Sometimes I make two meals on Sunday, then on Monday I heat up the meal I already made and prep a meal for Tuesday so that every night I'm just heating stuff up.

I would make it during lunch. Have it completely ready.

You are way over thinking this.

Maybe serve in courses. Like have fruit or veggies prepped and ready to go (or ready to microwave) and the kids eat that while you're heating up everything else.

OP here. My 1 year old would seriously throw vegetables at me if I tried just giving those to her (she does eat vegetables). She likes bananas, but those only last 30 seconds. If she snacks too much before dinner, then she won't sit and eat dinner, which means I can't sit and eat dinner either.

And pp, you would leave something in the oven for 50 min while you're gone? Aren't ovens a big source of house fires? I wouldn't feel safe doing that. Crock pot or instant pot are all I'll leave on.

Do you have an instant pot, or an oven with a timer? My main oven doesn’t, but I have a countertop convection oven / air fryer that does. In that or the IP, I can start something on a 40-minute timer, and it’ll turn off and keep warm until we get home.

The oven works well for many casseroles - lasagna, baked ziti, shepherd’s pie, cheesy potato/sausage dish, enchiladas. They’re fine, if not better, sitting on a keep warm setting for 10-20 minutes.

The IP is great for pulled pork/chicken, curry (have rice pre-made and ready to microwave for a minute or two), pork chile verde, braised beef.

Add a bagged salad, sliced vegetables (cut ahead of time), or steam in a bag green beans / broccoli (2-4 minutes), and maybe a bag of dinner rolls, and dinner is on the table within 5 minutes of walking in the door.

Anonymous wrote:Any leftovers can be microwaved. I cook a couple of dishes that can be reheated throughout the week and try to make extra entree that can be repurposed in another meal. Trader Joe’s frozen food is great to have on hand too—my kids love the frozen ravioli and the fried rice

OP here. Leftovers are indeed what we have when I go to work 2x a week.

I have made huge pots of taco meat (for tacos, stuffed peppers, nachos) and I also have cooked ham ready to pull out, but it's the last step that I'm missing. Like even heating up the tacos takes 10 min (preheating oven, then baking for 5 min), then filling tacos for everyone. I've tried just microwaving 5 plates when we get home, which is fine I guess.

Yes to the plate of veggies. Prep it on the weekend, pull it out when you get home - maybe with some greek yogurt-based dip - and let them eat while you prep. My 3 boys goggle down a veggie plate before every meal because I set it out 10-20 min before the meal so that they leave me alone!

I would leave a casserole or whatever in the oven. Pull it out when you get home.

Any leftovers can be microwaved. I cook a couple of dishes that can be reheated throughout the week and try to make extra entree that can be repurposed in another meal. Trader Joe’s frozen food is great to have on hand too—my kids love the frozen ravioli and the fried rice

I was in this exact same position and started making tomorrow’s dinner the night before. So nothing was ever fresh but I could reheat it in minutes.

And sometimes the meltdown is going to happen regardless at those ages… hang in there

I slice an apple and they eat it in the car at pickup, and I also find grapes an easy win. When mine were younger I would bring a thermos of protein pasta (like barilla plus) that they could snack, plain (like rotini as a finger food). As noted above I don’t care much if they don’t eat dinner if the snacks are were healthy.

I give them cut up cold vegetables to munch on the way home. Bell pepper strips, baby carrots, stuff like that. That way, they're getting their veggies in, the loud crunching tricks their brain into thinking they're eating a lot, etc.

I would absolutely do snacks but make the snacks healthy. Carrot sticks, cucumbers, apples, bananas, trail mix, string cheese. There's got to be something between hungry meltdown and so full from snacks they don't eat dinner. What about popcorn or pirates booty that takes time to eat but isn't particularly filling.

Struggling with meals. I telework 3/5 days and would like to have dinner on the table when we get home. But the problem is that I have 50 minutes of picking up the kids from practice, daycare and sports. Every day is like some kind of nightmare with my 3 kids melting down on me demanding food at exactly the moment we walk in the door. Even simple meals or prep take 15-20 min. My toddler is straight up savage and it kind of ruins my whole day, every day. I've tried giving snacks, but that just means they won't eat dinner.

What can I do that will still be good 50 min later? I've tried having things read that I bake (like a quiche that I pop in the oven) but that still is 15-20 min. Crockpot or soup is all I've come up with, but my kids don't really like soup.

I wish there was a magic food pill like the Jetsons got!