You may have read our posts about shifting our family grocery shopping away from pre-made foods towards more scratch-made, natural options. And perhaps you’re thinking, “Yeah, that’s great for you. But I don’t have the time to do all of that stuff.” You may not realize that for the majority of our menu, cooking from scratch doesn’t take much longer than serving store made foods. We actually spend less than an hour creating our dinner on most nights.
Cooking fresh food doesn’t take more time, but it does take better time management.
Even with a full-time, stay-at-home parent, cooking for a family requires planning. You won’t always have the ability to put your kiddoes on pause while committing to the preparation of a full meal. But by adopting the following principals, you can have great food each evening, even if you are working outside the home.
Prep Things Ahead of Time:
There are many parts of cooking a meal that you can do well in advance of sitting down to eat. Try to begin on the weekend, or in the evening, if you are working during the day. If you are a stay-at-home parent, preparation can start during nap time, or other down-times during your daily activities.
Prep Ahead Items Include:
^Sauces
^Soups
^Peeling/ Dicing certain types of veggies
^Bread Set Up
^Cooking dried beans
Let The Little Ones Help:
Your child will protest less about your focus on cooking if you let her/him help as the task then becomes something that you are doing together. It can be fun and educational. Our Bluey helps with all sorts of kitchen projects, and the young ones in your home can help, too.
Great Kid Jobs Include:
^Stirring and Mixing
^Kneading and shaping dough
^Cutting Vegetables with age-appropriate knives
^Cracking Eggs
^Setting the Table
^Washing Dishes
Let The Oven/Stove Work, While You Do Something Else:
When you walk in the door after a long day at work, you want to take care of a few things like checking the mail, changing clothes, or walking the dog. Does cooking from scratch mean that you can’t take the time to settle in at home first? Of course not! By planning and prepping ahead, you can walk in the door, turn on the stove or oven, and take care of all the other activities while your food heats up.
Things you can leave unattended in the kitchen for a period of time:
^Boiling water for pasta
^Reheating of most soups
^Rising or baking bread
^Baking of Lasagna and other oven heated goods
^Boiling beans and pastas
It is not impossible for a busy family to cook from scratch!