5 Hacks on Making HomeCook Dinners Possible - Especially for the FTWM

A new week has begun.  

I decided to come up with this "5 hacks" about making homecook dinners possible for the full time working Moms with no domestic helper.  Of course it can be modified to one's needs and lifestyle, no matter what position one is in.

1.  Before the weekend marketing, I ask the children to list down what they are looking forward to in the week.  Although I am an advocate, to a certain extend, of "you eat what I cook", I thought I should let them take some responsibility in meal plannings.  It also take away a portion of my headache in trying to think what to cook everyday.   I listed down food items that are easy like soup, rice, pasta, noodles - words that my preschoolers are learning.  The way of cooking still lies with me - so they have to eat what I cook.  :)  The older boy will sometimes write down something not in my list of words, like sandwiches, burgers.

2.  When I buy raw chickens at the wet market, I will ask the seller to debone the chicken thighs and freeze the meat and bones separately.  Why?  Accumulate those bones and I will use it to make my chicken stock (recipe here) or on some occasions, I will boil the bones to make macaroni soup (recipe below).  However, for such cases, as the cooking time is generally shorter, more bones need to be added so that the flavor will be stronger.  I like cooking with thigh meat as I find it not as tough compared to breast meat.  Thus, deboned chicken thighs shorten the time needed to do all the cuttings before cooking.

3.  Do you know that the tips of the chicken wings can be used to make soup too?  Although it is not as concentrated, it can be used as the base of certain dishes.  Like the spinach with eggs aka 三蛋菠菜汤.  Thus, when cooking chicken wing (like steaming chicken wings - one such recipe here), make use of the tips for another dish.

4.  Forgotten to thaw the fish beforehand?  No worries!  Do you know that you can cook fish frozen?  Yup.  Here is one such recipe.
 

 



5.  If you have a slow cooker or a thermal cooker, you may wish to start the process before you leave the house, and come home to a piping hot bowl of soup.  Some people may think a slow cooker is a no-no when no one's at home - that is up to each individual so do it at your comfort level.  Alternatively, a thermal cooker does the job too.  I have a Philips rice cooker, that keeps warm for 10 hours.  Some people think it is crazy and if anyone ever uses that function.  Yes, I did.  There were times when I knew I will be home late - after dinner time.  Thus, I will cook the "cheater" claypot rice with chicken in the morning and leave it in the rice cooker to be kept warm for that 10 hours.  When the hubby is home, he added a little water and heated it up.  Good or bad?  I do not know but I do not see anything wrong except that my electricity bills might be higher.

So Ta-Dah!  There you go.  Not impossible definitely.  Another reason why we started to cook more - we bought dinner from a zhi char store yesterday.  The $8 tang hoon noodles was not even enough for 3 of us, and it is supposed to be the "medium" portion.  :(
 

Macaroni Soup
Ingredients:
250g macaroni, cooked as per manufacturer's directions

Chicken bones
1 carrot, chop into pieces
1 broccoli, chop into florets
1 chicken thigh, sliced
1 piece of fish - used batang fillet, sliced
Water

Directions:
1. Boil bones with carrots and water for 20-30 minutes.  Skim when necessary.
2. Remove chicken bones.
3. Add in vegetables and meat and cook till boiling.
4. Scoop cooked macaroni into a bowl and pour soup with ingredients in.
 
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