I'm in the exact same boat (just went back to work after #2) and despite being very into cooking from scratch, owning dozens of cookbooks, etc I have cried uncle and completely given up. I switched my grocery store to TJs and buy their salad kits, pre made meals, frozen meals, cheap cheese + prosciutto, lentils+bruschetta, and pre made pizza crust. Also we eat refried beans tostadas or tacos once a week, and do takeout at least once. I have cut my typical dinner cooking routine from 30 min to 5. I'm not exactly proud, but I always manage to get a veggie on the table (bless my 3 year olds heart for preferring her veggies frozen, not even thawed lol) and I hope someday I'll cook again. For now I'm just doing my best and it's not that great haha.

Precooked meats!

That’s tough OP. You guys get home late even for working parents. When do the kids eat? In that 20 minute time? Best option seems to be put together lots of stuff on Sunday to last you the week and do very easy dinners (like eggs and sausage and toast) 1-2 nights a week too. Stuff that takes 5 minutes. I’m not the hugest fan of slow cooker dinners but in your situation I think that’s your best bet.

The precooked leafs that don’t take long see heavily processed, but heating up some chicken sausage or Kielbasa or pulled pork from Costco while you steam some broccoli and do instant mashed potatoes would take <10 minutes.

I cook sat, sun, Monday is a crockpot, Tuesday I grill chicken I have been marinading since Sunday.

Wednesday and Friday we order in.

Thursday is leftovers day and/or kids get to eat kid food like nuggets or a hot pocket.

We eat things that tend to take 20-25 minutes to make:

1. Grilled chicken, boiled sweet potatoes, salad kit
2. Fresh pasta with frozen meatballs and cucumber salad
4. Turkey burgers, rice, veggie medley
5. Baked fish, potatoes, creamed spinach (just wilt and add a bit of sour cream)

Dessert is fruit and a bit of dark chocolate (like a few squares each).

Everyone (even the 4 year old) puts their dishes in the dishwasher.

This is tough because your kids are so young. It is easier for me now because my kids are older and can stay up later. DH both get home with the kids between 5:30-6 and we try to eat by 630.

In your situation, I would do a lot of cooking beforehand, crockpot stews and soups, and oven roasting. What about sheet pan dinners? Google them. If you can pop them in then while you take care of bedtime, then dinner is ready by the time you put the kids to bed.

The kids are given our leftovers from the night before, for dinner, by the nanny. DH gets home around 6 or 6:30. He relieves the nanny and hangs with the kids and I get home around 7 or 7;30. As soon as I get home DH starts making dinner. I put the kids to sleep. Then DH and I eat.

Right after maternity leave with #2 we ate a lot of frozen or prepared stuff. Or I would pick up something on the way home for us like salads from Chopt or kabobs or whatever.

Now I normally make something that can be eaten for a couple days and add a vegetable. So we can heat up lentil soup or chicken soup, add broccoli, green beans etc that take just a few minutes to steam or sauté. Even easier is making a quick tomato cucumber salad or one of the premise bagged salads. We save more elaborate meals for weekends (DH is smoking ribs now, will last a couple days).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I personally could not eat that late. I guess im lucky to have a job where i can eat at work. I eat around 5 and leave work at 6. DD eats at the sitters house. This is only 2 days a week fyi. In your case j would probably eat a premade sandwich or something in the car a couple of days a week. Can you have leftovers from what the kids eat?

I was thinking the same thing. If I know the kids will have eaten by the time I get home, then I eat at work.

+2. There are other things I want to do with DH after the kids go to bed.

The main secret is getting home an hour earlier, and the second secret is to have older children (say 2 and 4 instead of infant and toddler). Unfortunately neither of these help you much right now... hang in there and maybe think long term about what you can do with your work schedule.

We eat the same thing every night: chicken and broccoli. Buy the big bag of prepped broccoli at Costco, and make pulled chicken about twice a month. Very fast to heat and serve.

We also stagger start end times, so one of us does drop off and one goes in early / picks up.

Anonymous wrote:I personally could not eat that late. I guess im lucky to have a job where i can eat at work. I eat around 5 and leave work at 6. DD eats at the sitters house. This is only 2 days a week fyi. In your case j would probably eat a premade sandwich or something in the car a couple of days a week. Can you have leftovers from what the kids eat?

I was thinking the same thing. If I know the kids will have eaten by the time I get home, then I eat at work.

When do the kids eat?

We do a lot of prepping on Sunday and sometimes Monday evenings. Especially in the winter, when we want things like chili, soups and stews. Our kids are 2 and 4, and our nanny feeds them before we get home -- they start melting down if they don't eat early, or they need a snack and then won't eat dinner. She feeds them things we've premade, and sometimes needs to make rice or pasta to supplement (spaghetti and meatballs, tikka masala, chicken and rice, hot dogs, chicken nuggets).

For DH and I, we do things like:
-put chicken italian sausages in the toaster oven to bake for 20 minutes, and toward the end, sautee peppers that we had pre-sliced some other time - sometimes I add some spinach as well
-the next night, I slice the leftover sausage, sautee with more peppers, cook some pasta, and toss it all together with a bit of olive oil and parm for those who want it
-ground turkey can give us tacos for two dinners
-all of the above is served with salad, we make a couple of days worth at a time
-we sometimes make a few days worth of roasted vegetables, too, to serve adults and kids

How old is your older child? Can Parent #2 prep dinner between 6.45 and 7.30 while Parent #1 is putting the baby to bed.

And then you are tucking the toddler in from 7.30 -- can Parent #2 have dinner on the table by 8? Still late, but earlier than you are doing now.