Latest / Bright Star Kids Parenting Podcast / Episode 7: How to Make Family Dinners Easier

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Episode 7: How to Make Family Dinners Easier · Bright Star Kids Parenting Podcast

• 0:00
  Dimity: Welcome to the Bright Star Kids Parenting Podcast.
• 0:03
  Susan: I'm Susan and with me is Dimity.
• 0:05
  Susan: Mum, what's for dinner?
• 0:07
  Susan: The four most stressful words everybody can resonate with in their house.
• 0:13
  Dimity: Today we're getting into the daily dinner grind.
• 0:15
  Dimity: The overwhelming, repetitive, thankless task of feeding your family.
• 0:19
  Susan: We're talking about who actually decides what everyone eats.
• 0:23
  Susan: What happens when you try new recipes?
• 0:25
  Susan: How to stop wasting money on takeaways.
• 0:27
  Susan: And the systems that actually make this whole thing a lot less painful.
• 0:31
  Dimity: So Sue, tell me, how do you feel about the dreaded question, "Mum, what's for dinner?"
• 0:35
  Susan: I'm not the only one who suffers from this.
• 0:38
  Susan: And the woman in the house, the mum, tends to be the person who gets asked that question a lot.
• 0:44
  Susan: And it's really hard.
• 0:46
  Susan: It's like actually, I don't know.
• 0:48
  Susan: I've actually been really busy all day thinking about other stuff.
• 0:51
  Susan: And now it's like, oh god, yeah, like I'm I'm opening the fridge and I'm looking in and going, what do I have in here?
• 0:59
  Susan: Like, and if I've been very well organised and yet awesome, I've got maybe some chicken or some mince or whatever it is, you know, because it has to be quick.
• 1:07
  Susan: If it's 5: 30 and I'm looking at the fridge, I can't be like defrosting anything.
• 1:13
  Susan: I'm not gonna be able to do like a big roast or anything like that.
• 1:16
  Susan: Um, so yeah, it's like okay, trying to contemplate what what did we have last night or the night before?
• 1:24
  Susan: It's hard to remember, isn't it?
• 1:25
  Susan: Definitely the days are kind of like merging together.
• 1:28
  Susan: So yeah, there is that whole overwhelm of 'mum, what's for dinner?' and going, I'm not sure.
• 1:35
  Susan: And what is not even like what could I cook, but what's everybody gonna want to eat?
• 1:40
  Susan: Because he does offer suggestions and they're like, no, no one though, we had that last night.
• 1:45
  Susan: And you're like, oh my god, I well you decide then, you know?
• 1:49
  Susan: I'm sick of it.
• 1:51
  Susan: I know you're lucky.
• 1:52
  Susan: Your husband cooks mostly.
• 1:55
  Dimity: He does.
• 1:55
  Susan: But are you um like he cooks, but does he do the planning?
• 2:00
  Dimity: No, he does not do the planning.
• 2:01
  Dimity: I do the planning.
• 2:02
  Dimity: I have that mental load to take on.
• 2:05
  Dimity: He literally just says, "Okay, well, what am I cooking tonight?"
• 2:08
  Susan: Okay.
• 2:09
  Dimity: Which I love that.
• 2:10
  Dimity: I love that I don't have to cook.
• 2:12
  Susan: Yes.
• 2:12
  Dimity: Because I can't cook.
• 2:14
  Dimity: I'm not a good cook.
• 2:15
  Dimity: Uh, I've already I've accepted it, and he's also accepted it.
• 2:20
  Dimity: He's ready to do it.
• 2:22
  Susan: And I actually know a lot of women who are like that.
• 2:24
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 2:24
  Susan: It's actually amazing because it the stereotypical thing is that women are the only ones who can cook dinner.
• 2:30
  Dimity: Yes.
• 2:30
  Susan: But my brother actually, I think he does a lot of cooking.
• 2:33
  Dimity: That's good.
• 2:34
  Susan: Um, my friend's husband, he does all the cooking.
• 2:36
  Susan: Again, she's a bit like you, she just isn't great at cooking.
• 2:40
  Susan: Um, so it is funny, like I know actually, probably more men who do the cooking in the house than females.
• 2:46
  Susan: So maybe I just happen to know the kind of outliers.
• 2:50
  Susan: But uh yeah, so tell me about your planning.
• 2:52
  Susan: How do you do that?
• 2:54
  Dimity: Yeah, so I like to do a shop at the beginning of the week.
• 2:58
  Susan: Okay.
• 2:58
  Dimity: And usually I like to come up with a meal plan so that I know exactly what I'm buying, exactly what we're gonna have each night.
• 3:04
  Dimity: I mostly have to come all up with that by myself.
• 3:09
  Susan: Okay.
• 3:10
  Dimity: And I've also got the fussy eater poppy, yeah, you know, to to think of when I do that.
• 3:15
  Dimity: What are we gonna feed the kids?
• 3:16
  Dimity: Are we gonna eat the same thing?
• 3:18
  Dimity: And I have said to Daniel, like, "I need you to help me." I need help with this because I can't keep coming up with the meals.
• 3:24
  Susan: And how does that work?
• 3:26
  Susan: When you when you both sit down together, how do you figure that out?
• 3:31
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 3:31
  Susan: Do you get like because I know if for me, I did try and do this years ago.
• 3:35
  Susan: Um, and I'd have I have I'm a bit of a collector of books.
• 3:38
  Susan: I love recipe books.
• 3:40
  Susan: And so I'd have like probably five or six books with all these things, and we'd get so overwhelmed with so many beautiful looking recipes.
• 3:49
  Susan: And then the problem is like you have all these ingredients and you have to have.
• 3:54
  Susan: Um, and so yeah, me and Nigel did did try this whole planning thing.
• 3:58
  Dimity: Yeah, okay.
• 3:59
  Susan: It didn't really, it hasn't stuck.
• 4:01
  Susan: Okay.
• 4:01
  Susan: So tell me about you and Daniel when you guys did it.
• 4:04
  Susan: Did it stick?
• 4:05
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 4:06
  Susan: A little bit?
• 4:06
  Dimity: Kind of.
• 4:07
  Dimity: We're we're hit and miss, I would say.
• 4:09
  Dimity: Um, on the weeks that it does work, I it's so easy.
• 4:13
  Dimity: I love it.
• 4:13
  Dimity: I come home from work or you know, after a long day with the kids, and I actually, it's there in front of me.
• 4:18
  Dimity: I look at it and I think, oh great, well, we know what we're having for dinner.
• 4:21
  Dimity: Daniel comes home and says, "What am I cooking?" I say "this" and it's done.
• 4:24
  Dimity: Um, it also helps with like defrosting things the night before.
• 4:26
  Dimity: If I look at it, I can take things out of the freezer, I can make sure we've got everything ready.
• 4:30
  Dimity: I like to do the groceries on a Sunday.
• 4:33
  Susan: Okay.
• 4:33
  Dimity: And me and Daniel are very different.
• 4:34
  Dimity: He likes to do half shops.
• 4:37
  Susan: Okay.
• 4:38
  Dimity: Where I like to do a full shop.
• 4:40
  Dimity: Okay.
• 4:40
  Dimity: Because then I just find on Sunday, my Sunday brain is much different than my Wednesday brain.
• 4:45
  Dimity: My Sunday brain, I'm motivated, I've got the least.
• 4:49
  Dimity: I've had a bit of a rest.
• 4:50
  Dimity: I'm ready to start the week fresh.
• 4:52
  Dimity: My Wednesday brain, I've looked after the kids, I've been at work, I'm exhausted.
• 4:56
  Dimity: I'm just gonna be picking,
• 4:57
  Susan: You know, not the greatest things, or get and takeaway.
• 5:00
  Dimity: Yeah, exactly.
• 5:01
  Dimity: I'm just so tired, it's just, you know.
• 5:03
  Dimity: So I like to have a meal plan from the beginning of the week.
• 5:06
  Susan: And kind of like when you were doing this meal planning, what kind of food were you putting in like new recipes and things like that?
• 5:12
  Dimity: So we've been through we've been through it all.
• 5:14
  Dimity: There was one time where we were having a full week of new recipes, and it was things like, you know, we'd have like a white miso paste and some weird herbs that you just, you know, you don't usually use.
• 5:26
  Susan: Yeah.
• 5:27
  Dimity: And most of the time, those recipes were not working out.
• 5:30
  Dimity: And we had a full week of new recipes.
• 5:33
  Susan: Okay.
• 5:33
  Dimity: So those were like when we had that experience, it was disaster after disaster.
• 5:39
  Susan: And would you eat it or would you no?
• 5:41
  Dimity: No, and then it would be eight o'clock and we'd have no food, so it would have to be all right, we just need to go and get takeaway.
• 5:46
  Dimity: And it wasn't like we could then okay, well, what do we have in the the house to be able to make things?
• 5:50
  Dimity: It was all these weird ingredients that we don't know how to use these.
• 5:53
  Dimity: Yeah, and then we're trying to make these into anything.
• 5:55
  Susan: So and then you're probably thinking, well, you're probably not gonna want to eat that then.
• 5:59
  Dimity: Yeah, there were multiple, multiple times where it was like three nights in a row where we're getting takeaway.
• 6:03
  Dimity: And you know, we spent all this money on these ingredients.
• 6:06
  Dimity: And now we've also spent extra money on the takeaway that we've had.
• 6:10
  Susan: So the takeaway is really expensive.
• 6:11
  Dimity: It is.
• 6:12
  Susan: Like, obviously, you know, I know everyone goes on about the health benefits, and it is like, you know, so much salt and sugar in most takeaways.
• 6:19
  Susan: You don't like I like to, you know, where I can uh get the best quality meat, you know, that's affordable.
• 6:25
  Susan: Um, but like definitely takeaway prices.
• 6:28
  Susan: Do not do that.
• 6:29
  Susan: They will buy the cheapest cuts of everything.
• 6:32
  Dimity: Exactly.
• 6:32
  Susan: Um, and just you don't know what you're gonna get.
• 6:34
  Susan: Um and then, yeah, just the price of it.
• 6:37
  Susan: Yeah.
• 6:37
  Susan: So expensive.
• 6:39
  Susan: Like I can't believe how much some people spend.
• 6:42
  Susan: Um, even like if you do think about like KFC and McDonald's and things like that, like that used to be relatively like cheap enough.
• 6:50
  Susan: Now, every so often, yeah, I'll bring Jamie to get a little treat once a week or something.
• 6:55
  Susan: And I'm like $25.
• 6:57
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 6:57
  Dimity: I feel like when you look at the singular individual price, it's not that bad.
• 7:02
  Dimity: But then when you start to add everyone's meals in, it's like, oh, well, hold on, now we're spending $40 and or more.
• 7:10
  Susan: I reckon most families would probably when they do a takeaway, they're probably at least close to $100.
• 7:15
  Dimity: Yeah, well, we normally when we if we get takeaway, it's only about $40 because the kids don't eat too much.
• 7:20
  Susan: Too much.
• 7:21
  Susan: But I can But if they get older.
• 7:22
  Susan: Yeah.
• 7:23
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 7:23
  Dimity: Yeah, for sure.
• 7:24
  Dimity: Definitely.
• 7:25
  Susan: So that's uh so you basically know what do you do with new things?
• 7:29
  Susan: Do you just kind of put that to rest?
• 7:31
  Dimity: So I've made a rule that only once a week, if we want to try to do that.
• 7:34
  Dimity: It has only once a week.
• 7:36
  Dimity: Because I like to have a lot of variety, which I um it's probably not that practical because it would be nice just to be able to go through and have the same things.
• 7:45
  Dimity: So I do like to have a new recipe here and there.
• 7:49
  Susan: Okay.
• 7:49
  Dimity: But definitely only once a week, um, because I don't want to go through having takeaways every night.
• 7:55
  Susan: And I think that one of the issues when you do do the new things is that you've got you have you can't just buy like a little like a bit of herbs or a little bit of whatever.
• 8:04
  Susan: So you've got all these like extra things, and then they have to go in your fridge.
• 8:08
  Susan: And then from my experience, they end up like being kind of shoved at the back, totally forgotten about.
• 8:14
  Dimity: Yep.
• 8:14
  Susan: And then before you know it, they're like two years out of date, and you're like, oh yeah.
• 8:18
  Susan: You just don't know what to do with it.
• 8:19
  Susan: Yeah.
• 8:20
  Susan: I'm not totally like, I don't sit down every week and do this, and but I'll have like maybe a list of kind of things on my fridge that just remind me of all the things we do like to eat.
• 8:32
  Dimity: Yeah, okay.
• 8:32
  Dimity: And from your Bible.
• 8:34
  Susan: Kind of, yeah.
• 8:34
  Susan: Like very simple though.
• 8:36
  Susan: Like it's just even like spaghetti bolognese.
• 8:38
  Susan: You've got those taco kits and stuff.
• 8:40
  Susan: They're just they're handy, you know.
• 8:42
  Susan: Um, like fajitas, you know, those kinds of things, maybe like lasagna.
• 8:47
  Susan: Um, and you're saying you've never made a lasagna before.
• 8:51
  Dimity: I've never made a lasagna before.
• 8:52
  Susan: It's actually really easy.
• 8:52
  Dimity: But I've put those I've put pre-made ones in the oven.
• 8:57
  Susan: But it's more surprising too.
• 8:58
  Susan: It's really just like spaghetti bolognese, we're just layering.
• 9:02
  Susan: So uh it's quite a good one to have.
• 9:04
  Susan: If you are struggling with trying to come up with what is for dinner, if you do actually sit down for like 10 minutes with your family and write down all the things that you have liked, um, if you kind of write them down, you'd be surprised.
• 9:17
  Susan: You probably like for me, I probably have around like 10 to 15 of fairly basic things, but there are things that we all as a family like to eat.
• 9:26
  Dimity: Okay.
• 9:26
  Susan: And even things like um, I know like the fussy eater, I still like Jamie's still fairly fussy, but like if I have salmon, for example, uh me and Nigel will have salmon, like cooked salmon with potatoes and vegetables.
• 9:38
  Susan: Pretty plain and uh nice, but uh with Jamie, because he hates potatoes.
• 9:43
  Susan: Um I'll do like a salmon, pasta and pesto with broccoli and peas.
• 9:50
  Susan: So it's actually pretty healthy and it's all in one pot.
• 9:53
  Susan: So it's really, really good.
• 9:55
  Susan: And he loves it.
• 9:56
  Susan: He's loved that for years.
• 9:57
  Dimity: That's good.
• 9:58
  Susan: They're the kind of things that I think as parents you can try and like tweak so you can still introduce things like that.
• 10:05
  Susan: You might not actually think that your kid would like salmon, but it's a fish that a lot of kids actually do.
• 10:10
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 10:10
  Susan: So it is a good one to try.
• 10:11
  Dimity: Yeah, we um if we have a pasta or something that I know that Louie or Poppy won't eat, I'll um I'll just pop a little tin of tuna.
• 10:19
  Susan: Oh, okay.
• 10:20
  Dimity: Mix it around and usually just with some pizza sauce or something.
• 10:24
  Susan: Okay.
• 10:24
  Dimity: And they eat that fine.
• 10:25
  Dimity: Like if we're having if we're having pasta, just take out our sauce, put a different sauce in.
• 10:30
  Susan: So kind of tricks.
• 10:31
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 10:31
  Susan: Yeah.
• 10:31
  Susan: And I think that's the thing as a parent, like you have to be um, I guess, mindful of.
• 10:37
  Susan: You don't want to kill yourself with like trying all these things that the kids just hate, like the quinoa and all these other hummus and whatnot.
• 10:46
  Susan: Like uh uh, you know, if your kid loves it, that's great.
• 10:49
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 10:49
  Susan: But like if you got these very adventurous foods that you're trying, even like things like with chili and stuff like that, like kids have really sensitive taste buds.
• 10:56
  Susan: So even like a lot of salt and things like that, like kids will find that too overwhelming.
• 11:00
  Susan: So kind of like where you can split things up before you put the flavour in for the adults is a really handy trick.
• 11:07
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 11:08
  Susan: And then having some like staples that you just know when you and your partner want to have that fancy steak or whatever, and your kid will not eat it, um, and you do not want to waste your money on buying them a steak that they will not eat.
• 11:21
  Dimity: But they won't eat.
• 11:22
  Susan: You know, having things like um little mini quiches, Jamie used to love them.
• 11:27
  Susan: Uh, and other other things like that, you know, you'll figure it out yourself.
• 11:31
  Susan: Just have a few of those, like a little pizzas every so often.
• 11:34
  Susan: It's fine.
• 11:35
  Susan: You know, I feel like you can get so caught up on making sure everything is so nutritional, and then your kid has all these temper tantrums, and dinner just becomes like kind of warfare of who's gonna win the battle.
• 11:48
  Dimity: It's a stress, it's overwhelming.
• 11:50
  Susan: And like the one of the most important things as a family is to actually eat together.
• 11:54
  Dimity: Yes.
• 11:54
  Susan: And have a bit of joyful time.
• 11:57
  Susan: And so if you're battling with food, then that is gonna take the joy right out of it.
• 12:02
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 12:03
  Susan: Uh so I think that's just really important to kind of think about.
• 12:06
  Dimity: Yeah, even sometimes Daniel and I won't eat with the kids, but we'll always sit down at the dinner table with them.
• 12:12
  Susan: Yeah.
• 12:13
  Dimity: And if they're having vegetables or um something like that, we'll have maybe have like just a little plate of like a piece of broccoli so that we're eating kind of with that.
• 12:22
  Susan: Yeah.
• 12:22
  Susan: And you know, like the thing is, you know, not every family's gonna be able to.
• 12:25
  Susan: I don't want to make anyone feel guilty if you're not sitting down with your kids.
• 12:28
  Susan: But you know, if you can at least do two or three nights a week, it really does help.
• 12:32
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 12:33
  Susan: There's all the kids who will only eat white or beige food.
• 12:37
  Susan: That's tricky.
• 12:38
  Susan: You know, definitely that I would be stressed if he didn't.
• 12:41
  Susan: Like, I'm pretty lucky Jamie's always eaten peas and and broccoli, uh, and he's okay with carrots, doesn't mind a bit of sweet potato.
• 12:49
  Susan: So it's kind of like as he's grown, showing him like we're eating all this food, and it's really interesting.
• 12:55
  Susan: He, because we're not forcing him, he's gradually starting to take some stuff.
• 13:00
  Susan: So even avocado, never liked avocado as a kid, but like we might have tacos or something, and so we might make it a little bit of an avocado guacamole thing, and he's like, "Oh, I'll have a bit of that," you know.
• 13:11
  Susan: So it's starting to be a bit more inquisitive, and I think that's because we haven't pushed him too much.
• 13:16
  Susan: Yeah, um, and then also like going to pair other people's houses.
• 13:21
  Susan: Have you ever experienced that?
• 13:22
  Dimity: Yeah, well, Poppy, I will say Poppy, I've asked at daycare.
• 13:26
  Dimity: She eats at daycare, she'll eat whatever's put in front of her there.
• 13:29
  Dimity: Okay, so maybe it's maybe it is because you know they're around other people their age and they're eating social.
• 13:36
  Susan: It's actually it can be a good thing.
• 13:37
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 13:37
  Dimity: So who does the cooking and the planning in your house for dinners?
• 13:40
  Susan: Yeah, well, look, I think it's a bit of a mixture.
• 13:43
  Susan: You know, I definitely I would say probably do at least 70% of it.
• 13:48
  Susan: But Nigel's pretty good.
• 13:49
  Susan: Uh, you know, his mum did teach him how to make some spaghetti bolognese and things like that, so he wasn't totally useless when he did leave the house.
• 13:56
  Susan: Um, which is thank you very much uh to his mum for that.
• 14:00
  Susan: But um, yeah, no, he's pretty good at cooking.
• 14:03
  Susan: But I think the yeah, the majority of it would be probably me.
• 14:06
  Susan: Like I actually enjoy going to the shops.
• 14:09
  Dimity: Yeah.
• 14:10
  Susan: Which is really sad.
• 14:11
  Susan: But I don't like doing online shopping.
• 14:14
  Dimity: I sometimes would like to do a click and collect.
• 14:16
  Susan: I like the idea of it, but I just I find I spend more time doing the online stuff that I do.
• 14:22
  Dimity: And you also can't pick the freshness of your vegetables.
• 14:25
  Susan: So I don't trust ... the trust issues.
• 14:28
  Dimity: That's fair.
• 14:29
  Susan: So I so for me, I actually kind of like getting going out and doing the shop.
• 14:34
  Susan: Uh I actually avoid Sundays.
• 14:36
  Dimity: Okay.
• 14:36
  Susan: Because for me in my local shop, Sundays are the busiest day.
• 14:40
  Susan: As a 99% rule, I go with a shopping list, and actually, like this is a plug for us.
• 14:46
  Susan: We have this really cool shopping list I did make.
• 14:49
  Dimity: Okay.
• 14:50
  Susan: Um, and it's a little section, it's very simple.
• 14:52
  Susan: Just it has a little section of your fruit and vegetables, your kind of your meat, your kind of like where the different sections are in your woolies or your curls or algae, wherever you want to shop.
• 15:03
  Susan: Um, and so I basically write down all the things that I need.
• 15:06
  Susan: And as I'm going through it, it's old fashioned, but I just like to cross it off.
• 15:10
  Susan: And it just it's just kind of handy there.
• 15:13
  Susan: And even if I forget my pen, it's just kind of have how because I have it there written, I find it quite easy.
• 15:20
  Susan: And because I've written it down, it actually has gone into my brain.
• 15:24
  Susan: So sometimes I can actually go and do the whole shop without having to look at it, and then I'll just go at the end and I'll scan through and I go, oh, I forgot to get whatever it was.
• 15:33
  Dimity: Oh, that's good.
• 15:34
  Susan: Yeah.
• 15:34
  Susan: So but that's because of the mental because you write it down.
• 15:38
  Susan: And I never go to the shops hungry.
• 15:41
  Susan: That's another massive rule.
• 15:42
  Dimity: That's a big rule for me, too.
• 15:44
  Susan: Knowing what kind of meals I'm gonna probably do this week.
• 15:47
  Susan: So I'll always have, I'll always just get like some salmon, uh, some chicken, some mince, um, I might try and do like a roast one of the days or things like that.
• 15:57
  Susan: So, you know, maybe try and do a few veggie meals here and there as well.
• 16:00
  Susan: So kind of like I know what I want to eat, and then I'll be able to pile the whole shopping cart up, uh, get it all done, and um then pack it away at home, and then mostly like I'll have them in the fridge, but I'll also freeze some stuff.
• 16:18
  Susan: So if I know, like always keep an eye on the chicken.
• 16:21
  Susan: The chicken always has very small mints has very small like um dates.
• 16:25
  Susan: Yeah, those are the things that go in the freezer first for us.
• 16:27
  Susan: Yeah, yeah.
• 16:27
  Susan: So I'll yeah, if I'm not gonna eat how like have them in the next day or two, I'll put them in the freezer.
• 16:32
  Susan: Yeah, um, so that's like really good to try and like use your freezer as well.
• 16:37
  Susan: Yeah.
• 16:37
  Susan: And uh make sure that the old stuff goes to the front and the new stuff goes to the back.
• 16:42
  Susan: Yes.
• 16:43
  Susan: So like when you're using veggies and stuff, like it don't have that cucumber that you bought like last week, don't put the new one in front of it.
• 16:51
  Susan: Rotate it.
• 16:52
  Susan: That's what all the shop people do.
• 16:53
  Susan: Yeah, you know, and that means that you don't end up having like soggy stuff happening going off in your fridge.
• 16:59
  Susan: Yeah.
• 16:59
  Susan: So yeah.
• 17:00
  Susan: The rotation's really important.
• 17:03
  Susan: So yeah, make sure to do that.
• 17:04
  Susan: Do you use your freezer much for like kind of like storing like and stocking up and things like that?
• 17:10
  Susan: Maybe a little bit too much.
• 17:11
  Speaker: Our freezer is jam-packed.
• 17:13
  Speaker: It's definitely due to a declutter.
• 17:14
  Speaker: Okay.
• 17:15
  Speaker: Because now I'm at the point where I'm struggling to find space to put things in that I need to have in there.
• 17:19
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 17:20
  Speaker: Um, so it's definitely due due to be cleaned out.
• 17:23
  Speaker: Um, but I love my freezer.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what kind of things do you like to put in?
• 17:26
  Speaker: Um well, obviously, I've got young kids.
• 17:28
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 17:29
  Speaker: So I always like to have some nuggets and chips.
• 17:32
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 17:32
  Speaker: Because it's like a go-to if they're not gonna eat if they don't want to eat, you know, it's good to just have everyone's.
• 17:37
  Speaker: Yeah, um, there's frozen vegetables in there.
• 17:40
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 17:41
  Speaker: Um, and then I've got, you know, things like some dumplings that we can throw into some soups if we need to.
• 17:46
  Speaker: Um, and then we've got the stuff from the week, like chicken, mints, um, some steaks, things like that.
• 17:54
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 17:54
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Do you do um any bulk cooking that you then put store into freezer bags?
• 18:00
  Speaker: Not at the moment.
• 18:00
  Speaker: I did when we were first starting out on solids with the kids, but usually no, it usually gets eaten.
• 18:07
  Speaker: Yeah, we're pretty good with that stuff.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I've uh I try and do it every so often.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: So, for example, like if I have lasagna, um, because you know, you get a bit sick of eating the leftovers too.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: So I'll make the lasagna, I'll we'll have as much as we want for dinner.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: We might keep another batch for lunch.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because only three of us.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: And then there's usually um three pieces that I can just put into a freezer and then we can have that like another day.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: So that's kind of it's nice, especially when you are at that.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: Well, I know you can't do it like at five, but if you're kind of midday and you're like, oh, what am I gonna have?
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: Or early in the morning before you go to work, what are we gonna have for dinner?
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: If you do look in your freezer and you're like, Oh yes, I've got this, you know, whatever it is, and it just like can be a bit of a god sense.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: You know, nice to know that you've got some like homemade, healthy things there for your, you know, your kids to eat, and you don't have to starve from scratch.
• 19:04
  Speaker: Another really good trick that we like is the slow cooker.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, everybody loves that.
• 19:08
  Speaker: Yeah, we usually do it mostly in winter.
• 19:10
  Speaker: We don't I wouldn't say it's a summer thing, but I just love having a nice, hearty, cozy meal in the slow cooker.
• 19:17
  Speaker: And it's also something I feel like I can do because I don't like to cook.
• 19:21
  Speaker: So all I need to do is chop some things up, put it in there, push a button, and then I come back in eight hours.
• 19:25
  Speaker: Yeah, nice.
• 19:26
  Speaker: So tell me some of the things like uh is it mainly like stees or casserole?
• 19:29
  Speaker: Yeah, I think so.
• 19:30
  Speaker: And I find that there's a specific taste when it comes to the slow cooker.
• 19:34
  Speaker: That maybe that's just a personal thing.
• 19:36
  Speaker: Okay, but it is like a a stewy um curry kind of taste that I find um it it has.
• 19:42
  Speaker: But um, we do things like stroganoff, um there's uh like a chicken.
• 19:48
  Speaker: I I love a slow cooked chicken.
• 19:50
  Speaker: I just find like uh pieces or a full chicken?
• 19:53
  Speaker: Pieces.
• 19:54
  Speaker: Okay.
• 19:54
  Speaker: We do pieces.
• 19:55
  Speaker: Or if you do a full one, you can then um what's the word?
• 19:59
  Speaker: Yeah, shred it.
• 20:00
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah, okay.
• 20:00
  Speaker: I've seen a lot of recipes where they do that.
• 20:02
  Speaker: Um but it's super easy.
• 20:04
  Speaker: It's just takes away some of that that time that's gonna take.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: It's very or you have to be a bit organised.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: Yes, definitely.
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: So would you do it like first thing in the morning?
• 20:13
  Speaker: Get up and kind of like whack it on.
• 20:15
  Speaker: Well, yeah, it depends.
• 20:16
  Speaker: Um you there's all different recipes, obviously.
• 20:19
  Speaker: We usually go for the ones where you can put it in at the in the morning and then come back to it after work and it's ready.
• 20:24
  Speaker: Um, there are ones like quick ones where if you're midday and you think, oh gosh, I've got nothing to do for dinner, you can you can just pull out the slow cook of it.
• 20:32
  Speaker: And you can put it on hot for four hours or something and then it's ready.
• 20:35
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 20:35
  Speaker: Um, we've done both, and it works really well.
• 20:37
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 20:38
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 20:38
  Speaker: And usually you can fit a lot in there.
• 20:40
  Speaker: So you do have leftovers if you want them, you can freeze those leftovers.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I've done a really nice leg of lamb and I've cooked it for like maybe like eight hours or something, and it just like falls apart.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: Yes, so good.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: But yeah, some people are like like slow cooking is this crazy, crazy thing.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: There's whole like Facebook groups on us.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, slow cooking recipes.
• 21:02
  Speaker: The we've the like meals that we've tried in the past have been like the ones where with a new recipe, let's try it.
• 21:09
  Speaker: Some of them have been slow cooked ones and it's been terrible.
• 21:12
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah, really terrible.
• 21:14
  Speaker: And you think, oh, I don't really know if this is gonna taste good with all the ingredients we're putting in.
• 21:18
  Speaker: And it didn't.
• 21:18
  Speaker: And that's the thing, isn't it?
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: It's like trying to find the recipes that you love.
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: Like there's this one woman called Recipe Tin.
• 21:26
  Speaker: Yeah, I've heard of her.
• 21:27
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: She's every single recipe I've ever made from her is like phenomenal.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Oh, I've never had a bad one.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Now, in fairness, they are all sweet things, like her caramel slice, and she has this banana bread thing.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: Um, so I haven't actually done a savory one.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: The savory ones.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: For savory, I just I always just end up doing it myself.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: I'm a pretty good cook.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: So yeah.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: It's I kind of I'm good at winging uh the savory food, but I probably should experiment a little bit more.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: You know, you can get into your normal routine of of what you kind of like.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: And then you're like, oh, I don't really know if I want to experiment with dinner because if it's a disaster, like you said, you end up having to do takeaway.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: It's just really annoying.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: At least if it's something sweet and it doesn't work out, like it probably wasn't good for you anyway.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: So, you know.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Don't feel guilty about it.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: It's like fuck it.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: You're not gonna be like too you know wasteful about it, you know, not worried about it.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Um, but yeah, I guess like so like slow cooking is obviously awesome, great.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: If you and you do have to be a bit organised for it, you know.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: But can be really good for especially like cheaper cuts of meat.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: So that's really good.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: Um you melt them down and then they become absolutely delicious.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: So that's a really, really good thing too.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: Um, I guess another trick that you might want to consider when you are dealing with the daily dinner grind is you know, like there's no no shame in it.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: Maybe like the the kind of kits are a good option for you.
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: You know, you've got um was it the hello for fresh?
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: I know we've both tried that over the years.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: Um I quite liked it and the fact that it did uh make us experiment a little bit more.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: Um I like the fact that they gave you little sachets, yeah.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: So they everything was like pre-measured, and you didn't have all this waste.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: So that was good.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: That's a good thing.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Um I did find the meal sizes were a bit small.
• 23:16
  Speaker: You were saying that.
• 23:16
  Speaker: Yeah, they are a bit small.
• 23:18
  Speaker: We like to have leftovers, like um to have some for the the next day for the lunch, and we never had any of that.
• 23:24
  Speaker: Which I guess is the point of the meal kit to stop the wastage.
• 23:27
  Speaker: But yeah, um that's the only thing.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but I mean of course, it's expensive.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: But if you're not great at cooking and you do want to have the kind of variety, and you do want to I I feel like they were pretty healthy themselves.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: I don't know if that was true or not, but like from my perspective, it seemed pretty healthy.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Evidently.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: And of course, like, you know, there's all those other things like diet things, you know, the jenny or the light or whatever.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: Those things, you know.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Like I don't like the idea of microwave and my food.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Like that time is okay, but like every day.
• 23:58
  Speaker: No.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: Not for me.
• 23:59
  Speaker: Not yeah.
• 23:59
  Speaker: They're a good thing to have, I think, in the freezer for a last minute or quick windy.
• 24:03
  Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: But I would have eating it every day.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: And then of course, you know, you've got all those shakes.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: There's just so many.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: I couldn't deal with the shak I couldn't deal with not eating solid food and just drinking my dinner.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: Like I know that I used to know this lady who just her, she hated eating so much.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Wow.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Hated it, and she absolutely like she would live off shakes.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: So obviously, there's lots of different ways that you can get the your nutrients in.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: Obviously, protein.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: All these, like there's so much so much overwhelm now.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Like, you know, it's not just the normal stuff anymore.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: There's so much, I think, um, worry and anxiety that moms especially have of trying to, you know, we touched on it earlier, but like Instagram and all these other online resources, like they're they're there to help, but sometimes they can actually cause a lot of anxiety.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: Yes, definitely.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: And um, making you feel like you're not doing as well as you could do.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: Um, you know, the the social pressure there of like you're not a good mum if you're not giving a kid all these like crazy things.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: And then like, you know, it's okay to give them some pasta.
• 25:12
  Speaker: Yes.
• 25:12
  Speaker: I still fall into that trap.
• 25:14
  Speaker: I still see things on Instagram and I think, oh gosh, I need to give that to I need to give that to Poppy, I need to have Louie trying all these different things, and then I think yeah, and you get so anxiety, and then you're like you're putting that pressure on them, and then they're like going, and it just fails.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: So you feel like such a bad mum.
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: You feel like your kids are gonna just like they're gonna not end up being good human beings.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: And uh, you know, like Jamie used just he he would like live on like pasta sausage and uh tomato sauce.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: Like that was a lot of his meals when he was younger.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: He's turned out fine.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, he's he he yes, he still doesn't eat a huge amount of quantities, um, but I think he's relatively not too bad.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: And it was really interesting when I was and when I did have Jamie, he had some friends who would eat all these fancy, you know, avocado and all this stuff, and I was like so impressed with like this the really experimentation of these little toddlers and like little like kind of preschoolers, and they I was like, wow, they're gonna be so good.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: And I was very envious and very shameful of myself that I didn't have a kid who would eat all these fabulous things.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: But what was interesting, and I'm don't I don't I'm not being mean about it, is that some of those kids ended up actually regressing and they wouldn't eat any more avocado and they wouldn't do all these eat all these things that they were eating as kids.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: It's quite common for that to happen.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: And that's really frustrating for those mums, and then all of a sudden their kid becomes this fussy eater and they're a bit devastated.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: They're like, I've done all these right things, what's happened?
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: But I reckon that those kids will eventually grow out of it again, you know.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: They will they will come round.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think it's just like, yeah, not panicking and just trying to not give your stress onto your kid is very important.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: Definitely, you know, Nigel was always very good at kind of cutting things into little cute shapes and making the presentation really nice.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: And I think even as adults, like if you go to a fancy restaurant and you get something on your plate that looks really gorgeous, even if it looks like I don't know what this is, I don't know what if I'm going to really like it or not, when it's presented so beautifully, you have a much better chance of actually going of trying it.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna give it a go.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: Um and I think that's the same for kids.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: So try and make it look a little bit fun.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 27:28
  Speaker: There's no harm to it.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Like no, don't go to extremes.
• 27:30
  Speaker: No, we've I've got some um like cookie cutters.
• 27:33
  Speaker: Okay.
• 27:33
  Speaker: And I've made pizza for Poppy in the past where I've just kind of cut her salami out in flowers.
• 27:38
  Speaker: Okay.
• 27:39
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 27:40
  Speaker: I wouldn't say it helped, but you never know.
• 27:42
  Speaker: You never know.
• 27:43
  Speaker: One day.
• 27:43
  Speaker: One day.
• 27:44
  Speaker: But yeah, it is, it is, and it's things that aren't too hard to do.
• 27:47
  Speaker: Yeah.
• 27:48
  Speaker: Definitely.
• 27:48
  Speaker: Well, that's it from us today on the daily grind of dinner and you know, planning meals and things like that.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us today.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Hopefully, you've got a few tips and tricks that will help you to make your dinner a lot easier.
• 28:02
  Speaker: Thanks for listening.
• 28:03
  Speaker: If you enjoyed today's chat, tap follow so you don't miss an episode.
• 28:07
  Speaker: We would absolutely love to hear from our Aussie Mum community.
• 28:09
  Speaker: So leave a comment or share your thoughts with us on Facebook or Instagram at Bright Star Kids.
• 28:14
  Speaker: Share this episode with a fellow mum if you think she'd love it too.
• 28:16
  Speaker: You've got this, and we're right here with you.
• 28:19
  Speaker: Until next time.