Teaching my children to cook an economical meal at home has always been one of my parenting objectives. I think all these years the only thing that has spurred me on to learn to ‘cook anything with everything’ has been the desire to impart to them the skills of menu planning for daily meal preparation After several years of cooking daily, my criteria for home-cooked meals is that it must be an easy nutritious satisfying meal where ingredients costs do not add up to breaking my weekly household allowance for food! This recent December school holidays I decided to start teaching my younger daughter, M, the ropes. I felt gratified I had been conscientiously gathering the recipes all this time to pass on to them once they started to cook. So on New Year’s Eve 2012, I planned a simple lunch menu for M, then 12 years old, to cook by herself on the following day, which was New Year’s Day 2013. I planned to ‘disappear’ from the house that day and go shopping with my elder daug...
A personal archive of housekeeping, parenting, and family life by a Singapore mother — now growing into grandparenting, aging, and creativity in later life.