The Art of Cooking Less

I love to cook. I love to cook when I have time to plan, potter in the kitchen and enjoy the experience. Being the mother of three young children I very rarely have this time and therefore rarely enjoy the process of cooking. It tends to be a functional activity, we all have to eat!

One of the modules in my online program, 5 Minutes 4 Mum, is called 5 Minutes 4 SIMPLICITY. This module explores ways that Mums can create more time for themselves by simplifying some of the “processes” of motherhood. Feeding the family is an example of one of the things we look at.

Although I know how wonderful weekly meal planning is I am totally crap at it. I manage it sporadically at best. If you are looking for amazing inspiration about meal planning I highly recommend visiting Planning with Kids.  What saves me is the fact that I am really great at re-purposing meals, cooking larger quantities than I need and then turning them into a second meal. I call this “The Art of Cooking Less”.

Here is an example of this actually works … this was what my family ate last week:

Sunday – BBQ night

• Smoked fish and salad (adults) – my husband had caught some fresh Kahawai that morning and we love eating it smoked. Super easy and yummy.
• Sausages and salad (kids) – nothing like BBQ sausages on a Sunday night

Monday

• I cooked a large roast chicken and vegetables for the whole family.
• Bonus: Miss 7 ate sausages in her thermos for lunch at school

Tuesday

• Lemon Fish Pie (adults) – using the left over smoked fish from Sunday night.
• Left over sausages with vegies (kids)

Wednesday

• Left over Lemon Fish Pie (adults)
• France pasta using left over roast chicken (kids)

Thursday

• Salmon fillets and vegetables (whole family)

Friday

• My husband was out so the kids and I had spaghetti bolognese for dinner. I always have a good supply of sauce in the freezer when I need an easy meal.

Saturday

• Beef Wellingtons (adults) – my husband favoutite
• Crumbed snapper, chips & salad (kids) – my husband likes to fish and when we get snapper he will always fillet one for the kids. He crumbs it and then we free flow freeze it on trays before boxing it up in the freezer. Makes for a very healthy and easy meal for the kids.

As you will see I am by no means a gourmet cook but my family eat healthy, fresh and yummy meals. It is not practical for me to cook new things from scratch every single night whilst also juggling all the other needs of my family.

‘The Art of Cooking Less’ works for me as a philosophy … I wonder if it might work for you too?