Working Parents - What the heck for dinner

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Why on earth would your "parents" be the ones to encourage you to SAH?!?! That's a discussion for you and your spouse

Because they drilled into me to focus on career, and discouraged me from dating until I was out of college. By then all the high earning breadwinners were snapped up.

In the end, those decisions are ON YOU

[Anonymous]

Forget the recipes. Keep it simple. Just one starch. One protein. One veggie. That’s all! Sheet pan it. Grill it. Saute it. Whatever. But if you keep it simple, it’s easy and nutritious.

[Anonymous]

Meal prep on Sunday for the upcoming week.

If that doesn't work out and often doesn't due to kids' activities, we sometimes will throw in a cereal night/breakfast foods night. Take out pizza. Rotisserie chicken hot n ready from the grocery store, things like that.

[Anonymous]

We eat a lot of pasta. A lot of rice + veggies or meat. Grilled cheeses on particularly long days. Sometimes breakfast for dinner (yogurt pancakes + eggs + fruit).

We try to do one starch (pasta or rice), plus protein (meat or cheese), plus veggies or fruit for all meals. That’s kinda it. It’s boring but it’s manageable.

[Anonymous]

I made chicken shawarma tonight and it was pretty quick! I do take shortcuts.

I make a big pot of rice on the weekend in my instant pot and portion it out/ freeze some.

I put the chicken in the oven, cooking time is 20 mins. During that time I sliced a couple cucumbers with a mandolin and mixed with tzatziki I had in the fridge. Warmed up the rice I made on Sunday, warmed up some pita bread. The kids wanted clementines so I put a few of those out. Everyone assembled their bowls however they like and it was no more than 25 minutes from fridge to table.

[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.

Rao's is low sugar. Pasta with meat sauce is no worse than paella.

I was the jarred sauce poster and I use Rao’s. I don’t use frozen vegetables, for those who were freaked out by that possibility. The reality with cooking at home easily is that if you have dietary restrictions or hang ups about frozen/jarred you either have to commit to using occasional weekends for making and freezing or canning your own sauces, prepped vegetables, portioned meats, etc. or you are going to have long evenings of cooking. Weekend or occasional big prep sessions are how most of us are pulling off nightly dinners that are relatively healthy and quick.

[Anonymous]

Oh and homemade “pizza” night is a big hit. We put red sauce and cheese on top of English muffins or pieces of french baguettes, and then pile veggies on top (red peppers and zucchini are the favs).

The kids think it’s so fun to have pizza night; it takes literally 20 min; and we sneak some veggies in.

[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.

Rao's is low sugar. Pasta with meat sauce is no worse than paella.

I was the jarred sauce poster and I use Rao’s. I don’t use frozen vegetables, for those who were freaked out by that possibility. The reality with cooking at home easily is that if you have dietary restrictions or hang ups about frozen/jarred you either have to commit to using occasional weekends for making and freezing or canning your own sauces, prepped vegetables, portioned meats, etc. or you are going to have long evenings of cooking. Weekend or occasional big prep sessions are how most of us are pulling off nightly dinners that are relatively healthy and quick.

What’s the problem with frozen veggies? Just a taste thing??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Forget the recipes. Keep it simple. Just one starch. One protein. One veggie. That’s all! Sheet pan it. Grill it. Saute it. Whatever. But if you keep it simple, it’s easy and nutritious.

I do this. Eg boil some rice, marinade chicken with gochujan, sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic and ginger and air fry it. Steam some spinach and add soy sauce garlic vinegar and sesame oil. The whole thing takes 30 minutes.

Sometimes I won’t bother with a starch, eg steak with arugula.

[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.

There's no salt added to frozen veggies unless you get the ones in cheese sauce or something. You can also get no salt added canned vegetables and beans. And reheated grains spike blood sugar far less than freshly cooked ones, so making a batch of brown rice or quinoa or and then freezing it in portions is both efficient and healthy.

[Anonymous]

Air fry chicken breasts or salmon and serve with a salad
Beef or turkey tacos
Beef or turkey burgers with veggies on the side
Chili or soup put in a crockpot in the morning
Asian stir fry with whatever protein and veg you want served over rice
Pasta with peppers and sausage
Homemade pizza

Nothing I cook takes more than 30 minutes. Its boring but it works.

[Anonymous]

Meal prep is your friend, OP. So are simple meals.

Tonight we had roasted teriyaki chicken and vegetables with udon noodles. Tomorrow we will probably have tacos or tostadas. Sometimes we pick up a roasted chicken from Costco and make chicken enchiladas. Pasta and meatballs (if we're feeling very ambitious, we'll spend a Sunday making a huge batch of meatballs from scratch and freeze them). We usually make enough food that we have leftovers for another day that week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do people make tacos quickly?

1) sautee beef

2) wash and shred lettuce

3) wash and shred cilantro, onion, dice tomatoes.

4) shred cheese or I guess use anti-caking agent cheese

It seems as much work or more than a salad?

2-4 happens while the meat is cooking.

[Anonymous]

Orzo is a quick one. I can get this one out in maybe 25 min (chicken, tomatoes, and zucchini)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/lemon-rosemary-chicken-and-orzo-skillet/

You can do a ton of variations on that meal subbing different veggies or shrimp.

Slow cooker all day meals. https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/all-day-slow-cooker-recipes/

I will do Trader Joe's assists, pastas and stir fry a lot, microwaved baked potatoes before finishing in the air fryer, air fried or just fresh veggies.

I'll marinate chicken all day in the fridge with garlic, lemon, and oregano and then pan cook it, then eat on pitas with veggies.

Couscous cooks up super fast so if I need a side I can add that.

Seconding frozen veggies, frozen peas usually taste better than fresh (what I've heard is they're picked riper). You can add frozen peas to just about everything so I always have a giant bag in my fridge.

[Anonymous]

I love the website skinnytaste.com. The woman who runs it posts weekly meal plans with grocery lists. Everything is healthy, easy, and ready in 30 minutes. There are a decent number of repeat recipes, but I think frequent rotation makes things easier anyway.