03 Nov 7 Shortcuts to home cooking

You sit down to a lovely home cooked meal. You’re joined by your family, or maybe a buddy or two. Everything tastes delicious. And it’s all really healthy and nourishing.

Is this a scene from the fifties? Or from a rich family’s home with a personal chef? It actually could be all of us. And believe it or not, I eat good home cooked meals more often than not.

Home cooking is a necessity

Here’s another fantasy scene. The food you buy, whether it’s packaged or whole, from a fast food restaurant or grocery, is all healthy and full of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and nutrients. This couldn’t be further from the truth in modern times. Read anything from the Food Babe. She explains how the additives and chemicals in processed and packaged food are detrimental to health, whether the FDA says it’s safe or not. The same goes for fast food. Convenience food has the nutrition processed out of it.

We live in a chronic disease epidemic. And almost every person you pass on the street has a protruding belly. This is often the direct result of eating food that destroys health instead of building it up.

The solution is to find the freshest whole foods you can: fruits, vegetables, meats, and dairy, if tolerated. If a food has a nutrition label, ironically, that’s a clue that it has too little nutrition. So buy food without labels and you’re likely getting something good for you. But that means you have to prepare it yourself.

Home cooking simplified

I know it’s not the fifties and I know you’re pressed for time. But there are ways to make it easier to get a decent meal on the table. Since I’m a health coach, I support people in their healthy habits. So I’ll share some hacks to make preparing your own food a little easier.

Find a favorite way to cook vegetables.

Mine is making soup. Others prefer salads. A really simple way to prepare veggies is to cut them up into same-size pieces, toss in olive oil and salt and pepper, and roast in the oven until soft. That is so easy. Another is to stir fry veggies in olive oil in a pan on the stove top. I like to add a little cream after they’re cooked. You could even sprinkle on some parmesan cheese. So now, when you grab a vegetable at the store, you know what you’ll do with it. No more staring in the fridge wondering what to fix that’s quick, easy, and tasty.

Play with a couple favorite main dish recipes.

Maybe your fave is spaghetti with tomato sauce. First off, the pasta is the least nutritious part of the meal, not to mention the most fattening. So sub it for zucchini noodles (“zoodles”) or shredded cabbage. Or quinoa or farro–more protein and nutrition than wheat. Next idea is to cut up vegetables and throw them in the sauce. The sauce will disguise the taste if you have veggie-haters in the family. Ground beef also lends itself to many variations–you can brown the meat plus various vegetables, then season with interesting herbs or flavors, like Mexican or Chinese. Kind of a healthy version of hamburger helper. Having some go-to recipes removes some of the decision making and allows for easier shopping, while still having variety. For some more possibilities, see Wellness Mama. Or listen to the podcast The Feel Good Effect for evidence based tips.

Eat leftovers.

That is, when you cook, make enough for two meals. You can eat the next meal later in the week, or for lunch the next day, or freeze for another day. This is called batch cooking or bulk cooking. There are only two at my home now (my husband and me) so a batch of soup gives me two or three meals. But it’s nice not to have to cook every night. Otherwise it can become burdensome. You might instead have a date night at a restaurant or eat from the freezer night.

Simplify shopping.

Order your food on a certain day (or two) of the week. Every week. This is a benefit from the lockdown–grocery ordering, delivery, and pick up are commonplace. Once you have some ideas for favorite recipes or cooking methods, then shopping is easier. I tend to make two soups a week, so I buy two different vegetables. If you have a bigger family, you’d plan for more. And the predictability helps you plan and feel less stressed. The days you prepare the food might vary, but it arrives when you know it will.

Try a meal service.

There are so many these days. You get a big box of fresh food and it’s ready to be whipped up into a tasty meal. Sometimes the food is enough for leftovers, so it ends up not being quite as expensive as it seems. Also, consider the savings in your time from shopping and planning, and the lack of waste. Maybe one of the biggest benefits of the service is that they tell you how to cook. Like a mini cooking course with every box. And the results usually come out great. A real confidence builder. You could even try only one or two meals a week, to keep some dinners simpler.

A family affair.

Effective families tend to have division of labor. And managing a kitchen and getting food served to everybody is a really large chore. (That’s why we turn to convenience food.) Kids are more likely to join in with chores if they have some choice involved. I learned this through experience. Do they like to peel veggies? Tear lettuce? Or they can occasionally choose the vegetable. Or choose between prepping or cleaning up.

Use a slow cooker.

You put a pot full of food on slow cook first thing in the morning and a home cooked dinner is ready in the evening. You may have busy mornings so doing the chopping and prepping is not realistic. You could do that the night before and leave the crock in the fridge overnight. Once I’m in the kitchen preparing dinner, I don’t usually mind doing some extra tasks, like chopping for another meal.

So many ideas

How do you figure out which of these home cooking ideas to try? Even more important, how do you make the ideas into habits? That’s where I can help. Let’s have a free intro phone call and see if I can be your ally.

Comments: What’s your biggest obstacle to home cooking?

Food babe: homepage

Wellness Mama: Bulk Food Prep

Podcast: The Feel Good Effect.

Chris Kresser: Meal Prep

Self: Meal Delivery Services

Bulletproof: How to Meal Prep

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