It’s jarred pasta sauce and packet rice ay…

I’m guessing you’re low-ish on time too? or you’ve had many failures at making rice and given UP. I have some tips, read on.

Step 1: Let’s talk about rice

For starters, packet rice often includes gnarly preservatives and ingredients that I’d recommend staying away from or being aware about. Packet rice costs way more than dried rice and adds a heap of extra wastage.

I hated cooking rice until I switched to Basmati rice. It’s less gluggy like standard white rice can be. And as much as I love the health benefits of brown rice. I don’t always have 45 minutes to cook it.

My friend Gloria’s Mum, Mrs Gammo is a legend in the kitchen. She landed in Australia with zero family, so she had 5 kids to surround herself with loved ones. Imagine cooking dinner for 7 people every night? Gloria said she never made just one meal – it was many many different dishes to build your plate with. This is my style of cooking. And her Yellow Rice was famous.

Mrs Gammo shared the recipe with me and I’ve tweaked it a bit. She use’s saffron, where I love using turmeric (because it’s quicker and cheaper). I’ve linked to the recipe below.

MY TIPS: Follow the recipe. Follow the ratio and cooking times. This process is forgiving. I’ve added more water, I’ve forgotten to start the timer and stop the timer. It works. And I believe it works because basmati rice is easier to cook with.

Start here and then go forth and conquer. You can do it.

Step 2: Pasta sauce

If you’re here, I’m guessing you’re buying jarred pasta sauce but want to make it.

There are so many pro’s of buying jarred pasta sauce. The first one, obviously, it’s so much easier and quicker. They’re great to have in the pantry for quick meals in a flash. I can’t deny that.

My tip for buying pasta sauce is to look at the ingredients. What oils are they using? Oils like sunflower, canola and vegetable are highly processed and rancid before they leave the manufacturing plant. There’s also a heap of extra salt or preservative used to make the jar shelf stable.

So if you’re going to avoid all of that, you’ll wind up with a brand that costs a fair chunk of $$$. Maybe $8 or more. And you could easily make 2L of the stuff. Which is what I recommend you build up to doing.

Home cooking is a wonderful like skill and necessary part of being a human – especially if you’re a mum – in my eyes it’s non-negotiable. But in reality, in the beginning when you’re honing this skill it can be hard to find your rhythm and TIME.

This is where BATCHING or MEAL PREPPING comes into the scenario. Why make one portion of pasta sauce when you can make 6 and freeze?

Portion out your sauces into jars or snap lock bags and freeze for when you need them. This is smart, thrifty kitchen planning and what I’m all about in my kitchen.