Working moms - when do you cook dinner?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Generally, I don’t. My working husband cooks dinner.

+1 this is us during the week. Nanny preps vegetables for a quick stirfry and sometimes puts some soup on. Proteins are usually simple, like steamed fish or tofu, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just back at work after mat leave with baby #2. When we just had one kid and could divide and conquer getting dinner on the table was not as challenging but now that we have two who need to be put to bed at roughly the same time I just can’t figure out how to make it work. Sometimes I used to prep dinner in the morning but I don’t have time to do that since DH leaves for work pretty early and I am alone with two kids.

DH and I get home from work around 6:30pm and bedtime routine for the baby starts at 7pm, then bedtime for older kid starts at 7:30pm. So best case I can start cooking at 8pm but honestly I am too exhausted and don’t love eating so late.

What do others do?

OP, what time do your kids wake up? Can you put them to bed a bit later so you have more time with them at home/time to eat before bedtime. Not sure how old #1 is but I give you credit getting your kids to bed so quickly and efficiently. I read about a lot of parents on here that can do that but I don't know a one that doesn't have a horror show putting their kids to bed especially after they are 2.5/3 years old with them pushing boundaries and wanting one more story and getting out of bed and needing mom or dad hugs etc etc. Last night my 4 year finally fell asleep at 11 pm. Insane right? Outlier yes, but still not crazy in my circles. I only bring that up because you may want to consider eating first and all together so you have one clean up etc because things get a tad tougher before they get easier. You also may want to consider trying to amend your schedule. After we had our second, my husband started to go in earlier so he could leave at 4:30 to get home before 6 to get start moving things along at hole while I picked up the kids that are by my job.

As far as food, cook on the weekend and just reheat. Make things that you can get lots of meals out of like lasagnas or trays of ziti or large cuts of roasted meat and then change up the sides to try to make the meal a bit different. Switch from making mashed potatoes from scratch to microwaved ones...stuff like that. Make a huge amount of stir fry. Do things in a slow cooker.

Another thing that I would suggest that may be wildly unpopular is, for the most part, don't make your kids special dinners. Make one meal and have that be that. Why do extra work. While naturally people like what they like and don't like what they don't like, to a certain extent picky eaters are made not born. Kids are only going to eat chicken nuggets if that is all the get.

[Anonymous]

I never spend more than 20 minutes making dinner during the week. Baking is out, searing, grilling are in. Birds Eye Steamfresh microwave veggies are awesome. The meals are simple but quick and healthy. My husband does the dishes which really helps and he grills. I do love Costco’s roast chicken!

[Anonymous]

Husband and I are each assigned a couple of week days to get food on the table, whether cooking, delivery, etc. I usually cook on my WAH day, but pickup or delivery on the other day. He usually cooks since his hours are more flexible. Friday we order in, and weekdays it's whatever.

[Anonymous]

Two kids, 4 and 8, so we are out of the super super early bedtimes. We tend to eat dinner earlier (i go in super super early and leave early) and we ALL EAT THE SAME THING.

Prep the night before... chop veg etc
Crockpot
Super simple stuff. If (and it’s a big IF) dinner is meat, veg, starch, one or two of those items are leftovers repurposed from another meal.
Scrambled eggs and fruit is a reasonable dinner.
So is cheese and crackers with edamame and fruit.
Cold pasta salad
And good old leftover night

I usually can get a weeknight meal on the table in 20 mins. .

With a 30 min window i would see if there’s aNY way one of you can shift your hours just a bit, just 30 mins would help. One of you does kid pickup, the other one runs home and starts cooking.

[Anonymous]

I think you should try to get the kids on the same bedtime schedule. The baby gets a quick bath and gets clean diaper, etc. on bathroom floor while older one bathes, baby sits in your (or DH's) lap while you read to the older one, put the baby in his/ her crib and then tuck the older one in. Spending an hour total on the bedtime routine sounds like a huge time suck.

Could either you or your husband shift your work hours so that one of you gets home at 6:00? Then you could all eat together at 6:30 and start bedtime at 7:00 for both. The parent not doing bedtime cleans the kitchen and starts dinner for the following night.

All kid/ food stuff is done by 7:30.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think I have ever put kids down for bed, then cooked a full dinner just for DH and I. That sounds exhausting.

+1. Insane to cook two meals.

NP. “Cooking” for kids can mean a pb&j and some carrot sticks, which takes like 5 min. Sometimes I like to make something nicer for DH and I to enjoy once they are in bed. Not as a regular occurrence, but 2-3x/month we might plan something a bit nicer as our schedule allows.

This is what’s wrong with America. Why don’t your kids deserve the “nicer” meals too? Why should they be satisfied with crap pb&j?

[Anonymous]

I don't. My husband, who also works full time, does. He makes dinner after we get home while the kids are playing or watching a show. We typically eat around 6:00 or 6:30.

[Anonymous]

DH cooks dinner on nights when he is not travelling or at an event (DH works in sales, so when he is not travelling or at a dinner he is home by 5:00). The other nights I try to get home before 5:00 to make dinner.