To the food purists
To the people who want all foods made from scratch and like great grandma would have eaten (shame if Great Grandma was poor and had to make do on awful food, huh?) and have as their third hobby to find a new food travesty to uncover or read about every fortnight, I want to say...
It's not all KFC and health disaster if I reach for the pre-prepared curry mix. I may not be at home to make everything from scratch and nothing was certified organic, but we're rocking along in good food land nevertheless. Detailed breakdown:
1. Before bed, Monday night: pull frozen chicken pieces out of large bag of chicken pieces which was on special two months ago and put in slow cooker to thaw (slow cooker off).
2. Tuesday morning, 6.15am: spoon chicken stock and fat left over from last roast chicken over the pieces. Spread spoonfuls of shop-bought red curry paste over chicken pieces. Scrub and slice potatoes, peel and chop garlic and shallots and carrots, peel and finely chop ginger, and spread over chicken pieces. Tip can of coconut cream over everything.
3. Put all this in the fridge because it doesn't need to go on just yet.
4. Scramble to do everything else with children who got up late. Parental organisation should always be inversely matched by child motivation. I think it's a mathematical theorem.
5. Drive husband to work and get there just very slightly late. Remind children of the wickedness of this.
6. Buy part of school lunches at the lunch food place.
7. Dash to supermarket to buy fruit. The plan to make sure there was an orange each for the morning was dashed by eldest child's unendorsed late night snacking. Not in my Bible to send children to school without fruit or at least vegetables.
8. Supermarket checkout person makes small talk about a race. Retrospectively, it was about some rich person's race on the television. I respond that I'm racing right now. Nicely, y'know, but there you are. The America's Cup ain't my thing.
9. Children finish assembling lunches in car. Drop them off at school. Now 15 minutes until I have to be (paid) working. Remember that the slow cooker meal is still in the fridge.
10. This can't happen. Thank all Gods in the entire world that we live so close to work and the children's school. Drive home, rush in, put slow cooker on to low. Go to work.
11. 8.54am: Arrive to earn money. It's a triumph! I'm there!
[Work very hard. Be a good girl. Not guaranteed every day, but today counts]
12. 4.55pm: collect husband from work
13. 5.00pm collect children from our lovely childcarer
14. 5.10pm enter house, wash hands, harvest lots of silverbeet, wash and chop it and put it in the slow cooker. Mix it all up and switch to high.
15. 5.15pm: drive to supermarket. Buy a week's worth of groceries. Buy lots of oranges and mandarins. Consider hiding some of them.
16. 5.40pm: home again. Favourite Handyman helps bring groceries inside and unpack them. Serve dinner. It's a success. Everyone eats it, even the fussy one.
17. 6.20pm: FH and children go to kung fu. The house is quiet. I alternately read facebook and write this blogpost instead of folding washing.
Not from scratch? I'm standing by my own verdict: it's a RESULT!
It's not all KFC and health disaster if I reach for the pre-prepared curry mix. I may not be at home to make everything from scratch and nothing was certified organic, but we're rocking along in good food land nevertheless. Detailed breakdown:
1. Before bed, Monday night: pull frozen chicken pieces out of large bag of chicken pieces which was on special two months ago and put in slow cooker to thaw (slow cooker off).
2. Tuesday morning, 6.15am: spoon chicken stock and fat left over from last roast chicken over the pieces. Spread spoonfuls of shop-bought red curry paste over chicken pieces. Scrub and slice potatoes, peel and chop garlic and shallots and carrots, peel and finely chop ginger, and spread over chicken pieces. Tip can of coconut cream over everything.
3. Put all this in the fridge because it doesn't need to go on just yet.
4. Scramble to do everything else with children who got up late. Parental organisation should always be inversely matched by child motivation. I think it's a mathematical theorem.
5. Drive husband to work and get there just very slightly late. Remind children of the wickedness of this.
6. Buy part of school lunches at the lunch food place.
7. Dash to supermarket to buy fruit. The plan to make sure there was an orange each for the morning was dashed by eldest child's unendorsed late night snacking. Not in my Bible to send children to school without fruit or at least vegetables.
8. Supermarket checkout person makes small talk about a race. Retrospectively, it was about some rich person's race on the television. I respond that I'm racing right now. Nicely, y'know, but there you are. The America's Cup ain't my thing.
9. Children finish assembling lunches in car. Drop them off at school. Now 15 minutes until I have to be (paid) working. Remember that the slow cooker meal is still in the fridge.
10. This can't happen. Thank all Gods in the entire world that we live so close to work and the children's school. Drive home, rush in, put slow cooker on to low. Go to work.
11. 8.54am: Arrive to earn money. It's a triumph! I'm there!
[Work very hard. Be a good girl. Not guaranteed every day, but today counts]
12. 4.55pm: collect husband from work
13. 5.00pm collect children from our lovely childcarer
14. 5.10pm enter house, wash hands, harvest lots of silverbeet, wash and chop it and put it in the slow cooker. Mix it all up and switch to high.
15. 5.15pm: drive to supermarket. Buy a week's worth of groceries. Buy lots of oranges and mandarins. Consider hiding some of them.
16. 5.40pm: home again. Favourite Handyman helps bring groceries inside and unpack them. Serve dinner. It's a success. Everyone eats it, even the fussy one.
17. 6.20pm: FH and children go to kung fu. The house is quiet. I alternately read facebook and write this blogpost instead of folding washing.
Not from scratch? I'm standing by my own verdict: it's a RESULT!
Comments
Buying a slow cooker (seven years old and still working well after a lot of use) was one of the best kitchen purchases I've ever made.
~Rachael