Taking to Instagram to share her kitchen experiments, initially as @WhatMummyMakes, she soon found that her efforts were benefitting thousands of frustrated parents beyond her own family. Today, as Rebecca Wilson Food, she has amassed half-a-million followers, and published Sunday Times number one bestseller, What Mummy Makes – all thanks to her practical, healthy, time-saving and realistic recipes. And yesterday, she released her hotly anticipated third volume of tried, tested and wolfed down meals, this time titled Fast Family Food.
We grilled her about how to deal with veg averse fussy eaters – and what to do to avoid the dreaded hanger (both your child’s and your own).
What are the biggest challenges when it comes to cooking for the whole family?
Quite often it can be motivation, the feeling of ‘needing’ to cook every single day. We do it of course to keep our family healthy, but we don’t want it to feel like a chore. This is how Fast Family Food was born. I noticed there was a common denominator with my most popular recipes, which was that they have really quick prep times. I decided then to write a whole cookbook filled with recipes which have ten minutes of prep time or fewer. I think this makes the thought of cooking much less daunting and more enjoyable.
How did you begin your journey into developing recipes that are suitable, achievable, healthy and delicious for the whole family?
I have always been a lover of food and cooking. I was brought up in a single parent household where my mum cooked every day. I truly believe that my love for food and cooking started at a young age, sparked by helping my mum to cook and enjoy food together as a family, a narrative I’d love to pass down to my daughter too.
One of the chief problems that people have with kids and food is a reluctance to eat veg – how do you deal with the veg averse and help incorporate a variety of plants into a meal?
The trick is to keep offering. Even if you feel like they won’t eat it, keep serving little and often (alongside other foods which are usually enjoyed too to make it less daunting for them). This repetition and exposure will help combat those fussy tendencies in the long term. You can also look to including extra veggies inside the main element of the meals too. Fast Family Food has lots of recipes to help you do this.
When it comes to fussy eaters, is it best to regard it as a phase and thus reduce mealtime stress, or to keep on trying innovative ways to get new foods into them?
If you stop offering certain foods, then try again at some point in the future, because if it is so infrequent our little ones may feel too unsure to try the food and continue to refuse. If they have had constant exposure however, and watched you enjoying the food in questions, our little ones are much more likely to give it a little go, and over time the food will become familiar.
What have been the greatest lessons you’ve taken away from researching nutritious food for your family?
Oooh. I think overall, it would be that there is incredible nutrition in all foods and, quite often, fruit has more nutritious value than veggies. It is important that we as parents don’t get too hung up on our little ones not eating all their greens, if we offer them a wide, varied, balanced healthy diet, this will be enough and we’re doing the best we can. It’s all we can do.
What have been the most surprising things that you’ve discovered?
I would recommend changing up how you cook tricky ingredients. Roasting veggies, for example, gives a whole new flavour. I’ve found this with green veggies in particular, like broccoli, sprouts, and asparagus, which we usually boil. Try baking them for ten minutes or so, drizzled with a little garlic-infused oil until charred on the edges. It’s utterly glorious. They take on a delicious nutty flavour which is much more appealing to little ones. If you’re feeling extra, grate some cheese on top and let it melt over the veggies too - anything with cheese on is a winner right!?
Do you advise cooking with your children where possible?
Oh definitely. Involving our kids in the kitchen from a young age is not just a fun activity but it can help their speech and communication skills. It helps them to focus and learn to follow instructions, understand food a little more and know the ingredients required to make the meals they eat. Above all, it engages the child in the food they are about to eat which is widely recognised to positively influence their enjoyment of eating it once cooked.
How much does presentation matter when creating meals that kids will eat?
Generally, I say we eat with our eyes first, and little ones more so. How many times has your little one said they don’t like the food from the first look without even trying it? If it looks nicer on the plate, they are more likely to give the food a try. But in that same breath, don’t get hung up on this. Don’t worry if your pastries have risen in a funny direction, or the pasta is slopped on the plate, it will still be yummy!
When going for a day out with children, what are your packed-lunch/picnic staples?
I always take a box of chopped fruit and veggies like quartered grapes, cucumber sticks, sugar snap peas or satsumas to have on hand as a healthy snack. It’s also part of my efforts to minimise sugary treats, which are often asked for on days out. In my new book Fast Family Food, I have a whole chapter on batch cooking recipes which are ideal for these situations – like when you need to grab something quickly on your way out. Think veggie-packed muffins and bakes, crackers, and sweet cake squares, all (relatively) mess free, delicious cold, which keep really well when out all day.
And the best snacks for children on-the-go to prevent the dreaded ‘hanger’?
When my Nina finishes preschool and I pick her up in the car, she always says she’s ‘starving’. So I’ve started packing up a little snack box for her to enjoy with plenty of time before dinner. Ideas like apple slices and a dollop of peanut butter for dunking, or mashed berries between a slice of bread made into a sarnie. She always loves it when I make her cracker stackers, where I cut up a few slices of cheese, a little ham or pepper pieces, then a bunch of crackers and she makes her own stacks.
Tell us about your latest book and what we can expect?
I’m really proud of this book, I think it’s going to help so many people short of time or energy to cook for their family. Think saucy lemon butter chicken whipped up in ten minutes; apple loaf cake with a crumbly topping, gnarly mushroom burgers, slow cooker sweet and sour pork and loads of ideas for picky plates which take no cooking at all for last minute dinners for you and the kids.
Fast Family Food by Rebecca Wilson is published by DK, 15 September. £18.99. dk.com
By Nancy Alsop
September 2022
