Anonymous wrote:I work full time and have two teens. Last school year I basically stopped cooking dinner and let my kids scrounge around for whatever they could find. This has resulted in my 13 year old eating a lot of junk food. I know I need to make some changes in the way I’m doing things.

I’m not a good cook, and I work evenings 3 nights a week so I’m not always home for dinner.

DH gets home around 8:30pm, so he’s not much help.

If you both work you can afford to dine out 3x a week.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pay your kids to cook dinner…so many dinner recipes/prepared foods a 13 year old could prepare/heat up:

One-pan chicken/potatoes/roasted vegetables
Chicken in a pot with Rao’s marinara over spaghetti
Smashburgers in a skillet
Meatloaf
Frozen panko-crusted shrimp
Bagged salad kits

Couldn’t disagree with you more on bribing children not to eat junk food for dinner!

Op said to pay her children to cook, not to bribe them to not eat junk.

Still disagree and honestly am shocked anyone would think this makes sense let alone is a good idea! Kids should cook because they need to eat, not because mommy is paying them.

No different then paying your kid to mow the lawn imo

Your 13 year old could be making/reheating something. Make that their responsibility. How old is the other kid?

Look up freezer meals and pick a day to prep them with everyone helping. Husband and kids need to be involved, too. Frozen pizza is fine sometimes. Use ChatGPT. Don't buy as much junk food.

Don't listen to people who blame you for working.

You have basically told your kids that your job is more important than their health. Fend for yourselves, I'm too good to make sure you're taken care of. And then you're surprised that they live on junk food. There's no cooking advice to give if you cannot see the problem with this.

I don’t like cooking either and neither does my 13yo. She’ll happily eat fruit and veggies though. Tomorrow night I work and she’s on her own for dinner. I bought hamburger buns and frozen chicken patties at her request. She’ll cook one of those in the air fryer and have it with tomatoes/cucumbers.
Some might say a Chicken patty is junky but I’m ok with it once/twice a week.

Cheese-spinach ravioli or tortellini in whatever sauce u all like. It’s easy to heat up as leftovers.

Anonymous wrote:I work full time and have two teens. Last school year I basically stopped cooking dinner and let my kids scrounge around for whatever they could find. This has resulted in my 13 year old eating a lot of junk food. I know I need to make some changes in the way I’m doing things.

I’m not a good cook, and I work evenings 3 nights a week so I’m not always home for dinner.

DH gets home around 8:30pm, so he’s not much help.

Not the best but you could try buying bagged cut up veggies. Or get your teens to do meal prep, cut up that broccoli for you so you can use it in a salad or as part of the dish you make. Better yet would be the teens making a broccoli item for dinner. It's one of the easiest - steam in microwave, or boil, sautee or eat raw

I also work 3 evenings a week. I always leave something in the fridge and text my husband "heat up the X" or whatever. If I have a busy day and leave nothing, he makes junk food like frozen pizza.
Is it fair? No,but I care about healthy food for my kids. More than making a point about fairness.
Forget about salad course, dessert etc. I generally make sheet pan type meals like mini meatloaf+roast potatoes+broccoli. Or soup and homemade bread because I like making bread. Whatever works for you.

You don’t need to be a good cook. What you need are 2-3 basic recipes that are easy, freezable and can be eaten next day or 2. I work full time and I am the main cook at home. I get help from family in prepping (dice onions, peel potatoes, this type of stuff). But I never cook for 1 dinner. It’s just not realistic for me.

Recipes I do cook often, are things like stewed meat. One hour active work max, and then we can have it with different sides and salad for 2-3 days.

Another one is meatballs in sauce. If it’s in fridge, then can boil pasta and dinner is ready. I make my own, but you could even buy premade meatballs.

Chili, beans, rice with lentils, etc. As another pp mentioned, heavy soups.

These recipes do not need special skills or being a particularly good cook, and can guarantee at least 3-4 days of healthy meals.

Make the hardest night, take out night, or breakfast for dinner, or sandwich night. And another where kids cook, and you’re kind of set for the week.

Lean on prepped food:

Keep a rotisserie chicken, precooked and sliced ham, etc. in the fridge. Canned tuna and other canned meats are easy to keep on hand and can be used for more than sandwiches.

You can have bagged salads, prewashed spinach, precut veggies, etc., available for them. Frozen vegetables are already prepped and just need to be seasoned and cooked (microwaving is fine).

Let them pick out an assortment of frozen dinners that are on the healthy side, so when they’re scrounging, they still end up with a reasonably healthy meal.

Asking teens to cook one meal a week (paid or not) is not unreasonable and is probably a good idea to prepare them for adulthood. They may need some assistance at first, so you may want to start them off helping you, or at least have their first few meals on nights when you’re present and available for questions. These days, there are so many meal kits, frozen family meals, etc., that it doesn’t have to be a huge chore.

Teen need a lot of protein.

Baked chicken Tuesdays $7.99 special
Boiled egg or deviled egg in fridge for snack
Pre-made yogurt parfait with C granola
Pre-made English egg, cheese McMuffin with sausage or bacon. Chipotle bowls
Chipotle bowls
Taco Tuesday and Thursdays
Fish Fridays
Hummus and guacamole dip with t tortilla or pita
Turkey meat and some Dave's y bread
Pre-made pasta spaghetti with meats
Chicken fried rice or combination fried rice with meats and eggs and veggies

What is the junk food the kids are eating? Knowing that could be a springboard. If it's frozen burritos, etc, those are not hard to make yourself in bulk, wrap in saran wrap and freeze. Or egg rolls. You can do the same making pre-cooked burger patties. Also kid-friendly casseroles like mac and cheese with tuna and broccoli or peas. Plus stuff like stews, chili, even spaghetti and sauce, etc. Freeze some in single serving containers, the rest in family-size containers for the nights you're home. If you keep at this for a few weeks you will start building up an inventory of frozen meals they can make. Baked potatoes take minimal prep those nights as well. Get the kids involved in bulk prep.

We make liberal use of the air fryer. Chicken wings, thighs, drumsticks all cook in a matter of minutes and are simple enough for the teens to do themselves. Round it out with a bagged salad or simple steamed vegetables and rice.

Rotisserie chicken and bagged salad and rice or a baked potato on day. Lasagna (prep on weekend) for two days (morning a row). Make a lot of grilled chicken on the weekend or just buy precooked and kids can put it on pasta, salad etc. Lentil and other stews for winter reheat very nicely. Frozen ravioli is ok for one night with a lot of fruit.
We do tuna macaroni in summer for at least one meal a week and breakfast for dinner another day (with chicken or turkey sausage).

Hire a personal chef, or if you cannot afford that Marley Spoon is god. Maybe do Marley Spoon 3x a week and dine out the other 4x.

Easy - peasy.

1). Begin your lunch/dinner with a nice, large bowl of veggie salad. Costco has pretty great pre-cut salad kits. You can stretch it a bit by adding more chopped up cucumbers, carrots and tomatoes in them. OR just serve a big bowl of cut up carrots and cucumbers with ranch dressing.

2). Next course - a medium bowl of soup made with bone broth and meat/lentils/veggies/rice/beans. Serve with some toasted bread smeared with garlic butter. For the soup - you or your kids can make a large batch or even get premade soup from Costco or WF. Soup is hard to mess up and it can be made ahead.

3) Any pasta/ravioli dish with sauce from a jar. Add in any sauteed/cooked veggi and meat to it if you want. Sprinkle some nuts and seeds for a nice crunch - pumpkin seeds, pine nuts etc. Sprinkle some herbs of choice - eg basil - on it. Some cheese on top - if that is your thing. It is another dish that is hard to mess up, has endless variation and requires very little effort.

4) Finish off the meal with cut fruits with a scoop of ice-cream, pudding or whipped cream. Another easy-peasy course.