In today's modern world we are drip fed "convenience" everything, as if the non-convenient option is a dreadful time consuming thing.
Take meal times. Drive thru's all over the place, entire isles in all the shopping centers dedicated to pre-prepared foods, short cuts and "quick and easy" food.
But when did food become so complicated? Years ago the main meal was in the middle of the day. I'm sure there were many reasons for this, but I reckon the biggest was possibly that Mum was tired by dinner and couldn't be bothered cooking a big meal, that she knew kids were often not all that not hungry by then, she didn't want a dinner time battle nor a mountain of greasy dishes to hand wash late at night. As a result she and decided to cut corners and throw something simple of the table. A sandwich, eggs, yesterdays toasted bread with dripping/butter, or what ever was on hand.
I might be totally wrong here, but it appeals to me that it was her shortcut, that Mums back then were just as tired as I am by the end of the day and adjusted their routine accordingly.
There are many times in my parenting journey that lunch has been a hot main meal in this place. Especially if Grant happens to be away or working a stretch of long days in our business. During these times I'm about parented out by dinner. I'm ready to throw the boys through the shower, into bed and put my feet up.
So in celebration of the quick and easy dinner here is what the boys dinner looked like last night. It took the whole of 8 minutes to get on the plate, there was no cutlery used and minimal dishes created. This kind of dinner is faster then loading them up into the car to grab "fast food", they are happy to eat it, and its a perfectly healthy meal. Dessert was home made chocolate custard.
Meal times with kids don't have to be hot, elaborate or have several different components. Sure its nice to sit down to a good meal. But it doesn't NEED to be. That kind of thought process is simply about trying to guilt and con us into buying convenience foods I reckon.
A few things I like to ensure I have on hand is a bowl of hard boiled eggs in the fridge. They are quick to do, and a great nourishing protein rich snack. Also fruit and veggies, risotto rice, cheese and yogurt. These are some of my pantry staples and usually the base of my "I can't be bothered cooking dinner" dinners. Avoiding take away and convenience foods is not difficult, it simply takes a little bit of organization. If I'm honest and think about it critically, it doesn't even take that much organization.
Take meal times. Drive thru's all over the place, entire isles in all the shopping centers dedicated to pre-prepared foods, short cuts and "quick and easy" food.
But when did food become so complicated? Years ago the main meal was in the middle of the day. I'm sure there were many reasons for this, but I reckon the biggest was possibly that Mum was tired by dinner and couldn't be bothered cooking a big meal, that she knew kids were often not all that not hungry by then, she didn't want a dinner time battle nor a mountain of greasy dishes to hand wash late at night. As a result she and decided to cut corners and throw something simple of the table. A sandwich, eggs, yesterdays toasted bread with dripping/butter, or what ever was on hand.
I might be totally wrong here, but it appeals to me that it was her shortcut, that Mums back then were just as tired as I am by the end of the day and adjusted their routine accordingly.
There are many times in my parenting journey that lunch has been a hot main meal in this place. Especially if Grant happens to be away or working a stretch of long days in our business. During these times I'm about parented out by dinner. I'm ready to throw the boys through the shower, into bed and put my feet up.
So in celebration of the quick and easy dinner here is what the boys dinner looked like last night. It took the whole of 8 minutes to get on the plate, there was no cutlery used and minimal dishes created. This kind of dinner is faster then loading them up into the car to grab "fast food", they are happy to eat it, and its a perfectly healthy meal. Dessert was home made chocolate custard.
Meal times with kids don't have to be hot, elaborate or have several different components. Sure its nice to sit down to a good meal. But it doesn't NEED to be. That kind of thought process is simply about trying to guilt and con us into buying convenience foods I reckon.
A few things I like to ensure I have on hand is a bowl of hard boiled eggs in the fridge. They are quick to do, and a great nourishing protein rich snack. Also fruit and veggies, risotto rice, cheese and yogurt. These are some of my pantry staples and usually the base of my "I can't be bothered cooking dinner" dinners. Avoiding take away and convenience foods is not difficult, it simply takes a little bit of organization. If I'm honest and think about it critically, it doesn't even take that much organization.
Don't get me wrong, we fall into the trap of getting take away too. I'm totally human. Sometimes we plan it like fish and chips as a treat, but more often then not its due to organization or lack of it on my behalf.
This year we have some pretty serious financial goals in place and paying debit down. Grant has it mapped out and like most families the biggest variant in our fortnightly budget is food. If there is an area we are going to blow out I can almost guarantee it is the food budget. And if there is a cause it is usually organization. So really, it is simple enough to fix with just a little forward planning.
A few of the things I'm going to focus on to minimize meal time blow outs are:
- Ensuring I have a backup of the essentials in my cupboard.
- Meal plan. (roughly)
- Keep a bowl of hard boiled eggs in the fridge.
- Go grocery shopping BEFORE I have totally run out of food. (I'm not the only one that does this no?)
- Change the way I think about meals.
- Cook double batches most meals and serve meals myself onto every ones plate. If I cook a double batch and allow these people to self serve you can guarantee they will eat the entire double batch. They eat past full, and if they are still hungry fruit is always on hand.
This blog is not one to tell you how to live simply, there are enough about who tell you how to do that and are far more inspirational then I ever could ever be. Its here to document how we do it. Our slow and ordinary progress. Including our failures, our "try agains" as well as our successes.
Sometimes I fall back into old bad habits. But that's OK. I don't count it as failure, I think failure only exists when you give in. Its OK to put something on a shelf and say "I'll try again later." I think the biggest thing from stopping us achieving a new goal is the story we are telling ourselves. That its "too hard", "too complicated", "I don't know how", "too time consuming". But the reality is many of these stories are simply that. Just stories in our minds stopping us from exploring our potential. When we don't achieve something we get the opportunity to look back upon it. Too explore why it didn't go like we hoped. Self reflection is a great skill to have. As long as it does not fall into the damaging territory of poor self talk. For me when it comes to meal times its nearly always organization, so this is on my radar.
Do you have any tips to share with other readers here, whats on your radar to reflect upon?
Much love,
Emma
xx
