Considering the fact that 59% of adults and 26% of children in Canada are overweight, obesity is an issue that needs to be addressed with urgency. It is important for parents to be active to set an example for their children and for children to be involved in out-of-school physical activities. Often, however, many busy families resort to convenience-based meals filled with grease, additives and preservatives. These days, it seems easier to forgo the homemade nourishment many parents grew up having. But there is no need to sacrifice the family meal, because Weyburn has another option for conveniece.
For busy people who do not want to compromise quality in taste or nutrition, Lisa Vick makes it easy to have real, homemade meals on hand. Vick regularly offers a 'Big Cook' event, which allows groups to save time and money while sharing food-prep space, known locally as Sweet 'n' Saucy.
Imagine spending just half an evening with friends, learning some new recipes and coming home with 12 meals for your freezer, including Sticky Chicken, Beef Fajitas, Greek Pork Chops, Hamburger Soup, Spaghetti Pie, Chilli Maple Chicken and other options that Lisa Vick rotates in her 40 and counting recipe treasure trove.
Inspired by the concept of batch bulk cooking, Lisa founded Sweet 'n' Saucy in 2010 as a great way of meeting the need in our community for healthier, tastier options for convenient meals.
"Having meals ready to cook in the freezer can actually save lots of money and cut down on the take out/pre-packaged meals that are over-processed and full of additives," said Lisa Vick.
Vick is a mother of two and she has done her math. Sweet 'n' Saucy gathers eight people together to do the chopping, blending and bagging of four different beef meals, four different chicken meals and four different pork meals. Each freezer-ready meal serves four to six people and all make excellent entrees that can be served with any number of side dishes including salads, rice or baked potatoes. Most of the meals can be baked or, for the true experience of convenience, cooked in a slow cooker while the family is busy throughout the day.
"I want to walk in the house, whip up a salad and perhaps a side dish and pop the lid off my slow cooker and sit down with my family and eat!" said Lisa Vick.
"It's for those busy days when five o'clock comes and one kid needs to be at the hockey rink at six and another has to be at karate at six," added Vick. "I feel much better sending them off to their activities without fast food in their bellies."
Recipes even vary by season, so in the spring and summer, Vick uses a number of barbecue-friendly recipes.
"It's for people who want to have a healthier meal on the table, that they can say that they made," she said.
The trend of batch cooking can extend to groups of friends, clubs or church groups, or even husbands and wives enjoying the experience of cooking together. One could even gift some frozen entrees to new mothers or to people who are in the process of moving.
"I had one participant attend and make meals as she was heading out of town for a week or so and wanted to leave home, knowing meals were taken care of," said Vick, explaining the various ways one could put the meals to use. "I had a mother attend once who sent all twelve meals to her son away at university!"
Batch cooking would also work very well as a fundraiser. Though Vick has not yet had an opportunity to conduct a Sweet 'n' Saucy event as a fundraiser, she believes the concept would translate nicely, since volunteers from an organization would be able to attend as a group, prepare the foods and arrange for sales, pickup and delivery.
Whatever the intended purpose of having the food prepared and ready, Vick has made it easy for anyone who loves to cook or for those who can't cook at all. Though usually her clients do know how to cook, Vick's streamlined methods of easy preparation translate to genuine in-home convenience.
"The assembly sessions themselves run smoothly and quickly," said Heather Koski, a teacher who has participated at Sweet 'n' Saucy a few times. "They have made busy times of the year for me run smoothly."
Busy or not, for Vick it is about her lifelong passion for real food.
"I grew up in rural Saskatchewan and my grandparents were farmers living off the land. I watched my grandmother can fruit, veggies, meats etc. and bake bread," said Vick. "I believe my passion for food comes from this."
Vick aspires to doing bulk cooking sessions with people who have special food requirements, such as those who are vegetarian, celiac and gluten-free. With the sessions she has conducted, quality food has been a top priority and she even shops locally for her ingredients.
Knowing one can have high-quality food ready, with a variety of tastes and cooking options makes the $200 and 2.5-hour investment especially worthwhile.
Solving modern plagues like obesity can't happen overnight, but taking steps that include more homemade meals is a great way to begin making changes in our lives while enhancing the quality of family meal time.
