Locked down again. We know we’re lucky to have food on our tables and a roof over our heads, but the prospect of another extended period serving three meals a day to a full house is pretty gloomy. Especially if, like me, you’re adding home school to your to-do list.
Tips, tricks and ideas to reduce hob-facing time are always welcome. Even experienced balaboostas may find inspiration from JC Food’s experts:
Plan, plan, plan:
Simple, but crucial. One day a week, work out the following week’s menu — I do mine in tandem with my internet grocery shop.
Nicole Freeman, founder of cookery school, The Kids’ Kitchen, agrees but takes a more Ready Steady Cook approach: “I plan when my vegetable box comes in. I may repeat some dishes weekly, like frittata or soups, but with whatever veggies have come in that week.”
Either way, planning means you can budget; buy only what you need; avoid last-minute panics and ensure a healthy, balanced weekly menu.
Teamwork
Share the load. No matter how old, everyone can play their part in meal preparations. My children (ages 10 and 12) are perfectly able to peel and chop veg, lay the table and take their turn at making simple lunches, which range from sandwiches or scrambled eggs to filled pittas, cheese on toast and “pizza” bagels.
JC contributor, Fabienne Viner-Luzzato has two teenage daughters and a ten-year-old son: “I can’t be cooking for everybody at lunch and dinner. My girls cook omelettes, scrambled and even poached eggs. My ten- year-old loves French toast — great for using up slightly stale challah.”
She also suggests wraps, pasta (hot or as salads) and Buddha bowls. “I prep lots of crudités plus mashed avocados plus fillings and toppings like smoked salmon; cold meats and cheeses. I get it all out at lunchtime and they come and sort it out for themselves. For the Buddha bowls I give them a carb base like noodles, quinoa, rice or barley and they add the vegetables and meat or fish toppings.”
She also batch-cooks schnitzels that they can defrost in the oven in 20 minutes and pop in a pitta.
Even younger children are capable of many kitchen jobs. Ignore your inner Jewish mother and don’t be scared of allowing them to use knives — with supervision: “No one wants to hurt themselves and children love responsibility. You show children how to hold and carry scissors — so why not do the same with knives?” says Freeman, who gives her pupils large plastic knives that can cut salad leaves, fruit and bread etc. “If you’re worried, try a mezzaluna. You need both hands on it to cut anything, so no fears of chopping fingers. Children can make a great Israeli salad with one.”
Freeman also makes sure her family plays their part: “I have tight rules on what I do or not — my kids know I’m off duty at the weekend. Sunday lunch for us will be bagels and deli bits or maybe shakshuka.”
Shop smart
I’m all for short cuts. The deli spread is great for that. Lay out ready-made dips alongside home-made salads and bagels, rolls or pitta so everyone can help themselves.
There are plenty of larder staples that make life easier. Pouches of ready-cooked rice/grains are great to combine with a combination of roasted veggies, tinned fish, cold meats, herbs and leaves for a quick lunch or side dish. Keep shredded lettuce in ziplock bags ready for a salad base (in the fridge); and tins of beans and chickpeas also make light work of salad or dip making — add tuna, finely chopped red onion or spring onion, a squeeze of lemon and some extra-virgin olive oil to cannellini, borlotti or butter beans. Or blitz chickpeas or beans into dips with tahina; lemon and herbs or roasted vegetables.
Tinned and smoked fish are also invaluable: tuna melts; Niçoise salads and smoked fish patés are all made in minutes.
Frozen foods are also fabulous time-savers: I used to slavishly prepare my garlic, ginger and chilli, but ready-prepped frozen versions cut down cooking time hugely. Ready-chopped vegetables also make for speedy (if less economical) soups, sides and salads.
Leftover lunch
For a no-cook meal, Freeman freezes or refrigerates leftovers in individual containers. Even if you have only one or two portions of each, everyone can pick one and you have a meal in minutes. Any leftover chicken from Friday night’s dinner can stretch to a few meals — the main roast chicken; an Asian cold chicken salad; Coronation-style chicken for sandwiches and shredded into soup. It’s worth cooking more than you need just for those bonus meals.
Batching at its best
Making vats of meaty ragu or tomato sauce isn’t rocket science, but there are other ways to make more meals with less work. “A double quantity of tuna mayonnaise sorts out Monday’s bagels and Wednesday’s baked potatoes in one hit” suggests JC recipe contributor, Sarah Mann: “That’s two portions of oily fish for brain and cognitive function!”
Freezer frenzy
My sister-in-law invested in a chest freezer at the start of the first lockdown. It allowed her to stock up enough to avoid weekly supermarket sweeps. There’s so much you can store in there, from bread, bagels and portioned cakes or healthy flapjacks, to those portioned up leftovers. I freeze bags of cooked rice in handy single portions as well as cubes of homemade pesto — frozen in ice cube trays — that can be defrosted in hot pasta or in minutes in a microwave.
Snack saviours
Last lockdown, I started a daily snack box for each child. A range of foods can go in them — from energy bars, popcorn and oat crackers to vegetable sticks, fruit, cubes of cheese and yoghurts. I also keep a box of hard boiled eggs in the fridge.
Institute some of these, and you may even start good habits around home cooking that last after lockdown.
More tips and recipe ideas on the JC’s website; from Fabienne Viner-Luzzato here ; and from Nicole Freeman at The Kids’ Kitchen on Facebook and You Tube
