Food! I hate cooking. Well, I like to cook, but deciding what to make for dinner and forcing us all to eat healthier is exasperating! And cooking is another under appreciated bit of hard work, with preparation and clean up taking 5X as long as the consumption.Okay. Enough complaining. Here are the TIPS:
- Grocery shopping - planning meals in advance makes shopping more efficient (fave LHW word). I only go once a week because I don't have time to run to the grocery every day. I also have a pre-printed list in store order (yes, I need organization)
- What's for Dinner? - I jot down meals (from above) so when I am constantly asked this question multiple times, I point to the list.
- Appropriate portions - don't over eat and don't skimp on the good stuff. ** TIP: ever use individual fruit cups? I have stocked up - they are awesome for dipping (from ketchup to syrup to ranch dressing) and perfect for portion control (and they keep the veggies from touching the meatloaf)
- Party Time! - I love potlucks. I get to try out new recipes on my friends, the guinea pigs. If they like it, I claim it!
- Substitution - use your cookbook or the internet - if you don't have certain items, most can be substituted and you don't have to tell...
- Crock pots - use them! ** TIP: did you know they make liners for them now? easy clean up!
- Helpers and Cookie Dough - these are total time savers and usually taste pretty good. Unfortunately, they aren't the healthiest choices, so read labels and don't use all the time.
- Music! - to make food preparation more pleasant, I listen to my music (I also listen to my ipod when I grocery shop - everything is better with music!)
- More food tips with other letters
Editing Tips
commonly confused "F" words:
farther (implies physical distance) / further (advancement along a nonphyscial dimension; to a greater degree)
faze (v. to disturb) / phase (n. a stage in a series or cycle)
fiancee (female) / fiance (male)
florescent (adj. referring to the satte of flourishing) / fluorescent (adj. brilliantly colored and giving off light)
BONUS - F compound words
face-off facedown farfetched fever-pitch
fiberglass firepower flip-flop full-blown
Find more A to Z posts here, LOTS more!
Yum :) I also blast music while I'm cooking!
ReplyDeleteGood tips. Food can be a fraught subject in our house as teenage girls change their tastes frequently (at least ours do!) Pleasing everyone is the constant goal.
ReplyDeleteVery good tips, enjoying the housewife and writing mix.
ReplyDeleteGreat tips! My favorite is the one about the fruit cups keeping the veggies away from the meatloaf. I think my kids can appreciate that. LOL
ReplyDeleteHappy weekend!
I wish everyday was a POTLUCK!!!! :)
ReplyDeleteI wrote about food today too! What's not to love!? ;)
ReplyDeletemorgankatz505.blogspot.com
I love the cooking/preparing a meal advice. These editing tips are really growing on me Tara.
ReplyDeleteI love my crockpot. Really one of the best inventions. Ever.
ReplyDeleteI'm working on my future status as a housewife. I've been cooking a lot recently :D
ReplyDeleteI never realized how much effort it takes to figure out what you're eating, getting the food on a budget, and then actually making it. I have a whole new appreciation for my mom!
Have a great weekend :)
We do one trip to the grocery store a week and try to plan ahead. Often there is a second trip involving missing ingredients and produce. We go through the fruit and vegetables fast.
ReplyDeleteCrockpots are the best! Especially, if--like me--you work a later schedule than most. The last thing I want to do in the evening is cook, but doing the prep in the morning is no big deal.
ReplyDeleteI'm currently grappling with the empty nest challenge of cooking for two. :-) But your tips are still useful. Thanks :-)
ReplyDeleteI liked the addition of the "commonly confused words". And I admit, lol, it had me running back to my "E for Electric fence" post yesterday, and checking my spelling of fluorescent. It's all good. lol.
Thanks for stopping at my blog--and my daughter lives in Brookeville. :-)
Some great tips there and, when trying to eat healthy, they come in handy :)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMusic and a glass of red wine whilst cooking, that always makes me happy.
ReplyDeleteThe preparation time always feels more full of promise and enjoyment then the eventual disappointment with the actual results.
Cooking for a household of picky eaters is no fun at all. I spent way too much time trying to please everyone's tastes for too long. Suddenly I started making more things that I liked, and they all came around. And everyone discovered they like crockpot meals for some reason.
ReplyDeleteMOther Dragon prefers to shop for groceries daily. Says it's better for her but she does cook listening to music. :)
ReplyDeleteLiners for crock pots? Oooh. That will help a lot. I hate cooking too. I don't mind cleaning so much, but I hate thinking about meals especially providing something healthy for a picky kid. Thanks for the tips!
ReplyDeleteI always try to use a crock pot if its possible! This way I'm not trying to figure out what to cook for dinner... It's done already! Love these cooking tips and the writing/word cues!
ReplyDeleteGreat fruit cup tip!
ReplyDeleteThese are really excellent tips, Tara!
ReplyDeleteSome Dark Romantic
I love making new recipes and forcing others to try it first!
ReplyDeleteGreat tips!
Heather
So, reading between the lines, and completely missing the point - are you saying you don't eat the veggies and meatloaf together?
ReplyDeleteRhonda @Laugh-Quotes.com
AtoZ #42
I also hate to cook. And, I'm terrible at it! I'm so jealous of people who love to cook and can make so many yummy things.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know there was a male and female version of fiancee/fiance. I've written it wrong a bunch of times then!
Happy weekend, Tara!
Substitution can sometimes lead to a great new recipe you never considered before.
ReplyDeleteVery good tips! Food, yes one of my weaknesses!
ReplyDeleteoh man, now i'm hungry...i'd love for someone to cook for me right now *looks longingly with puppy eyes at hubby*
ReplyDeleteI live alone and still need to remember all this stuff! hehe. Thanks for the tips :)
ReplyDeleteI REALLY need to work on portion control. I always eat way past the point of me being full!
ReplyDeleteWe love to cook around here - it's one of the things we do as a couple for 'us' time. Though I do sometimes find myself similarly stressed by making a menu.
ReplyDeleteWe use a phone app called Out of Milk to keep track of grocery store needs. It allows us to share the same list, and if we split up at the store it automatically updates as you tick things off the list, so we don't duplicate efforts :)
I order pizza a lot, lol. Except... hubby doesn't like pizza, so he has to fend for himself most days ;)
ReplyDeleteLove all the words further vs. farther and so forth. I have to look many of these up each time I use them just to be sure I get them right.
ReplyDeleteI like cooking on the weekends, otherwise, it's quick and boring and not at all what my husband prefers to eat. He knows he can always fend for himself, or better yet, cook for the whole family:)
Great tips. It's a nightmare getting dinner prepared and served at our house. There is not one single day per week that two or more kids don't have a practice or a game that interferes with any hope of a family dinner . Planning ahead is a good idea
ReplyDeleteI love pot lucks! My friends have them all the time throughout the year. Always great to try new dishes from everyone.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by earlier :)
Jak at The Cryton Chronicles & Dreams in the Shade of Ink
fabulous friends! thanks so much for visiting me!
ReplyDeletefun challenge so far!
This is one that's been at the top of the self-improvement list for a while now- I hate cooking and for a long while avoided it as much as possible. What I learned is that there's no such thing as healthy take-out (save for salads, which you can't eat every night) so unless I want my husband and I to die very quickly it's sort-of a necessity.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the shopping list- having the needed ingredients already in the house saves so much time, effort and energy it's insane!
My other big epiphany: always have a back up plan for those days when things blow up (because those days always come along, sometimes often).