Stay at home mom needs cooking help?!
Answers: My husband is gone for at least 13 hours a day a least 3 days a week and I have a new born. It's hard to find time to take a shower much less eat decently. I want to eat healthy so my baby will be health, and start good habits. I wanted to know if there is a cookbook or website that has simple meal ideas that doesn't make huge portions and doesnt take long to make.
You have a couple of options
1. Sandwiches
http://easy.betterrecipes.com/easysandwi...
2. Casseroles
http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/quick...
3. Pasta
http://www.e-rcps.com/pasta/rcp/q_e.shtm...
http://www.allrecipes.com
this site will change the portions for you. you just type how many servings you want to make
My favorite food-related website is foodtv.com.
They have a whole section devoted to healthy recipes... You can start there.
I would also just google whatever it is you are wanting in your recipes (low-fat, low-cholesterol, quick, healthy etc). You'll likely find whole sites devoted to those types of recipes in particular.
Look at Betty Crocker, allrecipes.com, or kraftfoods.com.
At kraftfoods.com sign up for their free magazine and you'll get a ton of recipes a few times a year.
Also, invest in a crockpot - you can make easy dinners in the morning and have a great meal at the end of the day.
Try the diabetic diet from Mayo Clinic. Just google it. It is based on the glycemic index. The foods are all healthy and proportionately accurate. This diet works well for people who do not have diabetes. One eats five small meals a day. The amount is based on the allowable number of carbs. It is the healthiest way to eat that I have ever come across, sort of like Weight Watcher's, but easier to follow. If one does not eat foods that raise their blood sugar level, one does not have the food cravings. It even allows 1/2 cup of ice cream a day.
Go to foodnetwork.com. They have a section on just healthy treats and meals. Who needs a cookbook nowadays, its all about the computer baby!
Not sure of any web sites but one thing you may want to look at geting if you don't have one is a crock pot. I love mine. You can take a few minites in the day why the baby is taking nap or before it gets up in the moring put everything in and turn it on. You can cook everything in it.
One idea is to make quantities for 4 servings & freeze half.
You can cook a whole chicken, then cut in quarters & save.
Make large quantities of tomato sauce, divide, & freeze.
This may seem like extra work, but you're cooking for 2 days.
You can combine things in different combinations to serve.
That way it's not exactly the same each time you serve it.
Congrats on your arrival! I remember the stress of trying to get everything done, and not wanting to leave the baby, or wake him up! I know the thought of huge portions scares you, but if you freeze the sizes you want, you'll get some free time later, when all you have to do is pop it in the oven. Or you could trade cooking times with another mom. For example, I watched my neighbor Jennie's son while she cooked [he slept, so it wasn't so bad] her meals for a few hours, and she watched my son while I cooked. I learned how to make the whole week's main dishes in 3 hours. Cook a whole chicken, not a piece. Cook a whole roast instead of a small piece of beef. I promise you it will be hard, but not as hard as trying to cook something while you're starving, the baby is screaming, and tears are running down your face because you haven't showered yet, husband will be walking through the door in bit, the house is a disaster, and you're walking into walls from lack of sleep. And you're trying to figure out where your spatula disappear to. The simplest meals start with precooked meats, and prepared chopped veggies-so you can just throw a meal together.
Sorry if this isn't what you had in mind, but the woman who taught me this had 8 kids, all under the age of 10, and while I thought she couldn't possibly understand what I was going through -I thought she forgot what newborns were like- she knew EXACTLY what I needed to hear. And I still live by this, even though my babies are 13, 12, and 10. And the best part is that through this I learned to budget my time and money. I now cook gourmet meals for 5 [21 meals, 14 snacks, and 2 desserts per week] for $45-60 a week.
Although, with these food price increases, it will probably be close to $55-70 on my next trip!
First piece of advice is, but a crock pot and a possible pressure cooker. Both of these items help cook great meals without a lot of fuss, just add the ingredients and let them do the cooking.
As far as a website, FoodNetwork.com is really helpful. You can actually look up just slow cookerrecipes if you wanted to. Also, Kraftfoods.com helps a lot because most recipes contain onlya few ingredients.
I am not sure about a web site, but I am a PhD student with a husband that has 2 jobs and a 6 year old with plenty of lessons I have to cart her off to.
Start thinking of flavors you like. Also don't buy unfrozen fish.
We are on a pretty tight budget, about $60/week. So one week I will buy a family pack of whatever meat is on sale. For example this week chicken breast was on sale. For some reason chicken breast are huge, so I generally only make 2. When I get them home I either cook or freeze them in seasoned packs. I did one in Italian, Mexican, and Chinese 5 spice this week. We will had chicken on risotto last night, we will later in the week have chicken tacos (salad, enchiladas, tacos, burritos would work well too), and lo mein.
When steak is on sale I ask the butcher to slice some so we can have sandwiches, top with homemade sauce for pizziaola, cubed for barley soup, and just a basic steak.
If you like fish, most supermarkets get it flash frozen. Tell them to get it from the back in sealed packages still frozen. Then you are getting it as fresh as they are. Not bad.
It can get boring the thing is to look for different ways to prepare meat on sale. Generally I can get 2 family packs for less than $20.
Use your crock pot if you have one. It will save you LOTS OF TIME! I used mine all the time when I was a stay home mom and I still do 28 years later. I work full time now and I still need all the help I can get. You can make any thing you want in them from simple to healthy meals.