I Used to Make Fun of Food Photos!
This post is based on my experience as a University student, and chronologically, it should have come before Feeding Our Young. In other families, this could be young adult, empty nesters, or seniors.
We often put more thought into what we feed our animals than what we feed ourselves. Our "first world" society has made it all to easy to turn to convenience food, not as an occasional treat, but as a staple item. We think that cooking from scratch is too hard or takes too long or fresh ingredients are too expensive. Here are some simple ways to incorporate healthy food into your routine. I am not a nutritionist and am not offering advice about what to eat or how much. If you have been used to convenience foods as a staple and switch to fresh ingredients, you may be surprised to discover that fast food actually makes you feel ill after.
The demographic that often finds it the hardest to cook from scratch is the small family. The elderly couple that doesn't have much of an appetite, the single person who often eats alone, the young people living on their own for the first time. Some of these people don't know how to cook. I had a professor who referred to tea and toast syndrome. Widowed men who never cooked before become malnourished because they live on toast. Many people find it hard to adjust recipes for small portions or get tired of eating the same supper all week.
When I went to university, I lived in a basement suite with a hot plate, a microwave and a toaster oven. If I could cook meals from scratch there, anyone can!
Handy Things to Know
Most people don't like the texture of frozen potatoes. If you have a soup or stew to freeze, leave the potatoes out. When it's time to eat, cook a potato, chop it up and add it to the stew.
Label, label, label. Once something is frozen, it's really hard to tell if it's chili or minestrone. If you are recycling yogurt or cottage cheese containers or using ziplocks, you can write on it with a sharpie. If you using your good tupperware, use freezer tape. You should be able to find it by the other food wrap items in grocery store. Masking tape don't stick when frozen.
Make a list of food that you like. Buy the non-perishable ingredients in bulk.
I try to use glass and ceramic containers when possible and reduce the plastic in my life. I have not had good luck with glass in my upright freezer. It's very slippery, and as things get shuffled around, it shoots out onto the floor like a curling rock and breaks.
If you don't have enough baking pans to leave some in the freezer, line the pan with foil, leaving plenty of overhang. Freeze the pan. Once the food is frozen, remove it with the foil, wrap it an place it in a ziplock bag. Just make sure you defrost it in pan, or you will have sauce everywhere!
Large muffin tins make perfect single serving meatloaf or shepherds pie. Use the foil trick from above and put all the meat muffins in one ziplock.
Making Small Portions Economical
Buy the warehouse pack. When you unpack your groceries, divide it up right away into smaller sizes, so you don't have 4 pounds of hamburger frozen into a single lump.
Make a regular sized recipe, but divide it into smaller pans. There is no rule that says lasagna can't be made in loaf pans. Bake one, and put the rest in the freezer for another day.
If you do a lot of BBQ or grilling, when you divide your meat into smaller portions, add the marinade right away. It helps protect from freezer burn, and the food will be so flavourful.
Being married to a teacher means I'm often without the boys in the summer. They are off camping and hiking. When its hot and I don't want to do a bunch of cooking, I will cook a whole package of chicken breasts. Then each day, the portion becomes something else. Fettuccine alfredo, teriyaki rice bowl, chicken caesar salad, mozzarella marinara chicken, BBQ chicken.
If the warehouse pack didn't get separated before freezing and you have to thaw the whole thing, make three or four different things. Four pounds of hamburger can be meatloaf, spaghetti sauce, meatballs and shepherds pie.
Make a large package of hamburger into meatballs. Bake them in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes. Freeze them on a cookie sheet. When they are frozen put them all in a large ziplock or bucket. They won't stick together and you can pull out however many you want for a single meal.
When fresh fruit is in season, get together with some other people to split case lots so you can share in the good deals.
Divide fruit and greens into single portion containers in the freezer. Then you only have to grab one bag of mixed fruit for a smoothie. (The credit for this idea goes to Amber - she did this with her kale and spinach when it was abundant in the garden!)
Make a large batch of pancakes or waffles. When they are cool, stack them together with wax or parchment paper in between. They fit beautifully in a bread bag (I layer two to reduce freezer burn). Then you can take out as many as you like. I like to reheat them in the toaster, they get crispy on the outside.
Keeping It Interesting
One year I had an evening class that had a supper break. The building it was in had no food facilities that were open that late, but there were microwaves. I brought my tupperware packed meals each week. Most of my classmates ate from the vending machines or packed a few snacks. It was a small group and each time my classmates were amazed at my variety of suppers. It became a personal challenge that I never brought the same meal twice all semester. (I know, so nerdy, right!)
Set aside a day or a few days to do a marathon meal prep. Make some big pots of stew, chili, soup, pasta sauce, whatever you like. Divide it all into single serving containers and freeze them. Then you have a variety to choose from. There are cookbooks out there for "once a month" cooking.
Get together with a friend or two. Everyone prepares a favorite meal, and divides it into portions. Each person then has several different meals to take home.
Research new recipes. There are tons of cookbooks out there and you can search the web for anything. You can start with a single ingredient and do a search "recipes for round steak", "what to do with asparagus".
Canning
I have spent most of my life in rural communities where gardening and canning are common place. Many of my empty nesting clients comment that they used to have a big garden and loved to can, but without a bunch of kids at home, it doesn't seem worth it. Now, if it's just that you don't enjoy it, or don't want to do it anymore, that's fine. That's what farmer's markets are for. Support your local grower's and producers. But if you want to, but don't know what to do with it all, here's some ideas.
Downsize. You don't have to grow an acre of potatoes. Gardens aren't an all or nothing thing.
Small batch preserving. There are all sorts of new cookbooks and resources out there for people who don't want to can 30 lbs of pickles.
Alternate. One year I make enough pickles for two years. The next year I make relish. That way each year I only do half as many things.
Use smaller jars. Not everything has to go into a quart jar. Use pint or jam jars for things that you don't eat as quickly.
Donate. The food bank can't accept home canning for safety reasons, but they can accept garden vegetables.
You can also make gourmet items for a fraction of the cost. Red pepper jelly is ridiculously easy to make, and if done when the peppers are in season, not a gourmet price tag. I started making it in university to use as an affordable gift, in a basket with some crackers and cream cheese or simple potluck item.
Share with a neighbour or give as gifts. I love to make marmalade, the house smells amazing, but I don't like to eat it. Weird, I know. So I make it and give it as gift to people who don't can. Maybe you make raspberry jam and your friend cans peaches. Swap some jars.
Red Pepper Jelly
2 cups red pepper pulp, as chunky or fine as you prefer (add a few hot peppers if you like some spice)
5 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup vinegar
Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat for 15 minutes.
Add:
1/3 cup lemon juice
Return to boiling, keep stirring.
Add 2 pouches of pectin.
Allow the jelly to reach a rolling boil. Boil and stir for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir for a few minutes to keep the pepper chunks from floating, skim off any foam. Pour into jars and process 10 minutes to seal.
Tip - a teaspoon of butter will stop jams and jellies from foaming, removing the foam is an esthetic choice, it's delicious!
Refer to the pectin or jar/lid manufacturer's website if you need detailed instructions about canning.
We often put more thought into what we feed our animals than what we feed ourselves. Our "first world" society has made it all to easy to turn to convenience food, not as an occasional treat, but as a staple item. We think that cooking from scratch is too hard or takes too long or fresh ingredients are too expensive. Here are some simple ways to incorporate healthy food into your routine. I am not a nutritionist and am not offering advice about what to eat or how much. If you have been used to convenience foods as a staple and switch to fresh ingredients, you may be surprised to discover that fast food actually makes you feel ill after.
The demographic that often finds it the hardest to cook from scratch is the small family. The elderly couple that doesn't have much of an appetite, the single person who often eats alone, the young people living on their own for the first time. Some of these people don't know how to cook. I had a professor who referred to tea and toast syndrome. Widowed men who never cooked before become malnourished because they live on toast. Many people find it hard to adjust recipes for small portions or get tired of eating the same supper all week.
When I went to university, I lived in a basement suite with a hot plate, a microwave and a toaster oven. If I could cook meals from scratch there, anyone can!
Handy Things to Know
Most people don't like the texture of frozen potatoes. If you have a soup or stew to freeze, leave the potatoes out. When it's time to eat, cook a potato, chop it up and add it to the stew.
Label, label, label. Once something is frozen, it's really hard to tell if it's chili or minestrone. If you are recycling yogurt or cottage cheese containers or using ziplocks, you can write on it with a sharpie. If you using your good tupperware, use freezer tape. You should be able to find it by the other food wrap items in grocery store. Masking tape don't stick when frozen.
Make a list of food that you like. Buy the non-perishable ingredients in bulk.
I try to use glass and ceramic containers when possible and reduce the plastic in my life. I have not had good luck with glass in my upright freezer. It's very slippery, and as things get shuffled around, it shoots out onto the floor like a curling rock and breaks.
If you don't have enough baking pans to leave some in the freezer, line the pan with foil, leaving plenty of overhang. Freeze the pan. Once the food is frozen, remove it with the foil, wrap it an place it in a ziplock bag. Just make sure you defrost it in pan, or you will have sauce everywhere!
Large muffin tins make perfect single serving meatloaf or shepherds pie. Use the foil trick from above and put all the meat muffins in one ziplock.
Making Small Portions Economical
 |
| Random selection of what's in my freezer right now. |
Buy the warehouse pack. When you unpack your groceries, divide it up right away into smaller sizes, so you don't have 4 pounds of hamburger frozen into a single lump.
Make a regular sized recipe, but divide it into smaller pans. There is no rule that says lasagna can't be made in loaf pans. Bake one, and put the rest in the freezer for another day.
If you do a lot of BBQ or grilling, when you divide your meat into smaller portions, add the marinade right away. It helps protect from freezer burn, and the food will be so flavourful.
Being married to a teacher means I'm often without the boys in the summer. They are off camping and hiking. When its hot and I don't want to do a bunch of cooking, I will cook a whole package of chicken breasts. Then each day, the portion becomes something else. Fettuccine alfredo, teriyaki rice bowl, chicken caesar salad, mozzarella marinara chicken, BBQ chicken.
If the warehouse pack didn't get separated before freezing and you have to thaw the whole thing, make three or four different things. Four pounds of hamburger can be meatloaf, spaghetti sauce, meatballs and shepherds pie.
Make a large package of hamburger into meatballs. Bake them in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes. Freeze them on a cookie sheet. When they are frozen put them all in a large ziplock or bucket. They won't stick together and you can pull out however many you want for a single meal.
When fresh fruit is in season, get together with some other people to split case lots so you can share in the good deals.
Divide fruit and greens into single portion containers in the freezer. Then you only have to grab one bag of mixed fruit for a smoothie. (The credit for this idea goes to Amber - she did this with her kale and spinach when it was abundant in the garden!)
Make a large batch of pancakes or waffles. When they are cool, stack them together with wax or parchment paper in between. They fit beautifully in a bread bag (I layer two to reduce freezer burn). Then you can take out as many as you like. I like to reheat them in the toaster, they get crispy on the outside.
Keeping It Interesting
One year I had an evening class that had a supper break. The building it was in had no food facilities that were open that late, but there were microwaves. I brought my tupperware packed meals each week. Most of my classmates ate from the vending machines or packed a few snacks. It was a small group and each time my classmates were amazed at my variety of suppers. It became a personal challenge that I never brought the same meal twice all semester. (I know, so nerdy, right!)
Set aside a day or a few days to do a marathon meal prep. Make some big pots of stew, chili, soup, pasta sauce, whatever you like. Divide it all into single serving containers and freeze them. Then you have a variety to choose from. There are cookbooks out there for "once a month" cooking.
Get together with a friend or two. Everyone prepares a favorite meal, and divides it into portions. Each person then has several different meals to take home.
Research new recipes. There are tons of cookbooks out there and you can search the web for anything. You can start with a single ingredient and do a search "recipes for round steak", "what to do with asparagus".
Canning
I have spent most of my life in rural communities where gardening and canning are common place. Many of my empty nesting clients comment that they used to have a big garden and loved to can, but without a bunch of kids at home, it doesn't seem worth it. Now, if it's just that you don't enjoy it, or don't want to do it anymore, that's fine. That's what farmer's markets are for. Support your local grower's and producers. But if you want to, but don't know what to do with it all, here's some ideas.
Downsize. You don't have to grow an acre of potatoes. Gardens aren't an all or nothing thing.
Small batch preserving. There are all sorts of new cookbooks and resources out there for people who don't want to can 30 lbs of pickles.
Alternate. One year I make enough pickles for two years. The next year I make relish. That way each year I only do half as many things.
Use smaller jars. Not everything has to go into a quart jar. Use pint or jam jars for things that you don't eat as quickly.
Donate. The food bank can't accept home canning for safety reasons, but they can accept garden vegetables.
You can also make gourmet items for a fraction of the cost. Red pepper jelly is ridiculously easy to make, and if done when the peppers are in season, not a gourmet price tag. I started making it in university to use as an affordable gift, in a basket with some crackers and cream cheese or simple potluck item.
Share with a neighbour or give as gifts. I love to make marmalade, the house smells amazing, but I don't like to eat it. Weird, I know. So I make it and give it as gift to people who don't can. Maybe you make raspberry jam and your friend cans peaches. Swap some jars.
Red Pepper Jelly
2 cups red pepper pulp, as chunky or fine as you prefer (add a few hot peppers if you like some spice)
5 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup vinegar
Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat for 15 minutes.
Add:1/3 cup lemon juice
Return to boiling, keep stirring.
Add 2 pouches of pectin.
Allow the jelly to reach a rolling boil. Boil and stir for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir for a few minutes to keep the pepper chunks from floating, skim off any foam. Pour into jars and process 10 minutes to seal.
Tip - a teaspoon of butter will stop jams and jellies from foaming, removing the foam is an esthetic choice, it's delicious!
Refer to the pectin or jar/lid manufacturer's website if you need detailed instructions about canning.
Comments
Post a Comment