Home Cookin' Made Easy

I have been spending some lazy days by the pool and trying to catch up on my magazine reading over the summer. I recently read a poll in an issue of Redbook Magazine and was a little shocked at the results.

The poll asked How many nights a week do you cook a meal from scratch?

Photobucket Image courtesy of mareesme

The results were as follows:

• 6 or 7 nights - 10%
• 4 or 5 nights - 44%
• 1 to 3 nights - 20%
• Never - 26%

Am  I the only one shocked by this? I realize that schedules can be hectic and so many options are available to make cooking a convenience, but what happened to the Joy of Cooking? (no pun intended) I'm not saying that every night you need to make homemade biscuits and soup or a four-course meal, but does everything we serve our family need to be pre-packaged?

Salad in a bag, spaghetti sauce in a jar, frozen lasagna, pizza delivery, and the list goes on. 

Take the time to cook with your family and make cooking fun. It doesn't take much time and it's easy!

Grate the cheese from a block of cheddar. Chop the lettuce from a full head of lettuce. Cook the chicken and shred it in a pan with some seasonings or taco sauce. Place all the fixings for some wonderful tacos on a sectioned platter and you have a home cooked meal that was easy to make.

This entire meal only took me 30 minutes to make! Each person got to pick what they wanted on their taco and because we prepared the ingredients and cooked dinner together (rather than buy it pre-made) dinner became fun. I knew exactly what I was feeding my child ... No hidden ingredients that I couldn't pronounce.

How many nights do you cook from scratch?