My husband and I work full time and have about 20 minutes to a half hour to make dinner each weeknight. We have fallen in a rut of repeating the same lame dinners for the kids each night -- pre-made frozen organic chicken nuggets, sandwiches on wheat bread with avocado, beans or peanut butter and fruit, organic mac and cheese, frozen fish by Trident, scrambled eggs, salmon, or wheat pasta with Rao's jarred sauce. On the side we put fruit, veggies or yogurt.
I like to think that it's decently healthy food, but last night my husband and I stressed that we are messing the kids up by not cooking completely non-processed food. Do you agree, and if so, please give advice about what else we could cook in the short amount of time that we have.
Thanks!
Re: Easy Meals?
Sometime it's my hubby's turn to "cook" and he orders pizza, which I supplement with a salad of some kind.
My kids are 12, 7, and almost 3. All learn to pitch in with meal prep. I work day and evening shifts as a nurse.
I got a lot of help from cookbooks and my slow cooker to get out of the spaghetti rut we were in.
I think we rely on processed food way too much and it is
expensive and unnecessary, although not bad once in a while. Here are some ideas I have used.
Make spaghetti sauce in crockpot and freeze into portions. I also make pizza sauce on the stove and
freeze
Grilled chicken
Baked chicken (takes no effort to make just time to cook you
can make it night before and reheat if you are pressed for time). I love putting minced garlic on it with rosemary and wrap it with bacon. Yummm and my kids who are two and four eat it.
Pre-make a pizza wrap it and put it in the fridge come home
and put it in the oven
I make a big salad early in the week and use it as a side
throughout the week. I use an airtight Pyrex
container and it stays fresh
Make and freeze mashed potatoes
Pre-make burger patties and grill with some veggies
Chicken, potatoes and carrots in the crockpot is great same with
a pot roast
Pork tenderloin in the oven is effortless but takes time to
cook. You can make it the night before
and reheat. I like boiled potatoes and
carrots as a side
My friend at work just did a trial of Blue Apron and said it was delicious. I'm thinking about giving it a shot for the night my H is home.