Food on the Fast Track

Most of the time, I can prepare a meal fit for a king from the stock of my pantry, frig or freeze. When I consider my children and their contemporaries, who's lives' are hectic and filled with something to do besides making homemade chicken stock, I wonder what would I do in their situation.  Cooking homemade meals has always been a priority for me, not so much for them, but I sense they still want a high quality of domesticity.  They may not derive as much satisfaction as I do from making all my own salad dressings, stock or bread but they certainly appreciate the comforts of home cooking.  So how do they strike a balance between a week on the road, graduate studies at night, and nonstop busy, busy, busy - not to mention, babies.  Whew!  I've never forgotten the night, early in my marriage, when I came home whipped from work at midnight and my husband who was studying for graduate finals said, "What's for dinner?" Our future depended far more on his education than my job as a paralegal, so I fixed something - but, I always had something to work with in my kitchen even back then.

I think about the younger generation of my family and how accomplished they are. None of them are slack; they are all highly educated, motivated, capable and have very serious careers in education, medicine, business or art. I'm so proud of them.  The only thing they lack when it come to cooking is time, but time is the essential element. They have different priorities and just need a plan and some good tools for a little home cooking .

Microwaves are standard equipment now, but there are some other very good small appliances to facilitate their situation.

1. A slow cooker
2. A food processor
3. A blender
4. A pressure cooker
5. A grill (gas or charcoal)
6. A hand mixer

Kitchen Equipment beyond spoons and spatulas:

1. Micro planes or rasp graters
2. An inexpensive mandolin
3. Kitchen shears
4. a knife sharpener (it goes without saying, sharp knives are essential)

Consider something like a slow cooker when you get a wedding gift for a busy young couple. It may be far more useful than a napkin holder.