I work F/T but am lucky enough to work at home two days a week. I probably spend 90 minutes cooking dinner every night (I'm a good but slow cook, and cooking is my decompression time, so I don't mind). DH or kids clean up dishes, but I am also cleaning constantly as I cook - small kitchen, limited pots and pans. He also WAH, and tries to have the kitchen cleaned up from the day's dishes before I get home, but I often have 10-15 minutes of dishes to do before I can even start cooking. When we vacation with my parents my mom is always shocked at how much time I spend in the kitchen - but it's my recreation. I'm happy to fool around for hours, they are happy to eat my cooking.

We do two meals at home, plus DH usually has lunch at home but he doesn't dirty too many dishes doing it. I WOH, and I probably spend an hour in the kitchen per day, maybe an hour and a half. For breakfast, there are no pots. Smoothies, cereal, fruit, cheese, etc. Dishes pile up around the sink. At dinner time I'll start dinner, and if I have time unload and reload the dish washer while things simmer. After dinner, DH starts the dishes while I get DC to bed, and then I may spend 15 minutes finishing the kitchen clean up and if I remember, soaking beans or whatnot.

WAHM.

I cook 2-3 nights per week and trade off clean up (so if I cook, my husband cleans, vice versa).

10-15 min in the morning to empty dishwasher, pick up any stray dishes, make coffee & my own breakfast.

5-10 min to fix my preschooler's lunch

On nights I cook, 20-40 mins to cook dinner. If I clean up, about 10 min.

So I average around 45 min to an hour each day.

Here are my tips, as much as they are (and sounds like you have special dietary needs in your family, so I have different circumstances).

-Everyone eats the same meal for dinner. Can you develop a repetoire of a few dishes that meet everyone's dietary needs? I can't fathom having to cook multiple different meals in one night. I'd go nuts.
-Preschooler gets leftovers or some variation for lunch
-On weekends, I cook double and freeze half
-On weeknights, two pots per meal, max
-I stew or braise in my slow cooker overnight

Anonymous wrote:I could not even begin to estimate it.

I do do a TON of bulk/prep when I have the time, so it is hard to say.

+1
Doing a lot of prep at once has really saved me a lot of time. I have containers of chopped onions and use a garlic press and various prepped veggies in the fridge so that cooking is faster. I use the food processor for a lot of it, maybe rinsing with water between veggies but usually not. I don't precut fruit since we tend to give them whole.
I'll also reuse a pan instead of getting two dirty (ie. pan fry something and then put it on a plate and cook the next thing before mixing them or whatever.) During the summer we also grill a whole lot and that's easier to clean up from (plus I can actually be washing a few things while the food is cooking).

It feels like a LOT! Last night made dinner, washed dishes while DH gave the kids a bath, then after they went down I spent an hour cutting fresh veggies (for easy snacking/salads through the week), cooking down our overgrown greens from the garden, and deep-cleaning all our water bottles (I hate the way the come out in the dishwasher?

Same as above - probably 45 minutes spread across the day? DH usually makes dinner and we both clean up, but other than that I normally make the baby her breakfast and snacks, plus my food.

Maybe 45 minutes a day?

I could not even begin to estimate it.

I do do a TON of bulk/prep when I have the time, so it is hard to say.

SAHM of big kids who cooks dinner every night here. I spend on average an hour in the kitchen in the evenings, between dinner prep and clean up, and another half hour during the day, mainly cleaning up from my own meals and what the kids leave behind as they fix their own. So, 1.5 hours a day is typical. Most of the things I make only require 15-20 minutes of prep time.

I guess I don't understand why you need to soak pans so often; that is not a nightly thing for me. Most nights I have a nonstick frying pan and two or three other pans to clean. If a pan is going to require scrubbing, I try to put some soapy water in it to sit while we're eating, so that the stuff will be unstuck by the time I clean up after dinner. I clean all pots and pans by hand and rinse all dishes before they go in the dishwasher (or I have found that they do not come out clean). I try to have an empty or partially empty dishwasher at dinnertime, so that there will be room for all of the dinner dishes.

SAHM mom. I cook dinner from scratch most weeknights. During the day I usually let dishes pile in/around the sink. At 6:00 pm I let my DD watch 2 tv shows (about 1 hour), and I take 20 minutes to tidy up the kitchen and on average 40 minutes to make dinner. After dinner it takes me maybe 20 minutes to clean up while DH plays with DD and then I run the dishwasher every night. I put dishes away the next morning while DD eats breakfast. Sometimes while DD is in preschool I'll spend an additional 30-60 minutes on cooking prep if it is a more complicated meal. Breakfast is just cereal and milk on weekdays and lunch tends to be a sandwich/fruit/yogurt/cheese and things like that so that barely takes up any time (or dishes).

SAHM here. Time saving tip: plan your menu for the week ahead of time. do all the grocery and prep work ahead of time.

I only spend about 2 hrs max on cooking depending on what I am making that day. I try to have some leftovers so I am not cooking every single day. I like to cook only 4-5 days a week. The other days I use leftovers and we eat out once a week.

One thing I do that is very useful when there are a lot of pots and pans AND dishes to clean up is to wipe/quick rinse the pots and pans and place them in a large plastic tub/bin as a place to put them while I clean the dishes and the counters.

Then when that is done I handwash/dry the pots and pans.

I think its easier than runnng another cycle on the dishwasher with just pots and pans.

I am SAHM, so it's not an accurate comparison, but I do three meals per day for a five person family, sometimes less depending on son being in school and husband's day. Still, it's a lot. Maybe 1.5 hours total. We all eat the same thing; it's a requirement. I make SIMPLE dishes that my 7 year old and 92 in-laws like and my husband and I eat around them. I use a small corner of the kitchen. I marinate in plastic bags, use grill or oven with lots of tin foil or Pam for easier clean up. I serve plates at stove so I don't have to dirty serving dishes. Everyone puts their own dish in dishwasher. I generally have a sink filled with soapy water so, if I don't have time to clean up, dishes are soaking.

OP again- I know I am not the only one!!!

The reason I asked a WAHM/SAHM for comparison is only because I am a WAHM that cooks all three meals from scratch at home every day. I was curious for a time management comparison for a similar amount of cooking. I sometimes cook three different dinners because of the different diets. (That part is getting better as DH and DD are getting closer to being able to eat the same thing).

However, any working parent who manages to do this while NOT being in the kitchen all day, and I know you are out there, please share your secrets as I can definitely learn from you!

I do a fair amount of cooking from scratch every single day for all three meals. It is very hard to keep up with the cleaning of the pots and pans, but its all necessary due to my special diet and the fact that I live with DH and DD who also have different requirements.

Im just curious to have a point of comparison. If you are a WAHM or SAHM mom and do a lot of cooking, how many hours would you estimate you spend in the kitchen total for prep, cooking and cleanup?

Also, are you able to get it all done before you go to sleep? I find I have to soak pans overnight or stack dishes and address them in the morning. Between running our business and everything else I do I find I do not have the contiguous hours it would apparently take to get it ALL done so I could wake up to a clean kitchen!

I know there are some tweaks I can do to my prep and Im guessing that is where I can do things the night before (chop onions, soak beans, etc).

Any time saving tips greatly appreciated!