DH and I eat a salad from Chopt or a bowl from Cava Monday - Thursday. One of us picks it up or we have it delivered. Nanny feeds the kids. Family dinner happens Fri - Sun.

Everyone eats healthy, has a good bedtime and I don’t stress

We usually eat dinner around 630, but that is since I took a job that is more flexible. Before we ate closer to 7. We probably cook in some form maybe 2-3 nights during the work week. The rest of the time we eat leftovers or pre-made food. NY Times Cooking has a meal plan newsletter that has 5 very quick meals (from which I might choose 2 to make), so I recommend that. I also tend to make a big meal over the weekend (or during the week in the slow cooker) so we can have leftovers. Some examples of pre-made food--we might buy a quiche or lasagna or ravioli and sauce and freeze it. For quick cooking, I like grill-fest (chicken thighs, veg (corn/zucchini/eggplant/portabellos/almost anything), sheet pan fish (usually from frozen) and sheet pan veg (cauliflower is my current fav, along with flat beans), or some sort of quick pasta (frozen peas cook in seconds!). We've toyed with having someone come and help with meal prep, but we've got a quick meal down to a science, so it wasn't really worth it for us, but you could look into that. Or I know some people hire help for the post-work to bed time shift, so you either are spending time on doing the pick up or the meal prep, but not both.

Good luck, and know that it is something we all struggle with.

Wow, people on this thread are judgmental. My DH and I have 3 kids (4.5, 2.5, <1) and get home between 6 and 7. Our kids have already eaten & bathed by then typically. (They get hungry around 5/5:30 and we realized they were suffering/eating unnecessary snacks from our desire to all eat at the same time, so now we only do that on weekends when we eat on their schedule.) It's actually nice in the sense that it frees us up to talk and play (and help 4.5 with her instrument practice) rather than also having to manage dinner. In any case, bedtime routine starts at 8, so by the time we're finished it's usually 8:45. We start dinner then and so don't actually start eating until around 9 (at the earliest!) even when the dinner prep is super light.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to get home earlier. 45 minutes with your baby at night? How much time do you see your kid during the week? Sorry, these are the years to adjust your schedule or step it down a notch. One of you should adjust schedule or you alternate nights to get home by 5:30.

She probably took the typical advice in the money and finances tread to commute from Gaithersburg to downtown DC to save on housing costs.

If that's the case, shame on her for not being wealthy enough to live downtown with her family! if she really loved her kids, they'd cram into a condo and she could be walking to work.

She works close to home but is a neonatal doctor at Shady Grove and doesn't exactly get to pick her hours.

Not everybody can mommy track.

I hear you. But not everyone who is flexing their hours is mommy tracking.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to get home earlier. 45 minutes with your baby at night? How much time do you see your kid during the week? Sorry, these are the years to adjust your schedule or step it down a notch. One of you should adjust schedule or you alternate nights to get home by 5:30.

She probably took the typical advice in the money and finances tread to commute from Gaithersburg to downtown DC to save on housing costs.

If that's the case, shame on her for not being wealthy enough to live downtown with her family! if she really loved her kids, they'd cram into a condo and she could be walking to work.

Doesn't have to be that black and white--there are a lot of options closer in that aren't necessarily downtown, but that offer a better commute.

The OP doesn't work downtown. She just needs advice on cooking.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to get home earlier. 45 minutes with your baby at night? How much time do you see your kid during the week? Sorry, these are the years to adjust your schedule or step it down a notch. One of you should adjust schedule or you alternate nights to get home by 5:30.

She probably took the typical advice in the money and finances tread to commute from Gaithersburg to downtown DC to save on housing costs.

If that's the case, shame on her for not being wealthy enough to live downtown with her family! if she really loved her kids, they'd cram into a condo and she could be walking to work.

She works close to home but is a neonatal doctor at Shady Grove and doesn't exactly get to pick her hours.

Not everybody can mommy track.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to get home earlier. 45 minutes with your baby at night? How much time do you see your kid during the week? Sorry, these are the years to adjust your schedule or step it down a notch. One of you should adjust schedule or you alternate nights to get home by 5:30.

She probably took the typical advice in the money and finances tread to commute from Gaithersburg to downtown DC to save on housing costs.

If that's the case, shame on her for not being wealthy enough to live downtown with her family! if she really loved her kids, they'd cram into a condo and she could be walking to work.

Doesn't have to be that black and white--there are a lot of options closer in that aren't necessarily downtown, but that offer a better commute.

Slow cookers are your friend!!!!

We meal plan for the entire week and prep on weekends.

On some months that are super busy, we plan out meals for the entire month in advance! Doesn't allow for much spontaneity, but everyone is fed.

OP, can your nanny help with meal prep? Just chopping some veggies or turning the crock pot on? I'd keep it super simple, since clearly she has a job (watching two little kids!) but it might be one option.

My DD is 5, and we don't eat together as a family (unless my MIL is in town and then she insists on it). DH and I work staggered hours, so he is home by 430 and feeds her dinner at 6/630. He has zero cooking skills, so she usually eats steamed vegetables, a starch, fruit, and whatever protein she's willing to eat. DH eats different food (takeout/galley or food I cooked the night before) while DD eats and I eat after DD goes to bed. I think the fact that meals work like this for us is a factor in DD's picky eating; DH repeats a limited # of options, so she doesn't try anything different.

Anonymous wrote:The only people I know who don't eat dinner with their kids are really wealthy parents I used to nanny for. I fed the kids at 5:30 or 6:00 and then the parents came home around 6:30. It all seemed very odd to me especially since many days, both parents met at the gym to workout before coming home together at the same time. Why would they skip eating dinner with their kids every night to workout? I thought it seemed selfish.

There’s a whole group of people that can’t work 9-5....rich or not.

Getting home by 6 would help but if you can't make that happen I would advise keeping dinners very simple. I used to make a lot of pasta and chilli dishes because they can last 2-3 days.

Also, try to buy food items that are pre-chopped in the grocery store. For example, I like to buy pre-chopped chicken breast and vegetables like onions, etc. That cuts down on some of the prep time. Also, we mostly do frozen vegetables in the bag that can be steamed in the microwave.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to get home earlier. 45 minutes with your baby at night? How much time do you see your kid during the week? Sorry, these are the years to adjust your schedule or step it down a notch. One of you should adjust schedule or you alternate nights to get home by 5:30.

She probably took the typical advice in the money and finances tread to commute from Gaithersburg to downtown DC to save on housing costs.

If that's the case, shame on her for not being wealthy enough to live downtown with her family! if she really loved her kids, they'd cram into a condo and she could be walking to work.

On Sunday nights, I prep a lot of chicken (drumsticks and thighs) and wash/chop veggies. When I get home from work, I throw everything on baking sheets to cook or reheat. The chicken can be eaten as is, made into a wrap/salad, etc. We also do things like turkey burgers on a pan or on the grill (gas grill), with the burger patties prepped in advance.

Once a week I prep salmon the night before - brush with olive oil, season, wrap in foil - so that as soon as I come home the next day, I stick it in the oven. We do other quick and simple sides like baked sweet potatoes and couscous that take minutes to prep and can be cooked quickly.

Once a week we do taco night. Veggies are prepped the night before so that all we have to do is cook the meat.

Anonymous wrote:You need to get home earlier. 45 minutes with your baby at night? How much time do you see your kid during the week? Sorry, these are the years to adjust your schedule or step it down a notch. One of you should adjust schedule or you alternate nights to get home by 5:30.

She probably took the typical advice in the money and finances tread to commute from Gaithersburg to downtown DC to save on housing costs.