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They Say: Moms Have Only 9 Recipes
As if British food doesn’t have a bad enough rap. A new survey says British mothers use a mixture of just nine recipes to feed their families.
And on behalf of my male colleagues here at Strollerderby and my own father: who says it’s up to Mom to cook dinner anyway?
The survey came from Merchant Gourmet, which polled four thousand Britons on their food habits. Nine out of ten moms said they cook the same meals over and over again. One in four said they made the same meals on the same day of the week each time.
Food product company Merchant Gourmet polled 4,000 Britons to discover that hectic lifestyles, fussy children and partners who work long hours mean mothers are stuck in a rut when it comes to experimenting in the kitchen.
Nine in 10 mothers polled admitted cooking the same meals over and over again while one in four made the same meals on the same day of the week. More than half admitted to making more than one meal each night to keep their kids happy.
I’m going to admit a bit of guilt here. For one – I’m a vegetarian, while my husband and daughter are omnivorous. We make two meals for that simple reason.
We’re also a two working parent household, where neither parent has much time for innovation. And while our daughter’s palate is varied (friends remark on how impressed they are when she reaches for broccoli, mushrooms, tomatoes and a host of other veggies that their kids refuse to eat), we’re often just too exhausted to take the extra time to make the meal more complex.
We’ve also found there’s no telling what our child will eat from one day to the next. Last week, she refused mashed potatoes. Sunday night, she agreed to eat them – if I’d make a face in them with her green beans and peas (I obliged very happily – and she ate both the greens and the starch). Placing the same foods in front of her time and again could make her bored; but the constant presentation means eventually she WILL eat it, and get the appropriate nutrients. Presenting the same healthy food over and over doesn’t bug me as much as presenting varying degrees of junk day by day.
Of course, I keep coming back to the root of this survey: if a mom has nine recipes, how many does Dad have? Fortunately my husband has his own set, and I have mine.
Who does the cooking in your house? Do you mix things up?
Need more ideas? Check out Nibblers here on Babble for family-friendly fare.
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3 Comments
snarky mama commented on Nov 17 09 at 1:04 pmI do the majority of the cooking, although DH is generally in charge of dinner at least once (but usually twice) a week. While DH can bust out an awesome baked mac and cheese, and a tasty (if kinda spicy) seitan stir-fry, I generally leave him with “my” recipes to work with. (For some reason, DH has a difficult time making recipe substitutions, so I usually give him recipe ideas based on what we have in the fridge.)
I have no ideas how many recipes I have (ie., the ones I can make off the top of my head), but it seems like more than 9.
Ali commented on Nov 17 09 at 3:53 pmI stay at home now so I do 90% of the cooking. Cottage Pie and Meat Sauce with Rice Stcik Noodles get made once a week usually. Since my partner usually works until 8pm I get to cook but I dont mind. I am very lucky to be able to stay home with my children.
LDNmama commented on Nov 18 09 at 5:56 amUmm I’m a bit embarrassed here cause I don’t think 9 is that bad a rotation at all.
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