Research has shown that during the Covid-19 pandemic, people's attitudes towards food systems and food waste has changed, where they are becoming aware of the importance of reducing food waste. Have you noticed a difference in your relationship with food in the past year?
I have certainly changed my way of reducing food waste and planning my food shops more carefully to make sure I only buy what I need for the week. I have also found myself only going to the supermarket once a week for a big food shop, whereas last year, I would have done smaller, more regular food shops maybe every 2-3 days, and sometimes even on a daily basis.
Statistics showed that around 35% of people found that they reduced their food waste during the first lockdown in March 2020, and 75% have managed to keep this going since then. Just like me, 32% of people are putting more time into planning their food shops so that they are only buying exactly what they need. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that this might be a positive thing for the UK population if they continue to improve their relationship with food and the way they buy food. Not only is this good for the food system, but planning ahead with your meals can help you stay on track with healthy or balanced meals, instead of opting for takeaway food. But, that is only true if you are including healthy and balanced meals into your meal plans.
As well as this, people have found that they are spending less money per month on food shops, which they believe is partly due to their meal planning, making use of leftover food, and also from cooking from scratch.
Here are some tips for making cooking from scratch easier:
Make sure you've got the common basics in a lot of home cooked meals such as tinned beans, tinned chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, garlic, cooking oil, grains, pasta and spices (popular ones to have are cumin, paprika, mixed herbs, garlic powder, meat seasoning, curry spice & cinnamon).
Allow time for planning. Writing down what you are planning to eat for the next couple of days, or if you are wanting to plan on a weekly basis. This makes sure you have the ingredients on hand.
It may be slightly more expensive, but you could also buy pre-cut vegetables, especially from the freezer aisle, to help making the preparing process a little quicker, making it not feel like as big of a task. One of my key freezer bits that I always keep are already diced garlic, ginger, chilli and coriander!
Cook meals that make a delicious leftover meal for the next day. I always try and plan my dinners around the fact that I can also have it for lunch the next day. It kind of motivates me to cook from scratch knowing I am making not just one meal, but multiple meals. Same thing goes to batch cooking and freezing it.
Stick to simple recipes, with minimal ingredients. Maybe you could try some recipes out of cookbooks that only require low amount of ingredients (e.g. Jamie Oliver's 5 Ingredient's cook book).
Consider cooking you're favourites, food that you like or foods that you know your family will like. This can help stop you from hesitating about cooking from scratch, knowing that the food that you are about to cook is delicious and just how you like it.
Another way of saving time.. you could cut the cooking time of veggies such as potatoes and carrots, by pre-cooking them in the microwave. Then you can sauté or roast them until the outside is nice and brown.
If you have time, you could do start prepping ingredients for dinner before you start work, so that when you come home after a long day, it doesn't feel like such a big task ahead of you.
Of course, something else that could also help with cooking from scratch is a slow cooker. Great for getting your dinner cooking several hours in advance so its ready for when you're hungry. But I am aware not everyone has one, and may not be suitable to have one due to lack of kitchen space!
With time, you'll get better at cooking, and won't need to rely on looking at a recipe to follow. As well, you might notice being more flexible with a recipe you might be following, switching things up to your preferences!
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