I was just responding to the post that suggested with children you couldn’t cook, due to time constraints

Might want to read that again. I suggested that it was more difficult to cook everything, from scratch, every day whilst working a twelve hour day and juggling 3 children.
Never suggested that it couldn’t be done.
Was making the point to the OP that not everyone has a couple of free hours in the evening to spare making your own bread and faffing about with spices.
It’s been my experience that people with no kids have no real appreciation of the amount of spare time that they actually have at their disposal.

Usually cook at home, although we do have stuffed pasta every now and then, the odd pizza and I don’t make sausages from scratch 🙂

It’s been my experience that people with no kids have no real appreciation of the amount of spare time that they actually have at their disposal. 🙂

I was dissapointed to notice it’s in Soreen Malt Loaf yesterday

Oh bugger. I hadn’t spotted that.

Late reply, obviously jam bo has never made egg on toast, if you put an egg in cold water then bring to boil for a total of 4 minutes, it would not even be close to being cooked, cooked as in a runny non snotty egg. The perfect egg takes 6 minutes if the water is already boiling. The other 4 minutes is getting organised and boiling said water and making a mug of tea.

I cook most days, Mrs Scape does the weekends. We have a repertoire of favourites, and I love trying to replicate authentic foreign dishes. Working from home means I can take time to get it right, and rarely rely on bought in sauces, with the exception of Chinese sauces like oyster or black bean etc.

This month’s successes include a curry Goat that took hours, but was without doubtb as nice as I’ve had it anywhere else. I love curries, so have a good range, including various flatbreads, but draw the line at naan…. Without a tandoor I’m not going to get it right, so we buy it from the bakery on the way home. That said, home made roti are my favourite anyway.

I like Italian, and spend hours making a proper ragu …. there is really no bought substitute.

I’m crap at rice, unless it’s a proper pilau or egg fried rice, in which case I have a couple of killer recipes.

Mrs Scape does an awesome roast or meat n two veg style dinner, not quite as adventurous, but all home cooked. her shepherds pie, casseroles or stews, various Moroccan tagines etc are to die for.

Family evening meal is sacrosanct. All at the table, and has been since the kids started eating proper dinners.

I was just responding to the post that suggested with children you couldn’t cook, due to time constraints I guess from the post. Personally i try to be a little bit aware about what i feed mine so prefer to cook from scratch or as near to it as i can. And no i’m not some knit your own yoghurt earth mother type – i just feel they should have healthy food.

It takes the same amount of time to rustle up a quick meal as it does to reheat a ready meal

Yeah that was my point.

If you’re pushed for time, this book has some good ideas Jamie’s 15 Minute Meals

Yes, it’s Jamie Oliver again and no, you won’t make the meals in 15 minutes, but they are speedy recipes. It’s better for everyday use than the 30 Minute Meals.

My favourite recipe is the Prawn Linguine

I run a pub so have far less time than those fortunate enough to have children. 😛
On my one day off I’ll eat out, rest of the time I’ll eat whatever the chef throws in my direction. Shepherds pie for lunch today.
When I do cook it’s always completely from scratch.

Yes, mostly cook from scratch every evening. Mrs Yak is gluten and dairy free so it’s easier and tastier to make stuff anyway. Exceptions are some curry pastes and for the kids – pizzas that I rely on for teas after late evening clubs or cycle coaching nights.

I am also up against time for most cooking, so either its quick pasta sauces from scratch – same time as the pasta boiling, or stuff like casseroles, jacket spuds, curries, roast meat where I can lob it in the oven and then do other stuff.

It’s been my experience that people with no kids have no real appreciation of the amount of spare time that they actually have at their disposal.

This! I’m unemployed and looking for a new job. To keep busy, I spend my days cooking, dog walking and studying. I’ve got loads of spare time and it’s driving me nuts.

We cooked before we had kids and we still cook now. As others have said, there are whole sections of the supermarket that we don’t venture into.

It’s possible to get a meal on the table in less than half an hour, so time’s really not an issue.

In my experience people with kids sometimes over exaggerate how much time they take up.

On my one day off I’ll eat out, rest of the time I’ll eat whatever the chef throws in my direction

It’s proper food though innit? I don’t suppose I’d bother cooking if someone did it for me.

I lived with a very odd Human for a while, he was incredibly unhealthy, rarely washed and only ate ready meals. He had the same 3-4 meals on rotation. I went shopping with him once and went down that aisle for the first time. WOW, every meal under the sun, and the packaging does look very tempting. I can see why people get drawn in if they don’t know any better.

slowoldman – Member

palm oil, just don’t start me on that one, it is in everything

Yep, very difficult to avoid completely. [/quote]

Stop consuming palm oil coz the greedy zombie maggots in my home town are destroying the entire virgin forest to plant this shite. Most get filthy rich at the expense of the naive native people and the unfortunate forest animals.

Consume UK locally produce rapeseed oil whatever instead …

Those plantation owners in my home town should be hand, drawn and quartered with me sipping ice tea watching them scream while they undergo their punishments … ya, including their entire family members young and old. Angry is an understatement …

The amount of destruction is so vast palm oil should be banned entirely in all products but China is consuming them like no tomorrow … They practically bought the entire piece of land, via corrupted officials, cut down the virgin forest, displace or kill all the animals and turn them into plantation … Brazilian forest is the next target …

😡

Reckon 90% of our food is ‘home cooked’, from individual ingredients. I do enjoy a takeaway or sausage egg & chips now and again though.
We usually have a vast collection of leftovers in the freezer so when one or the other is work g it’s easy to grab a pot of something and heat it up with some veg/rice/pasta.
Brother in law and wife, with 2 young kids, do absolutely no cooking. They even buy pre prepared mashed potato for the kids to have with their fish fingers… Shame really as his & my wife’s parents are such fantastic cooks you’d think he may have absorbed some of it at least, like my wife did.

Yes, most of my meals are ‘home cooked’ but i’m not going to pretend that i make my own bread or don’t use a jar of pasta sauce occasionally.

Two things. One, as a dad to 2 kids, get them off the iPad / XBox and involved in the cooking. It’s a life skill that’ll serve them far better than being able to play Fifa 14.

Second – a lot of people seem to be obsessed with culinary masterpieces. Making Thai curry sauce from scratch, rolling your own pasta, etc. The best meals I’ve had involve fresh ingredients cooked simply. A piece of salmon or a piece of chicken or a couple of lamb chops, grilled or oven baked for 15-20 mins and with some green beans or broccoli takes literally seconds to prepare and get going and then you have 15 mins waiting in which time you can interact with your family / help with their homework. Don’t misunderstand – if you WANT to spend two hours hand preparing dozens of herbs and spices from scratch because you enjoy it, and have the time to do it, then do it. But home cooking doesn’t have to mean masterchef*.

* I’d love to go on to Masterchef, for the 2 hour signature challenge and do a simple bit of fish with fresh veg. Read the paper / go for a bike ride for 90 mins, come back and knock it out in 30 mins. Might not ‘win’ but it’d taste **** brilliant.

Family life for 25 years mostly cooking, some snacking, some eating out , some ordering in.
Its only recently I have realised some people DONT cook tbh may give it a go but isnt factory food mostly shit!!?

edit: what theotherjonv said, especially the bit about life skills for kids, its on the list peeing, walking, talking, reading, writing, cycling, swimming, dealing with people etc you should be teaching kids.

Yes most definitely. We rarely eat pre-prepared meals. As above we buy bread (but don’t eat much of it, and might use a pasta, curry sauce base but that’s about it) . Have always done so and cooking for my family has always been a great joy.

I love properly cooked food, but tend to live a fairly simple life foodwise,

I can’t understand how pizza has taken over the entire planet or why anyone would spend what to me is a fortune for a piece of bread with some ragu and a few other bits thrown on.

Chips come in dirty knobbly brown packaging and are fantastic with a nice egg!
my local chip shop has priced itself out of my economic reach and I consider oven chips an abomination. It is quicker for me to cook my own (I use an omelette pan or the wok)

I eat a lot of chow mein made by me and sometimes will make a big pot of chana dal which will do me for about three days with a couple of portions for friends as well.
I have tried to cut bread out of my diet as much as I can, but still occasionally give in.

Christmas would not be complete for me without a nicely cooked pressed ox tongue, cured,cooked and pressed at home.

I do not use a microwave for anything and remarked to my sister that I don’t use any cooking methods that my mother didn’t. I believe my food has improved considerably since I took the time to let things cook properly.

Tv chefs make my blood boil.

However, each to their own and everyone will have some reason to justify their choices/preferrences.

Cheers Y’all
Kit 😀

I’ve always had to cook..
I had to feed my siblings when mum was ill so she taught me to cook when I was 9 years old..
I didn’t bother quite as much after I left home, but even when I was living in squats and high as **** I’d still take pride in rustling up meals from scratch and we always had enough herbs and spices in stock to conjure up a spag bol or a curry if we fancied..

I really stepped it up a gear when the kids came along.. Being responsible for little humans changed me, and one of the guaranteed absolutes in life Imo is that we are what we eat (although they may well turn into fish fingers if they’re not careful)

Second – a lot of people seem to be obsessed with culinary masterpieces. Making Thai curry sauce from scratch, rolling your own pasta, etc.

Making Thai curry paste/sauce from scratch is very quick with a hand blender, try it! Think about how fast Thai food arrives at your table in a restaurant. They’ll have the paste pre-made but using a hand blender means you can make the paste is less than a minute.

Although I agree, making your own pasta isn’t quick and you might have highlighted an issue, i.e. people being put off as they’re too often presented with more complex* dishes on the TV etc.

*or what appear to be complex, e.g. the Chicken Teriyaki in my first post

Yes, you’re right. Some pastes and bases are far faster than they may appear, but you do need a cupboard full of ingredients and a blender, and if you don’t make it regularly then it is easier to reach for a supermarket jar. But even then, no reason why you still can’t cook your own rice / chicken veg and add a jar of paste to it.

The point I’m making it that just because you don’t have time to indulge in a half day cooking fest, you can make something decent and healthy and homecooked in a few minutes. A microwave meal isn’t the only other choice for the time strapped and we mustn’t make best the enemy of good.

Its as easy to not cook and eat healthy as it is to cook and eat unhealthily ..

Not sure I fully agree with that, it’s definitely easy to cook and still eat unhealthily. Is it easy to not cook and eat healthily? Do you have an example?

Its as easy to not cook and eat healthy as it is to cook and eat unhealthily ..

Is it easy to not cook and eat healthily?

Is it not what you eat, but how much?

i could live quite happily off salads,fruits , nuts, cooked meat from the butcher and bread …..milk….

no need to cook anything my self…. prepare yes , more effort than poking holes in film and battering it in the micro…yes…

better – yes

better – yes

No – you’ve not considered Bacon 😀

Is it not what you eat, but how much?

If you accept that calories in = calories out, the quantity you eat will determine your weight. It won’t determine your health.

2000 calories of bacon will not, assuming calories in = calories out, lead to weight gain but you’d not be very healthy.

Similarly, 2000 calories of ready meals won’t be as healthy as 2000 calories of fresh fish, meat, veg, fruit, and pulses.

I generally don’t like paying for a lot for things I can do myself (even in the bike world), so yes I mostly cook from ingredients. A lot of things involve much the same basics and go from there.

Italian, Mexican and Indian dishes in particular are often variations on the same thing. English dishes are simple. Meat + 2 veg 😀 (or stuff like Shepherd’s pie is just a variation on spag bol. Same sauce, no spag and shove mashed spud on top 😛 Minced lamb if you like, add peas and mint sauce).

So generally I have a bulk supply of standard ingredients and make what I like from that. I don’t shop specifically with a recipe in mind.

@deadkenny – i have to say that I have yet to eat Shepherd’s pie made from anything other than lamb and, last time I checked, a bolognaise sauce contains steak, pork and veal….

To address the OP’s question: not enough. I’m away from home 2-3 nights a week, so eat what a restaurant serves me (on a budget). At the weekend we tend to eat to accommodate my fussy 5 yo daughter (so it’s usually a variation on fish/roast meat, green veg and potatoes).

ourmaninthenorth – Member

@deadkenny – i have to say that I have yet to eat Shepherd’s pie made from anything other than lamb and, last time I checked, a bolognaise sauce contains steak, pork and veal….

Works just as well in my experience with other meat in a pinch. Just needs mint sauce 😉 . Purists argue it isn’t Shepherd’s pie if it’s not lamb. Meh. Taste is key and it’s all in the sauce.

Swap to beef, carrots instead of peas, skip the mint sauce, and bingo, cottage pie.

Essentially I think I’ve got dinner/tea/evening meal sussed and am in a good routine of cooking.
Lunch is getting there in terms of being sourced from home, leftovers, soups etc.

Where I’m struggling is Breakfast… currently this consists of toast and jam/Marmite. Occasionally have cereal (Shreddies) but for suppression of hunger this takes me up to just about 11am. Toast (2 slices) is usually better at keeping hunger at bay.

Any ideas for a more interesting breakfast?