for working MoMs

hopeful34

If you work a f/t job, what time do you get home and when do you cook dinner?

I get home at 5 if the babies are home, 5:30 if they are at daycare or gramma's. I give them their solids when we get home and then play with them. I haven't seen them all day so i don't want to put them in front of the tv so i can make dinner. Sometimes dh is home, sometimes he's not (mostly not home until around 6ish) We start bedtime routine between 6-6:30. Last bottle at 6:30 and usually they are in bed by 7-7:30. Then i start making dinner. It sucks. It's so late. I can't figure out when to make dinner LOL.

help!! Thanks...

SoldiersGreenBean

Whoever picks up the kids also makes dinner.  We have them in the kitchen with us, usually banging on pots and pans or playing with spoons.  When the other parent gets home, they take over playing with the kids while dinner gets made.

It's very important to us that we eat a family dinner.  When the twins were eating purees, we'd feed them while we ate.  Now they eat what we eat, for the most part, and when we eat it.

PianoPlayingSarah

The very earliest that I get home is 5:45-5:50.  My mom watches my girls for me during the day and she has already fed them dinner by the time I get home.  DH and I start cooking dinner for ourselves around 7:00-7:30.  

MADforever2009

Would u consider a crockpot meal a few times a week so it's pretty much ready by the time u get home? One of our favorite meals is pulled pork sandwiches. Pork shoulder with salsa verde in crockpot on low for 8 hrs. French rolls toasted... And pork on top. (if u want to be fat like us we put mayo on roll and a slice of whatever cheese sounds good on top... Mmmm, making me hungry at 4:30 am

hopeful34

MADforever2009:

Would u consider a crockpot meal a few times a week so it's pretty much ready by the time u get home? One of our favorite meals is pulled pork sandwiches. Pork shoulder with salsa verde in crockpot on low for 8 hrs. French rolls toasted... And pork on top. (if u want to be fat like us we put mayo on roll and a slice of whatever cheese sounds good on top... Mmmm, making me hungry at 4:30 am

I've thought about this but a friend of mine had a house fire due to using one of these and i'm petrified. I'm thinking of maybe making some meals on a sunday for the week..but who has the time. Sat & Sun are my days to get things done around the house or take the babies out to do something fun. I don't want to me stuck in the house unless it's crappy out. Love your new siggy pic by the way...they are gorgeous!

MADforever2009

hopeful34:

MADforever2009:

Would u consider a crockpot meal a few times a week so it's pretty much ready by the time u get home? One of our favorite meals is pulled pork sandwiches. Pork shoulder with salsa verde in crockpot on low for 8 hrs. French rolls toasted... And pork on top. (if u want to be fat like us we put mayo on roll and a slice of whatever cheese sounds good on top... Mmmm, making me hungry at 4:30 am

I've thought about this but a friend of mine had a house fire due to using one of these and i'm petrified. I'm thinking of maybe making some meals on a sunday for the week..but who has the time. Sat & Sun are my days to get things done around the house or take the babies out to do something fun. I don't want to me stuck in the house unless it's crappy out. Love your new siggy pic by the way...they are gorgeous!

thank u! A house fire! Holy moly! That is understandable. We have something here called dream dinners. It's a place where u can go and select dinners from a menu, prepare them, bag them, and take them home and freeze them. Also made for 15 min dinners. Or we also do breakfast for dinner one night a week... Pancakes or eggs, cheap and easy.

hopeful34

MADforever2009:

hopeful34:

MADforever2009:

Would u consider a crockpot meal a few times a week so it's pretty much ready by the time u get home? One of our favorite meals is pulled pork sandwiches. Pork shoulder with salsa verde in crockpot on low for 8 hrs. French rolls toasted... And pork on top. (if u want to be fat like us we put mayo on roll and a slice of whatever cheese sounds good on top... Mmmm, making me hungry at 4:30 am

I've thought about this but a friend of mine had a house fire due to using one of these and i'm petrified. I'm thinking of maybe making some meals on a sunday for the week..but who has the time. Sat & Sun are my days to get things done around the house or take the babies out to do something fun. I don't want to me stuck in the house unless it's crappy out. Love your new siggy pic by the way...they are gorgeous!

thank u! A house fire! Holy moly! That is understandable. We have something here called dream dinners. It's a place where u can go and select dinners from a menu, prepare them, bag them, and take them home and freeze them. Also made for 15 min dinners. Or we also do breakfast for dinner one night a week... Pancakes or eggs, cheap and easy.

lol sorry..i believe her crockpot was a very old one. But it still makes me nervous because i have animals at home during the day. CA is awesome!! You also have Baja fresh which we don't. Well we do but the closest one to me is 2hrs away!! Sucks. I'd eat that everyday!! Sorry you are up by the way

marker56

We are on a very late schedule in our house.  I get home between 530-6.  DH is then at work so I'm home alone with the girls.  Babies go down for nap at 6.  I make dinner then.  When they wake up at 7 they get solids and hopefully I have eaten by then, otherwise we eat together.  (DH gets leftovers for lunch the next day).  This schedule is 4 days/week.   I clean up dinner and the kitchen mess when babies go down for the night around 930-10.  I don't know WTH I'm going to do when they drop the evening nap.  Eek.  One day at a time for now...

piccolina09

One idea is to prep next night's dinner the night before. For example, when you are cleaning up dinner on Mon nite, have thawed ground beef ready for Tues nite's meal. You could mix and shape up a meatloaf, place it in the fridge overnite, then when you get home on Tues, just pop it in the oven. Then on Tues nite, you could have thawed chicken and prep something with that, where you just have to throw it in the oven. One of our favs with chicken is from Mr. Food---1 can cheddar cheese soup, one small can of mushrooms, 1/2 cup mayo, 1/2 cup sherry wine, 1 tsp of curry. Mix all ingredients together, place over chicken, (I use thin boneless breasts) bake at 350 for 30 minutes. It's delish!!

hopeful34

piccolina09:

One idea is to prep next night's dinner the night before. For example, when you are cleaning up dinner on Mon nite, have thawed ground beef ready for Tues nite's meal. You could mix and shape up a meatloaf, place it in the fridge overnite, then when you get home on Tues, just pop it in the oven. Then on Tues nite, you could have thawed chicken and prep something with that, where you just have to throw it in the oven. One of our favs with chicken is from Mr. Food---1 can cheddar cheese soup, one small can of mushrooms, 1/2 cup mayo, 1/2 cup sherry wine, 1 tsp of curry. Mix all ingredients together, place over chicken, (I use thin boneless breasts) bake at 350 for 30 minutes. It's delish!!

Hey there Piccolina!!! How are you?? Thanks for the tip. I am just so tired that it takes all i have to make one dinner lol but i will try this because then i'll prob just end up making one and cooking one as i'll have it all together the night before. good idea and thanks for the chicken recipe. Does sound really good. I think i'll make that with rice tomorrow night!!

hopeful34

piccolina09:

One idea is to prep next night's dinner the night before. For example, when you are cleaning up dinner on Mon nite, have thawed ground beef ready for Tues nite's meal. You could mix and shape up a meatloaf, place it in the fridge overnite, then when you get home on Tues, just pop it in the oven. Then on Tues nite, you could have thawed chicken and prep something with that, where you just have to throw it in the oven. One of our favs with chicken is from Mr. Food---1 can cheddar cheese soup, one small can of mushrooms, 1/2 cup mayo, 1/2 cup sherry wine, 1 tsp of curry. Mix all ingredients together, place over chicken, (I use thin boneless breasts) bake at 350 for 30 minutes. It's delish!!

Hey there Piccolina!!! How are you?? Thanks for the tip. I am just so tired that it takes all i have to make one dinner lol but i will try this because then i'll prob just end up making one and cooking one as i'll have it all together the night before. good idea and thanks for the chicken recipe. Does sound really good. I think i'll make that with rice tomorrow night!!

Rangergal9

I'm a teacher therefore get out of work at 3pm, but I don't pick up the girls until 4pm.  I make older DD dinner around 5-5:30pm.  I give the twins solids while she is eating.  DH and I eat after we put the twins and older DD to bed.  So I cook at 7pm and we eat by 7:30pm.  A lot of the times I try to make something big on Sunday (lasagna, chili, soup, etc) and then we can eat leftovers on Monday and Tuesday.

Tofumonkey

We're going to try making dinner together when I get home at 6:30 with the girls in their high chairs in the kitchen playing - put on some music and make it a nice, relaxing time together. Then we're going to try eating it all together ( yeah, we'll see how that goes!) as part of our night time family routine.

erinruns

I get home at 5:00, dinner is at 5:30.  But, when my kids were young, they ate at 5:30 and I ate when they went to bed.  Once they were eating table food, I made one meal for all of us.  

 

I did a lot of cooking ahead - frozen meatballs, pastas, cooked chicken - to make making dinner easier.  Have you looked into Once a Month cooking?  That may be an option.  I also only make dinners during the week that can be ready in 30 minutes or less.  We do a lot of pastas, quesadillas, tacos, and sandwiches.  Bigger meals are for the weekends.  I try to do double batches so I have some to freeze as well.