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As I sit here killing time and getting more and more restless waiting to go home, I'm fulfilling one of my ambitions. I'm writing a new cook book for busy mums explaining how to shop, plan meals by the week, write shopping lists, stock up a larder (explain that a larder is a cupboard not a car made in Russia), how to use a chest freezer, and how to plan ahead, etc, etc
The purpose being how to feed a family on the run and not have to take out a second mortgage.

I love cooking so writing a book to help mums feed their kids healthy food that doesn't cost a fortune, is an ambition coming true.

If anyone wants to contribute any tips or ideas, feel free.

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hi cricket,
if you are doing a cookery book for young mums better include meals out of packets!i can remember my sil asking how do you know when potatoes were boiled and could she leave the skins on( for mashed potatoes)!!:rofl::rofl:my sisters dil works at macdonalds in scotland (in charge) the only cooked meals they have is when they visit them every 4th sunday.how lazy is that and so unhealthy.sorry.will think of a few tried and tested meals,what about chicken tika masala,apparently its britains national meal now,read it somewhere.i buy a cooked chicken,do a roast dinner with it one night.(0nly 2 of us).2nd night i do a big pan of chicken tika masala with the leftover chicken.i divide it up and freeze some for the next week.when the kids were small i used to make a big pan of soup or stew,let it cool and put it into small containers in freezer for them oh and when they were babies just omitted the salt in theirs and poured it into ice cube containers .saves a small fortune.

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I know what you mean. I am shocked when I see what young mums put in their trolleys and wonder why their shopping bill is so high! :ohmy:

The book is really for anyone with a busy lifestyle. It's more about food ideas and being organised in the kitchen than a book full of recipes.

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its trying to teach them time management and organization skills really,also buying basics for the pantry that you will use a lot.

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That's so true.

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Sometimes I'm a busy mum, and sometimes I'm not :D

You've already touched on this cricket, but one of my tips would be to make too much of whatever you need. You can portion it up and freeze some. I make a lot of 'things in sauces', ie, bolognese, chilli's, curries, casseroles, etc - and these are perfect to just double up (or sometimes more) on what you need.

This works well for my husband who can take stuff to work to heat up later, and it's great for me to just open the freezer and take out tonight's meal.

I don't know about anyone else, but fussy eaters do my head in. My children are sooo opposite on what they eat, it's not funny. And much as I admire the "they'll eat what's put in front of them" school of thought, that does not work in our house. (And there were always a few things my mother always made me eat, and I'd sit at the table as a child with a dead sprout or bit of beef in my mouth for ages, wanting to spit it out - and I swore I'd never do that to my kids.) I, do, however, make them taste new stuff frequently and will not accept the nose being turned up without even trying it!

But my way of getting round this is to make (and again, pre-prepare and freeze) a few 'old favourites', like lasagnes or veggie-loaded shepherd's pies (the only way to get onions, peas and carrots in without complaints ;)).

For speed, and yes, flavour, I cheat and use quite the commercial pasta sauces, chinese sauces and occasionally curry (but usually make my own) sauces. Tons of fresh meat and veggies and bob's your wotsit. So quick - you can have a meal on the table, chopped and cooked in about 25 mins.

Finally - slow cookers. What a godsend. Never really considered them in the UK (thought they were a bit granny-ish and old-fashioned to be honest, and far too unfashionable and organised for my liking :sneaky:). But I am a convert. Get a couple of decent recipe books (like cricket's book-to-be, of course) and chuck it all in. It can take less than 10 minutes sometimes to throw a meal together. Bugger off for the day and come home to a fab aroma and a hot meal. Ideal. Now this idea might convert better to Alberta and after a day out ski-ing, than Australia and 36 degrees, but you get the idea :D

OK - haven't got time to sit here writing more at the moment - I'm a busy mum you know :rofl:

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OMG how awful to feed kids such rubbish fast food all the time. We save those fast meals like Chicken nuggets for treats. No wonder so many kids have high blood pressure and are obese.
Maybe you should include how to make mash potatoes too.
Honestly I cook from scratch every day (occasionally cheating with ready done meat in the oven) and I never spend more than 45 min making dinner.
One of the favorite little kid meals here is mince in gravy and mash and carrots, how easy is that.

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People need written instructions on how to mash taters?:blink:

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Apparently so, it's a staple in our house, but I have friends who have no clue, the mash comes dehydrated in a box and you add hot water and butter (marg) :blink:

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Something like this perhaps ...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jamies-Minis...4895333&sr=8-1

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I've used that too, but the real stuff is better. It's not difficult, it just takes a little longer than the boxed tater flakes.

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No need to write a book. If you want the best advice on how to cook and shop healthily whilst being very busy, find a fast triathlete, male or female:thumbup: ( Cricket, there are males that cook for their family and do it very well!).

Juggling 3 sports a busy job,, family and being competitive is not easy.

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I don't think anyone can write a book good enough to get some parents cooking. They are just too lazy unfortunately.

The book i'm writing is all my own recipes and food ideas over the years and really it's aimed at anyone who wants to eat well using fresh, healthy, ethical ingredients and develop an organised style of cooking. It's a simple approach using regular ingredients to get different results.

The only thing is I have to be ultra careful as do most writers, on giving advice on things such as left overs. You can imagine the law suits if someone doesn't defrost left overs properly or reheats them too many times.
It will be 'well milord, Cricket said..............' Then bang.......I'll be inventing jail food.

Honestly, the things we have to think about these days.:(

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:confused::confused:

What's wrong with making mashed potatoes with the skin still on?? I never peel potatoes, the skin has all the goodness in it. If you boil them with the skin on you can still mash them and they taste so much better...the way potatoes should do:thumbup:

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You know the new chat potatoes? The waxy, clean skinned variety? They take ages to boil so I usually bake them first in the microwave.
Lately, I've baked lots of them then put them in the fridge to use later. I've made potato salad (yummy) and then at other times I've added them thickly sliced to steamed mixed vegetables, added a drizzle of olive oil, sea salt, black pepper and a sprinkling of ground parmesan cheese. I love fish, I prefer it to meat so I often pan fry fillet of fish and serve it with the veggies. It's my favourite meal.

The veggies only take a few seconds if you blanch them in boiling water so it's good to have some potatoes already cooked in the fridge waiting to be used. You just slice them and stir fry them into the veg along with any oil or seasoning.

The slow cooker tip was good too. We bought one recently and the meat is so tender. I made lamb shanks in garlic and herb sauce. There was a lot of sauce left over so the next night, I added sliced raw potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, peas and sausages. It was sheer heaven!

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Dont get me started on todays parents and cooking! :sneaky:

I will freely admit to liking the odd ready meal when i am overly tired or in a hurry, but much prefer home cooking.

Daughter number 2 i wont even mention right now as she is sooooooooo in my bad books at the moment (long story too cross to write it lol)

But daughter number 1 was messaging me last week complaining that my 19mth old grandaughter is refusing to eat vegetables. It hadnt dawned on her to get a blender and puree them into a sort of gravy so whe doesnt "see" them :lol: It has become a bit of a game for her now. She knows it annoys mum, so she does it even more. Picks every piece of veg out of her food and slings it on the floor. Just wait till nannys back i say!! :thumbsup:

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Do you want the recipe for my curried veggie patties? If you any mixture left over, you can make cornish pasties.

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Following on from the 'mashed potato' thing - what about sweet potato mash? kids particularly enjoy it ('cos it's sweet!;)) and it's even easier than normal mash as you don't have to peel and boil them (as sweet potatoes tend to go very watery and lose their flavour). Just bung 'em in the oven whole and roast til soft, slit them down the middle, scoop out the flesh and mash with some butter, salt and plenty of black pepper :thumbsup:

My family also love a big pan of roast veggies in the winter - things like sweet potato (again!), normal potato, red onion, parsnip, pumpkin, carrot, etc work really well (remember, some things need to be chopped smaller than others, as cooking times vary) I also put whole garlic cloves in mine, as once they have been slow cooked for a couple of hours they become very soft and sweet (and they lose their pong! :o) a bit of olive oil, maybe some rosemary (mmmm!) salt and pepper, bung it in the oven for a couple of hours and job done, serve with a nice bit of lamb preferably!!!

I would also say good storecupboard ingredients include flour (s/r, plain and corn) for baking, thickening and coating (cornflour especially good for 'velveting') polenta (as a side dish, also for a crispy coating and for 'binding' - I use it in my chilli corn fritters - yum!). Cans of tomatos for speedy tomato sauces, which can then be used for bolognese, lasange, chilli, even soups.

Oh, one last one - if you cook too much rice (as I frequently do!) leave til cold and fridge. Use it to make egg fried rice another day (egg fried rice can only really be made with cold rice anyway!).

Dunno if any of this helps Cricket, but hope so :thumbup:

(BTW I've always actually been a better cook than my own mum!)

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Actually pumpkin and sweet potato are packed with vitamin A and are regarded as being better than potato nutritionally so great for anyone. I often mash potato and pumpkin together for topping sheperds pie and yes, I also add garlic.

Here's my recipe for feta and pumpkin quiche.... it was one of thos accident meals when I hadn't anything for dinner so I threw it all together. I love this mostly because of the caramelised pumpkin flavour.

First, slice up a pumpkin, take the seeds out, but leave the skin on. Then place on a oiled baking tray and spray lightly with oil spray. Bake it for about 10 minutes, take it out of the oven then drizzle maple syrup across the pumpkin turning it over to coat all sides.
Once it's cooked and cooled, remove the skin, then just cover and leave it in the fridge.

Take a sheet of frozen puff pastry and line a flan dish. Sprinkle a packet of feta cheese into the base and add the roughly chopped pumpkin. Whisk 4 large free range eggs together with half a carton of cream (you might need a little more to fill up the dish). Add sea salt, black pepper and 2 cloves fresh crushed garlic. Pour over cheese and maple roasted pumpkin. Then sprinkle ground fresh parmesan cheese across the top and bake till golden and the egg custard is set.

Takes about 30 minutes from start to on the table. I usually cook loads of pumpkin ready to use in other dishes too. It's nice with rocket, feta and pine nuts in a salad.

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I was going to say about the potato skins. I think when fancy restaurants have "smashed potatoes" that's what they are. Cooked with the skins on.

Then, of course, there's baked potato skins. Yum. :)

Yes, it's a shame that people aren't taught how easy it is to eat well and cheaply. It doesn't take a lot of time or knowledge. Just being shown.

Go for it Cricket. But remember to lay out easy steps. It's amazing what people don't know. I remember one girl who didn't know how to crack an egg. She'd come from a very privileged background and had never seen it done, so after some tentative taps, she sort of smashed it!

I'm not mocking, because when we were first in Nova Scotia, I had no idea how to crack a lobster. But people just need showing.

Bev

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oooh yes please, although i wont be giving beastie girl any curry lol

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Ok, well here's what I do but you can add your own ideas. Boil a pan of potatoes, sweet potato, carrot and pumpkin till just soft enough to mash together so that it's quite stiff. Don't add milk or butter.
Also cook in a seperate pan, some finely chopped cabbage, drain and add to the mash.
Add finely chopped spring onion, garlic, frozen peas and frozen corn kernels, salt, pepper, sprinkling of parmesan cheese and then add 2 tsps of curry powder. Mix it all together and taste to make sure the seasoning is enough.

You can add a beaten egg to help bind it altogether.

Take handfuls and flatten, dip in beaten egg, then seasoned flour then shallow fry in peanut oil or similar until golden.
If you make extra mixture, you can roll out some puff pastry and make yummy cornish pasties.

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Great, i'll give it a go thanks.

I might even try blending the veg up really fine and make them without curry in and see if little beastie girlie will be duped into eating veg by not knowing its in there :lol:

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You could decorate them with little spikes of red hot chillie peppers to make it look like horns. That'll sort the little tike out.;)

Ooops, I'd better shut up or the I'll be carted off by the SS (social services).

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Really like the sound of that recipe cricket I will give it a try. We always eat freshly cooked food never ready meals but we both enjoy cooking so that helps.

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Hi, as a busy working mom, here is a tip for your book

When I buy my fresh veg, especially the greens, I prepare them all, chop dice etc and place in separate containers in the fridge, then when I come in I just place as much veg into pots and turn on, the only thing I prepare daily is the potato. (However if I have the time in the morning, I prepare them and leave them covered in water in the fridge)

This way I never feel to tired or lazy to chop the cabbage or carrots. One day of preparation lasts most of the week.

Bj

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I'm no expert on the subject, but in case they're any use here's some tips off the top of my head.

1. Buy plenty of decent quality reusable plastic storage containers of various sizes. That way you can store unused food and it will last longer.

2. Include the basics of how to cook the most common types of meat so they will be tender and moist.

3. Include basic food safety tips because this is something they don't teach very well at most schools to my knowledge, but it is a basic life skill that everyone needs to know, but an awful lot of people don't. As a minimum, include things like correct storage of different items in the refrigerator, minimum cooking temperatures / times for certain items, special care needed with raw chicken and minced beef, how to properly clean and dry utensils safely, and the meaning of "use by" and "best before" dates and how important they are with different types of food.

4. Obviously as you already hinted earlier, keeping plenty of supplies of the basics in the kitchen (sugar, salt, pepper, flour, rice, dried pasta, bread, dried fruit, herbs and spices, milk, butter etc)

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Can I have one of those books please? Im forever on the run with kids work and aged father I need some good tips pleeezee:thumbsup:

Mine like jacket potatoes with cheese and beans LOL!!! I could do wth ideas for packet lunches !!!! Mushy sandwiches dont go down well with my lot :o

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Thanks for all the tips and ideas everyone. Might have to put the book on hold for a while as a project just out of the blue has come up. They say if you wait long enough, opportunities are like buses. You either get none or three come at once.
Well three just came in so I'll have to decide which one to go with first.
Life just took on a new dimension. All positive though.

Thanks again.:)