Sundays aren’t fun or relaxing anymore

[Anonymous]

You need a plan, that you either buy or you make in advance. Here's an example.

1) Saturday dinner, roast a chicken or chicken parts. Have it with cooked broccoli and bread or rice. Save the rest of the chicken including the bones.

2) Sunday, take the meat off the bones and make a stock. Make chicken soup with onion, carrots, and celery. You can do noodles or rice. So that's Sunday dinner. While you are in the kitchen, cook some black beans (or use canned). Make a simple bean soup with carrots and onion. This you put in the fridge and eat it on Monday with bread/crackers and cheese. Save some beans in a Tupperware. So Monday, you're having bean soup.

3) Tuesday, make pasta with red sauce from a jar, plus bagged salad or some veg. Use Trader Joe's meatballs or just have meat sauce.

4) Wednesday, the saved beans are used in quesadillas. Assemble with tortillas, cheese, salsa for the grown-ups, and sour cream. Bagged salad for the veg.

5) Thursday, Trader Joe's frozen meals are great. Personally I like the lasagna.

6) Friday, pizza night yaaaaay!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread feels like a SNL skit. I’m a single mother and do all of that by myself. And I also find time to just unwind with a glass of wine and a movie.

It’s easier being a single mother, PP. Honestly. Your idea of cleaning standards and nutritional standards are your own. You have no other equal adult to compromise with. I could eat and serve scrambled eggs for dinner but DH needs a full balanced, vegetarian meal. I could live with crumbs on the floor but DH has to vacuum daily. There are a million things that I would let slide without DH.

+1. This really is true. Without the commitment of marriage and another relationship to tend to, I would have a lot more time!

+2. Thank you! I am so sick of the single mother whine. Being married and in a healthy relationship takes work, planning, and commitment. I could eat cold cereal for dinner and be happy with the quiet after the kids are in bed.

Are you all really trying to say a married life with fully contributing spouse is easier than a single parent.

Every single time you leave the house without kids ask yourself these questions:

If I was single, could I even be making this trip out the door (gym, meet with friends, shopping, spa, run, walk, etc).

Even if you can make it past that first question with a yes (grocery shopping, quick trip for a missed ingredient, forgotten school assignment purchase ask yourself this -

Would it be easier to do this trip with or without kids.

In some very specific ways, being a single parent is easier, but in a tremendous amount of others, it is not.

Op, batch cook your meals and lower your cleaning standards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread feels like a SNL skit. I’m a single mother and do all of that by myself. And I also find time to just unwind with a glass of wine and a movie.

It’s easier being a single mother, PP. Honestly. Your idea of cleaning standards and nutritional standards are your own. You have no other equal adult to compromise with. I could eat and serve scrambled eggs for dinner but DH needs a full balanced, vegetarian meal. I could live with crumbs on the floor but DH has to vacuum daily. There are a million things that I would let slide without DH.

+1. This really is true. Without the commitment of marriage and another relationship to tend to, I would have a lot more time!

+2. Thank you! I am so sick of the single mother whine. Being married and in a healthy relationship takes work, planning, and commitment. I could eat cold cereal for dinner and be happy with the quiet after the kids are in bed.

Jerk post. Imagine having zero breaks from childcare and being able to outsource nothing.

Try it for 6 years or 16 years and come back and say it was easier. Knowing something it short term makes dealing with it mentally much easier.

I did it, idiot, for six months when DH was deployed and it was absolutely easier. And I didn’t need the wine or the whine!

[Anonymous]

Have your nanny handle the kids' dinners. She can feed them early, then you can have a nice relaxing evening with them. You and DH can either skip dinner or eat leftovers, a light meal (cheese/crackers/crudites) or skip dinner entirely. That's what we did when our kids were those ages and it was well worth the "sacrifice" of not sitting down for dinner with them on the weekdays. The time we had with them was of much higher quality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I have two kids under 4 and WOH. But DH is very involved and we have a great nanny with a weekly Housecleaner.

Nanny handles groceries and food prep for the kids lunches and snacks and does all the kids laundry. All I have to do is my own laundry (DH does his) and making dinners for the week. Which doesn’t seem like it should take all day but it does!! Grocery store and Farmers Market with the kids and then I start the weekday dinners while DH takes the kids out. Right now I am staring at all my ingredients on my counter and recipes and just wishing I could order a huge pizza and turn on Netflix. It’s my turn to strip our bed and do linens too.

What is wrong with me? Why can’t I just do it? Having four dinners made during the week is essential to having calm happy weeknights for us and dinners as a family so I have to do it.

Have that bum husband of yours do something besides laundry damn

[Anonymous]

I shudder to think what old meat on Wednesday, Thursday tastes like. I can't even eat 1 day old chicken 😩

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I have two kids under 4 and WOH. But DH is very involved and we have a great nanny with a weekly Housecleaner.

Nanny handles groceries and food prep for the kids lunches and snacks and does all the kids laundry. All I have to do is my own laundry (DH does his) and making dinners for the week. Which doesn’t seem like it should take all day but it does!! Grocery store and Farmers Market with the kids and then I start the weekday dinners while DH takes the kids out. Right now I am staring at all my ingredients on my counter and recipes and just wishing I could order a huge pizza and turn on Netflix. It’s my turn to strip our bed and do linens too.

What is wrong with me? Why can’t I just do it? Having four dinners made during the week is essential to having calm happy weeknights for us and dinners as a family so I have to do it.

Have that bum husband of yours do something besides laundry damn

Yes, he can put frozen steak in fridge day before, and slap it on a grill next day for dinner. You can microwave veggies or a TJ side dish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I shudder to think what old meat on Wednesday, Thursday tastes like. I can't even eat 1 day old chicken 😩

I hope you don't eat in restaurants, because re-purposing chicken into soup is what they do.

[Anonymous]

All the people saying single moms have it easy must have useless husbands. Or their own standards are so low that they would feed their kids hot dogs every night of their husband wasn’t around to notice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I shudder to think what old meat on Wednesday, Thursday tastes like. I can't even eat 1 day old chicken 😩

I hope you don't eat in restaurants, because re-purposing chicken into soup is what they do.

And also what, like, every home cook in the history of the world has done

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the people saying single moms have it easy must have useless husbands. Or their own standards are so low that they would feed their kids hot dogs every night of their husband wasn’t around to notice.

I’m the PP with the deployed spouse. I didn’t say it was easy being a single mom. I said it was easier in many ways though. DH is absolutely an equal partner but it’s not needing to tend to another relationship that frees up a lot of time. And we always eat good food but I’m far less picky than he is. Lots of nights when he was deployed, the kids and I would have avocado and scrambled eggs or something premade from Trader Joe’s.

But yes, my cleaning standards are and we’re lax! DH is the cleaner - not me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have your nanny handle the kids' dinners. She can feed them early, then you can have a nice relaxing evening with them. You and DH can either skip dinner or eat leftovers, a light meal (cheese/crackers/crudites) or skip dinner entirely. That's what we did when our kids were those ages and it was well worth the "sacrifice" of not sitting down for dinner with them on the weekdays. The time we had with them was of much higher quality.

All the experts say the family dinner is very important. I would jump at your idea in a hot New York minute if I thought it was okay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have your nanny handle the kids' dinners. She can feed them early, then you can have a nice relaxing evening with them. You and DH can either skip dinner or eat leftovers, a light meal (cheese/crackers/crudites) or skip dinner entirely. That's what we did when our kids were those ages and it was well worth the "sacrifice" of not sitting down for dinner with them on the weekdays. The time we had with them was of much higher quality.

All the experts say the family dinner is very important. I would jump at your idea in a hot New York minute if I thought it was okay.

You asked how to make it easier, and we’re telling you how. Easier sometimes means less than perfect parenting. Or maybe you could have the nanny feed them 3 days of the week, and you eat with them on the other days.

[Anonymous]

Well, you’re probably finished with your dinners for the week now, OP. Aren’t you glad you got it out of the way? You’re going to be happy after work while I will be running around with two little kids underfoot! I want to do what you do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, you’re probably finished with your dinners for the week now, OP. Aren’t you glad you got it out of the way? You’re going to be happy after work while I will be running around with two little kids underfoot! I want to do what you do.

+1. I wish I could be as organized and disciplined as OP. She got her dinners made while her DH had the kids. Yes, I don’t doubt it was less than fun but she’s done for the week.