I am usually fairly immune to food fads, but just lately I have become aware of the trend for clean, unrefined food – low in sugar and traditional white carbohydrates. I’ve flicked through all the books and magazine articles currently doing the rounds and it all looks lovely and it’s definitely a good thing. But a lot of it also strikes me as being overly idealistic, time-consuming and expensive.
As a family we eat a reasonably healthy diet and I make most of our meals from scratch. But I find that, these days, cooking for the family feels like a chore and I like to keep things as simple as possible. Which is why, when I look at a recipe for flax-seed bread, woven with cacao nibs, served with a side of heritage grains, I just feel rather depressed and inadequate. Half the ingredients aren’t available in the Fenland wilderness, and my children would probably not thank me if they were.
I think most families would always like to eat a little better, wouldn’t they? But does anyone really manage to eat fantastically well every day? Especially when they’re also tired, stressed and trying to stick to budget. I have decided to share an honest account of what we eat on weekdays. It may not always look insta-pretty, but it’s what we actually eat. It doesn’t usually involve recipe books, but depends on what’s in the fridge and what mood we’re all in! I get a big shop delivered with lots of useful things, but don’t plan out every single day.
Monday: Quick Fish Pie
I love fish pie but rarely have the time to make a proper version (poaching fish in milk, then reusing your milk for the béchamel etc), but I sometimes like to make a simplified version. I had a packet of ready chopped fish pie mix in the fridge (a mix of salmon, cod and smoked haddock as I remember) and popped this, uncooked, in an ovenproof dish and mixed it up with a béchamel sauce (I make mine from scratch which takes about twenty minutes, but you could easily buy a pot to save time). Season, and then top with thinly sliced raw potatoes. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes, until it’s golden and bubbling – the fish will happily cook in the sauce. Serve with vegetables.
Everyone enjoyed this – especially James and Gabriel . Sliced potatoes do not work as well as mashed potatoes, but this saves so much time and mess – essential on a Monday night! My four year old, Tom, is being very fussy at the moment but did manage to eat a reasonable amount.
Tuesday: Chicken, chorizo and chickpea stew
This a favourite of mine because it is so quick and simple. Fry the chorizo then basically bung everything else in the pan – leeks, sweet peppers, chicken breast pieces, a can of tomatoes and a can of chickpeas. Top up with a little stock (I used a beef Oxo cube as I’d run out of chicken stock cubes, which worked fine). Bring to the boil, then turn down and simmer fairly briskly for about an hour and a half. I started making this at about 4pm and it was ready to eat at 5.30. We served this with brown rice but no extra vegetables as I forgot. Tom enjoyed the chickpeas, Gabriel less so.
Wednesday: Sausage, Egg and Chips
This was a long day. I can’t really remember why, but it was, and I wasn’t in the best mood. The packet of sausages in the fridge was just begging for the frying pan, and a tray of chips was tossed in the oven. I find frying sausages strangely therapeutic and felt much better after half an hour of turning and poking them. Funnily enough, every one ate this meal with great gusto and nobody complained.
Thursday: Cheesy pasta bake
I was going to do a tomato pasta bake, but realised at the last minute that I’d run out of tinned tomatoes and only had about six cherry tomatoes. So this was a bit of a thrown together meal with what was left in the fridge. We had loads of cheese, so I made a cheese sauce. This was combined with brown whole wheat pasta and mushrooms, and topped with sliced cherry tomatoes and grated cheese. This actually came out pretty well and everyone enjoyed it. Tom had an almost clean plate which was rare for him at the moment. I’ve managed to switch over to wholemeal spaghetti and pasta without anyone noticing – it’s a small, family-friendly change but it does actually have a much lower glycaemic index.
Friday: Smoked ham tortellini with cherry tomato sauce.
This was courtesy of Waitrose, as I was having a completely pants day. Cadbury’s Mini Eggs for pudding = everyone happy, which is all I was asking for after such a terrible day.
My verdict: everything looks rather beige and a little 1970s, but I think we did OK. It’s hard to please everyone at once, and very difficult to try something new when there’s a chance two small people won’t eat it!
What are your Monday to Friday mealtime lifesavers?
Well I think that all looked bloomin marvellous. I am a dreadful cook and am just glad if my brood have consumed a vegetable between them. I need to make more of an effort.. pasta bake looked good.. surely I could manage that… x PS think you would be horrified if I posted my Food Week to you . Have shamed myself into trying to improve.
Ha, ha, thanks Mummy Marbles! I always feel so bad about the children’s lack of fruit and veg – it’s so hard at this time of year though isn’t it? Bring on summer and soft fruit!
Swedish meatballs with a tomato/veg sauce blitzed so Finn consumes all the veg and everyone’s favourite – pasta. I must give wholemeal pasta a go as I’m sure you’re right – they wouldn’t notice. Very easy and quick if they like fish is a Carluccio pasta dish we’ve adapted which is fried tin of anchovies and garlic, stick some white wine in, boil off the alcohol, add 2 tins of sardines in tomato sauce and some raisins. It’s pretty cheap too as tinned fish is used.
Thanks Jo, that sardine recipe sounds really nice. We usually have a couple of cans lurking in the cupboard so I’ll have to try it! And, hidden veg pasta sauce, I’d forgotten about that. Might be a good one for Tom…
Looks like a pretty good week food-wise. Thanks for being so honest! x
Thank you Kiran! 🙂
It’s refreshing to see REAL meals that haven’t been photo- shopped or filtered though Instagram! I am a vegan, so i do eat a lot of ‘low sugar, un processed’ foods, but my kids dont! Tonight they had Supernoodles with toast…oh the shame!
Thank you! I just get so fed up with seeing supposedly perfect meals! Looking back, last week was pretty healthy – usually there’s a few more baked beans and fish fingers too! 🙂
Slow cooker useful. I made meatball by putting chopped onion, carrot and a tin of chopped tomatoes in with the meatballs, topped up with water and a stock cube then left on low all day, was cooked when got home at 6.30.
Ooh yes, I must investigate slow-cookers – I’m sure they’d make my life much easier. Thanks so much for reading and commenting!
Thanks so much! I think this was a pretty good week for us – usually I have to crack open the box of fish fingers at least once! Eggs are definitely a lifesaver – boiled egg and soldiers is great for tea 🙂
Great blog good to read reality. We are all busy, tired and stressed ( add menopausal for me) and shouldn’t be made to feel guilty for not using recipes with 58 different ingredients! I like simple and find recipes with a long list of things I don’t have very off puting. I try a new recipe now and then with “healthy” stuff but they still prefer pasta pizza or chips. I put beans lentils and seeds in pasta sauces and sometimes get groans but they eat it!
Thank you Maidenmum! We can only try our best…My 4 year old is always visibly relieved when chips and fish fingers are put down in front of him – because ‘vegetable dinners are too difficult!’
this is possibly the best post I have ever read on the bloggersphere! I am so glad I am not the only one who finds this so overwhelming and feeling guilty I can’t get my head around making these fancy dinners, let alone afford them! I feel like I am doing the wrong thing for my family by what we serve up with all these fads around. And we eat what I thought were healthy meals! These people must have home help! Some days it’s a miracle to get some spaghetti and a jar of Dolmio on the table by 6pm!! Xx
Thanks Amie! x
Hi really enjoyed this post and your week’s worth of food looks very like mine! I also like a weekly scampi and chips feast (shop bought, frozen). I think lots of people lie about how well they eat so a bit of honesty is refreshing… Thanks also for the no-mash fish pie recipe.
Thanks so much! My boys love scampi too. The no mash fish pie is a bit runnier than a version with made mash, but so much less faff! 🙂