Last week I snuck out of the house for a hairdo and a chance to relax from the husband and kids, and instead I sat in the hairdresser’s chair reading a stressful article in Parents magazine about the challenges of raising sextuplets in the July 2009 article “The Joy of Six”. And my husband and I thought we had it tough juggling our two full-time jobs while raising a 1 and 3 year old. But six at a time???!!!
From reading the article, Jenny Masche does an amazing job raising the kids by keeping her pint-sized troops to a regimented schedule, but she could use a little help when it comes to mealtime. Right now the kids are fed frozen, processed dinners (micro-waved frozen chicken nuggets or hot dogs and cut up fruit) while Jenny and her husband Bryan feed themselves take out for dinner.
What Jenny and Bryan may not know is that it takes about the same amount of time to prepare a convenience food dinner as it does to cook a meal from all fresh foods. In 2005, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) completed its first academic study to track American families moment by moment as they made dinner. What they discovered was that working families relied heavily on so called “convenience” foods for dinner. The surprising part was that dinner did not get on the table any faster in homes that favored convenience food. Meals still took an average of 52 minutes in total time to prepare regardless if it was home-cooked or if the family relied partially or heavily on convenience foods.
My challenge to anyone is that cooking real, fresh food is practically as simple to prepare as so-called “convenience” foods. And fresh is best over convenience foods because fresh foods tend to be more healthy, flavorful and free of harmful pesticides, chemicals and preservatives. If you have a few essential food items, tools and methods, then the fresh food practically cooks itself…that is with a little help from the microwave, oven or stovetop. Without relying on complicated recipes with lengthy lists of ingredients, most families can have their meals prepped in as little as 5-10 minutes.
Check out the dinner I made the other night with minimal effort. It took me about 10 minutes in total preparation, and during the 20 minutes that it cooked itself I had time to feed my baby boy his bedtime snack and put him to sleep. Of course, if I had 6 kids like the Masches, I would not have squeezed in the baby feedings—but I still would have prepped the dinner in about 10 minutes.
My challenge to anyone is that cooking real, fresh food is practically as simple to prepare as convenience foods. Try it for yourself and you will see that it does not take as long as you think to cook fresh fish with dill and lemon juice versus frozen fish sticks.
Steelhead, Quinoa and Snow Peas with Hummus
| Steel headDill | Sprinkle dill on Steelhead fish. Baked at 425°F for 20 minutes. |
| QuinoaShredded Pecorino CheeseChopped Tomatoes | Place 1 cup Quinoa in 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes until water has been absorbed. Stir in shredded Pecorino cheese and chopped tomatoes. |
| Snow PeasHummus | Top raw fresh snow peas with hummus. |
Karen Doolittle is a Creative Cooking Consultant and the Founder of Doolittle Cooking, your guide to real meals without recipes. She has a unique background in nutrition and business process improvement, combining her 20 years of experience both as a former Registered Dietitian in the US Air Force and as a business and technology consultant. Check out her next event at http://cookingfortheentrepreneur.eventbrite.com/
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