Easy family cooking tips

We all know the importance of providing our family with a well balanced, nutritional and wholesome meal but sometimes life simply gets in the way and its a struggle to find the time to cook up a great family meal during the week.

Reuben has decided that he now wants his dinner/tea slightly earlier at 5pm and because we've followed the baby led weaning principle and i simply don't have the time or energy to cook separate meals we all eat together. Some days i have found it a struggle to cook an "ideal" meal as lets face it cooking with a small human whinging at your feet is less than ideal so i have been forced to find ways to make my life easier which i'm going to share with you below.

Preparation

I have been preparing parts of our meal in the morning whilst Reuben is napping or happily playing by himself. For example recently we had a vegetable curry so i got all the veg chopped up ready and put it in a covered bowl in the fridge so i later only had to chuck it in the pan to cook. (You can stir one handed but you cant chop with a small person attached to your hip).

Tray bakes

This is a new found love of mine but its basically a one pot meal. You can literally put what you want in there and there are hundreds of ideas online. Whilst Reuben is napping i chop up all my veg and potatoes and throw them in a large roasting tray then cover and pop in the fridge, later i add my meat/fish and seasoning and put it in the oven and forget about it until its ready to be dished up. It doesn't get any easier than that.

Slow cooker

Now the weather is on the turn i cant wait to get my slow cooker back out and have warming, comforting meals. Similar to the above you get it ready whilst your child is napping but you then turn it on and let it cook slowly all day. There are so many options with a slow cooker, you can cook pretty much anything in one (not just stews). I have a slow cooker recipe book but you can find hundreds of ideas online.

Freeze portions

Make sure you freeze any excess so you build up a little stash for the days when you really don't have time. I love knowing that i always have something or other in the freezer for Reuben.

All of the above are ways to help make cooking a good wholesome meal a little easier and i'm actually finding my love for cooking again because of it. Obviously there are days when we just have fish fingers, chips and peas but its all about balance and providing a varied diet.

You can find amazing recipe ideas on Pintrest, BBC good food and other similar websites