What We Eat In A Normal Day

I realise that I often write (and talk) about food and describe recipes that I cook. However, I rarely describe a full day’s worth of meals. When I post a sweet recipe or picture it’s likely that it’s the one sweet recipe I’ve cooked in the week. So in an effort to share my honest day’s cooking I’m confessing all. This is what we eat in a normal day.

7.30am The boys are up so it’s time for breakfast. It’s normally wheat biscuits (own brand Weetabix) in this house. Served warm, with a drizzle of honey or a light (half a teaspoon) sprinkling of sugar. The small fella has a mug of warm milk with his, the older boy just water.

8.00am Time to fill the school lunchbox. Today it’s raisins, a yoghurt, and wholemeal pitta breads stuffed with cheese. Two bottles of water in either side of the school bag for drinks for the day.

8.30am Once the 6-year-old is gone to school I settle down for my own breakfast. It’s wheat biscuits for me also (although I prefer mine ice cold) with honey and a pint (literally) of strong tea to start the day.

11.30am My hubby is home for a while, and as he starts the day at 6am, it’s basically lunch time for him. The small boy needs to eat before preschool so we have an early light lunch. I load up scrambled egg with peppers, onions, tomatoes, herbs, and spices then fill warm wholemeal pitta breads with the mixture. We drink water, the small boy has another cup of milk.

12.00pm Another lunchbox gets filled. This time it’s for preschool. The 3-year-old loves crunchy food so he has asked for carrot sticks, crackers, an apple, raisins, and a yoghurt. No way he’ll manage to eat it all but at least he has loads of healthy options to pick from and food to snack on while we walk home. Water for his drink as usual.

1.00pm I stick the oven on low, then fill the shelves with homegrown vegetables to slow-cook. There’s beetroot wrapped in tinfoil that I’ll pickle in the morning, then a big batch of ratatouille for freezing. I also take some milk that is near its expiry date and use it to cook some rice pudding in the slow cooker. Using the timer on the steamer I cook some baby potatoes, knowing they’ll be cold later on.

3.00pm I was right, there was far too much lunch in the preschool lunchbox. He happily munches on the contents as we (very slowly) make our way home, sharing with his big brother too. I may have dragged him a little. He’s well able for the walk but has overload after a busy day at preschool.

5.00pm I take the cool potatoes and slice them. Then using a low-cal spray and a non-stick baking tray pop them in the oven to crisp off. Everybody loves these healthy “chips”. Today they’re served with some of the ratatouille I made in the oven earlier, along with some melted mozzarella on top. There’s plenty of fresh crisp vegetables on the table to snack on, and I had made coleslaw the other day so we have those leftovers also. We all drink water as per usual.

7.30pm The boys are in bed and I’ve raided a secret stash of chocolate covered rice cakes. Tea and chocolate. Happy out.

10.00pm All the food I batch cooked earlier in the day has cooled so I divide it into foil trays and freeze for another day. That’s 3 meals worth of ratatouille and 2 trays of rice pudding. The beetroot I’ll leave until tomorrow and will peel then pickle in the morning. No way I’m stinking out the house with vinegar before bedtime.

Drinks for the day The 6-year-old won’t drink milk but drinks as much water as he wants to. We encourage the kids to drink if they’re thirsty so use water bottles to keep water fresh through the day. The 3-year-old prefers warm milk in the morning and afterwards drinks water, although if he asked for milk he can have that either. I drink either tea or water, my preference is for strong Irish tea. Himself drinks green tea or water. We ditched all cordials at the start of the year, this has saved us money and is far better for our sugar consumption and teeth.

On reflection I didn’t drink enough water today and I know I’ll feel it tomorrow. I must remember to carry a bottle of water around more often. Also, I ate very little fruit, which is normal enough for me but I must see what’s ripe in the allotment as I would rather snack on fruit in the evening than chocolate rice cakes. I hear my melons may be nearly ready. Ooo the excitement!