Keep Cooking Simple

Today we talk about the raging cult of cuisine cooking at home and how it may be taking its toll on us.

With a booming celebrity chef culture, brought to us through TV shows, blogs, video and cookbooks, it is easy to get carried away with over complicated recipes. They require effort, energy and time. But so often, just facing the prospect of tackling another compound recipe depletes our motivation to even get started. But in her words of wisdom, the Queen of all celebrity chefs, Julia Child, comforts us that “cooking well doesn’t mean cooking fancy.”

Mrs Child was the living proof truth that it is never too late to teach yourself to cook well: “I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate.” She teaches us not to be intimidated and to embrace kitchen disaster with nonchalance. “The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude,” says Ms Child. Because “with enough butter, anything is good.”

We do not mean to imply that you should never tackle another complex dish in your life. By all means, if you want to impress your guests, showing off your cooking skills with a 3-5 course menu will do the job.

But we believe this is not something that works for regular weeknights cooking. Even if you find the motivation and energy to push yourself through 2 hours of prep time, chances are you will be eating dinner way too late. When there are kids in the family, that is not really an option.

One great resource to get you inspired with a simple dinner meal philosophy is StoneSoup. Jules Clancy, a former food scientist turned author and simplicity lover, proclaims her superpower is the “ability to “simplify” recipes without sacrificing flavour or resorting to processed crap.”

She only writes recipes, which are in fact guidelines, with 6-ingredients or less.  The best thing about her guidelines is that they also include ‘variations and substitutions‘ to suit your dietary requirements or missing ingredients.

The simpler you keep your dinner preparation, the more often you will have the energy, time and motivation to pull together a proper meal. The more you cook, the less you are likely to squander ingredients you have bought but not used, or overstocked.

A great way to go about it is to check with CozZo App what you already have in the pantry and come up with a dinner idea that will utilize those ingredients. Say pasta with tomato sauce and olives, or delicious, roasted potatoes. You will spare yourself a trip to a grocery and your dinner will be on the table in no time.

Teaching yourself the art of simple cooking is a food habit that leads to binning less food and enjoying more family meals together

We hope we convinced you:

1. not to over plan food, but to make daily adjustments
2. make an inventory of what you have and consult it before every purchase
3. shop with intention
4. be more mindful about expiry dates and food storage
5. don’t overestimate your cooking enthusiasm
6. keep cooking simple
7. don’t cook by the book

And finally, take our quiz to test your food management skills and where you stand.  Was this course helpful?

Please let us know what you think.