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Working Moms
palma44
member
How do you find time to cook at the end of the day?
palma44
member
in Working Moms
I am a FTM, my LO is 6 months but I still have not found a way to have time to put together a good meal for DH and I. We eat like crap and it needs to change but we are both so busy and tired at the end of the day that we end up doing whatever will be quick, which a lot of times is a pizza.... can you give me your tips and suggestions on how to fit in a healthy meal?
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Re: How do you find time to cook at the end of the day?
First, I plan meals that are easy to throw together and then prep everything I can the night before after LO goes to bed. For example, tonight we have having a stir fry, so last night, I took fifteen minutes and cut all veggies, thaw and prep the meat, and then put it all in a covered bowl in the fridge. I also got all of my pots and pans out and put them on the stove, so tonight all I have to do it throw the ingredients in the pan, add sauce, and then turn on the burner. Another example is the other day, we had meatloaf, baked potatoes and green beans. The night before I made the meatloaf, put it in the fridge, prepped the potatoes (washed and poked holes in) and put them in the oven (didn't turn on), I washed the greanbeans and put them in teh pan with the seasonings adn then put the pan in the fridge. When I got home, I had to put the meatloaf in the oven, turn it on and ten minutes before it was done, put the pan of greenbeans on the stove and cook them. (About fifteen minutes of hands on time for dinner)
I also use a crock pot at least once a week.
Finally, I try to use ready made products from the grocery store that I find that are healthy (which are more expensive than raw ingredients but generally cheaper and healthier than takeout) I usually can get 3-4 meals out of these methods plus having a sandwich and soup night.
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We really don't.
Like the others we will try to make bigger meals on the weekends and eat leftovers a few nights. We had been grilling during the week, but it's almost time to put the grill away
Other times it's simple things like assembling big salads or spaghetti. We try but sometimes it just doesn't happen. Last night H make a bunch of frozen stuff like chicken tenders and mini egg rolls
Boy/girl twins born at 37w1d and 37w2d
We struggle in the same area. I felt like I was cooking the same thing over and over again. We are trying not to eat out much, maybe once a week, or every other week. I try to make easy meals.
-Take out meat the night before so it's thawed and you just put some sauce or seasoning on it and pop it into the oven.
-I've been making a lot of quiche, pot pies etc. They're SO easy and it takes 10 minutes to prep.
-A new roast recipe I got from a co worker is AMAZING. Put a chuck roast in a pan, fill half way up the roast with swanson beef stock, 2 packs of lipton french onion soup mix (on and around the roast). Cook at 250 for 4.5 hours. It was seriously the best roast I've ever had! We cook it on the weekends and have leftovers for mon night.
It does get easier once you start cooking every night, and come up with easy recipes to make. We used to eat out about 5 nights a week. It got to be so expensive, once we had kids, we hardly ever eat out anymore. I do miss it!
This!
I also will cook and freeze portion size meals for LO.
We don't find time to cook. We throw stuff on the grill and then have some veggies or a salad. Or we make easy dishes like pasta and veggies, sandwiches, etc.
Quick meals don't have to be unhealthy.
We kinda do a mix of things, I try to meal plan 1-2 meals a week and prep most of it the night before and DH cooks it the day we need it, or I'll prep a casserole and he'll make it when he gets home. DH will grill whatever he likes at the store 1-2 nights a week, and then we have leftovers/fend for yourself/cereal night and normally have take out on Fridays. I also try to keep at least one freezer meal around.
We've tackled this by doing two things:
1.Finding easy, quick recipes. We do use the crockpot about once a week, and we have started to branch out into repurposing leftovers (using leftover taco meat to make chili etc.) but the bulk of our weeknight meals are easy 30 minute recipes, like rigatoni with sausage and broccoli. We find a lot of recipes on Real Simple. We're also big fans of Cook's Country/America's Test Kitchen - last night I made skillet pork chops with baked potato (in the microwave) and some frozen mixed veggies - it was so fast I actually finished before my husband was home!
2. Meal Planning, or our spin on it. Neither of us has any interest in saying, Monday we're having tacos, Tuesday we're having roast chicken etc. Instead, what we do is write down 10-20 meals that we'd like to have in the next 2 weeks. Then I write out our grocery list to include all the ingredients for those meals. That way, every morning I can look at the meal list on the fridge, pick something to make, and know that we have all the ingredients to make it. Because there's nothing worse than staring at a full fridge not knowing what to make, or starting a recipe and realizing you don't have any onion or diced tomatoes or whatever.
Like others, I use the crockpot a lot and we cook big meals that will make leftovers at least once per week. I also usually cook a casserole or lasagne that freezes in individual portions for quick lunch or dinner when we just can't get our act together. I meal plan each week and also roast a whole chicken in the crockpot every other week and then use the meat in various dishes. We end up only cooking during the week once or twice with the leftovers.
My go-to meals with lots of leftovers are:
- tacos (can use leftovers for taco salad, loaded nachos, quesadillas)
- whole chicken roasted in the crockpot (chicken and veggies, casseroles, pastas, enchiladas)
- pasta bakes
- pizza (buy Trader Joes dough for 99cents if you have one and then add any toppings you like)
- soup/stew (also done in the crockpot a lot!)
You have to do some prep work and be prepared. you can't expect to make a huge homemade meal every night, unless you have some shortcuts up your sleeve.
Have a fully stocked kitchen, first of all. For me, this means pasta, rice, fresh produce, meats, chicken broth, etc. Then I can easily whip up a meal of a salad, 10-minute rice and a side of grilled chicken in 20 minutes flat.
Do some weekend prepartions. Cook a lasagna and freeze it for mid-week. Chop your veggies and store them in the fridge. Get a CrockPot and learn how to do 3-4 good CrockPot meals. Throw everything in the Pot when you leave in the morning, dinner is done when you get home!
We love omelets, toast and fruit for dinner. Super easy and fast. Sandwiches, with a side of carrots and dip and soup is a fast, healthy dinner, too.
We struggle with this EVERY single night. In a perfect world I would defrost some kind of meat to grill or something, but I constantly forget to defrost meat.
So I come home and we dno't know what to do. If we have time I make pasta and quickly de-frost meat in the microwave, but I hate doing that.
Otherwise we have some freezer meals like those bags of pre-made stir fry that you just heat up, or pizza.
We also eat quesadillas that we can make quickly.
So basically we SUCK at cooking dinners because we have no time and are so busy we forget to prep the night before. We order out or pick up pre-made meals like lasagne or something from an Italian deli close by.
http://balletandbabies.blogspot.com
I meal plan as well. I have been doing this for about 4 years and would be lost without it at dinner time. I also add lunch to my plan so I can be certain we have enough for that, too.
I recommend not only the crockpot but checking out 30 minute meals whether it be Rachael Ray or your local newspaper for ideas. A good meal doesn't have to take an hour plus each night.
On Saturday, I sit down at some point and make my meal plan for the week. I plan what we will eat for lunch & dinner for the entire week. I grocery shop on Sunday morning and then Sunday evening, I prepare foods for easy pick up. For example: cut up fruit and veggies so that they are readily available. Otherwise stuff just sits in the fridge and rots.
I then write out the lunches and dinner on a piece of paper and tape it on the wall in my kitchen. This way I don't have to think about anything in the morning when I'm getting DD's lunch ready and then the same goes for dinner.
I basically just pick a meat or casserole type main dish for each dinner and then 1-2 vegetables that I can easily spray with olive oil and roast in the oven.
I meal plan, so that already eliminates the whole "what should we have for dinner?" on the same day problem. I also only plan on making meals that take 20-30 minutes, tops, during the week.
Depending on what I'm making, I sometimes do prep the night before or morning of. So for example yesterday we had a pineapple chicken thing, and I sliced the chicken, bell peppers, and onions in the morning so they were ready to go when I got home.
I wrote a post about meal planning in my blog a few months ago, so it might be helpful: https://ellysaysopa.com/2012/05/10/meal-planning-and-quick-dinners/
We're not doing great at this, but the following things can help:
1) Crock pot. Especially over the weekend. A couple of times I've made a big pot of chili or stew or salsa chicken and packaged it into single or double serving containers and frozen.
2) Meal making services: Places like Let's Dish where you can make a bunch of meals that just need reheating or the like. Spendy, but if you can make a number of meals in one afternoon? Not a bad idea.
3) Quick fixes: Most often what we do is use one of the pre-made meals from Trader Joe's. They have some very tasty things that are just basically open bag - pour food in skillet - stir - serve. Another quick healthy meal is to get a sack of frozen stir fry vegetables (there's like, a 5 lb one you can buy at costco) and toss some in a wok, heat it up for a bit, and then add some sauce and/or spices. Also, think breakfast food for dinner. Scrambled eggs with veggies in them is healthier than a pizza, and actually quicker.
4) Healthier take out: There is healthier take out than pizza. Try veggie stir fry from a local chinese place, or sandwiches from Subway, a salad from Panera, etc.
I do this alot and have never had a problem. If I let stuff thaw in my fridge it would take at least 2 days.
My MIL does this all the time and no one in the family has ever gotten sick eating her food.
Yes you are not supposed to let things thaw on the counter but I too have done theirs many many times. If you want to opt for safer and semi quick, put it is a ziplock and submerge in warm (not hot) water as soon as you get home and it should be thawed an hour later(it often floats tho so you have to weigh it down) Also putting meat on metal thaws it quicker.
I may have a different and not feasible for your situation answer but other than difficulties sometimes on the meal planning, I have done ok w cooking, and I don't use a crock pot, I generally dislike stuff I have tried. I meal plan 3-4 meals and shop on sunday or Monday for the week. Until relatively recently ( I have 3 yr old twins) we ate after putting the kids to bed...up until about 18 months or so they had a 630 bedtime and it worked fine, since I could get our meal cooked by 730 or so. As their bedtime crept later, it got harder but I started prepping things while they were eating or playing and then finishing as MH got them ready for bed or right after that. So basically we did not start eating as a family except on weekends until recently...and MH still often isn't home til close to 7 so we don't do it a lot yet but now my kids are old enough to either watch a show, play independently,or help ,e w dinner after we get home so I can make us all a meal and then MH and I may or may not eat around the same time as them.
Doesnt work for everyone but it is ok for us.
This is exactly what I do too. Meats go really well in a crockpot. I can put a whole potroast or chicken in mine, and we can eat that with a different veggie all week. Precutting the veggies can save some time too, then all I have to do is a quick saute or microwave steam and we're good to go.