I’ve been wanting to share this for a while, and right now, I think it’s more important than ever. How to enable us to stock up on ‘fresh’ ingredients to save time in the kitchen while providing healthy nutritious meals to our families.

Let me explain.

When you are under time constraints, to prepare supper, there generally is no time to make everything from scratch. When we think of spaghetti bolognaise, you have your mince, pasta and a tomato-based sauce to add. Then you grate in some carrots and baby marrows. Right? OK just kidding, we generally don’t have time for the latter. So, here’s a solution, which shouldn’t take you more than an hour, saving loads of time later.

When you get to a store and see some really fresh ingredients like carrots, buy A LOT! Then you set out one evening to prepare these carrots. See it as me-time. After the little ones are in bed and the house is quiet, put on your slippers, add music and get started.

Rinse, peel, chop, rinse again, steam.

Blend all your carrots and decant into 250 ml containers, to freeze until needed.

Whenever you are making your spaghetti bolognaise again, take out a frozen portion and add it to your spaghetti sauce! Carrots contain a lot of natural sugar, which counteracts the acid in the tomato sauce. Kids love the creamy flavour, your family gets valuable nutrition from their comfort meal, while eliminating added sugar. And you can pat yourself on the shoulder for being such a creative mom! Adding undetected goodness.

Feel free to innovate and add some fresh herbs or onion. Same procedure!