People often ask me how I afford to feed up to 9 people every night and I usually answer by saying it's much cheaper to cook meals from scratch and on the whole that is what I do. Unless I can't be bothered.
Lasagne, roast dinners, chicken portions and mince livened up in a myriad of formats - all great cheap
ways of feeding my babies, some of whom are taller than me!
But like everyone else I have days when I just can't be arsed to peel or marinate or I've forgotten to load the slow cooker.
Of course like most mothers I have those good old standbys of fish fingers (sustainable fillets of course) and nuggets (let's not look too closely at the packaging there eh?) but I have also have some cheaty quick meals which make this unfit mother feel slightly less guilty.
Our current favourite cheaty meal is one I have nicknamed the Unfit Mother's Fish Pie.
I am not ashamed to admit that I have lots of unfit mother moments like when I tell myself that chocolate brioche is a healthy choice (well it apparently has less fat and sugar than a chocolate spread sandwich according to another "unfit mother" friend of mine). Or when I roll out that old phrase; "eat a peck of dirt before you die" in my head when I drop food on the floor and replace it on the plate quickly. Or when I nip tiny mould spots off the bread and hope the children didn't see me doing it.....
Anyway, I digress,
Here's my bung-it sort-of-recipe for Unfit Mother's Fish Pie.
You will need - a pack of fresh or frozen fish pie mix from your favourite supermarket. (I use frozen because it's cheaper) 1 tin of cream of mushroom soup, I bag of frozen mashed potato. About 1 or 2 tbsps milk, a microwave, an oven, a glass of wine.
Method: Plonk fish cubes into a microwaveable bowl. Add milk. Cover and bung in Micro for 3-10 mins depending on microwave. Sip wine checking bowl regularly, poke fish until it seems cooked. You could follow instructions on pack but I never bother. I just guess.
Tip frozen mash into a microwaveable bowl. Cover. Sip more wine while microwaving it but regularly check and stir with fork until hot and soft. The mash that is.
Pour off most of milk, apart from a little which you might like to mix into the no-longer frozen mash to make it creamier and a bit fishy. It's up to you. It makes me feel a bit better like I'm actually cooking anyway.
Swig another mouthful of wine. I find a nice crisp white accompanies this dish nicely.
Tip about half the can of soup, (or enough to just cover the fish) into your pie dish. Or in my case the pyrex bowl I just cooked the fish in. Dollop spoonfuls of mash on the top and spread with fork until covered. Make pretty patterns if you wish or go for the 1970s artex look like I normally do. Add cheese if you must - I can't bear the stuff!
Shove in oven until pie is bubbling a bit and mash peaks are just brown.
Serve -Add side of veg/chips/roasties/frozen peas/another glass of wine at will.
Accept rapturous applause and gushing praise without any feelings of guilt.
NB: I thought you might find it amusing that I was in the kitchen writing this post, whilst actually cooking a "proper" supper and got so carried away typing I forgot to put the roast veg in the oven so we will be eating at about 9 tonight! Truly I am an unfit mother.
 |
| DS#3 loves mash with everything! |
ways of feeding my babies, some of whom are taller than me!
But like everyone else I have days when I just can't be arsed to peel or marinate or I've forgotten to load the slow cooker.
Of course like most mothers I have those good old standbys of fish fingers (sustainable fillets of course) and nuggets (let's not look too closely at the packaging there eh?) but I have also have some cheaty quick meals which make this unfit mother feel slightly less guilty.
Our current favourite cheaty meal is one I have nicknamed the Unfit Mother's Fish Pie.
I am not ashamed to admit that I have lots of unfit mother moments like when I tell myself that chocolate brioche is a healthy choice (well it apparently has less fat and sugar than a chocolate spread sandwich according to another "unfit mother" friend of mine). Or when I roll out that old phrase; "eat a peck of dirt before you die" in my head when I drop food on the floor and replace it on the plate quickly. Or when I nip tiny mould spots off the bread and hope the children didn't see me doing it.....
Anyway, I digress,
Here's my bung-it sort-of-recipe for Unfit Mother's Fish Pie.
You will need - a pack of fresh or frozen fish pie mix from your favourite supermarket. (I use frozen because it's cheaper) 1 tin of cream of mushroom soup, I bag of frozen mashed potato. About 1 or 2 tbsps milk, a microwave, an oven, a glass of wine.
Method: Plonk fish cubes into a microwaveable bowl. Add milk. Cover and bung in Micro for 3-10 mins depending on microwave. Sip wine checking bowl regularly, poke fish until it seems cooked. You could follow instructions on pack but I never bother. I just guess.
Tip frozen mash into a microwaveable bowl. Cover. Sip more wine while microwaving it but regularly check and stir with fork until hot and soft. The mash that is.
Pour off most of milk, apart from a little which you might like to mix into the no-longer frozen mash to make it creamier and a bit fishy. It's up to you. It makes me feel a bit better like I'm actually cooking anyway.
Swig another mouthful of wine. I find a nice crisp white accompanies this dish nicely.
Tip about half the can of soup, (or enough to just cover the fish) into your pie dish. Or in my case the pyrex bowl I just cooked the fish in. Dollop spoonfuls of mash on the top and spread with fork until covered. Make pretty patterns if you wish or go for the 1970s artex look like I normally do. Add cheese if you must - I can't bear the stuff!Shove in oven until pie is bubbling a bit and mash peaks are just brown.
Serve -Add side of veg/chips/roasties/frozen peas/another glass of wine at will.
Accept rapturous applause and gushing praise without any feelings of guilt.
NB: I thought you might find it amusing that I was in the kitchen writing this post, whilst actually cooking a "proper" supper and got so carried away typing I forgot to put the roast veg in the oven so we will be eating at about 9 tonight! Truly I am an unfit mother.
