On Sunday mornings, I typically spend time in the kitchen getting food ready for the week ahead.
These are some of the things I regularly make on Sundays:
Ice-cream mixture ready for the freezer.
I think that Sunday's homemade foods are an investment in our health too. I know exactly what I put in them. Basic ingredients and no artificial anythings. I minimise the sugar content of the sweeter foods (The ice-cream we make has just 40g of sugar in it as opposed to the 150g the original recipe calls for and we all still like it!). I add nourishing veggies into everything I can and those extra roasted veggies, baked along with the biscuits, boost the nutrition and fibre of simple breakfasts. A great return on the time I spend in my kitchen on Sunday mornings.
What foods do you prepare ahead of time for your families?
Meg
Making biscuits on a Sunday morning.
I always bake homemade somethings for the school lunchbox be it biscuits, a slice or, very occasionally, a cake. A sample of that baking is shared at Sunday's afternoon tea that we always have with Grandma and Granddad on their weekly visit. While the baking is happening, I also roast some nutritious veg to have in omelettes for brekkie and toss into healthy lunchtime salads. The oven is already on so I put it to good use! I prepare everything I need for dinner Sunday night and extras are frozen for later in the week. A homemade vanilla ice-cream is whizzed up on Sundays too. A couple of scoops makes an easy weekday dessert. My kitchen is a busy place on Sunday mornings!
These are some of the things I regularly make on Sundays:
Bite-sized biscuits for the cookie jars.
Trays of veggies ready for roasting.
Pasta sauces for spaghetti bolognese and lasagna.
Mini meatballs for the freezer.
Yummy homemade pizzas.
Salads, like this one, for weekday lunches.
Ice-cream mixture ready for the freezer.
Spending some of my Sunday preparing food for the week ahead saves time on busy days because there's food in the fridge, freezer and biscuit jars ready and waiting. It saves money because I don't need to buy packaged snacks or takeaways for dinner and having a salad or two in the fridge saves on buying lunches. It saves energy because I'm making full use of the oven when it's already on and those frozen extras just need reheating. It saves my energy too if there comes a night when I simply don't feel like cooking!
I think that Sunday's homemade foods are an investment in our health too. I know exactly what I put in them. Basic ingredients and no artificial anythings. I minimise the sugar content of the sweeter foods (The ice-cream we make has just 40g of sugar in it as opposed to the 150g the original recipe calls for and we all still like it!). I add nourishing veggies into everything I can and those extra roasted veggies, baked along with the biscuits, boost the nutrition and fibre of simple breakfasts. A great return on the time I spend in my kitchen on Sunday mornings.
What foods do you prepare ahead of time for your families?
Meg
You are very organised indeed, makes sense to make use of the oven when already on.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I typically enjoy the time in my kitchen on Sundays. The softer morning light shines in and my island bench looks out to the distant horizon. I usually get started before the rest of my little family wakes up and I enjoy that quiet time. Meg:)
DeleteThat is so organised Meg, I don't really do anything like that. The closest I come is if I'm on a day off, I might prep everything for dinner early, as I usually run out of energy in the afternoons, and this lightens the load a bit, and I often throw lunch together for myself the night before I go to work. I'm making small but significant changes in my habits and routines lately, to help me better cope with life (I'll do a post about it soon) maybe this sort of thing is something I should give some thought to.
ReplyDeleteHi, Cheryl. I am very much a morning person too and doubt I would get much of this done if I left it for the afternoon. I am like the muddle-headed wombat in the afternoons! I try to co-ordinate things when I'm cooking, like making meatballs at the same time I'm using mince to make a pasta sauce. I make one heck of a mess though by the time I'm finished...that's the downside!
DeleteI'm looking forward to reading about all the little changes you are making in your life when you do your post. We had a friend visit recently and she told me about a book she's been reading about the importance of routines and how we can build or change those routines for better health. In my own life that's been true and I hope it is for you too. Meg:)
So much yummy food! As there's only the two of us home, I don't do a lot of meal prep. I tend to choose what is for dinner each afternoon while I'm at work then shop for it before heading home. Quite often, I'll google a recipe at 4.30pm for inspiration. I was more organised when our girls were home but being Darby & Joan, we can please ourselves.
ReplyDeleteA house certainly runs smoother when the food plan is taken care of. You certainly have that down pat! :)
Cheers - Joolz xx
Definitely find that if I'm not organised, things do not run smoothly and I'll have nothing for lunchboxes and be scratching my head as to what to cook for dinner. We have a growing boy who seems to eat constantly so need to keep up with him! Meg:)
DeleteHi Meg, all your food looks so delicious! I do it in a similar way. I spend some time cooking treats for lunch boxes, I roast a tray of veg for the week ahead to use in lots of different meals too. Sometimes I'll make a chicken or beef stock or something savoury for lunchboxes. It is time well invested! I am always thankful for it during a busy week.
ReplyDeleteHi Belinda, when we had a run of illness lately, I was so thankful for what was in the freezer! It meant I didn't have to think too much or spend time while I was feeling icky doing the cooking. When I pick up some relief teaching work, I'm also grateful for it because things just run more smoothly during the busy times. Meg:)
DeleteMeg I have recently gone from full time paid work to part-time, so I now have more time to be better organised around home. With only Don and I at home I have less cooking than many people do as we tend to have a meal one night and then the leftovers the next. I do enjoy baking though and am happy I now have more time for it now. I did some internet research on mandarin recipes yesterday as I have a lot of them here at the moment and don't want them going to waste.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what my routine would look like if I was working full-time, Chel. I put lots of the things I do now in place once I left day to day teaching. I think it would help if I worked full-time but it's whether I'd have the energy or not to do some of those things. I might take to sleeping in on Sundays!
DeleteRosemary Stanton has a lovely recipe for a Mandarin and Almond Cake in her "Good Gut Cookbook". It's lovely!
Meg that is amazing! Well done. I was also more organised with meals when my children were growing up and I was working part time...a case of 'have to' really.
ReplyDeleteYes, it really does help with a rapidly growing boy and a school run that is 45minutes one way from where we live. I don't often make the drive home again so I have to pack a lunch and snacks for myself as well to have while I'm away from home. It really is a routine that was born out of necessity. Meg:)
DeleteLovely food!! That's why it's worth doing, isn't it. Packaged, convenience foods, just don't taste as nice. You were definitely busy in the kitchen recently. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't have a particular day for bulk cooking, but there are days I will blitz it in the kitchen. I love prepping a shepherds/cottage pie, in a baking dish (with mash potato topping) and have it sitting in the fridge for dinner, that night, or the next. If we do a chilli variation, it tastes even better, the longer it sits.
Marinating chicken legs, is another you can prep, have sit in the fridge (up to 3 days) until you want to eat it for dinner too. I've found most baking recipes that call for 1 cup sugar, can easily be dropped down to 3/4, without a noticeable change. I do this with my Gluten Free cookies. Especially if it has choc-chips added too!
I do think it is worth it and it helps so much on busy weekdays. Your shepherd's pie sound delicious! I sometimes marinate chicken thighs in a combination of tamari and plum jam which turns out quite nicely when baked. Sometimes, I'll cut up lots of stir fry veg to go with something like that. Meg:)
DeleteYou are such a great cook Meg. All your dishes look so good. Just like you I don't buy takeway and certainly not items I can make. Homemade much tastier, healthier, economical - the list is huge.
ReplyDeleteI also like to cook double batches for the freezer.
Kids also watch we do so I'm sure they're picking up the same fantastic skills.
Kylie
Thanks, Kylie. You feature great dishes/recipes on your blog too as I always find lots of inspiration there in your menu plans. We have takeaway very rarely because it is simply too expensive. Meg:)
DeleteMy goodness, what a feast for the week! Everything looks gorgeous! All our food is home-made, too, including the bolognaise sauce and tomato sauce, and especially all our soups (we love soup). I presume you freeze the prepared trays of veggies for roasting? Well, not unless you use them within, say 24 hours? But like you, I often spend time cooking at the weekend even though husband and I are retired and I no longer have to prepare food for lunchboxes in quite the same way as once I did.
ReplyDeleteMargaret P
www.margaretpowling.com
Hi Margaret, We love soup here too though soon it will be too hot for it. I often make a pumpkin soup because my son likes that the best. I do use the roasted veg up quickly but also freeze some and add some to savoury muffins too. I'm sure I'll have to prepare a lot less food when my son is grown up...at the moment he's in the middle of a growth spurt and eating us out of house and home! Meg:)
DeleteWe stopped regularly eating process foods ages ago, we make everything from scratch, much better taste, we also reduce salt, sugar and fat. As a result our food storage cupboard has loads of ingredients which can be used for all different types of dishes, we don't keep jars and packets. These days we do not find odd items in the back of the shelf, out of date not used.
ReplyDeleteHi, Marlene. I really think that eating less processed foods is one of the keys to really good health. All your home cooking sounds delicious and would be so good for you. I have quite a small pantry so have been collecting old jars to make storing ingredients easier. I often find large coffee jars in op-shops which are really useful. Meg:)
DeleteHello Meg,
ReplyDeleteI just love your Sunday morning, so productive and delicious 😋 it does take some organisation but it is certainly worth it knowing you have squirrelled away lovely bounty for the week ahead. Have a lovely evening.
Fi
I love Sundays, Fi. In the kitchen, out in the garden, grandparents visiting, walking the dog...simple things but my heart is content! Meg:)
DeleteYum! I need lessons on how to make a lasagne please. The mince always goes lumpy for me :(
ReplyDeleteAnytime, my dear friend, we can stand up at the kitchen bench and make non-lumpy lasagna sauce together. I reckon we could make the meat version for our boys and the vegetarian version for us! Meg:)
DeleteI normally spend Sunday afternoons cooking for the week. Most appreciated when I come home from work and just have to whip a few pre-prepared items together.
ReplyDelete