Cooking keeps me self-tutoring. The tutor mentions a meal that was indispensable last school year.

Most weeks, I don’t work outside the home, but my wife does, and my kids go to school (grades 8 and 10 this fall). Increasingly, therefore, my role is domestic – cleaning and so on – of which meal planning can be the most challenging.

Although many people don’t like to admit it, we’re about to embark another school season. With relief from the higher evening temperatures, savvy, proactive sorts are already cooking meals to freeze for easy thaw and serve a few months from now, when life will be busy.

A standby meal for us last year – one the kids really enjoyed – was fresh bread with canned beans. Three to five hours before they needed it, I’d put the ingredients in the bread maker and start it up. Often I’d also open the cans of beans, put them in the pot, and leave them there without the heat on.

When the three needed dinner, I’d often be tutoring. No problem: my wife would just turn the dial on the stove, then take the finished bread from the bread maker. Dinner in five!

Beans and bread, eaten together, are complementary proteins, which means you get the protein benefit of eating meat.

My wife loves to cook, and doesn’t prefer shortcut meals. However, with her job and the children’s activities, she’s pushed more in that direction.

I’ll be sharing more of our meal solutions:)

Source:

Mader, Sylvia S. Inquiry Into Life, 11th ed. Toronto: McGraw-Hill, 2006.

Jack of Oracle Tutoring by Jack and Diane, Campbell River, BC.