Working Moms, how do you handle dinner?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the 20 minute turn-around is every night, the first thing that I'd try to do is cut back on activities.

We needed this kind of turn-around twice a week over the summer. I always planned a crockpot meal for those nights. Dinner was done as soon as we got home -- faster than grabbing fast food -- and so we could immediately start eating.

We have some good cookbooks with recipes that take 20-30 minutes max for the other nights.

Agree. If it's on most weekdays, it's too much, OP. I can't even eat in 20, let alone kids, and let alone often. Plus activities afterward? No.
What about a fruit snack with some hummus or tapenade on the side, and then the whole family eats together after the activities?
Sorry, not exactly what you had asked, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Dinner swap with a friend. We've been doing it for 3 years now. She cooks Mondays; I cook Wednesdays. Other days are pulled from freezer, left-overs or eat out (or fend for yourself).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know this isn't for everyone, but I make large portions of meals that we can eat two days in a row. This saves me the time of having to make and freeze portions for later use, but it has the same effect -- two meals in one. I get to telework one day (tues) per week, so on that day I have time to make a meal. I can make a meal Sunday. That leaves only one other weeknight when I have to make a meal. I generally make that one the least time-intensive. So, for example, our last week was:

Sunday: Moroccan veggie and lentil stew
Monday: Same
Tuesday: Asparagus, chard and mushroom pasta
Wed: Same
Thursday: Ecuadorian potato soup with avocado
Friday: Same (except we actually took the soup leftovers for lunch and ended up getting takeout tonight. But we *could* have had it for dinner).

We do a version of this but skip a night before having left-overs.
Chicken Sunday night, left overs on Tuesday, might turn it into quesadillas
Pizza Monday night, leftovers on Wed.

In your case, you will probably need a pretty heavy snack before activities & then a light dinner after.

[Anonymous]

America's Test Kitchen has an entire series of books and magazines for 30 minute meals. They are all pretty good and fairly simple to make.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, the slow cooker is your friend. In my household, we use it once a week and then have a variety of other strategies the rest of the week.

We aim for a slow cooker recipe to cover two nights. We usually have one night of take out, a night of make your own omelet night, and a night of stir fry with veggies and protein prepped ahead and ready to go when we get home. These are some of our go to weekly quick meals.

There are blogs devoted to bulk cooking and freezing ingredients for easy slow cooker use during the week. Here are a few links for inspiration....

http://whoneedsacape.com/2012/11/crockpot-freezer-cooking/

http://oatmealsmiles.com/healthy-slow-cookercrock-pot-freezer-recipes/

http://momsneedtoknow.com/freezer-to-crockpot-cooking-chicken-recipes-and-instructions/

Good luck.

Thanks for sharing these links! I found some great recipes on the second one (Oatmeal Smiles) which don't use canned soup. I'm excited to make some freezer packs for the crock pot.

[Anonymous]

Ten minutes is not enough time to prepare ANYTHING.

Your only chance is the crock pot.

Load it up in the morning, and it will be warm and ready when you get home. All you need to do is grab plates and utensils.

Or better yet, do weekend prep and freeze baggies with all the ingredients ready to dump in the crock pot in the morning. No way you'll want to do any other sort of prep when you're trying to get out the door.

[Anonymous]

20 minutes total for cooking/eating means you're really just reheating everything. You can precook taco meat then reheat with toppings for quick tacos/burritos. Really the crock pot will be key. You can also reheat soups and stews pretty quick.

[Anonymous]

There are lots of good resources here. My cousin used this book and approach

http://www.amazon.com/The-Family-Dinner-Fix-Cooking/dp/1416541233/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1QZSV6585HCMBPDYP31F

Same idea as what many others have mentioned.

You said the job is temporary, right? You can get through temporary. If it turns into something more than that you may want to look at scaling back activities. What was doable as a SAHM won't be so much if you aren't home in the afternoon.

[Anonymous]

11:23 here. Maybe it wasn't that particular book. The whole idea is that you batch cook when you have time. If kids are old enough to handle it you can even put supper in a thermos to eat in the car or on the sidelines. Come home, heat the thermos, fill from the crockpot and go.

For the really really rushed nights I would go with wraps that can be eaten on the way. Nothing too heavy if they are going to be really active. You can always give them more after they get home.

[Anonymous]

Chipotle