I'll Make Dinner; But Don't Expect Creativity.

 

I recently watched an online conference where one of the speakers mentioned his love of cooking. He waxed eloquent about his joy in the planning, execution, and presentation of each dinner he makes for his family. He even went on to say that if a recipe calls itself “fast,” “simple,” or, “easy,” he won’t make it because he wants to create something complex and creative.

I had a very difficult time relating to that particular speaker.  After a long day of child-wrangling, creating a complex and creative culinary masterpiece to put on the dinner table for my family is not exactly my primary goal.

I am not at all sure that I enjoy cooking. This is unfortunate, as food planning, shopping, storage, preparation, and clean-up constitutes a large fraction of my job as a stay-at-home-mom. The food must taste good, be easy for tiny fingers to eat, must be nourishing and fresh, must be as inexpensive as possible, must be ready reasonably quickly, and it must be plentiful. It is my job to make sure no one goes hungry or gets sick in my household of 5 (#6 is coming in June!)

And just when I’ve accomplished this for one day, the next day arrives, and the whole thing starts over again. It’s a bit overwhelming, and a bit tedious.

However, whether I enjoy cooking or not, it is an important task I have been given by God.

Proverbs 31:14-17 describes a worthy woman as a woman who, “is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it is still night; she provides food for her family and portions for her female servants. She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks.”

This is a picture of a woman who is taking care of everyone in her household, and doing it well. My circumstances may be different (I haven’t planted any vineyards lately), but the goal is the same- planning well, working hard, meeting needs.

The consequences are immense. I mean, why not serve my family Coco-Puffs for breakfast, frozen fish-sticks for lunch, and McDonald’s for dinner? Why make my own food at all when someone else will do the work for me? Those might be easier and more convenient options in the short term, but in the long term, could lead to some pretty terrible consequences for my children, and for myself. We live in a culture where preventable, chronic diseases regularly destroy people’s lives. https://www.fightchronicdisease.org/sites/default/files/docs/GrowingCrisisofChronicDiseaseintheUSfactsheet_81009.pdf

We may think these issues don’t affect children, but they absolutely do. I don’t want my children to struggle with obesity, poor behavior, and low energy. I certainly don’t want them to have to face awful chronic illnesses when they are adults because of the poor eating habits I taught them while they were young. I have spent years researching healthy eating and trying to find a system that works for me and my family. I’ve written before about resources I use to make healthy choices for my family here.

    While it might not be my greatest joy in life, the love and generosity I share with my family through the food I serve them is an important job, and one that I (try to) take very seriously indeed.  But you’ll probably never find me waxing eloquent about creative and complex dishes- if I’m going to survive, I have to keep it simple!

And now I get to get up and make breakfast.   

The Makings of Breakfast: Simple Sourdough, Cottage Cheese, Fresh Butter, Fruit