Busy Schedule? You Can Still Prepare Delicious Family Meals - Here's How!

You might look at your friends, or at other moms on Instagram and wonder how on earth they have the time to do it all. Getting the kids organized, keeping a perfectly pristine home and the big one: cooking amazing home-cooked meals. When you have a million different things to do every day, cooking can often be the very last thing on your mind. Even on the rare occasions when you have a night off from the kids, it's pretty likely that you and your husband would rather go out for dinner than have to cook something from scratch. There is a huge fear of home cooking that has been instilled in many of us - perhaps born from a couple of less than successful meals and the accessibility of takeout and convenience food. But making culinary creations with your bare hands doesn't need to be intimidating - anyone can do it if they know how.

Have a plan

One sure fire way to guarantee a failed home cooked meal is if the chef fails to plan in advance. You might think that you can just chuck a load of ingredients into a pan and hope for the best, but unless you are a seasoned professional, you might not be that impressed with the results. Take a look online or in a recipe book (if you are feeling old school) and pick one or two recipes that you are going to tackle this week. Don't be too ambitious, and don't worry about presentation! Once you know what you will be cooking, visit the store for ingredients and stick to your list. Deviating from it will just mean that you are less likely to follow through with the plan, or that you will revert back to trusty convenience food.

It is equally important to consume a balanced diet, which can replenish the body with the required nutrients like carbohydrates, proteins, and vitamins. It is also important to keep your gut healthy. This is why, you should make sure you take probiotics such as yogurt, kimchi or sauerkraut along with regular food.

Check that you have the right equipment

It's all well and good having some amazing fresh ingredients, but if you get all your produce home and find that you can't actually cook any of it, you may have a problem on your hands! Certain recipes require specific types of pots, pans and other types of kitchenware. So either buy food that you know you can cook with what you already have, or, invest in some new utensils. Certain kitchen gadgets might cost a lot of money initially, but you'll be amazed at how easy they can make your life in the long run. A crock pot is a great example of this, and you can find suitable recipes on sites like www.SlowCookerKitchen.com.

Prep what you can

Know that you have a limited window of time to prepare an evening meal for you and the family? Utilise any other free time you may have - for example, in the morning before the kids get up - to prepare what food you can. This could be anything from chopping up vegetables in advance or searing off some meat. That way, when it actually comes down to cooking the meal later, all you'll need to do is throw it in the pan and wait for the magic to happen.