Sat 2 Jul 2011
{ New theme :: The Mélanger kitchen experiment (part 1) }
Posted by Julia Tuomainen under Baking
[27] Comments
Fighting back the tear that was threatening to surface, I struggle to listen to the director of the day care centre. Completely unbeknownst to the emotion hiding behind the smile planted on my face, she was enthusiastic of her tour of the facilities.
Feeling surreal as I glance around at the place my daughter will be cared for (when I returned to paid work), I follow the director as she starts to walk towards the kitchen. Pointing out some key areas, she starts to discuss the meals they provide the children.
“Food? Okay, this could be a good distraction,” I think to myself.
Pushing back the lurking tear, I start to listen intently as I am told the food policies. “Lunch is provided daily, but morning and afternoon tea must be supplied,” the director shares. “I must emphasise my centre has a very strict no-nut policy.”
Automatically I start to nod, knowing this policy is commonplace across day care centres, kindergartens and schools, and was waiting for it to be mentioned.
But I was not prepared for what followed.
“We also prohibit <insert popular packaged goods brands here – you can guess the ones> into the centre.” She explained because the products are produced on equipment that also manufacturer products that contain nuts, they are also banned.
Then she paused.
I was not sure if I was meant to acknowledge what she just said, so I piped up and simply exclaimed, “Lucky I can bake then!”
Jumping straight back into her tour, she smiled and remarked, “You’ll be popular come birthday time!” and proceeded to explain what happens each birthday.
Starting to excitedly ponder birthday cakes each year for baby Mélanger to share with her friends, I reflect, “Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.”
But long after leaving the day care centre, this conversation stuck in my head….
Providing homemade alternatives to packaged goods for baby Melanger’s morning and afternoon tea is not a problem for me. I am fortunate to love baking and have enough of a repertoire (I hope!), to keep bub happy. But there are many people who rely on packaged foods, and it started me thinking why.
Is it because they perceive it more convenient? Because they think it is cheaper? Or because they think making something at home is too difficult?
So this month is a little experiment in the Mélanger kitchen.
I will be focusing on four (4) standard, everyday, packaged good items. Sweet treats that are probably in the home of many Australians. The plan is to create my own recipes for each, and bake them from scratch. The aim is to discover:
1) How much time is needed to prepare these items
2) How much the ingredients really cost me at the supermarket register
3) And, lastly, what is the level of difficulty to put each of them together
It is no secret what side of the fence I am on, but I am going out on a bit of a limb here. I have no idea how this experiment will turn out. I could be in for a shock? Maybe some of those packaged goodies are just as good as home made? We will see….
Any guesses what is on my list?
I hope you enjoy this one. Looking forward to your feedback!
This work is licensed under a
WOW I love that daycare. I’m guessing that packaged muesli bars are at the top of the list, and probably a heap of Sara Lee stuff.
I’ll be interested to read the outcomes of your experiment. Have fun!
Oh I’m really looking forward to this series! I do think that many people have this misconception that baking their own goods are ‘too difficult’ or ‘time-consuming’ so this will hopefully undermine that myth
Good luck!
I think a lot of people purchase packaged goodies due to lack of time to bake. I purchased a particular item for school lunches when the boys were little and I was working. In my defense it was my own business and I worked long hours and was just too tired to bake. Talking about it with the boys recently and they were convinced I baked it at home.
Tiny teddies!
I guess it’s all the convenience of it all and limited time that we supposedly have that make people buy packaged items. It’ll be inbreeding to see what comes out of this experiment.
My children who have since moved onto primary and high school remark that their friend’s lunches contain much packaged food. I think the answer is a simple one people are very busy and it is convenient for them. I on the other hand bake and make the time because it is a creative outlet – the thing I had to give up was keeping a baking weblog! I choose to make time for baking because I work full-time, and I hope the children remember this more than the fact that I wasn’t there at 3pm! There are many children at school envious of their lunches and small treats. It’s not just baked treats, I made them some dim sum,soups, pasta, risottos to take to school in their thermos for a winter treat. There are many choices when wanting to keep it REAL and interesting for them.
Choc-chip cookies
Anzac cookies
Scones (like the ones fr Bakers Delight, overpriced)
Pastry with chicken mince like a pie
All the above is what I make for my daughter to take to school. Theres no doubt ppl purchase packaged treats due to lack of time. The cost of baking at home is far more less expansive than buying.
As for me the way to go is at least you know whats going into them….the treats I mean.
Good luck…:)
Life is never easy and the challenges are amazing. I gave up working when my daughter was born, and have always marveled at working mums like you. Looking forward to following your experiments … good luck Julia.
What a great idea, Julia! I’m really looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
Nice, I look forward to reading about your findings.
We make all our weekday ‘snacks’ from scratch here – muesli bars, muffins, biscuits etc and I’m even about to try making my own yoghurt. We do it partly for monetary reasons and partly for health reasons.
I love to know how to DIY rice cakes or crackers but I suspect they will be a little more difficult than regular sweet baked goods.
This is a great theme for the month! I once had a colleague who ate only a packaged granola bar for lunch every day. When she complained about how she was sick of them, I asked her why she didn’t just make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or something, which takes literally two minutes. She said it was too much work in the morning. People are really lazy sometimes…
I hope that the things you bake, which will obviously be delicious, inspire some of the other daycare parents as well!
I’m sure your posts will help a lot of young mummies…I’m past that “business” now, but I will take a look out of curiosity!
Great idea Julia! Looking forward the outcomes of your experiment creation!
I’ve got the same problem: lack of time, 3 boys at school, a full-time job etc…
Cheers
I started baking with a vengeance when my kids were small and at the time had made a quick study which I will share: making it at home with good ingredients COST more! It is a choice. I also worked in a restaurant and was let go because they could buy frozen pastries and cookies and sell them for a fraction of what I was making there, plus the cost of my salary (not much, but still it has to factor in). Eating well and healthy foods is a luxury.
i can’t wait! looking forward to how it all turns out. I am very lucky – the day care we send our bub to is fully catered, but i think that means i’ll get a rude shock when she goes to school! i’ll have to start organising food in the mornings!! My husband’s grandma used to spend every sunday making many batches of baked goodies to be eaten during the week – maybe i should begin this tradition too.
Wow great idea! Looking forward to reading this series! The whole nuts issue is not something I’ve considered (not having children) but I guess it’s pretty important to establish a strict ‘nut-free’ policy.
Looking forward to reading your series! I would love to see the difference. Sometimes buying off the shelves is much easier..than having the hassle to bake/cook them..no cleaning up after either.
Oohh…this sounds really interesting! I just tried your kingston’s recipe yesterday, which I guess is already a home made version of something packaged?
It was delicious! And my sister keeps telling me to make them again- she’s even stopped eating the packaged kingston’s she’d been eating pretty much daily before I made them!
I can’t wait to see what you make–maybe anzac biscuits or even Tim Tams?
I’m a teacher and most kids seem to have packaged snacks (along with fresh produce and whatever they’ve brought for lunch). Schools are mostly peanut-free, and I feel bad even bringing any kind of nuts into the staff room.
That said, I make my own oreos, graham crackers and digestive biscuits. They’re not cheaper and they take longer, but they taste so much better.
Happy baking!
I felt so connected reading this since my son just joined play school and I felt all these emotions…wrote it in my post too – http://tastejunction.blogspot.com/2011/07/not-just-another-day-with-eggless.html…U write lovely…waiting to see the result of the experiment:)
I’m looking forward to learning about some common Australian snacks, and what I know will be your better alternatives!
I can only hope that if I have children, I’ll somehow figure out a way to have enough money, independent of a 9 to 5 job. However, I’m sure this is but a pipe dream – unless I move to the middle of nowhere, where housing is cheap? Prolly still a pipe dream. It’s touching to hear about reality from your perspective:)
Great theme! I’m excited for these.
@ Mel Kettle – good guesses!
@ Danielle – I’m sure there are a quite a few products that are definitely more time consuming and costly to make yourself versus buy, but for me I will try to make from scratch as much as possible for my daughther.
@ Barbara – LOL! that’s great that your boys thought what you gave them was homemade. Must have been a great product. I already have a feeling there will be times I’ll be so busy the ease of buying will be my only solution. But I’m hoping I can be as organised as possible to make it happen at home. You know me? Grand plans!
@ Phuoc’n Delicious – I’m sensing they’ll be a mixed bag of outcomes to this month’s experiment!
@ Amanda – I can’t even begin to imagine how busy some parents are, but I’m going to try my absolute best to make this happen. I’m sure your children will remember the time you gave them by baking for their lunches. I remember thinking something similar back in February (during this post – http://melangerbaking.com/2011/02/06/fleur-de-sel-chocolate-sables/) that even though I won’t be with my daughter during the day once she starts daycare, it would hopefully be comforting for me that something I made for her was with her instead. A little part of me, in her lunchbox.
@ Neev – well done on all the goodies you made for your daughter. Particularly the chicken pastry (would love the recipe!!!!?????). I think I will have mixed results with this experiment, but so far it’s coming out well particularly in terms of costs.
@ Deeba – I would love to give up work at this stage to be perfectly honest, but the numbers don’t just add up. Will just have to do my best to make it work. Thanks for the luck. May need it!
@ Y – thanks, probably nothing earth shattering (compared with your amazing creations!), but hopefully interesting from a comparison standpoint!
@ Renee – it’s so great all the goodies you make. Do you bake with your children? I definitely am keen to make my own crackers, but we’ll see if that works for me.
@ Chelsea – my mum packed the same lunch for my dad every day for about 20 years. I think my lunchboxes were pretty standard, too. I hope I can mix it up a little for bub.
@ mamatkamal – wish me luck then, I have grand plans to bake homemade and hopefully I can pull it off when time becomes tight!
@ tasteofbeirut – I definitely think that the mass produced goods, will turn out cheaper in many cases. Those big manufacturers buy everything in bulk and process everything in such large quantities so you can’t compete sometimes, can you?
@ Sarah – all the day care centres seem to vary so much in terms of what they provide. I think even if they did provide everything, I’d want to sneak something in for her!
I love the Sunday tradition. I’m already trying to plan how to spend only 30 minutes preparation each weekend baking up for the week (or two) ahead. I hope I can do it!
@ Von – glad you love the Kingston recipe. That was from a friend, and I loved it, too. That will be a great one for day care (once bub is a little older). They were so easy. Hope you’ve made more for your sister?
@ Mary – my sister-in-law is a teacher too (primary) and tells me about some of the nasty things poor kids have in their lunchboxes. Do you have the recipes for your homemade oreos and digestive biscuits on your blog? Would love to try those!
@ Anamika – a BEAUTIFUL post. I was all choked up – and even shed a little tear picturing me and bub in only a few weeks time.
@ Emma – don’t think it’s a pipe dream. Try to make it happen if you can. I know I would!
Hello neigbour from acrooss teh Pacifik.You know before we moved to New Zealand from far way country(Serbia) I enver tried banana bread before.And although I don’t like eating banana funny kind of love jhappens between us when I bake banana bread or cake:)Yours looks great and taste the same way..I bet;)
I am fortunate to produce almost 95% of everything I need and if I have to buy something packaged I am very careful where
I’m glad you found a nice day care for your daughter. That must be a huge relief. Regarding the series, I can’t wait to follow this. I suppose the cost will depend on what you choose to make. Yes, Valrohna cake will be more expensive. But sugar cookies? Maybe not. Some of the supermarket brands are getting pretty pricey.