One of the ideas I had years ago was making it easier for people to cook home-cooked meals by having kits of the appropriate amount of each ingredient bundled together along with a recipe. It would be nice to be able to just pick up an organic meal for 2 or 4 or whatever size your family was and have everything ready to be prepared at home. It's the healthy and easy way to cook for your family from scratch without having to spend time looking for every ingredient in the grocery store and then having leftover ingredients that you have to figure out another recipe for. With these bundles, it would be easy, fresh, and have everything you need.
I'm not quite sure if I'll pursue this idea, but I was walking through Whole Foods the other day and saw these pre-cut veggie containers. That's definitely a step towards making it easier for people to cook more at home! I've noticed that in New York, people rarely cook. People are actually surprised if you cook dinner at home. Everyone orders take out. Every day. Really. That doesn't sound too healthy, does it? And I'm sure it gets expensive. But, in a culture of not enough time, tiny kitchens, and having to lug groceries by foot, convenience is key.
How do we make it easier for people (myself included) to cook more at home? I find the process of researching recipes extremely time consuming, and with everything else going on in my life, I haven't had time to just sit down and look through all of my cookbooks. I'm sure I can open up a cookbook and find a recipe to make, but now that I am trying to make even healthier recipes, the challenge is to find something that is tasty, nutritious, and quick! And I'm not just going for low fat = healthy type of recipe. I am looking for nutrient dense meals that are vegetarian, preferably vegan, and more raw than not, yet extremely filling at the same time. Hot foods are necessary since my body does get a bit cold, and I want "live" foods with as many superfood ingredients as I can get in there.
Hmmm, but this requires a bit of research. There are cookbooks out there that are raw, or vegan, or contain live foods, but I find it hard to follow recipes with no picture. Somehow, it's very uninspiring. As a visual person, I need to see the photo of the end result to see if it actually looks tasty before I even commit to the process. Know of any books out there that fit this criteria? If so, I'd love to know. Combination of hot and cold foods please. Maybe I'll do the research this summer, but for now I am sticking to the few recipes I know.
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Wow, we are on the exact same track on this one. I'm not completely raw myself and like you quick is key. Although I've just moved and it will take me awhile to figure the food situation out, The quickest is juicing. As long as you have a juicer, when you get your veggies and fruits. Precut them, just like you have above and put in the fridge, then just pull out. Nothing is quicker than juicing or smoothie.
ReplyDeleteBut for hot meals, ya, it kinda requires getting a certain amount of recipes stuck in your head, so that when you need to cook something, you don't have to pull out a book and figure it all out, you just get the ingredients and cook it up! I like pictures too. I solve this by buying only ones with photos. No photos, no buy. (I decided this recently, so I have alot that don't have photos) Another way to solve this somewhat is buy magazines with recipes and modify them or keep the way they are. Vegetarian Times is pretty good and I have Rachael Ray and Martha Stewart. In fact, Martha does something REALLY conveniant, she makes her recipes on cards that you see photo on one side and how to make it on the other and you can take out the cards from her magazine and put them in a recipe box or folder.
WHICH leads to another fast thing, organizing. The organizing is slow, but once done, quick! Put fave recipes in a folder, plastic sheets and then mark well, boom there you go.
When you are busy and stressed, no matter what, you will have to find some point in which to slow down enough to do some things in advance when it comes to food. I in fact, have not been able to because of a recent problem I just discovered. I wrote it in CCOR today, so you can check that out, but that problem REALLY gets in the way.
Anyhoo, so glad to discover eachother's blog!!!!!! Hope some of this helps!!! Much Love Christine~