How much do you really care about the food you eat?

Astitchintime

Good food and a varied diet matters very much to both of us. We never have takeaways and to overcome those days when we are very busy or don’t feel like cooking from scratch there’s always something in the freezer from batch cooking previously. We have a fresh fish delivery fortnightly and buy meat from local butchers.

We grow vegetables in season, not difficult even in small gardens and salad leaves and shoots are so easy to grow.

We used to grow a lot but, alas, it is becoming more difficult.

We are still eating runner beans from last year though. I remember, before freezers, my Mum used to salt them down in jars and we used to hate them!
Now they can be frozen and I tried a different method last year which was much more successful.

I care about nutritious food and know exactly what I should be eating but a Marmite sandwich is quick, tasty and there’s no washing up.

Balance in all things! By all means eat healthily and cook from scratch but have a little treat now and again and give ourselves a rest!

I've just made two cakes.
🤔

Mother was an awful at cooking. In fact mother and cook shouldn't even be in the same sentence. She was always very proud making a meal of boiled spuds with a tin of stewing steak which looked more like dog food and those awful packet trifles or jelly and dream topping. I learnt to cook after leaving home and have always cooked from scratch, use a butcher and fishmonger as often as possible. Yes it is dearer but while I can afford it, the quality is worth it. I cook seasonal veg and fruit from the allotment. Any surplus either frozen, bottled or made into sauces for freezing. Never use Santa in cooking so processed food tastes too salty - as previously mentioned.
Allira - I'm curious about your new method for preserving runner beans as I also had no joy bottling so freeze them but they still don't quite taste the same. Willing to share?

Blooming predictive text! Salt not Santa 🫣😁

Sago Does it matter to you what you eat or is it just a chore to shop and cook?

Yes, it matters what we eat.

I prefer home cooked, budget friendly. No ready meals.

Cooking is easy, imo. Shopping is chore.

Like Tizliz.

I'm not obsessive,but I cook from scratch 6 days out of 7 & have a veggie day & a fish day at least once a week.

My DH still works & a sausage sandwich for lunch & a Twirl bar at breaks is usual for him, so I do have to cook healthy things to try to compensate for that - so we wouldn't usually have fishfingers, sausages & bacon only rarely, no boughten pies or breaded chicken. I resent the time it takes but I do enjoy our meals.

Fishfingers & baked beans for grandchildren quick tea is probably 100% better than a Big Mac....

I am the opposite of Norah, I like shopping for food, I like eating good food, and I grow quite a bit, but I detest cooking. We eat healthily, but I do a lot of batch cooking because cooking from scratch every day would be my idea of hell. Life is too short to peel a brussels sprout or make a fancy sauce (unless I can freeze some in portions for later) as far as I’m concerned, and I even buy chantenay carrots because they don’t need peeling. Slaving over a hot stove is not for me.

Allira

Witzend

Tizliz

Does it matter to you what you eat YES
or is it just a chore to shop and cook YES

I am also getting OH more involved so I can do less but we switch from trying pre-prepared foods to cooking from scratch (that means buying a joint of beef to make spag bol etc)

Buying a joint of beef to make spag Bol???

Good heavens!!

What is wrong with good, minced beef?
You can buy it from a butcher or the supermarket does packs with varying amounts of fat.

28 days hung gives you flavour

I cook from scratch - but freeze portions for the days I don't want to cook or am busy. I love food and like shopping for it- I generally buy seasonal food- improvising recipes as I go. A couple of times a year a fancy for fish, chips and mushy peas with salt and vinegar may come over me- particularly if visiting the coast.

I hardly ever buy take aways. Variety in meal choices is a must for me. I eat fish at least a couple of times a week, also eat chicken more than red meat. I love risottos, pasta dishes, a roast with all the trimmings (lamb or chicken), baked potatoes, stir- fries, tray bakes and stews in winter- pressure cooker or slow cooker. I love ringing the changes with different herb and spice combinations, garlic, ginger etc. I don't eat as much red meat as chicken and fish- but like mince lamb and mince beef and there are so many things you can do with it.

A bacon sandwich now and then is a treat. I generally have a healthy diet and don't bake cakes like I used to when the children were younger- but I can't imagine a life without chocolate!

I hardly ever peel veg as I’ve told myself that the nutrition is just under the skin. Newly married we were very poor but I did a cordon bleu cookery course. You wouldn’t know it now as I’m really tired of it. I’ve cooked fifty thousand meals from scratch I would guess I really don’t care a hoot about salt in M&S ready meals as I have lost my sense of taste. They are a blessing . I would live on mushrooms and bacon on toast ,cottage cheese on marmite rice crackers ,omelettes or scrambled eggs, and almond croissants with plenty of Assam tea. DH would not be happy so I trudge on with mince ,kidneys,skirt, and his beloved tinned soup. I make very good soups but he has a preference for Baxter’s.

I love fried eggs and chips.
It’s my weekly treat.

But I try to eat healthily the rest of the week.

I really enjoy cooking (and eating!) even the everyday meals, so it's never a chore and I usually cook from scratch. We do sometimes eat ready meals or things like oven cook fish or haggis if I'm in a hurry or tired, but I do try to eat reasonably healthily.
All my children can cook, though obviously if you work you don't always have time for anything fancy.
My husband can't cook much and isn't honestly interested in learning, so if he has to fend for himself we go to the supermarket and get him some of the less unhealthy ready meals. He can cook eggs and toast for breakfast, and can cook sausages and potatoes in various forms. He has also been known to roast a chicken, if the bag has detailed and clear instructions!
We do eat vegetables (to be fair all that he likes is frozen peas) and a variety of fruit but neither of us enjoys salad, other than tomatoes.
It puzzles me that people can't even be bothered to cook eggs and toast for breakfast, I find that I'm hungry before lunchtime if I don't have a breakfast with some protein.

Your diet sounds very similar to mine LemonJam, I miss baking now I have no children at home as I'd eat far too much cake if I baked.

Tizliz

Allira

Witzend

Tizliz

Does it matter to you what you eat YES
or is it just a chore to shop and cook YES

I am also getting OH more involved so I can do less but we switch from trying pre-prepared foods to cooking from scratch (that means buying a joint of beef to make spag bol etc)

Buying a joint of beef to make spag Bol???

Good heavens!!

What is wrong with good, minced beef?
You can buy it from a butcher or the supermarket does packs with varying amounts of fat.

28 days hung gives you flavour

Oh, ok! 🙂

I'm finding more short-cuts these days as everything seems like much harder work.

cc

Your diet sounds very similar to mine LemonJam, I miss baking now I have no children at home as I'd eat far too much cake if I baked.

Yes, there are two cakes cooling on a rack in the kitchen as I post. It started off by not wanting to waste three ripe bananas. Waste not, want not.

ClicketyClick

Mother was an awful at cooking. In fact mother and cook shouldn't even be in the same sentence. She was always very proud making a meal of boiled spuds with a tin of stewing steak which looked more like dog food and those awful packet trifles or jelly and dream topping. I learnt to cook after leaving home and have always cooked from scratch, use a butcher and fishmonger as often as possible. Yes it is dearer but while I can afford it, the quality is worth it. I cook seasonal veg and fruit from the allotment. Any surplus either frozen, bottled or made into sauces for freezing. Never use Santa in cooking so processed food tastes too salty - as previously mentioned.
Allira - I'm curious about your new method for preserving runner beans as I also had no joy bottling so freeze them but they still don't quite taste the same. Willing to share?

ClicketyClick your mother sounds very like my MIL, she was a truly awful cook.
She did occasionally cook a roast but it always went into the oven three hours too early and came out very dried up. We used to joke that we could only recognise what the meat was by what she served with it: mint sauce, horseradish or a sausage.
My children really liked the awful packet trifle with Dream Topping but I dreaded eating there.

I like the sound of fish gingers.

cc- "Your diet sounds very similar to mine LemonJam, I miss baking now I have no children at home as I'd eat far too much cake if I baked".

Ditto- I enjoy baking when having visitors or taking to others when I am their visitor- otherwise don't tempt myself. Have seen a gorgeous recipe today for a spiced carrot cake with a cream cheese topping which I'll bake for Easter Sunday 🐣🐥🤗

It was a friend who suggested this method, ClicketyClick

I've always sliced them into long lengths with a bean cutter, blanched them for about three minutes then frozen them in portions in small poly bags.
Her method is to slice with bean cutter, chop into one inch lengths, blanch for no more than one minute, dry on clean tea towel then open freeze on oven trays lined with greaseproof paper, then bag up.

They've kept much better.

Sorry - and cool immediately after blanching; I ran the cold tap on them.

I'd love to know about your bean freezing method, too, Allira.

Please, please share 🙏

I had a glut of runner beans last year so did freeze some (as well as giving them away to anyone who wanted them ) but I don't think frozen are ever as nice as fresh.

Oh, dash it,, you've already done it Allira

Actually, my method sounds very similar to your new one but perhaps I'll try cutting them a bit larger.

not a lot