Working Parents - What the heck for dinner

[Anonymous]

We make a lot of sheet pan meals, dinner salads, and grain bowls. They are easiest and quickest for all of us and our varied dietary preferences. If I’m really on top of things, I prep components of multiple meals at the same time, like cut-up veggies or brown rice. I also try to make enough so that there are leftovers for another meal at least once per week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I really don't understand how anyone thinks making tacos takes time.

[Anonymous]

If you both work, why not hire a personal assistant/chef to cook dinner? It's not that expensive and they will do the prep/cooking/cleanup for yiu.

[Anonymous]

We cook to have leftovers and try to do the cooking on nights when there's less going on in the evenings.

[Anonymous]

I marinate chicken the night before. It’s easy to put on the rice/toast naan, steam some vegetables and cut up fruit while the protein cooks in the oven. We make fish in parchment, put vegetables and herbs inside and voila, dinner. Sheet pan meals are quick and easy to do. The key is to do some prep work the night before: all the chopping and washing that takes time. And there’s always the trusty crockpot especially with this season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you both work, why not hire a personal assistant/chef to cook dinner? It's not that expensive and they will do the prep/cooking/cleanup for yiu.

You are hilarious. Neither of us have Big careers, that’s why we both work full time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I marinate chicken the night before. It’s easy to put on the rice/toast naan, steam some vegetables and cut up fruit while the protein cooks in the oven. We make fish in parchment, put vegetables and herbs inside and voila, dinner. Sheet pan meals are quick and easy to do. The key is to do some prep work the night before: all the chopping and washing that takes time. And there’s always the trusty crockpot especially with this season.

Definitely true that the washing and chopping of vegetables is the big time suck. Also the cleanup of all the veggie scraps and cutting boards that can’t go in dishwasher. We eat a LOT of fresh vegetables, not just a steamed side or whatnot.

Prepping the night before doesn’t work because things like salads get soggy, though I will look into a spinner and things like cauliflower turn brown

Also, we are running kids around at night, homework, and I already stay up late cleaning the kitchen from dinner — i don’t see how prepping separately, storing in MORE Tupperware to clean later, saves time. It time shifts I agree, but my aggregate time cooking increases since I have to handle the same food twice.

But I will look into a spinner — if we can wash and cut veggies for 2-3 nights that could help us get to Thurs. but it sounds like a lot of frozen or canned food or takeout is a staple of working parents?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I marinate chicken the night before. It’s easy to put on the rice/toast naan, steam some vegetables and cut up fruit while the protein cooks in the oven. We make fish in parchment, put vegetables and herbs inside and voila, dinner. Sheet pan meals are quick and easy to do. The key is to do some prep work the night before: all the chopping and washing that takes time. And there’s always the trusty crockpot especially with this season.

Definitely true that the washing and chopping of vegetables is the big time suck. Also the cleanup of all the veggie scraps and cutting boards that can’t go in dishwasher. We eat a LOT of fresh vegetables, not just a steamed side or whatnot.

Prepping the night before doesn’t work because things like salads get soggy, though I will look into a spinner and things like cauliflower turn brown

Also, we are running kids around at night, homework, and I already stay up late cleaning the kitchen from dinner — i don’t see how prepping separately, storing in MORE Tupperware to clean later, saves time. It time shifts I agree, but my aggregate time cooking increases since I have to handle the same food twice.

But I will look into a spinner — if we can wash and cut veggies for 2-3 nights that could help us get to Thurs. but it sounds like a lot of frozen or canned food or takeout is a staple of working parents?

Seriously for public health they should allow more part time work to support families:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4001859/

“ We show that children whose mothers work more consume more unhealthy foods (e.g. soda, fast food) and less healthy foods (e.g. fruits, vegetables, milk) and watch more television. Although they report being slightly more physically active, likely due to organized physical activities, the BMI and obesity results suggest that the deterioration in diet and increase in sedentary behaviors dominate.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I marinate chicken the night before. It’s easy to put on the rice/toast naan, steam some vegetables and cut up fruit while the protein cooks in the oven. We make fish in parchment, put vegetables and herbs inside and voila, dinner. Sheet pan meals are quick and easy to do. The key is to do some prep work the night before: all the chopping and washing that takes time. And there’s always the trusty crockpot especially with this season.

Definitely true that the washing and chopping of vegetables is the big time suck. Also the cleanup of all the veggie scraps and cutting boards that can’t go in dishwasher. We eat a LOT of fresh vegetables, not just a steamed side or whatnot.

Prepping the night before doesn’t work because things like salads get soggy, though I will look into a spinner and things like cauliflower turn brown

Also, we are running kids around at night, homework, and I already stay up late cleaning the kitchen from dinner — i don’t see how prepping separately, storing in MORE Tupperware to clean later, saves time. It time shifts I agree, but my aggregate time cooking increases since I have to handle the same food twice.

But I will look into a spinner — if we can wash and cut veggies for 2-3 nights that could help us get to Thurs. but it sounds like a lot of frozen or canned food or takeout is a staple of working parents?

Seriously for public health they should allow more part time work to support families:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4001859/

“ We show that children whose mothers work more consume more unhealthy foods (e.g. soda, fast food) and less healthy foods (e.g. fruits, vegetables, milk) and watch more television. Although they report being slightly more physically active, likely due to organized physical activities, the BMI and obesity results suggest that the deterioration in diet and increase in sedentary behaviors dominate.”

Also, with parents not getting dinner on the table until 6 or 7, that usually means the kids are snacking after school more since dinner is so far from their 1030 am lunch

[Anonymous]

Break away from the habit of meat and use recipes with more canned beans. Also some things cook very quickly - angel hair pasta, couscous, homemade lentil or split pea soup.

It’s more of a muti tasking problem than a time problem. Cook things that take longer on the weekend and use to supplement - black bean soup on the weekend can end up in burritos on the weeknights. Make a larger piece of meat on the weekend and use it in panini on the weeknight. Make a large pot of rice on Sunday to use through the week.

You will get better at this - look at every meal on the weekend as a potential starting place for a quick weeknight meal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Yes, Skinnytaste is great!

This forum is generally pretty helpful, but this post is a little martyrish.

No, I do not use canned vegetables. I rarely use frozen. I usually keep a bag of frozen corn on hand to throw into chilis, add to tacos, etc.

But my vegetables don't take long to cook. A couple of things I do:

1.) We have broccoli a few times a week. If I'm making pasta, I cook the broccoli in the pasta pot first. I fish it out with a slotted spoon and set aside. When the water returns to a boil, I cook the pasta. I like to smash a garlic clove, warm some olive oil, then throw the broccoli in for a few minutes to warm through. It's delicious.

2.) Roasted vegetables. Cauliflower is one of my favorites. I'll serve this with baked chicken. Start the chicken in the oven. When it's got about 20 minutes to go, put a sheet pan or baking dish with the cauliflower, olive oil, salt, pepper, and spices of your choice in the oven. This takes NO additional time.

3.) Just slice up a tomato.

4.) Or cucumbers.

5.) Quick saute of mushrooms -- takes 3 minutes to slice, 5 to cook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My teen boys like the relatively new chopped bagged salads. The toppings make them fun but are quite proportionate. My kids eat croutons and tortilla strips out of the bag, and those bags are expensive. So the salads seem affordable enough since they provide toppings but in modest amounts. The ones we like best are Steakhouse Wedge, various Southwest-inspired blends, and the kale with cranberries, pepitas, and poppyseed dressing.

Yes, these are FINE. No need to be such a martyr about all your chopping and washing, OP.

[Anonymous]

The dill pickle salad is fantastic!

[Anonymous]

Why is washing/spinning even a thing? We get those clamshells of spinach, arugula or mixed greens and use it right out of the box.

[Anonymous]

Have some fruit, veggies and hummus to snack on as soon as the kids come home. If you’re home at 4 or a little past, 30-45 mins is plenty of time to make a fresh hot meal ready for a 6pm dinner.
Have kids finish their homework, reading, shower etc before dinner.
I usually start cooking around 4:30pm. Here’s our meal plan this week (we’re vegetarian). None of this takes more than 10-20 minutes of active time, plus some cook time in oven/ instant pot:
Monday: dal & rice, steamed green beans
Tuesday: Pasta with jarred sauce & lentil meatballs (previously made & frozen), roasted broccoli
Wednesday: saag paneer, roasted cauliflower, freezer rotis
Thursday: Thai curry with tofu & veg, rice
Friday: pizza & salad

On weekends I usually spend a couple of hours on varied food prep tasks - this could be anything from chopping veg, to making & freezing breakfast sandwiches or dinner add-ins like lentil meatballs, enchilada sauce, etc.
I also cook up a pot of beans and have condiments on hand so we can make Chipotle style “bowls” in a pinch as well.