How much time do you spend daily on cooking healthy meals for a family of five?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, why on earth aren't you making your milk in bulk? And why on earth aren't your husband and children helping to cook and clean up?!

Because meals in bulk means soup, casseroles, etc. if you want fresh vegetables they have to be freshly cooked. Reheating refrigerated steamed cauliflower??? Nightmare food.

Sure kids and DH can trade off cleaning (I’m DH actually and generally clean) but there is only one sink and one dishwasher…

And when you use multiple cutting boards for meat and veggies, bowls for mixing, pans for searing and pots for steaming — it’s a lot to clean up even for a simple meal with fresh meat, vegetables, and a starch. Forget making a sauce or garnish!

+1
I agree. We do a lot of cooking and use fresh ingredients. If I want my kids and family to eat healthy, well balanced and varied meals - it means a lot more work. My kids do not like ultra processed food. We don't even buy shredded cheese for example. So there are pans, bowls, pots, gadgets and tools, cutting boards, blenders and grinders...just a whole lot of whole lot.

I have a friend, who basically uses every thing frozen, boxed, canned or from a jar. After she finishes cooking, there is a whole pile of cans in the sink. I usually have a huge bucket of veggi peels, fruit peels, egg shells, shrimp shells, trimmed fat from meats etc.

So is mine, which is why I have chickens who turn my delicious scraps into healthy eggs. But weeknights I can still produce a meal in under an hour. I don’t cook lunches and breakfast is quick most days. Weekends I do more for breakfast and my kids still make their own lunch. They are 13 and 9. Why aren’t these teens cooking some?

Be smart about pans too. Dutch ovens rule, I have a few. Sear, sauté, roast, then make the sauce in the same pan while the meat rests. Cook smarter.

Nah. I come from a culture that is known for its wonderful cuisine. My family cannot eat like y'all do. Also, I cater to my kids preferences. Why? Because I value that they like the food that they eat and that they eat healthy food. I am not raising Duggar children.

It is disgusting that it took me so long to call troll.

I suspected from the beginning. This is a ridiculous routine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This all depends on whether your family eats the same or expects five different meals like a lot of spoiled American families.

Go back to your own country if you feel that way.

Heh? American families expect 5 different meals? Since when? Most of them can't cook to save their lives. They are not getting 5 different meals.

Only immigrants will offer different foods to their children because most of them can cook, will care what their kids eat and know how to use spices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I have a HS senior, two HS juniors (2 boys & 1 girl) and DH. Here is my morning schedule looks like

Breakfast at 6;30am: take an hour
- make fresh cashews milk for five people (15 mins),
- make egg white with spinach and whole wheat toast for four people (15 minutes),
- make smoothie from fresh avocado, strawberries, blueberries, mango, apple and banana for five people (15 minutes to prepare and blend)
- make fresh oats milk for five people (10 minutes)
- clean up (10 minutes)

Lunch: Take about 65 minutes - DH WFH and kids are home school
- Homemade chicken soup - 30 minutes
- Salad - 5 minutes
- Freshly made Chicken Lasagna - 30 minutes
- (make smoothie from fresh avocado, strawberries, blueberries, mango, apple and banana for five (15 minutes to prepare and blend),
- Freshly made Almond milk for three (10 minutes),

Snack: 15 minutes
- (make smoothie from fresh avocado, strawberries, blueberries, mango, apple and banana for five (15 minutes to prepare and blend),

-Dinner: one hour
- steamed vegetable (10 minutes),
- Lobster or seafood on Pasta (40 minutes),
- fresh smoothie (15 minutes)

Rinse and repeat.

I've been doing this for the past three months and it is exhausting. Fortunately, I am already retired but still feel overwhelmed at times.

OP, it's great that you place such importance on cooking healthy meals for your family. There are lots of areas where you can cut out work/redundancies:

--3 smoothies per day seems pretty excessive. can you explain how a smoothie vs. fresh fruit adds such nutritional value that you are using and cleaning your blender 3x per day? You might find that prepping fruit salad to last 2-3 days will bring the variety and nutrition you're looking for.
--on the smoothie note, use easy-to-grab-and-eat fruits like apples and bananas for your snacks so everyone is getting those nutrients but they do not need to be prepped for smoothies, can be eaten with a serving of nuts for those who need the protein/fat
--can you make enough almond/oat milk to last a few days? why 2 varieties of nut milks for breakfast? can those who want it just eat almonds instead?

The smoothie poster side tracked the thread. Don’t worry about all their unnecessary smoothies, they like fresh fruits okay. All the sugar spikes at every meal from smoothies is no good for adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am referring to breakfast, lunch and dinner.

We are a family of 3 but my DH eats enough for 2 adults somedays

I batch cook as much as possible but it still averages
30min for breakfast where I prepare lunch for kid at the same time (I make hot breakfasts 90% of our morning, the exception is yogurt parfaits)
20min for lunch- normally reheated leftovers or tuna or ham sandwich
30-60min for dinner- I make enough for dinner (3) plus lunch (3) plus another random serving or so for leftover night

On some weekend days it feels like all we do is prep eat clean. I try to make muffins every other week for a nutritious grab-n-go snack. I made chia raspberry oatmeal bars this weekend and we also made chicken thighs rice and green beans Saturday since we had no leftovers from the week.

I make our "bigger" meals Sunday and Monday so we have leftovers for lunches the first half of the week. This week is Beef-n-Bean Chili with cornbread and Chicken tikka masala with rice/naan plus green beans. 2lbs of meat for each recipe. And then simpler meals as the week fatigue sets in: salmon plus salad, Belgian waffles plus bacon and fruit (make a big batch and freeze some for quick mornings), beef and bean tostadas, and then a leftover/eat out night.

Rinse repeat. 5 people is a lot to feed 3x day, depending on appetites I would just batch cook everything. 13X9 pan of baked oatmeal, sheet pan pancakes, etc.

You sound a lot like me! I try to stay on top of it, but as the kids got bigger, sometimes I just couldn't keep up! I'd make dinner thinking there would be enough leftovers for lunches and/or part of another dinner, but they would eat everything.

Also, some pickiness about leftovers set in. And for me, boredom sets in. Always looking for new ideas that are voluminous, healthy, and delicious!

[Anonymous]

Folks! I think the nut-milk maker may replace the lightly fried tuna lady!

[Anonymous]

Bfast 10-15 mins
During bfast cooking time I make kids packed lunch 10 mins
Dinner 45 mins, but with cleanup it’s 1:15h. Plus eating itself that’s 2 hours on dinner a night.
But then there’s grocery shopping, which is 60-90m 1-2x/week.
So that’s like 10 hours a week just on meal prep, not including eating.

I hate this time suck so much I recently tried using a meal delivery service for dinner M-Th. It is amazing. SO much mental energy freed up. I did it bc I was sick but now I’m also doing it for weeks when we are away over the weekend and I don’t have time to grocery shop or prep ahead.

[Anonymous]

Probably an hour on average, possibly less on weeknights and a little more on weekends. We almost always have family dinner regardless of kid activities and most of our meals are from scratch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I have a HS senior, two HS juniors (2 boys & 1 girl) and DH. Here is my morning schedule looks like

Breakfast at 6;30am: take an hour
- make fresh cashews milk for five people (15 mins),
- make egg white with spinach and whole wheat toast for four people (15 minutes),
- make smoothie from fresh avocado, strawberries, blueberries, mango, apple and banana for five people (15 minutes to prepare and blend)
- make fresh oats milk for five people (10 minutes)
- clean up (10 minutes)

Lunch: Take about 65 minutes - DH WFH and kids are home school
- Homemade chicken soup - 30 minutes
- Salad - 5 minutes
- Freshly made Chicken Lasagna - 30 minutes
- (make smoothie from fresh avocado, strawberries, blueberries, mango, apple and banana for five (15 minutes to prepare and blend),
- Freshly made Almond milk for three (10 minutes),

Snack: 15 minutes
- (make smoothie from fresh avocado, strawberries, blueberries, mango, apple and banana for five (15 minutes to prepare and blend),

-Dinner: one hour
- steamed vegetable (10 minutes),
- Lobster or seafood on Pasta (40 minutes),
- fresh smoothie (15 minutes)

Rinse and repeat.

I've been doing this for the past three months and it is exhausting. Fortunately, I am already retired but still feel overwhelmed at times.

This is insane. You are doing WAY too much unnecessary work. Cashew milk AND oatmilk, freshly made, daily? Really? Drink water or real milk. Those “milks” don’t have much nutritional benefit and they create a lot of food waste (the pulp and leftover oat meal). I would stop that. I would also stop making smoothies. Everyone is eating food all day. Why are you making 15 servings of smoothies daily? Eat an apple. Eat a handful of almonds. I also wouldn’t be cooking lunch. You are already cooking a hearty breakfast, lunch can be leftovers or individuals can prepare themselves something (a sandwich, a grain bowl from stuff in the frig, a wrap, a piece of fruit, yogurt..). Cook a normal dinner that appeals to most.

I have to believe this is a joke! That is a crazy amount of food in a single day!

[Anonymous]

Breakfast and lunch, five minutes. Nothing fancy.

Dinner is from scratch every weeknight, so 60-90 minutes. I only prepare one meal, no special meals.

[Anonymous]

Nutella on toast, a bowl of cheerios, a yogurt, and a protein shake all with FRESH cut up fruit. For four different family members takes about ten minutes start to finish.

Sandwiches, salads, FRESH fruit, cheese and crackers, veggies and hummus, takes about 15 min total.

Lentil soup and bread takes 10 min hands on time but an hour total. Taco salad, palak paneer, chicken veggie pitas, all about the same time.

The only thing not terribly healthy is breakfast and often we do eggs or oats, or yogurt parfaits too.

This weekend I did take about three hours to prep for the week, I don’t always though. Do what makes you happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This all depends on whether your family eats the same or expects five different meals like a lot of spoiled American families.

Go back to your own country if you feel that way.

I’m American and I also feel this way. I’m disgusted by people who do this. Whole family eats the same meal there is no such thing as “kids food,” most of which is unhealthy and causes obesity anyway (hot dogs, burgers, nuggets, Mac n cheese, semolina pasta in butter). Only exception is for medically proven allergies of which we have none.

My kid eats every thing and is a healthy weight with no food issues and understands what good nutrition is, because we raised them this way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I have a HS senior, two HS juniors (2 boys & 1 girl) and DH. Here is my morning schedule looks like

Breakfast at 6;30am: take an hour
- make fresh cashews milk for five people (15 mins),
- make egg white with spinach and whole wheat toast for four people (15 minutes),
- make smoothie from fresh avocado, strawberries, blueberries, mango, apple and banana for five people (15 minutes to prepare and blend)
- make fresh oats milk for five people (10 minutes)
- clean up (10 minutes)

Lunch: Take about 65 minutes - DH WFH and kids are home school
- Homemade chicken soup - 30 minutes
- Salad - 5 minutes
- Freshly made Chicken Lasagna - 30 minutes
- (make smoothie from fresh avocado, strawberries, blueberries, mango, apple and banana for five (15 minutes to prepare and blend),
- Freshly made Almond milk for three (10 minutes),

Snack: 15 minutes
- (make smoothie from fresh avocado, strawberries, blueberries, mango, apple and banana for five (15 minutes to prepare and blend),

-Dinner: one hour
- steamed vegetable (10 minutes),
- Lobster or seafood on Pasta (40 minutes),
- fresh smoothie (15 minutes)

Rinse and repeat.

I've been doing this for the past three months and it is exhausting. Fortunately, I am already retired but still feel overwhelmed at times.

This is insane. You are doing WAY too much unnecessary work. Cashew milk AND oatmilk, freshly made, daily? Really? Drink water or real milk. Those “milks” don’t have much nutritional benefit and they create a lot of food waste (the pulp and leftover oat meal). I would stop that. I would also stop making smoothies. Everyone is eating food all day. Why are you making 15 servings of smoothies daily? Eat an apple. Eat a handful of almonds. I also wouldn’t be cooking lunch. You are already cooking a hearty breakfast, lunch can be leftovers or individuals can prepare themselves something (a sandwich, a grain bowl from stuff in the frig, a wrap, a piece of fruit, yogurt..). Cook a normal dinner that appeals to most.

I have to believe this is a joke! That is a crazy amount of food in a single day!

Well she’s “retired” so obviously needs to fill her time.

[Anonymous]

We are a family of four. I work full time. I’d say 1-2 hours a day, mostly weeknights from 6-8pm to make dinner and school lunches for the next day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Breakfast and lunch, five minutes. Nothing fancy.

Dinner is from scratch every weeknight, so 60-90 minutes. I only prepare one meal, no special meals.

Same