Dealing with family dinner every day for the rest of your life!

[Anonymous]

I’ve just really, really lowered my standards (despite loving to cook) and introduced more processed foods than I would like:

-frozen meatballs + jarred sauce + refrigerated ravioli or tortellinis (because they cook fast) + bagged salad
-thinly sliced meat for stir fry (cooks very quickly) + bag of frozen stir fry veggies + those steamable bags of rice made in the microwave
-bagged soup mixes (the brand is “Bear” something or other)- I do a minestrone one or a chicken soup one (adding shredded rotisserie chicken at the end) + bagged salad + good store bought bread or rolls of some sort
-some “sheet pan” meals- we do an Italian chicken one, or one with smoked sausage + potatoes. Most of the items can be chopped the night before. Also does not take long to cook
-Zatarain’s mixes (dirty rice etc) + bagged salad or frozen veggie
-pot pie with frozen pie crusts + frozen mixed veg + rotisserie chicken. I just make the sauce and assemble.
-super easy baked pasta (1lb pasta + jarred sauce + 1lb protein + pre shredded cheese, bake 30min) + bagged salad
-basic tacos of course (really just have to brown the meat, and set out toppings. I even buy the pre shredded lettuce and cheese etc)
-grilled cheese (I do a bunch at once in the oven) + boxed tomato soup
-pot roast or turkey breast in the slow cooker + premade mashed potatoes from the refrigerated section

I cook on the weekends when I have more time. I try to have something ready for Monday, as well. I also TRY to make extra items to freeze (for example if I make one lasagna, I make an extra to freeze for next week)

I also really try to enlist DH to grill at least once a week, even in the cooler months. Burgers, steaks etc. then I just have to prep some easy sides.

[Anonymous]

Yes you need to lower standards.
PB&J sandwiches anyone?
Take out.
Drive thru.
Don't stress.

[Anonymous]

Now that my kid has moved out, I cook a big meal or two on the weekends and eat it all week. Usually, I eat the salad kits for fresh veg. This week, it’s low cal Gen Tso’s chicken and tortellini soup. I’ll steam broccoli on the days I eat the Chinese dish. I work 60+ hour weeks, so I’ve gotten over my dislike of eating the same food for a week. Freezer meals that get done in a crockpot would be good for feeding a family during the week.

[Anonymous]

We have a personal chef.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And there is no reason that your kids can’t handle dinner one day a week, once they are 12 or 14. Your husband could do one night and you can eat out or order out another.

NP. My kids know how to cook, but by 12 or 14, they’re never home on week nights in time to cook dinner… they’re at sports practices or other activities. I’m sure that’s true for many/most people.

OP, I know a couple who cooked meals for the whole week every Sunday.

Re-evaluate your schedule so a teen can set aside one night a week to make dinner. See research of the importance of family dinner and cut back just a bit on activities.

Do you have teens? Were you ever a teen? This isn’t a question of multiple activities. One activity is often a 5-6 day/wk commitment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And there is no reason that your kids can’t handle dinner one day a week, once they are 12 or 14. Your husband could do one night and you can eat out or order out another.

NP. My kids know how to cook, but by 12 or 14, they’re never home on week nights in time to cook dinner… they’re at sports practices or other activities. I’m sure that’s true for many/most people.

OP, I know a couple who cooked meals for the whole week every Sunday.

Re-evaluate your schedule so a teen can set aside one night a week to make dinner. See research of the importance of family dinner and cut back just a bit on activities.

Do you have teens? Were you ever a teen? This isn’t a question of multiple activities. One activity is often a 5-6 day/wk commitment.

So that's one or two nights when they could cook.

Or they could prep something on the weekend that gets stuck in the oven an hour or before dinner

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And there is no reason that your kids can’t handle dinner one day a week, once they are 12 or 14. Your husband could do one night and you can eat out or order out another.

NP. My kids know how to cook, but by 12 or 14, they’re never home on week nights in time to cook dinner… they’re at sports practices or other activities. I’m sure that’s true for many/most people.

OP, I know a couple who cooked meals for the whole week every Sunday.

Re-evaluate your schedule so a teen can set aside one night a week to make dinner. See research of the importance of family dinner and cut back just a bit on activities.

Do you have teens? Were you ever a teen? This isn’t a question of multiple activities. One activity is often a 5-6 day/wk commitment.

I have four kids all in their twenties, and with the wisdom of experience, I repeat my advice. Cut back.

[Anonymous]

I never understand bagged salad. It takes like 3 minutes to wash/dry lettuce and tear it up. And it seems like bagged salads are always getting recalled for listeria. I would feel very uncomfortable just eating it out of the bag and not washing it.

[Anonymous]

We eat dinner with our 3 small kids every night.

Things that get old
- them whining about dinner
- not using silverware and trying to eat with hands
- not sitting in their seats
- fighting or kicking each other or arguing.

It’s basically like slow torture. But I will say that my children are the absolute best behaved and most mannered kids when we’re in public or at dinner events. They also are more adventurous eaters than their peers. My parents ate dinner with us every night as well and it was something I looked for in a husband whether his family ate together too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never understand bagged salad. It takes like 3 minutes to wash/dry lettuce and tear it up. And it seems like bagged salads are always getting recalled for listeria. I would feel very uncomfortable just eating it out of the bag and not washing it.

Np. I’m not eating lettuce. I eat spring mix- arugula, romaine and spinach. What’s the purpose of eating lettuce?!? It has almost no nutritional value.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And there is no reason that your kids can’t handle dinner one day a week, once they are 12 or 14. Your husband could do one night and you can eat out or order out another.

NP. My kids know how to cook, but by 12 or 14, they’re never home on week nights in time to cook dinner… they’re at sports practices or other activities. I’m sure that’s true for many/most people.

OP, I know a couple who cooked meals for the whole week every Sunday.

Re-evaluate your schedule so a teen can set aside one night a week to make dinner. See research of the importance of family dinner and cut back just a bit on activities.

Do you have teens? Were you ever a teen? This isn’t a question of multiple activities. One activity is often a 5-6 day/wk commitment.

That’s a choice. My kid never did anything like that. His club met once a month after school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never understand bagged salad. It takes like 3 minutes to wash/dry lettuce and tear it up. And it seems like bagged salads are always getting recalled for listeria. I would feel very uncomfortable just eating it out of the bag and not washing it.

If it only takes you three minutes it’s because you’re not washing it good enough. Listeria/ecoli may very well be in your future, too…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never understand bagged salad. It takes like 3 minutes to wash/dry lettuce and tear it up. And it seems like bagged salads are always getting recalled for listeria. I would feel very uncomfortable just eating it out of the bag and not washing it.

Np. I’m not eating lettuce. I eat spring mix- arugula, romaine and spinach. What’s the purpose of eating lettuce?!? It has almost no nutritional value.

Volume and roughage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now that my kid has moved out, I cook a big meal or two on the weekends and eat it all week. Usually, I eat the salad kits for fresh veg. This week, it’s low cal Gen Tso’s chicken and tortellini soup. I’ll steam broccoli on the days I eat the Chinese dish. I work 60+ hour weeks, so I’ve gotten over my dislike of eating the same food for a week. Freezer meals that get done in a crockpot would be good for feeding a family during the week.

You cook after they move out? Most parents go back to college era eating themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Career nanny here. This is what I have done for all my nanny families (and a few friends who are busy moms):

1) Come up with a list of 18 meals your family at least sort of likes. This is 6 meals a week plus one day of leftovers or takeout.

I like to break it down by day so like every Sunday is something I have to bake in the oven, every Monday is a crock pot meal, Tuesday soup/salad, Wednesday sheet pan dinner, Thursday pasta, Friday stir fry, something like that.

You now have a Week 1 menu, Week 2 menu and Week 3 menu.

2) Write out a shopping list for ingredients for each week. Depending on how often you like to shop, break it into two lists (Sun-Tuesday and Wed-Friday for example).

Going forward shop according to the list and make whatever is on the list for that night. Your family in never eating any particular meal more than on e every 21 days so you can do this for years and nobody will because absolutely bored of a specific food.

Brilliant!