Defeating the Dinner Decision Demons

I ran into a friend last night at 6:30 p.m. on her way home from work. While we were standing on the sidewalk chatting, her husband called to find out when she would be home and — the million-dollar question — what was for supper. My friend sighed as she hung up and admitted that she had been full of good intentions of putting a roast in the Crockpot that morning, but …

Then she asked, “Do you plan your meals ahead of time?” Ah, yes, one of those things that we all know we’re supposed to do (like reading to our kids 20 minutes a day and washing our hands for a full rendition of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star). But life just seems to get in the way.

When I got home half an hour later, I discovered that the National Public Radio show Tell Me More was featuring this very topic. (Checking out the transcript or audio file is 15 minutes well spent). The key line for me was from Aviva Goldfarb, author of The Six O’Clock Scramble, who said, “[T]he hardest thing for people about cooking dinner really isn't the actual cooking, it's the deciding.” Amen, sister.

I do my deciding on Thursdays, when I dig through the deep freeze and defrost hunks of meat for weekend cooking. Usually it’s at least one roast or chicken, plus a couple smaller packages like hamburger or chops. I cook a couple of big meals on Saturday or Sunday and we eat a lot of leftovers, salads and sandwiches during the week.

But my “system” leaves a lot of room for improvement, so I got in touch with local personal chef Karen Tedesco of DinnerStyle via e-mail today to see if she had any tips for time-crunched parents. Tedesco’s business is advance meal preparation — menu planning, shopping, cooking, storing the foods, and cleanup — so she’s very familiar with the work involved in getting a healthy dinner on the table at the end of the day.

“I think most people who hire me feel at the end of their rope trying to stick with healthier meal options as they're feeling overwhelmed because they're so busy or don't cook — or both,” she said. “Many people tell me they live on takeout or Lean Cuisine and they're sick of it.”

When Tedesco enters the picture, she interviews the family to get a feel for their preferences. Then she tweaks the dishes a bit healthier. “My cooking style steps just a bit outside the usual comfort fare (e.g., mac ‘n’ cheese, heavy casseroles, meat at the center of the plate),” she said. “I use lots of vegetables and spices and explore healthier aspects of global cuisines like Mediterranean, Indian, and Asian, without turning their meals into ‘uncomfortable’ or complicated restaurant-type food.”

When she’s working on a week’s worth of food, Tedesco plans fresh meals like salads or entrees with salsas and dipping sauces. For longer-term menus, she relies on the freezer. “Fish is something I prefer not to freeze,” she said. “Everything else seems to do fine frozen.”

For those dreaded nights when parents are staring at the refrigerator waiting for something to magically appear, Tedesco said, “I think the best advice is to keep a well-stocked pantry of convenient but whole foods (canned beans and tomatoes, frozen veggies like sweet peas and corn, quick-cooking whole grains like quinoa and whole grain pasta) and to shop at least twice a week for fresh green things to throw into dinner — even a quick pasta dinner can be healthy and delicious with some fresh herbs, baby spinach, canned beans and some really good olive oil.”

The folks on the Tell Me More radio show brought up the inevitable problem of what to do when there’s a fussy eater involved — like my 7-year-old vegetarian supertaster. For Tedesco, this seems to pose a welcome challenge. “There are certain dishes my clients with kids have tried and then order repeatedly afterwards because they found they really love it, like Tunisian chickpeas with sweet potatoes and whole-wheat couscous,” she said. “I also encourage them to find which foods the kids DO like (usually there's at least one vegetable in there) and we go from there. Or I make a version of something that everyone will enjoy, such as a deep dish pizza or flatbread except I might use a whole-grain dough, more fresh vegetables/herbs and less cheese.”

By the end of the e-mail I was nearly ready to nominate Tedesco for kitchen sainthood — but she admitted she’s only human, like the rest of us. “I can plan other people's menus because it's my job,” she said, “but at home I tend to fly by the seat of my pants.”

Still, the seat of her pants doesn’t seem to be as close to the fire as mine … judging by the recipes on her blog, FamilyStyle Food.

Sometimes, though, I do OK. Like tonight, I whipped out my trusty Eating Well recipe for Honey-Soy Broiled Salmon, which my 4-year-old claims he could eat 900 pieces of, and which I can make in 40 minutes, start to finish. And for the vegetarian? Leftover pasta from the weekend.

By Amy De La Hunt, Health Blogger for SmartParenting