How do working moms (and dads) do dinner?

[Anonymous]

Not to stir up any pot. I am just bemoaning my own continual struggle with dinner. Every night home by say 5 (which I know is way earlier than MOST working moms), but I have to help with homework for an hour or two, and so I need to find something to cook which doesn't need a lot of watching. It feels like the only meals I can manage are things like tacos and pasta dishes. I do not have any time whatsoever to shop, it seems, so if it isn't in the refrigerator on Sunday evening, then we're not eating it that week.

Please give me specific instructions on what to do on a Friday night, with groceries which are near a week old, which can be prepared in 15 active minutes, which have at least a modicum of nutrition, and which is not a taco.

Signed, hopeless and hungry

[Anonymous]

I plan meals for the week, buy everything on Sunday night, and go from there. By Fridays, I go for easy, fast, and not needing "fresh foods", things like black bean tacos, salmon (because I use frozen), veggie burgers, pizza (pillsbury dough plus defrosted sauce) or OK, I admit - take-out chicken and supplement with some rice (I have a rice cooker with a timer) and frozen veggies (which I microwave).

Given you do homework, the other option you have is to make casseroles, lasangna, etc. - that you can put in the oven and tend to homework while it cooks. You can either prep the night before or prep before and freeze (I try to do two at a time when I make them, one to cook, one to freeze).

[Anonymous]

Also, crockpot stuff (prep night before).

[Anonymous]

I'm a stepmom so can't speak to having to do this with young children, but can tell you how we handle it with older (jr high) age. Like the PP, I plan the week's meals on Sunday. Sunday is usually a bigger/nicer meal since I have time to cook. Monday might be leftovers if it was something really large like lasagna or a big pot of soup/chili.

Otherwise, Mon-Wed are usually fairly fresh meals.... sometimes a big salad (chicken Caesar, taco, whatever) with lots of various veggies and a protein on top. You could have chopped all the veggies the day before to really save time. Grilled or roasted meat (beef, chicken breasts, lean boneless pork chops, slamon) with a side of fresh sauteed veggies and then one of those easy boxes of rice or couscous that take 5min. Grilled turkey burgers (I often put my husband on grill duty for our protein). Things like taco salad or fajitas that just require sauteeing the meat, peppers and onions and then setting out the salsa, guacamole, etc...

By Thursday I'm probably falling back on frozen foods -- stir fry frozen veggies and toss with rice and again either chicken or just that if I don't want meat every night. Boxed pasta with again sauteed frozen veggies with jarred pasta sauce or pre-made fresh sauce (eg Bertoli's lowfat pesto or marinara). And then Friday night is our traditional "order in" night. Sometimes pizza, sometimes something else. But it's our kick back and the kitchen is closed night.

None of this takes more than about 20min.

[Anonymous]

I use Dream Dinners a lot. It's $13-$16 for a dinner that serves 3 people - supplement with rice and vegetables or salad. Most of them can be cooked in 30 minutes (provided you've remembered to thaw it out!).

[Anonymous]

We keep a grocery list out and go on Saturday morning - one parent takes one kid, the other parent takes the other kid on another errand. We plan on two dinners for the week. Something like chicken one night and hamburgers another night. The other nights are leftovers, basic pasta or sandwich nights. I usually cook on Sundays and Wednesdays, and it serves us for two or three nights. If we grill chicken, then we can have it with rice and vegetables one night, salad one night and tacos the third night. Save the extra rice and make indian food or stirfry on Wednesday.

[Anonymous]

We've used a personal chef service for years. Yes, it is more expensive than making your own BUT it is less expensive than ordering in or going out. I'm posting a link to the woman we've used but you can also do a search on washingtonian.com -- they once did an article on the areas top personal chefs and give a list (that's how I found mine). She can do any schedule and any amount of food. For example, she used to bring us 10 meals every other week which covered us M-F for two weeks but now that my kids are older and I cook and freeze on the weekends, she brings 10 meals once/month. I always have something in my fridge, I never stress and I have someone available whenever I'm having a party or inlaws. HTH.

http://www.mygourmetyourway.com/

[Anonymous]

We eat very healthy, but I have also let go of having a perfectly "normal" meal every night. For example, sometimes dinner is a big salad or steamed vegetables, or plate of raw veggies with hummus, served with a "main dish" of grilled cheese on whole wheat, or quick veggie wraps (wheat wraps with avocado, tomato, spinach, and cut up carrots or peppers), or a veggie omelette.

We tend to do big crock pot meals or casseroles on the weekend, then freeze, and do a big meal Sunday night, have leftovers on Monday, do a quickie meal Tuesday and Wednesday while our produce, chicken, or fish from the weekend grocery trip is still good, and on Thursdays pull out the freezer meal. Fridays are take out sometimes, but even that is pretty healthy. We also make our own (healthy, homemade) pizzas on some weekends which is really fun for kids.

I have to say, I absolutely hate cooking, but healthy meals are a top priority, so it does take a lot of pre-planning and luckily, DH is willing to do a lot more of the cooking. On the weekends it's not so bad because we are in the kitchen together - and if your kids are old enough to help they can be part of the meal planning. Mine aren't yet so I look forward to that and hope they don't inherit my impatience with food prep.

I'm willing to spend more for convenience too - for example, we do a lot of bagged raw (prewashed) spinach, which is easy to dump into bowls as a salad base (though I do try to rinse it off first most nights) and those coleslaw mixes without the sauce (so just raw sliced thin veggies, like cabbage, broccoli, and carrots) as a salad topping. We also do canned beans - which really aren't that much worse for you in terms of sodium, but are hell of a lot easier than making them yourselves, and we do those boil-in-bag brown rice bags rather than rice from scratch. Same with shredded cheese, etc.

I do have an easy 5 minute tomato sauce recipe though, as there is just too much sodium and sugar in most jarred sauces. But that is great because you can easily make a huge batch and freeze.

[Anonymous]

We only go to the grocery store once a week. That means planning the whole week in advance. Sun-Fri. Saturday we'll scrounge, eat out/order in, or make a special trip to the fish market or something.

The meal plan has to have things with a longer shelf/fridge life for Thursday and Friday nights. Soups, ham or smoked pork, omelet, sausages, or frozen items such as veggie burgers or pizza. Other than Sunday night, everything is 30 minutes prep to table.

Since you are the homework helper before dinner, you could do a lot of meals that take 45-90 minutes in the oven. Roast chicken, pork tenderloin, casseroles, etc.

Menu for this week:
Sun: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli (extra meatloaf will be lunch for much of the week and/or frozen)
Mon: crabcakes, lima beans
Tue: Tuscan chicken w/ grape tomatoes, more broccoli
Wed: ham steak, roast butternut squash
Thur: vegetarian black bean soup
Fri: veggie omelet, sausage

[Anonymous]

Our go-tos for quick "meals" when we don't have much fresh food around are:

Pasta and frozen broccoli and/or peas - cook the pasta, and throw in the frozen veggies during the last 2-3 minutes. Then start to cook garlic in olive oil and/or butter for a minute or two. Drain the pasta and veggies, throw them into the pan of garlic with some cooking liquid, and cook for another minute or two. Season with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, maybe some dried thyme. This can also be done with frozen spinach and/or bell peppers, but then I cook those veggies with the garlic (starting as soon as I throw the pasta in the pot).

Veggie burgers - We keep a variety in the freezer w/ frozen hamburger buns or wraps for very quick meals.

Omelets or frittatas - again use the frozen veggies and cook with garlic, onions, potatoes, cheese, or whatever you have. Then throw in the eggs and finish as an omelet or frittata depending on how much filling there is.

[Anonymous]

Healthy meals are a priority for me. We do a large meal on Sunday nights (in the winter, something stewy and hearty, in the summer, BBQ) - we eat the leftovers on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday is usually something quick -- last night I made a really quick miso soup (instant miso paste) with noodles, tofu, and vegetables. We also do fritatas, paninis, pasta, or quick soups. Fridays are usually a restaurant dinner / takeout. Saturday varies - either something at home, or go out.

[Anonymous]

Have 8 month old and for dinner's I tend to make stuff where you can just bake in the oven for 45 min-1 hour usually meat and just nuke veggies or eat raw. Sometimes will have pasta. I mix it up. While cooking we usually do DD's bedtime routine. We get home by 6ish.

What I do with leftovers is make a quiche since I always have leftover veggies and some meat. For the crust I use Pillsbury croissants or some already made dough, mix all the leftovers with beaten eggs and herbs and great for an anytime meal.

[Anonymous]

As a gift, I received a personal chef service and she was so wonderful I hired her to come 3 times a week to deliver meals. Her website is www.mollysmenu.us

[Anonymous]

Grilling is a great one. Esp. if you can defrost/marinate the night before and throw right on the grill. YOu can do corn on the cob or potatoes (also grilled if you like).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a gift, I received a personal chef service and she was so wonderful I hired her to come 3 times a week to deliver meals. Her website is www.mollysmenu.us

Another quick plug for Molly. She's the wife of a colleague of mine, and a new mommy herself.