“What’s for dinner?” The happy children ask. “Chili,” replies the mother. One child is very happy; the other says “Yuck, chili again?”
Most of us still live in households where the food preparation responsibilities are not equally distributed.
Several years ago, I began writing books in my spare time. The family decided that maybe they would help with meals. First, they tried to cook together, and it didn’t work very well. It is hard for three people to agree on most anything.
Next, they each tried to take one night to cook. That worked much better. Suddenly, we had the Indian food night, the vegetarian night and the grilled ham and cheese night.
To make it work well, we had to lay some ground rules.
• Meals have to be balanced, having things like vegetables, fruit, bread and meat, all in the same meal.
• There has to be something that each person in the family is willing to eat in each meal.
• No one can make the others cook as they do. Family members must be allowed to pick their meals and cook their way.
Suddenly, everyone in the family was willing to eat less complex meals that took less time to prepare. It is so easy to ask for a tort for your birthday cake, until you have tried your hand at one.
Once you gain responsibility for something like cooking, you also suddenly realize how difficult it is to do, and you tend to criticize others less.
On the down side, we discovered that no one in the family had really ever learned to cook. They were having a real struggle reading cookbooks.
Thus, my next project was to write a cookbook series, designed for people who didn’t know what they were doing.
I have suggested to other families that they try this meal-splitting method. Some have tried it. All principle meal-preparers report that the meals that the other members of the family create are much less elaborate than those that they asked for in the past. Instead of pork roast and mashed potatoes, people are suddenly happy with hot dogs and canned soup.
It is fun to share the task, and fun to eat different foods. Try it.
By Ruth on 01/5/08 in Food, Life, Columns, Cooking For Kids, Manage Living
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January 6th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Cooking Accomplished! has been a great find for myself and several of my friends. The concept is simple; you go online, pick the entrees you want and the date you want to assemble them. The difference between Cooking Accomplished! and several other businesses like this in Portland, is quality! The owner is a trained chef. They have a commercial kitchen where all the ingredients are prepped by Shelley and her staff. Many of my friends, prior to joining me for meal assembly sessions at Cooking Accomplished!, admitted to serving and eating frozen or pre-cooked meals several times a week and to dining out two or three times a week. We decided since we are worried about nutritional value and using quality local ingredients we would research meal assembly as a solution to reducing time spent shopping and preparing dinners with the goal of eating healthier. The only assemble-your-own meal company that we found in Portland, that had great selections, high quality local ingredients and prepped all their food in-house is CookingAccomplished! in Lake Oswego. Since I started preparing meals at CookingAccomplished! I’ve also signed up for a couple of great cooking classes. My son attended a kids class as well and he can’t wait until the next one. Shelley has done a fantastic job of creating a quality experience!
January 8th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
I think this will be my new years resolution. To make my husband two dinners per week (instead of once in a blue moon).
He is a really good cook (Tuscan pasta sauces, asian soups etc). I am a decent baker (Boston creme pie anyone?).
I think the idea of dividing the cooking is good. I wounder if it could be divided by category. He cooks diner. Then I bake for the week’s bread and cake, and also make the baby food. I just need to bake on a regular basis.
Now for the dishes….he is a cook that uses a lot of dishes. I ate out of the pot before I acquired him. We both still eat the pie out of the pie plate. Will we ever grow up????????
January 9th, 2008 at 10:58 am
hahha, I completely understand this dilemma. My boyfriend and I either cook for each other or together, but I am sooo frugal with the dishes so that there are the fewest to wash while he uses as many pots as possible and every utensil we own. Obviously the one who doesn’t cook has to do the dishes….so guess how I feel about that. Well, at least I have a lovely man who cooks for me. I think its really important to get the kids involved as well. My mom divided the tasks of cooking between the kids but there were too many of us to take on individual meals. I think cooking classes for kids are a great way to get them involved in the cooking process and interested in food and health. The New York Kids Club offers a few cooking classes for kids of various ages in addition to their other innovative programs for kids 6 months-12 yrs. The cooking classes are for ages 2 and up. You can check out their programs at 4 locations at www.nykidsclub.com or shoot me a question becuase I work for them. Might be a nice way to get kids really interested nad capable of food preparation before they start making a mess in the kitchen. And for those that don’t live in NYC or can’t find kid classes in their community, well….your kitchen is probably larger than a shoebox and can handle a little mess.