Food.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I've always maintained that I hate cooking. When I first got married, I had no clue about meal planning and feeding my husband and I tasty, cheap meals. We lived off frozen nuggets, eating out, eating at my mom's, and the occasional meal that I deigned to cook. By the time we had two kids, I was starting to realize that it was my job to keep my family fed. Taking one baby to my mom's most nights for supper was -although bordering on silliness- still manageable, but dragging two kids out? It was not healthy for anyone. I started attempting to cook more but our meals were still half-hearted and lazy on my part and more often than not, I guilted my husband into taking us out or pouted that we couldn't. I didn't seem to understand that cooking filling meals for my family was my JOB.

I am not entirely sure what changed, but by the time I had my third child, I was starting to get the idea that I needed to invest myself more in my cooking. I started cooking simple, but tasty meals for my family. Although I didn't have a huge arsenal of meals to choose from, I did know how to cook a few. And I started trying out new recipes. By trial and error I found some new favourites and all of a sudden I was off a new journey - that of cooking for my family. I still didn't love it. I still balked and complained. I still pouted from time to time. But those times became few and far between. 

And you know what? Somewhere along the way, I started to *gulp* enjoy it. I admit that I don't love meal planning, but if I have an idea of what to cook for supper, I most often enjoy placing that meal on the table for my family. I have found a lot of satisfaction in making sure that my family is fed hearty, tasty meals. That doesn't mean that I never serve frozen nuggets or toss in a frozen pizza. I think every busy mom does that from time to time. But overall, I'm finding that there is great fulfilment in feeding my family. 

Cooking on an extremely tight budget is not easy and I do not always do it right. I'm still learning, still experimenting, still trying and failing. I have my ups and downs where I get so bored of the weekly rotation of meals, but I've found lots of great new recipes online and from friends. My cooking is nothing to write home about but I think I've found a good balance between simple and tasty.

I sit down every week and make a six-day meal plan, and my make my grocery list of whatever I need for the coming week. Then I do my shopping. I don't plan specific meals per specific days, but I decide when I get up in the morning what I'm going to cook for supper that night and do what I need to do to prepare: throw something in the slow cooker, take out a package of meat to thaw, etc. 

My favourite time of day though, is when supper is over and the kitchen is cleaned up. I love the feeling of satisfaction that it gives me.