This week is the 2nd week we are having catered homecooked food. And I think I am not going to continue. Let me tell you why and you can have a look at some of the dishes:
Steamed minced pork with preserved salted veggie. This dish was super duper salty… so salty that I had to spit it out!! Fried wantan – that’s the only dish that was edible, though I had qualms about the type of cooking oil the caterer used. Stir fried bean sprouts with tofu squares.
Stir fried spinach – which was too salty for my liking.
Deep fried spring rolls – check out the ‘wok loh’ (burnt residue from the wok), eeeeeuuuuu!!!
Each day, there will be 3 dishes — 1 ‘main’ dish consisting of chicken / pork, 1 veggie and 1 ‘miscellaneous dish’. The miscellaneous dish is normally something that’s cheap – fried wanton, fried spring rolls, spam meat, baked beans and other ‘instant’ dishes.
1) The dishes are full of ‘wok loh’ (burnt carbon residue from the wok). Carbon from burnt food is known to be carcinogenic (causing cancer). Every evening, I need to spend 10-15 minutes scraping off black stuff from the top of the food or use a spoon to dig out all the tiny black stuff from the food. Once done, half the portion of the food would have been thrown away!
2) Most of the dishes are a tad too salty for my palate
3) I can heat up ‘instant’ dishes myself – baked beans, spam meat (which I never buy actually), sardines, etc
4) It ain’t cheap at RM280 for 2 adults for 5 dinners a week only.
Conclusion : I will discontinue catering food after the 1 month period ends. Though I am still very busy with my online store, I think I won’t mind spending half an hour to whip up something that’s healthier for my kids… without any burnt carbon, excessive oil and salt and no canned food everyday haha!
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280 for a week ? or 1 mth ? if 1 mth that mean 14 ringgit per meal .. still expensive leh
Yes…spend about one hour cook yourself..more healthy and the kids sure will love their mom’s cook.
RM280 for a month. Yes, RM14 per meal OR RM7 per person. Still expensive eh?
Hi Shireen,
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Good decision to stop. Home-cooked meals are always going to be healthier, even simple home-cooked ones. Better to save the money for other things or holidays. Eating the salty food could mean more health problems later too.
We used to cater food too during my working days but stopped after 3 months for obvious reasons. I usually cook once in the morning for lunch and keep some for dinner. Hahaha… Lazy mom here..
Fried wantan and fried springroll for dinner? Err.. what kind of menu is that? I’d be surprised if you (as a healthfreak) continue to cater from her haha.
Sorry..the price seems pretty reasonable to me! However, if the quality is not there, then price is immaterial. I too had to struggle for years working fulltime and getting dinner on the table. We always had only one dish(eg stir fried brocc. with chicken) with rice, no soup(MIL was shocked…I told her off, she never mentioned it again!), and fruit for dessert. I’d make more dishes on w/e. Pasta was always served, at least twice a week. I learned to make bigger portions to save for another day. Lunch was usually a sandwich with canned soup, or leftover pizza, or hot dogs. We also have canned pasta here which the kids loved and it was cheap. Another thing I found the kids love, even now, is to have breakfast for dinner ie bacon/ sausages/ eggs/ baked beans/ toast. It is as filling as any “real” dinner, and much less work to prepare. Another shortcut I still do is to fry up a couple of pounds of bacon/ sausages on the w/e and use it during the week for sandwiches, to add to pasta etc. And Spam is still popular here! Yum!
Exactly my sentiments. After catering for 1 month, I had enough. Alot of times were food from tins, or too salty/oily. I hate sausages and spam too. This is considered a rare treat in my house…
My trick now is… always prep the meat once I buy it. I will marinade in advance according to the dish I want..and when I need to cook, it’s all ready. Only takes 20-30 minutes to prepare the marinade and meat that lasts a week. Fish is even easier! Buy fresh..and fry instantly!
A bit of planning, goes a long way…. keep it up HFM!!
yucky catering food rite. I had tried it once and really shake my head for it +_+
you can cook extra dinner to stock up for next day’s lunch. save u time!!!
Nothing beats a home cooked meal. Teaching the maid to cook simple meals do help.
i think with the type of food you are being served, might as well go n tarpau chap farn, you’ll have more choice.
i cook but v simple. vege is steamed along w rice. braised food – chicken or pork are done in big portions for 2 or 3 meals, minimize frying – less to clean up. Although boring, we get by.
Imagine…we had catered food for a whole 8 months since Aerynn was born!!! Sick of it…I told hubs let’s stop it and I will start to cook.
Much better now that I cook eventhough simple meals but at least satisfying.
what my friend told me was the caterers usually make good food at the beginning of month (after they got paid) then gradually, the choice/quality of food go down as the month goes on! yeah, some simple healthy food are better for the kids 🙂
for Rm 7 tapau chap fun, or even the dearer Malay chap fun, you can have a feast compared to this catered pauper meal!
bad menu, indeed. I am sure you are whip something healthier for the family… you just need to plan ahead lo…
Yes agreed that you back to cook after time as healthy freak mom must let the kids eat more healthy mah.