Chuck in some beansprouts if you want and stirfry these too
this shoul,d take no more than 10 mins, you want the veg crisp.
serve with srtraight to wok noodles, instand noodles ( if you want to bre very quick) or rice. Scoff.

Done, less than 15 mins.

Spag bol
Chop onion & slice mushrooms ( 2 mins)
in frying pan with no oil on a medium heat fry off the mince then drain it in a colander to get rid of the spare fat. ( 5 mins)
Get a big pan and put in the mushrooms the onion, the drained mince & 2 tins of chopped toms. teaspoon of dried herbs & stir
put on a low heat for 20 mins till the mushrooms have shrunk.
Meanwhile do pasta in another pan ( some pastas are quick cook at 6 mins)
drain the pasta stir in the sauce Scoff

prep no more than 10 mins
cooking no more than 20, but part of that time you dont need to be watching it.

There are SCORES of recipes on here. Many of them as quick and easy as this.

Dont be scared, it IS possible to eat healthily, quickly and cheaply - and you dont need to be delia to manage it either

jcr16

the ages of your children mean they are eating normal meals. so when u cook their meal cook enough for u and your oh and then re-heat it. so put something simple in like jacket spud in afternoon and have a topping that is quick , ie tuna , beans , chesse etc.

try to slowly to get used to cooking meals instead of change all at once. as it can seem daunting.

and i know it been said many a time. but meal planning is really good and helpful.

squeaky

We have a few threads collected about various aspects of getting started, with links to things like meal plans, shopping tips, and simple budgeting ideas:-

GETTING STARTED

A collection of assorted threads where people have asked "How and where do I start?" There are lots of different answers to browse here.




You don't need to do everything at once, as has been said, but a good browse should give you some ideas that you can start with.

Good luck

newlywed

When I do cook meals, I often cook double so that can go in the freezer for another night. You can defrost it in the microwave and then just heat it all thoroughly and you have your own ready meal.

I do this with Curry, Shepherds pie, lasagna, and any other meal that I cook too much of!

I work full time so meal planning is essential for me. I just get the meat or meal I've already made out of the freezer the night before put it in the top of the fridge to defrost.

Pandora123_2

Ditto on the slow cooker idea. We just bought a nice stainless steel one on the weekend, and have already made Greek Butter Bean and Artichoke Stew, Mushroom Barley Soup and Hot & Sour Soup. Tonight is Lentil Soup with Garlic & Tomatoes.

Pasta can also be whipped up in short order. Make a big batch of basic tomato-based sauce on a weekend, then freeze in one-meal portion sizes. You can customize it by adding olives, capers, veggies, etc when reheating.

Something else we do as a treat instead of a full-blown takeaway is to buy two small veggie curries (£4 total) then bake a couple of potatoes and serve the curry over the potatoes. A lot cheaper than a £13 takeaway!

newlywed

The other thing, is salmon or cod pieces cook nicely in the microwave in about 4 mins and while that's cooking you can heat up some tinned potatos (value ones are nice) and some frozen veg on the hob. That's dinner done in about 5 minutes or so, and healthy too

cupid_s

newlywed wrote:

The other thing, is salmon or cod pieces cook nicely in the microwave in about 4 mins and while that's cooking you can heat up some tinned potatos (value ones are nice) and some frozen veg on the hob. That's dinner done in about 5 minutes or so, and healthy too

Alternatively with this meal, if you have an electrical steamer - put the fish on the bottom, potatoes on next tier and veg on top tier and steam for about 12 mins or so.

It takes 1 minute to put it all in the bowls and you don't even have to spend the next 12 mins in the kitchen. You can go and sit down with a nice glass of wine

edit: chicken also steams nicely

Kazonline

Meal planning is certainly the key, and a few things I've learnt that help are the following.
First look at what you're doing for the next week (work, dr's, visiting etc) and get a rough idea of when you are going to cook and how long you'll have to do it.
2nd Whenever possible print off the recipie for each meal you are planning and put in a poly pocket (I use Tesco Value 40 pack for under 50p) I find this helps reduce time & effort hunting for future meal ideas and for recipie when about to cook.
3rd, shop online. It cuts down on your spend BIG time (especially if you use the shopping codes on MSE). IT's easier to find bargains this way, and to stick to your list (except Use by reductions)
4th, be proud of every meal you cook.

As well as the recipies on here I love to use http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/advanced_search.shtml and to get started I opt for the option of cooking with kids - that way I know the recipies are easy peasy.
I would also suggest you have a good, healthy snack at around 4pm to keep your energy up as I can imagine that by 6:30 you must be so hungry & tired that you can't think about cooking - I know I can't on the days that I've left it that late.
Cooking when you've little ones is VERY hard, but trust me, as they get older it will get easier. In the meantime experiment and try to build a file of recipies that you find easy to cook while with them.
Hope that helps a little,
Best wishes,
Kaz x