Working Parents - What the heck for dinner

[Anonymous]

Why are you making chicken shawarma AND shrimp paella for the same meal? That's dumb.

Meal prep veggies for salad over the weekend. Do simple proteins (like the shwarma). Coordinate with spouse so salad assembly and protein prep can happen as efficiently as possible.

Always make enough of everything that you can do it again the next day as leftovers with no or very limited prep.

Done.

[Anonymous]

I have a similar schedule, and I make dinner 4-5 times per week. I do a lot of double-duty meals. For example:
Night 1-Sheetpan chicken fajitas (NYT recipe)
Night 2-Cook a cup of rice with a can of black beans. Add leftover chicken, peppers, peppers, and onions for the last minute of cooking. Sprinkle with grated cheddar.
Night 1-Sheetpan Gochujang chicken and roasted vegetable (NYT recipe)
Night 2 -Use leftover roasted root veggies to make a soup. Sautee onion, garlic, and celery. Add the root veggies, chicken/veggie stock, a grating of ginger (I keep ginger in the freezer to grate whenever I need it-don't bother peeling). Cook together for about 15 minutes-could add heavy cream or coconut milk if desired. Puree and add more stock if needed. Could eat with grilled cheese or crostini.
Night 1-Sheetpan sausages, peppers, and red onion (There are a lot of variations on this in NYT recipes). Add to pasta.
Night 2-Chop up leftovers and and use to make frittata, quesadillas, hoagies, or add to beans and rice.
Night 1-Roasted cod and potatoes (NYT recipe). Cutting the potatoes is really quick if you have a mandolin.
Night 2-Fritta/tortilla with the leftover roasted potatoes.

These are just a few examples. The only frozen veggie I regularly use is peas. I do use canned beans. I do a lot of sheet-pan meals because I can chop everything up, stick it in the oven, and take care of other things while they cook. While each of these recipes takes 30-60 minutes in all, they only take 10-15 minutes of active cook/prep time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So no one is using fresh vegetables at all? Just frozen or CANNED??

We can't have frozen dinners or even much take out because of my DH low sodium diet restrictions.

I mean, yeah, we make mac and cheese but that's like my last choice since its nutritionally bereft.

We don't want just pasta and can of jarred sauce -- my side of family has history of diabetes, thats why something like whole grain rice with vegetables in a paella is better than rice cooker white rice or frozen fried rice.

Frozen vegetables don't need to have sodium, and in some cases have more nutrients than fresh, if they are frozen right away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So no one is using fresh vegetables at all? Just frozen or CANNED??

We can't have frozen dinners or even much take out because of my DH low sodium diet restrictions.

I mean, yeah, we make mac and cheese but that's like my last choice since its nutritionally bereft.

We don't want just pasta and can of jarred sauce -- my side of family has history of diabetes, thats why something like whole grain rice with vegetables in a paella is better than rice cooker white rice or frozen fried rice.

Frozen vegetables don't need to have sodium, and in some cases have more nutrients than fresh, if they are frozen right away.

And cheese isn't "nutritionally bereft"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I marinate chicken the night before. It’s easy to put on the rice/toast naan, steam some vegetables and cut up fruit while the protein cooks in the oven. We make fish in parchment, put vegetables and herbs inside and voila, dinner. Sheet pan meals are quick and easy to do. The key is to do some prep work the night before: all the chopping and washing that takes time. And there’s always the trusty crockpot especially with this season.

Definitely true that the washing and chopping of vegetables is the big time suck. Also the cleanup of all the veggie scraps and cutting boards that can’t go in dishwasher. We eat a LOT of fresh vegetables, not just a steamed side or whatnot.

Prepping the night before doesn’t work because things like salads get soggy, though I will look into a spinner and things like cauliflower turn brown

Also, we are running kids around at night, homework, and I already stay up late cleaning the kitchen from dinner — i don’t see how prepping separately, storing in MORE Tupperware to clean later, saves time. It time shifts I agree, but my aggregate time cooking increases since I have to handle the same food twice.

But I will look into a spinner — if we can wash and cut veggies for 2-3 nights that could help us get to Thurs. but it sounds like a lot of frozen or canned food or takeout is a staple of working parents?

Seriously for public health they should allow more part time work to support families:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4001859/

“ We show that children whose mothers work more consume more unhealthy foods (e.g. soda, fast food) and less healthy foods (e.g. fruits, vegetables, milk) and watch more television. Although they report being slightly more physically active, likely due to organized physical activities, the BMI and obesity results suggest that the deterioration in diet and increase in sedentary behaviors dominate.”

There are many families who build their lifestyle so that one parent works or one works full-time and the other part-time. Anyone can do it. You might need to move, etc. But whoever "they" are, they don't control your life.

[Anonymous]

Make everything on Sunday and heat up during the week. Chop vegetables and put in sealed container. Separate lettuce and was before using. Boil frozen shrimp to use in tacos + stir fries. Make a chicken. Make chili, soup, roast, stews, lasagna, noodles, rice. Assemble meals from prepared items. It takes me 2 hours on Sunday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So no one is using fresh vegetables at all? Just frozen or CANNED??

We can't have frozen dinners or even much take out because of my DH low sodium diet restrictions.

I mean, yeah, we make mac and cheese but that's like my last choice since its nutritionally bereft.

We don't want just pasta and can of jarred sauce -- my side of family has history of diabetes, thats why something like whole grain rice with vegetables in a paella is better than rice cooker white rice or frozen fried rice.

Frozen vegetables don't need to have sodium, and in some cases have more nutrients than fresh, if they are frozen right away.

And cheese isn't "nutritionally bereft"

Op sounds like one of those people that constantly wants everyone to hear how exhausted and stressed out they are but doesn’t want to do anything to actually make it better.

[Anonymous]

Slow cooker and rice cooker are your friends in this situation.

Also, a couple nights each week cut up some veggies so you can put out a plate of fresh peppers, cucumbers, whatever along with dinner.

[Anonymous]

A couple nights ago week DH or I will make one of our easy go to dinners. Other nights we’ll take a bit more time to cook.

Dinners that take less than 30 min include:
Frittata, store bought loaf of crusty bread, bag salad
Store bought pot stickers sautéed with bok choy or sugar snap peas
Burgers: beef, turkey, salmon (pre-made), veggie + roasted Pricilla, grilled or broiled asparagus, or steamed green beans
Ravioli or tortillini with bag salad
Rice, corn, and beans with salsa, avocado and cheese
Pulled pork or chicken sliders or tacos (make the meat on the weekend)
Sheet pan sausage, potato’s, veggies (or chicken thighs if I can get them in early enough)
Soup, stew or chili made on the weekend
Grilled fish tacos

Some of those meals will be more elaborate if we have time but a basic version can be thrown together quick

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh, we are at wits end. I get home early since I wake up at 5, but it’s killing me. So I would like to shift to a more normal 8-4 schedule, but how do you dinner.

Even a simple dinner takes a while:
Oven roasted chicken shawarma. - 15 min prep

Salad - wash romaine leaves and dice, slice onions, tomatoes, carrots and mix dressing - 15 min

Simple paella - dice onions, garlic, peppers, toss in rice and shrimp, and water and simmer for 45 min.

If im a rock star I can get that out in an hour, maybe.

And that’s a dead simple meal unless we eat frozen or take out. What are other people doing — I do wished my parents had encouraged me to SAH, this juggle sucks.

Be patient. It takes time to set up a routine. Slow cooker, pressure cooker, oven, air fryer are your friends. So is preparing on weekend to have it ready to go into a machine on weeknight. And some prepare everything over weekend and heat before serving. It's a lot during early WOH and young kids.