Ep 7. New Year, New You In The Kitchen

Sam (: 00:00

Good morning, good afternoon or good evening. Whatever time of day it is for you when you're listening, I hope everything is good and I am wishing you a really, really happy new year too. So the silly season has passed us by and I really do hope that Christmas went well. No family fall outs over some board games and most definitely I'm hoping that your food was a success.

So did you cook too much or did any of that planning that we talked about help reduce the leftovers?

Unfortunately, Santa didn't bring me the chest freezer that I so desperately wanted, but I have managed to squeeze into my fridge freezer in the kitchen a couple of labeled frozen goodies for easy meals later this month. How about you? Is your freezer stuffed full of meals that you've made using up your leftovers, or were you the stuffed one on Christmas day? I've got to admit that whilst I didn't particularly overindulge, I never actually do, sorry.

I am missing eating a turkey sandwich or two. I don't know what it is about them, but I absolutely love them. And believe it or not, I am still eking out the Christmas cake, but with no cheese. All of the cheese has gone, and as I suspected, I have used it up in one fail swoop in a quiche. It was delicious. But now it's January, another new year.

And as we head into this time of year, we're always faced with that notion of a new you and a fresh start. Now, I'm not a big fan or believer in this notion that a new year means a new you, because personally, I feel like it's just setting yourself up for a fail. However, that isn't to say that changes can't be made. I just think that they have to be a little bit planned and a little bit structured, but more of that in a little while.

So just from the outset, now that I've said those words, New Year, new you, I really want to stress that this episode is not, repeat not, about making lots of changes to how you cook, what you eat, or making any big lifestyle changes for that matter. It is just going to be a safe space to talk about and look at some small tweaks we can make step by step, little by little, to improve the approach we have.

to the challenges we face daily in our kitchens. Indeed, I actually think it's counterintuitive to talk big change in a month that just screams hibernation to me.

I've also got a late Christmas present for you. It's a quiz. I developed it about a year or so ago and it's just a little bit of fun, but I think it will definitely help you work out what kind of home cook you are.

But before we actually dive into that, I've got a few general ideas of how we can lighten the overwhelm load in our January kitchen without feeling the need for a total transformation. Some of these may well sound familiar. You know me, I like to come back to the same fundamentals, but nevertheless, a gentle reminder to keep life simple can never go awry, in my opinion.

Feeling on top of things, or if you dare admitting, feeling in control of your menu always helps. At this time of year, I'm personally conscious of what I'm eating, but I'm not gonna be too hard on myself. My body still needs nourishing. It's cold. And generally, I always have a pretty balanced approach to the food that we have in the house. So I don't feel like massive changes are needed.

Everyone seems to want to be healthy or healthier in January, and I agree, but let's redefine what healthy and healthier is within the realms of our kitchens. We're not all the same, and we can't all do the same things. For example, at this time of year, healthy for many, including myself, is about eating winter warming meals that use store cupboard staples and seasonal winter veggies.

I'm a big fan at the minute of a couscous salad with roasted or steamed winter veggies. It's not expensive, it's filling, and I can vary the dressing to vary the flavor. You can also vary the grain that's used as well. Rice works really nicely, but one of my personal favorites is pearl barley. Super nutty in its flavor and it gives everything a really good texture. I also turn to a really beautiful chicken and chickpea stew.

that I just add some extra hidden veggies into in the form of a veggie loaded pasta or tomato sauce. Rather than chucking in a can of tomatoes that the recipe asks for, I'll add a veggie loaded sauce like that. Dishes like this for me are a win-win. They're warm, they're seasonal, and they are nutritious. In fact, I might even share the recipe for this in the show notes.

Furthermore, they're fairly budget-friendly meals too. And let's face it, we can start the new year on a bit of a squeeze after the expense of Christmas and New Year. It's another reason why we shouldn't be stressing ourselves out with trying to make loads of changes and being a new you. January tends to be the month of hunkering down and consolidating with what we've got in our cupboards. Simple, inexpensive foods that we can make ourselves, like homemade pizza,

That might not necessarily be considered healthy in the general scheme of things, but it is way better than stressing out one night, not knowing what to cook and actually ending up buying a pre-made version, which most definitely wouldn't be the healthiest of choices. This is where I think things like pastas, stews, soups, and maybe some homemade bread to bulk out meals for children are just perfect. Whether you think January blues are a thing or not,

I think acknowledging that January is a bit of a hibernation month actually is worthwhile. Let's be honest, we generally don't want to be eating healthy, crisp, cold salads at this time of year. We might manage a few, but experience tells me we don't continue in this vein for too long, and then that sense of failure can creep in so soon after we've promised to be this amazing new person. Honestly, I have been there.

So I say, move away from this, don't even go there. Redefine healthy and give your body what it wants, which I believe are comforting and warming foods. And this is where the slow cooker comes into its element. The ability to use a cheaper cut of meat if you're a meat eater and chuck it in with some veggies, maybe some chopped tomatoes and some pulses. It's just brilliant. It's also easy and cost effective. You can't go wrong.

you can use anything that you might have in the cupboard, mixed herbs, stock cubes, maybe some Worcestershire sauce, veggies, meat, whatever. It's all gonna turn out really, really nicely. And imagine you could even stick some dumplings on top. So I've talked about some general approaches to the food we can eat to make our January kitchen a good place to be. But we can also look to stretch ourselves slightly, and I'd say from a mindset perspective.

I probably won't cover everything in this area. It's not my expertise, but I do think having an accountability partner is massive. Having someone to share an experience or change with makes the process way easier and way more enjoyable. A couple of years ago, my friend Sarah, she's a health coach and I'm looking to get her on the podcast this year. We sent weekly accountability messages to each other. Now it was work related as well as personal goals.

And I can honestly say that because of it, I was way more productive and effective. So I can't see why this couldn't work in our kitchens too.

So have you done it? Did it work? Do you want to maybe do it again? How about we actually set up an accountability partnership right now between us? Just a couple of simple things that we agree to do as we move through the cooking year. So maybe a couple of ideas I've got could be clear out the pantry and fridge on a monthly basis, just to ensure that we're using our ingredients, not letting them go to waste. Personally, I am absolutely terrible at this.

So this is actually my pledge right now that I will every month or every week for the fridge, go through my cupboards, the freezer, the fridge ingredients, and actually ensure that I am using up all of the ingredients that I have got before I go and buy new ones.

Another idea, I guess linked to the above one, is that we could pledge to reduce food waste. This was a huge topic for our last episode and I think a really important one. So let's look to not throw food out, use the bendy vegetables up, maybe a soup, maybe a pasta, whatever it is that we want to use it, but let's not waste as much food as we may have done last year.

Again, I think we could set out to expand our meal repertoires. It's such a good idea to have more inspiration, be more adventurous, but I guess we shouldn't overwhelm ourselves. We just need to look to maybe try one thing a month rather than more than that so that we could potentially throw ourselves off course.

Another idea we could do is we could look to stretch ourselves with something of more of a challenge. So not only look to make a new meal every month, but also look to challenge ourselves a little bit further so we could have a section called what's in your fridge and we could share what we've actually made with our leftovers.

And remember, with anything that we do, if it isn't perfect, please don't be disheartened. I mean, what is perfect anyway? As far as I'm concerned, if it's edible and everyone in the house likes it and eats it, take the win.

So please do let me know how you go. Join the social channels, my Facebook group and remember to keep me accountable too. And anything that you share with me, I will share in future episodes so we can really make progress in this area. So the last general idea I'm gonna put forward to suggest to help you with that sense of a new year, new me is something I actually love.

but probably end up doing as a form of procrastination when I've got other stuff to do.

I really wish I was able to keep on top of my kitchen's appearance, but I just can't. Life and two boys who don't give two hoots about how things are put away majorly prevents this. But when my kitchen has had an overhaul, I'm talking about a reorganized cupboard, I'm talking about shelves being cleared and cleaned.

ingredients labeled, those sorts of things, I am all over life. So if your kitchen feels like chaos, maybe consider a monthly tweak, nothing like a change being as good as a rest for reinvigorating a need to cook. And I can't not mention my Thermomix here. It's the one piece of kitchenware that I know will deliver everything I need because of its versatility. It's my healthy, it's my slow cooker.

It's my adventure. It's my inspiration. And it's my organization. It's my time well spent, not wasted. It really is my helping hand when it comes to being on top of, or in my terms, in control of the food I make in my kitchen. It really is why I flourish rather than flounder. You might have an equivalent piece of equipment. Let me know. If you do, use it, abuse it. They have been invented to help us.

and by allowing them to help us brings us a little bit of ease and joy into our kitchen. It might be that you've been hankering after a new piece of kitchenware, a new gadget, and maybe it's a time to allow yourself to have it. And don't say treat yourself because if it's something that's going to make your life easier, it's not a treat, it's a necessity, just saying. And remember, it benefits the whole family, so it's not just for you. Right, the quiz.

I mentioned it earlier. So I've put a link for the quiz into the show notes. It will only take you a few minutes to complete it and it will let you know what kind of cook you are. And I think it will maybe help you to find it easier to make a few tweaks. Just as a bit of background, so you know why I've done it, I did psychology at uni. I then spent a big part of my life in the corporate world, working in qualitative research, developing needs models.

In plain talk, that means I have interviewed thousands and thousands of consumers, people like us, about the products and services that we use and avoid so that we can understand what drives and prevents behaviour. It always fascinated me just meeting ordinary people and literally chatting to them about anything and everything that they might use in their world. Naturally, I ask a lot of questions. It seems to ground me. So I was quite good at it.

And as I moved into my Thermomix world, I felt that the same drivers, the same barriers would exist when it comes to preparing food. So I figured I'd develop a quiz to reflect this. Now I'm not going to give too much away, but there are six outcomes or six types of home cooks that I think you could potentially be. Don't get me wrong. You might feel like you straddle a couple. I know I do. And it does change over time, but I definitely, definitely have one

But more about that in a minute. So the six possible outcomes are, you might be a freedom seeker. So this person is all about spontaneity in what they do and when they do it. Cooking definitely isn't a priority and they do not want to be spending hours and hours in the kitchen. In fact, they would probably prefer to go out because they like the social element of eating.

So for this person, if you are a freedom seeker, I'd be saying you need to stock up on some versatile pantry staples like wraps and pasta. Something simple, something easy and something quick. Then there is the cook coping with family pressures. This one might sound familiar to a lot of us. So this person is a mum or a dad, always on the go, busy juggling work, kids and a busy household.

Therefore, when it comes to food, the main focus is ensuring that what is made caters to everyone. So it's simple again, it's quick, and it's actually about making sure everyone will eat something. And these guys are okay buying pre-packaged foods if it's needed. If this is you, a small change that I think could be made is you could dedicate one day to batch cooking. So you prep and freeze meals

so you don't feel rushed during the week. You could also think about involving the children in that process.

Then there are the hesitant home cooks. And I think there are plenty of these amongst us as parents. This person is a creature of comfort and they stick to what they know when it comes to cooking. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. They lack confidence, they don't think they can cook and therefore they make familiar, tried and trusted foods because they know that people will eat them but they also know that they can make them. They're not gonna be pushing the boundaries.

So a small change that would work for someone like this would be to introduce one new recipe a month, starting simple and building from there. Or maybe you're someone with sophisticated tastes. If you are, you appreciate quality and know that when you choose something, it is worth the investment. When you cook, you focus on high quality ingredients and meals that make you feel special.

You don't stress about always cooking from scratch. Sometimes you opt for quality, ready-made meals. So a small change that could work for someone like this would be to incorporate simple gourmet touches into everyday meals, such as a high-end olive oil, some fresh herbs, little extras like that. They just elevate the experience of eating. Maybe you are a curious soul. This is where I wish I could live.

This home cook is always looking for something new. That's not only in the kitchen, that's in life generally. They love experimenting, that might be flavors, ingredients, different techniques, and they really don't get stressed out in the kitchen. If something fails, that's okay. It's all part of the learning process.

So for this person, a small change that might work is setting aside one meal a week to explore something new. So it could be a new recipe, a new cooking technique, whatever it is, something that challenges them in the kitchen. It will keep cooking exciting and it will keep them inspired to keep experimenting. Lastly, you could be a mindful adapter. And this is predominantly who I am.

I love being in control of what I eat and I focus on making intentional, thoughtful food choices.

I don't stress out about saying no to foods that don't align with my goals. It's about what works for me. And I have absolutely no fear about being picky about ingredients. It's okay to stick to what my priorities are. So a small change I have found that works for me is to batch cook my foundational ingredients. And by that, I mean my grains, my proteins, or my sauces.

It just means staying on track during a busy week is really super easy. Don't get me wrong, I haven't always found it easy to be so strong-willed, but I've learned that if I'm in a good place with my food, so can the rest of my household be as well. After all, we need to look after ourselves in order to be able to look after others. So I would love to know what type of cook the quiz suggests you are, and if you think it's a fair result.

Please drop me a message through the usual channels and I'll get back to you with any insight I might have. Okay, I think that's enough change for January. Those new year diets, gym memberships, that kind of thing, they can just wait a little while in my opinion. I really hope the episode has helped and by no means created any sort of overwhelm. We're all in this together. So chat next time, but until then, don't feel overwhelmed in the kitchen because together we can flourish and not flounder with food.

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