Chicken nuggets, pizza and chips are rapidly falling out of favour with concerned mothers who are spearheading a revival of home cooking, according to research.

Despite time pressures, the majority of mothers are said to prefer to cook meals from scratch rather than open a jar or heat ready meals. Almost three quarters (70 per cent) of the parents surveyed claimed to make their own pasta sauce; two thirds said they baked their own bread and the same proportion said that they cooked burgers from scratch. More than two thirds (68 per cent) baked children’s birthday cakes rather than buying them.

The research, conducted by Raisingkids, a parenting website, was based on a poll of more than 2,500 parents from its database, which external experts say is an accurate reflection of the British family population. Pat Spungin, a child psychologist and founder of the website, said that it seemed the days of families sitting down to ready meals were over.

“The proliferation of cookery programmes, the concern about childhood obesity and worries over food additives have pushed food to the top of the parenting agenda,” she said. “What we cook for our kids is a statement about how we parent today and parents are increasingly viewing cooking as a hobby not a chore.”

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She said she was most struck by the finding that 61 per cent of mothers said they were far more interested in cooking than their own mothers who, from necessity, had to cook everything from scratch.

The survey found that cooking was as much entertainment as necessity. Seventy per cent of parents said that they cooked or baked for fun with their children, with 52 per cent sitting down to watch cookery programmes as a family. Dr Spungin said: “This generation of mothers are the beneficiaries of equipment like breadmakers and blenders, which makes food preparation much quicker.”

The survey was conducted to mark the Back to the Table campaign which encourages parents to cook. Its findings are borne out by discussion on another website. Mumsnet, an online chatroom, has an entire discussion forum on food and cooking.

More home cooking will be welcome news for the medical profession, which is alarmed at rising rates of childhood obesity, which have doubled in 10 years. One in four children is now said to be obese.

Puttanesca pasta sauce

Ingredients

1 chopped onion
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tin anchovy fillets, cut up small
Handful of black olives
Fresh basil, torn

Method

Fry the onion and garlic in the oil from the anchovy tin. Add half the anchovies and stir until they melt into the oil. Add the tinned tomatoes, and leave to simmer until it is reduced by about half. Add the remaining anchovies, olives and basil; stir and serve with pasta. Nice bit of parmesan on the top goes down a treat too!

Posted on raisingkids.co.uk by mumoftwiglet

Banana loaf

Ingredients

6oz caster sugar
6oz butter/marg
6oz self-raising flour
3 eggs
3 bananas (blend first if you don’t like lumps)

Method

Beat sugar & butter together. Add eggs, then flour, and mix well. Add bananas, and maybe add a drop of milk if needed. Bake in a loaf tin for 35 to 45mins at 180/350/ gas 4

Posted on mumsnet.com by Mamama

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