I think I should start with my confession: as an over thinker from waaaaay back, I believe in homemade food, including fermented food and garden-grown vegetables, yet I also HATE cooking!! I’m a teacher and I work hard every day, and I know the power of motivation and self-efficacy. I’ve tried mind over matter, self-affirmations, and here I am, 40 years old, still detesting cooking.
The back story: until last year, my husband stayed home with our boys and cooked. Hang on, that makes it sound like he popped corn dogs in the microwave. He cooked from scratch delicious meals every day, taking hours sometimes, and the result was that we ate very well. Until last year, when I changed schools and our youngest started kindergarten. The school change meant a pay cut and the kid going to kindergarten meant more time that my husband could work outside the house.
Enter frozen pizza and boxed mac and cheese. We also put our house on the market for a time right after school started, thinking we might move, and although that didn’t pan out, having to be out of the house for multiple showings throughout the school week meant we did the fast food routine before and after soccer practice and that set me up for a school year of fast food and processed meals.
I think in many ways I can be a pretty lazy person, I enjoy couch time and reading books, but I also like to work hard when I know I can reap the benefits. Cooking has never felt like something I can do and truly reap any benefits. I buy weird foods, I forget key ingredients (while reading the recipe in front of me!), the food tastes strange, or I feel guilty it’s not healthier or made from raw ingredients. I don’t have a lot of positive reinforcement for cooking well every day. I have many friends who are amazing cooks, like my husband. I also know that since many of them stay home with their children I shouldn’t compare my cooking and time spent to them since I work outside the house. But I do, and I want my kids to eat well and I want to be healthy too!
Enter meal service and a change in my cooking. Meal services are very expensive, I know this. But for the past month I have been paying for someone to send me all the ingredients for four meals during the week. I choose among several choices and then no more work on my part until the evening. I started with four servings (me and two kids and the extra for lunch the next day) but it was too much and too many calories. So I dropped to two servings and I supplement with salad if there isn’t enough food. I don’t throw away food I bought too much of or in the end couldn’t think of what to make with it. There isn’t moldy food in the back of the fridge or the cheese drawer. I don’t make a double batch and then throw that out a week later because no one ever ate it. I have just what I need and no more.
Oh and I need to also say that I went low carb/keto a few years ago and that’s been a hard transition back to eating “normal” food. I cooked for myself (not great but I’m not that picky) and my husband cooked for the kids and him. Now that I’m cooking for me and the kids I want to be sure it actually tastes good and is healthy, and I can’t be as picky about the carb count, and for right now I’m going to follow the recipes that come in the meal service boxes and worry about adjusting later.
Add to all of this the gadgets and the books. I own a KitchenAid, a Magic Bullet, a Vitamix, an InstantPot, a bread machine, a toaster oven, slicers, mixers, you name it. I’ve read books on keto, on fermentation, on raw food and vegetarianism, I own the I Hate To Cook Book, Japanese cookbooks (in English and Japanese!), smoothie and blender books, and everything in between.
I want to cook simply and use fresh ingredients, from my garden would be preferable, and eat fermented food for gut health. Going with a meal service certainly prevents this, but it also eliminates the indecision (and borderline panic!) I experience at the grocery store. Nearly everything I’ve made in the past month has earned two thumbs up from my kids and me, and I love cooking with fresh vegetables whenever possible. It’s much easier than I ever thought, and I rarely need to go to the supermarket!
I’m an over thinker. Yes I know that. I agree with that statement. But I want to overthink in my own way while feeding my kids healthy food and also caring for myself - my own mental and physical health. No more making excuses that I’m not good enough or there’s something wrong with me. I can cook, I can work, and I can still overthink! But now it’s all online and you have to bear the brunt. Thanks! 😉
The back story: until last year, my husband stayed home with our boys and cooked. Hang on, that makes it sound like he popped corn dogs in the microwave. He cooked from scratch delicious meals every day, taking hours sometimes, and the result was that we ate very well. Until last year, when I changed schools and our youngest started kindergarten. The school change meant a pay cut and the kid going to kindergarten meant more time that my husband could work outside the house.
Enter frozen pizza and boxed mac and cheese. We also put our house on the market for a time right after school started, thinking we might move, and although that didn’t pan out, having to be out of the house for multiple showings throughout the school week meant we did the fast food routine before and after soccer practice and that set me up for a school year of fast food and processed meals.
I think in many ways I can be a pretty lazy person, I enjoy couch time and reading books, but I also like to work hard when I know I can reap the benefits. Cooking has never felt like something I can do and truly reap any benefits. I buy weird foods, I forget key ingredients (while reading the recipe in front of me!), the food tastes strange, or I feel guilty it’s not healthier or made from raw ingredients. I don’t have a lot of positive reinforcement for cooking well every day. I have many friends who are amazing cooks, like my husband. I also know that since many of them stay home with their children I shouldn’t compare my cooking and time spent to them since I work outside the house. But I do, and I want my kids to eat well and I want to be healthy too!
Enter meal service and a change in my cooking. Meal services are very expensive, I know this. But for the past month I have been paying for someone to send me all the ingredients for four meals during the week. I choose among several choices and then no more work on my part until the evening. I started with four servings (me and two kids and the extra for lunch the next day) but it was too much and too many calories. So I dropped to two servings and I supplement with salad if there isn’t enough food. I don’t throw away food I bought too much of or in the end couldn’t think of what to make with it. There isn’t moldy food in the back of the fridge or the cheese drawer. I don’t make a double batch and then throw that out a week later because no one ever ate it. I have just what I need and no more.
Oh and I need to also say that I went low carb/keto a few years ago and that’s been a hard transition back to eating “normal” food. I cooked for myself (not great but I’m not that picky) and my husband cooked for the kids and him. Now that I’m cooking for me and the kids I want to be sure it actually tastes good and is healthy, and I can’t be as picky about the carb count, and for right now I’m going to follow the recipes that come in the meal service boxes and worry about adjusting later.
Add to all of this the gadgets and the books. I own a KitchenAid, a Magic Bullet, a Vitamix, an InstantPot, a bread machine, a toaster oven, slicers, mixers, you name it. I’ve read books on keto, on fermentation, on raw food and vegetarianism, I own the I Hate To Cook Book, Japanese cookbooks (in English and Japanese!), smoothie and blender books, and everything in between.
I want to cook simply and use fresh ingredients, from my garden would be preferable, and eat fermented food for gut health. Going with a meal service certainly prevents this, but it also eliminates the indecision (and borderline panic!) I experience at the grocery store. Nearly everything I’ve made in the past month has earned two thumbs up from my kids and me, and I love cooking with fresh vegetables whenever possible. It’s much easier than I ever thought, and I rarely need to go to the supermarket!
I’m an over thinker. Yes I know that. I agree with that statement. But I want to overthink in my own way while feeding my kids healthy food and also caring for myself - my own mental and physical health. No more making excuses that I’m not good enough or there’s something wrong with me. I can cook, I can work, and I can still overthink! But now it’s all online and you have to bear the brunt. Thanks! 😉
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