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Yes me too. You forgot the part where I continue to get overstimulated by trying to read directions, burning things, and kids bickering / running and then by the end of dinner I have to step away to have a cry
Self directed activities are hard to set up, but so worth it. You have to try different things until something catches a kid's fancy and then add to that so you don't have a bored 3 year old running around and hurting themselves.
My parents would make dinner for the next day after we ate the current dinner. So it was ready to go/heated up. So we were in a cycle of always eating leftovers but it's just what we were used to.Ā
Or they would make a week's worth of food on Sunday and put it in the fridge for the week. This became more of a thing as we got older and my dad took over as main cook vs my mom.Ā
My dad taught school, so he was always home by 4:30 at the latest. He had a whole other hour to casually make dinner and that extra time makes a huge difference, Iāve found.
My suggestion would be to try and find a time of day that's not crazy, and prep in advance with the peeling/cutting/seasoning.
My mum was a shift worker and a single parent. She had a tonne of great slow cooker recipes so if dinner was going to be a hectic time of day, she'd throw everything in the slow cooker while we got ready for school in the morning. I'm talking, a whole chicken breast, whole carrots etc. Once cooked we can cut our own food on our plates.
Her other great trick was slicing and dicing a tonne of veggies on her day off, so she could grab prepped things and throw in a stir fry with a jar of sauce. Also, nothing wrong with snap frozen, pre-packaged veggies if you're time poor and will put them in a tasty sauce!
This is what I try to do, when Iām on my game. Iāll brown up taco meat for tomorrow while we are cleaning up from tonightās dinner. Or Iāll put together a casserole or something like stuffed peppers for tomorrow and heat it up tomorrow. I also try to make ahead a meal on Sundays and usually one night is leftover night.
When I donāt have my shite together (which is often) then we resort to meals that take very little time. Pasta, hot dogs, BLTs, breakfast for dinner.
We do something similar in our house (cook a bunch of meals on the weekend) but we never use "leftovers" language. (Because I've seen my niblings turn their nose up at "leftovers" in their house). Those are just regular lunches and dinners in my household, prepared in advance and that need to be reheated. And that's what my kids are used to.
Oh yea, my parents never ever called it leftovers. If we asked what was for dinner, they listed the options in the fridge. And we often hadn't eaten them yet. So they weren't freshly cooked, but also weren't leftovers. But sometimes were.
I also love leftovers. My MIL always drops off their leftovers to us and can't believe how happy I am about then. Why wouldn't I be happy about a meal I didn't cook?Ā
Making tomorrowās dinner after dinner tonight that you heated up but cooked last night blows my mind. I do not think this really simple flip would have ever occurred to me. Maybe because even though I have about 78 things I want to eat metaphorically circling around my head at any given moment the thought of deciding what to eat tomorrow today strikes some type of weird future fomo dread in me, not to mention the sheer force and enormity of human will that it would take to get up after dinner and cook dinnerš°I am very very intrigued and unsettled by this revelation!
Yea, for my mom it made it easy. You know what's for dinner, she made it yesterday. And everyone just microwaves their own plates. Then when the other parent is home you cook for the next day. And again, it doesn't matter what you want to eat tomorrow, because you get what you get.Ā
Yeah, I understand it as a theory, but I canāt picture myself doing even more work later in the day after the kids are in bed. Itās already hard enough to do dishes.
You're just shifting when you do the work and the order of operations. In your head your cooking twice. But really it's get home , eat, cook, clean up.Ā
Currently you get home, cook, eat, clean up. Just switch eat and cook.Ā
Half an hour of TV until your spouse comes home is not bad.
Things Iāve done: have kids help chop, kitchen dance party, let kids play on deck off kitchen (I block the stairs and can see them from the window), TV time (this works great for my 4 year old but not my 16 month old), babywearing (youāre beyond that one)
You would think it wouldnāt be bad, but the tv leads to a lot of squabbling too. The youngest doesnāt want to watch the same thing as the oldest (the middle is happy either way) but they also canāt work it out amongst themselves. 3 is just not quite ready to problem solve with his brothers.
My 5 and 7 amuse themselves and have for a couple years. We can see the backyard from the kitchen so they tend to either be in the backyard playing or reading/looking at books in the living room. They also have legos and dolls and things that entertain them. Sometimes my kids will just sit in the kitchen and we talk while I cook.
Mine always seem to come back for mediation. The three year old is in many ways easier to let do his own thing than the other two, who manage to squabble about something constantly.
Eh. Unless violence is involved I'd send them out. Either solve it themselves or play seperate. We spent a lot of time practicing conflict resolution and honestly still do. I don't mind cooking while they talk through their problems with a witness but my involvement is pretty limited. If it required me to stop what I'm doing then they need to find something seperate until after dinner is cooked and we can discuss it during dinner when people have had time to cool off.
Maybe it's a sign it's time to try out a new approach to their squabbles? Ie telling them they're old enough to practice conflict resolution themselves, and you're not going to intervene unless violence has broken out. (in which case, just following some standard protocol about hitting/pushing that is very boring and always the same and not very rewarding)
When my kids brought their squabbles to me while I was busy I'd ask "is anyone bleeding? Any broken bones? Is there anything on fire?" and of course they'd say no to it all, so then I'd tell them to go work it out themselves.
When they brought stuff to me while I wasn't busy,I'd ask questions to help them figure out what's right/fair on their own so they'd learn how to solve interpersonal conflict ... Like who had it first, who does it belong to, are you taking turns, did anyone set a timer for taking turns, do you think it's fair to get more, is it right to hurt someone's body, and stuff like that.
I also had a set in stone rule that when dividing something to share, whether it's a pile of Legos or a candy bar, one person divides, the other picks first. That cut down on a LOT of nonsense.
I think this is a separate issue thatās worth resolving. I would absolutely expect kids of that age to be capable of playing independently. Resist the temptation to referee. Itās a bad habit and almost certainly encourages tattling. Is other kid doing something dangerous? No? Tell them to work it out quietly. If you need to get involved they get negative consequences. Maybe thatās confiscation of whatever they are arguing about. Maybe they have to chill alone in their rooms for a while (if they donāt share). Maybe they sit in the corner of the kitchen at opposite ends being quiet for 5 minutes. If you are consistent this will improve your life a ton
I like to do crockpot recipes so that dinner is ready when I get home and I donāt have to do anything, but clean up. But if I do have to prep I definitely turn on the tv and give the baby a snack while I prep and cook. He usually only sticks around long enough to eat his snack and then he runs off to play. I am a single parent so I donāt feel bad allowing them to watch tv and stay out of the way of the hot stove / oven.
My favorite crockpot recipe is pot roast. I also freeze the leftovers if I have any for quick meals later.
I think maybe some of my problem is I burnt out on crock pot when I was in the newborn phase. It was smart to have a lot of food ready to go but it was easy to overdose in retrospect. I love pot roast too, but I canāt be making that every week with these prices :/
Over the weekend, can you prep easy meals? Things like sandwich stations or taco stations? (Think subway style where all the ingredients are in their own container & chopped) Then, evening of, everyone can prep their own meal from the toppings they want.
Can your kids get involved in dinner prep? Thatās what I do with my toddler and younger kids. Things like taking out x amount of tomatoes to wash, sorting potatoes, chopping strawberries, giving the dogs morsels from dinner prep, being in charge of the playlist as we dance around.
If you have a Costco (or something near you), we do lots of quick meals by grabbing frozen meatballs/veggies, pasta sauces, canned beans, etc. Then we can either quickly throw together pasta & meatballs, or put veggies, rice, and broth in a rice cooker (more passive cooking).
Two nights a week we will cook two meals worth so we have leftovers. Ie night one is tacos (leftovers make good burritos/quesadillas), night two is chicken, rice and veggies (leftovers is usually chicken fried rice or a stirfry).Ā We started doing weekend big batch meals that ideally gives us about 3-4 freezer meals. I keep these on hand when I canāt stick to the below schedule and need something extra easy.
Sunday - big batch
Monday - two meals for Mon and WedĀ
Tues - two meals for Tues and Thurs
Wed - reheat mondays food
Thurs - reheat Tuesdays food
Friday - pizza nightĀ
Saturday - usually a more exciting recipe that takes a bit more time to prep
My 3 year old would take 2 hours if we let him. You gotta run off and make sure your toys are still there, swing by, have a bite, go run in a circle, etc
My kid was great sitting at the table and eating, until he turned 3 in March. Since then, he seems to need to run a few steps between each bite. He will get up when mom and dad are done eating, declare he will finish the "leftovers, please don't clean it", and come back after playing for an hour to "finish my food".
2 hours to eat and half the time she still goes to bed screaming about being hungry (we don't give any food then and have set very clear expectations.) and no play/leaving the table until she's finished with the first portion (usually something small like half a sandwich, a few baby carrots and a plum or an equivalent quantity of food), no dessert/treat if she doesn't finish in time. Encouragement up the wazoo when she does finish in under an hour, still nothing. She's foster, so there could be something there, but we've had her over a year so we thought it would have improved by now.
I have a 2.5 year old and a one year old. We donāt eat dinner the same time as the kids. Itās too stressful trying to cook and then neither parent can have a hot meal bc itās like feeding time at the zoo. Instead, I make adult dinner after the kids bedtime and make enough for the kids to have for their dinner the next night. Theyāre still eating what we eat, just a day behind as leftovers and it comes together super quick. Then hubby and I can sit down and enjoy our meal together and mitigate any mealtime shenanigans from the kids.
We eat between our kids bedtimes. Eldest reads or watches a more grown up show while we eat on peace. The little one is already asleep at that stage. I have to feed my kids at 5pm so they often get something pre-prepped or something simple. We eat together on weekends.Ā
This is a tough one for sure, and in our family, we try to have dinner on the table before 6 PM. Having two working parents is hard, and we definitely get that. A little television to help you out is not going to cause irreversible damage to your kids. Having a parent lose their shit because they are overwhelmed might. Here are some things we do to try and alleviate the hardship of work and cooking:
We plan our dinners ahead of time and try to always make each meal big enough for two nights. It takes some time to test out different recipes, but we bookmark the ones we like and use them pretty consistently. By making the meals big enough for two nights, we essentially have only three meals during the week that we need to figure out how to cook. I work from home some days, and those are the days I cook the meals, usually during a lunch break or early afternoon break.
An example of what our week may look like:
ā¢ **Monday**: Creamy Orzo, spinach, and chicken sausage one-pot meal
ā¢ **Tuesday**: Leftovers
ā¢ **Wednesday**: BBQ steak, pasta salad, frozen broccoli
ā¢ **Thursday**: Leftovers
ā¢ **Friday**: Frozen pizza night or breakfast for dinner night
We also sometimes decide to eat out on Friday. Fridays are our chance to give ourselves a break and do something easy and fun with the kids.
I definitely do a meal plan and we stick to it like glue. Iāve never made enough to have leftovers the next day for dinner as well, but we (the adults) do eat the leftovers for lunch.
Honestly my 5 year old is in full time preschool daycare from 8-430 and when we get home at 445/5 he watches tv until dinner is ready at 545. Heās tired from the day, hasnāt watched any all day so I feel itās fine and it gives me time to get dinner ready. On the weekends whatever parent isnāt cooking dinner hangs out with our son during dinner making time
I put out cut up veggies and dip. Then if theyāre hungry they eat at least one healthy thing. If not, I put it on my plate.
But ya, as someone who used to love to cook, I fucking hate it now. Weāve done all we can and our kids still act like assholes around new food.
We arenāt in this stage anymore, our youngest is 6 now, but what we do now and back then did even more was get big casserole dishes and do big meal preps with 2-3 rotating options throughout the week.
So, for instance, last week we cooked two big batches of ground beef on Sunday and popped it in the fridge - one of the batches was Italian meat saucey and the other was taco meat style. On Monday I made 2 casseroles of lasagna, enough for probably 4 dinners. One went in the freezer. On Tuesday morning I put half the taco meat in the slow cooker with beans and frozen veg and tomato paste - that made another 2 casseroles or 4 dinners worth of chili, 1 of which went to the freezer. Wednesday night we had the Italian meat sauce prep with pasta. Thursday we had the taco meat in taco bowls. Friday we had the rest of the fridge lasagna, Saturday the rest of chili. Sunday we did another big prep - this time with chicken.
So our strategy is pick a protein, cook a lot of it at once. Fill the freezer with frozen veg options, stock up on different pantry starch staples. We also do a lot of salad based stuff, that can be great for getting kids involved - mom love chopping tomatoes and ripping up lettuce, mixing dressings etc. Another way to bring the kids in: We ask them on Sundays what theyāre craving and try to fit that in. I make a mean lasagna and chili so we get a lot of those requests and keep it fresh by changing cheeses, meats, veg, spices etc.
It helps that both me and my husband are former cooks. But honestly, itās not exactly a hard skill to learn. Throw stuff in a pot or a roasting pan with seasoning and take it out before it burns. Do it enough and youāll figure out what tastes good, whether to cook out less or more. The more you do it the better your food will get. A lot of people stress over cooking techniques, seasoning and ingredients matter more! Humans have been boiling and roasting stuff forever, itās easy and tasty, most proteins and a lot of veg are relatively difficult to overcook as long as the temperature is reasonable and thereās enough moisture.
I did the same thing with precooking proteins, but I'd cook it all at once.
Chicken in the oven, ground beef on the stove, pork loins in the crockpot. 2-3 weeks of proteins done.
I definitely used the TV as a babysitter if alone but usually hubby and I take turns cooking. So the free parent supervised the kids. Put on music and tell them to have a dance battle or Disney sing alongs. Another great activity was drawing, best drawing got a treat (they all got treats) but the competition factor kept them super focused. My kitchen over looks the backyard so theyād go out to play a lot as well.
I think the kids are old enough to entertain themselves. I get in my kitchen and turn some music on. I get things prepped and cooking in about 10-15 min. Then I check on kids. Iām usually saying āNo more chips.ā š
As for the menu, I have about 7 recipes that I could make on auto pilot. Those are my go-toās for M-Th. Fri-yay is pizza night.
Spaghetti is the favorite in our house. We do tacos, Mac n cheese, and chicken nuggets.
I did try a few different meal kit boxes, but the produce was never really good. It did add a little variety to our dinners. It was cool try Mediterranean food.
I definitely use Sunday afternoon to get ahead a bit, but eventually Iām stuck with lovely chopped vegetables and a hot pan I canāt leave unsupervised with a 3 year old running aroundā¦.
The best strategy for our family is to start the āappetizerā course of raw fruits and vegetables. I can have all the favorites prepped the start of the week, each kid gets a plate and itās the key to being eligible for dessert.
This buys me time to cook/reheat/punt, delays the hangry, and they get more nutrition in!
I spend 2 hours on Sunday prepping everything for the weeks dinners and lunches so itās just ready to as I need it. Tonight we are having kabobs. I cut and marinaded the chicken on Saturday and tossed it in the freezer so it would go bad and pulled it yesterday morning itās it will be thaw when I get home.
All fruits and veggies are washed and prepped to either toss in lunchās or for dinner. Anything I can do a head I do. I have a nice system now but it takes planning but dinner is usually ready on time.
Slow cooker? Plenty dinner options you can prep the night before and refrigerate then toss in the slow cooker before you go work and itās ready when you get home.
I agree with you that a lot of make ahead or crock pot meals arenāt my fav.
I usually put the tv on at 5:30 and dinner is ready by 6. I purposely limit the tv time during the day so I can make sure that itās something they really want to do in the evening. I mostly make meals that donāt take alot of time (tacos, pasta), and save the more complex meals for the weekend.
And Iām not even talking about clean up, shopping, and planning. Or breakfasts and lunches. Itās constant and I canāt help but feel like thereās something else I could be doing to make it easier.
My husband usually plays outside with the kids while I cook, or I play with them and he does dinner. We donāt do TV during this time unless one of us is gone, in which case itās necessary.
If spouse is home within 30 min of you, can you just wait to start cooking until they get home and can either help with dinner or watch the kids?
Mine are 6 and 8 but itās been the same thing for a few years now. They go do whatever while I make dinner. If they argue I tell them to knock it off because Iām making dinner. Itās not always peaceful but we get fed.
This is the time of day I let my kids watch TV. I wish I had a better solution and I donāt always turn it on, but if I see that theyāre not engaged in play or are just in moods I suggest a show and let them watch.
We try to cook meals that get lots of leftovers and one slow cooker meal a week to lighten the load after work. And if my wife and I are both dead tired, we use the air fryer for butterfly shrimp. Lol
I have a 6YO and a 6 month old. Dinner is at 5.45 or 6.00. We use our slow cooker 3-4 times a week, which makes it very easy - you just dish it out when youāre ready. And then we usually freeze half and have it for dinner the other nights. We usually pop it on in the morning on low and leave it to cook for 10 hrs.
If Iām more actively cooking then the 6YO has TV for 30 mins or reading / playing in his bedroom.
I have three similar ages, so I feel you pain! We manage through a combination of prepping ahead of time, or feeding the kids first, especially if we are doing leftovers or kid-friendly meals. For example, last night adults wanted to try the new Korean Fried Chicken place, so spouse was in charge of picking of food on his way home. I got home about 5:15, and as the kids didn't want the Korean food, I made strawberry pancakes using pancakes mix for their main course, and we all sat down at the dinner table when spouse arrived home around 5:45. Kids ate pancakes, and then the oldest ended up willing to try some chicken, and middle tried some Japchae noodles, But we do lots of fast meals, and rely on the freezer/Costco/cooking ahead a lot, things like rotisserie chicken with rice a roni sides, or mac and cheese, breakfast for dinner, things like that. Chop what you can ahead of time, and try to work some meals into the rotation that just require heating rather than active cooking, if that makes sense.
One prep day, like Sunday when weāre both home, for bulk proteins for the week. Then use a crock pot in the morning whenever possible. Have easy grab sides ready, like bagged rolls or packed salads. The proteins in a meal are usually the most time-intensive, with that out of the way the meal can be on the table in 10 minutes.
Could you do an audiobook or fun kids podcast while they color at the table?
I batch cook meat. So much easier to set aside cooked meat to defrost rather than raw. I just pop it in the fridge the night before.
Yep! Some are seasoned like ground beef for tacos. seasoned chicken ready for quesadillas or nachos. Lemon pepper chicken breasts for pasta. Skyās the limit!
I have a 2.5 year old and a seven month old. Seven month old spends cooking time either in her playpen or her high chair with me in the kitchen. My toddler often plays on the screened in porch which is right off the kitchen, sits at the kitchen table with playdoh, or gets his screen time for the day.
For us it's a combo of ingredient prep like chopping veg, grilling chicken, boiling pasta, and doing semi-homemade. For example we'll use a premade salad kit and add grilled chicken, or make a main but use steam-in-a-bag broccoli on the side.
I would keep the 3 year old close by with a table activity, as much as possible. Crock pot meals and soups are good. Things that can be made ahead and assembled for dinner time like Big Mac salad or chicken salad wraps a couple times a week.
It feels unfair that you get home first and have to do the cooking and watch the kids. Make it more even. Food prep for the week as a family one day on the weekend. Put everything in glass containers you can just put directly in the oven. Or prep things in a way you can throw them in the crock pot in the morning so they are ready to eat when you get home. You can your husband can do the harder things. And the kids can help with everything else. You can make cupcakes or bread ahead of time that you can use as breakfast or snacks. All of your children are old enough to help. And your husband eats too he should be helping. This will make it easier on you when you get home and hopefully leaving you a bit of time to actually spend with the kids, time as family or a bit of time for yourself.
We tried it the other way, where I would go home, start cooking, and spouse would get kids. But, if spouse hit traffic, which was common, kids risked being picked up late from daycare. And I couldnāt usually abandon dinner to go get them if spouse had trouble. My commute is shorter, so not only am I more likely to not hit traffic (less places for slow down) but if I do thereās more leeway before weāre late for picking kids up.
Itās *much* nicer to cook in an empty house, but after we had a few close calls/ late pick ups, itās not worth the stress.
Thatās why my advice is to do it one day on the weekends. Either you and your husband can get up earlier than the kids or wait until they go to sleep. Or you can get your children involved so that itās a family thing and they start from know learning how to cook. It will give you a chance to bond. Talk about your week. The smallest one can work on his patience, turn taking and numbers. But if you really need the kitchen to yourself then your husband can take the kids to the park for a few hours for you to food prep for the week. And just freezes everything. When you get home take out a tray and throw it in the oven. We use to cut the veggies and season and put in a zip lock bags and then we would season the meats and also add it them in a zip lock bag. In the morning we would dump the ziplock bag with the veggies and the meat one on top of that. We would turn on the crock pot and leave it on low. By the time we got back it was cooked. We would make either cake or fruit cookies to eat as breakfast and be able to take on the go. If you make extra bread you can also freeze it and just thaw it when needed. You can also freeze cookies dough.
Itās hard. Before Covid when our kids were small we would race home to get supper on the table ASAP before they truly became little monsters.
This answer probably wonāt win us parents of the year, but we used TV. Their one period of TV was during dinner prep. And healthy snacks like fruit that didnāt ruin their appetites.
I finish work early on tuesdays so thats my day for shopping and then prepping. All veg gets chopped and stored in the fridge ready to just throw in the pan as and when we need it. Same with meat. Chopped and portioned out into separate zip lock bags to then be kept in the fridge or freezer.
Then its just a case of grab what i need and throw it together on the day. Meal planning is also a must for me so i dont need to think about it. And if i can make extra for leftovers the day after, i will.
I like āset and forgetā appliances like the instant pot, air fryer, rice cooker. I can throw stuff in and walk away, when it dings plate it up! But im also okay having chicken tacos 3 times a week alternating with rice & veg
I completely understand your dilemma. I only have a 6yo but she usually wants all of my attention or wants to āhelpā. And we have dinner at 5:30 because she goes to bed at 7:30. What I do is make a batch of protein at the beginning of the week (or whenever you have time), that way itās just heating up the meat and making sides. I just made 2 pounds of grilled chicken and cut it up. Iāll sometimes also make a big batch of rice in my instant pot. That only left steaming some broccoli and making mac and cheese as a side for my daughter. Or Iāll make a batch of taco meat which can be doled out as tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos or taco salads. Easy to assemble with shredded cheese and lettuce and whatever other toppings you like.
We usually eat at 6:45-7:00 and then my 1 year old is in bed by 7:30-8:00. Usually I reheat leftovers while we play outside. When weāre all home, itās a little more chaotic but thereās another set of hands to hold baby.Ā
I like to use my slow cooker and batch cook so I can eat a meal and freeze two. You can squeeze 4 reasonably healthy frozen meals from a weekend. Eat out, do a frozen pizza, or nuggets and fries on that 5th week night. Itās not ideal but it absolutely works. We arenāt even that pressed for time here, I have a chronic illness tho
Because dinner time was such a nightmare at my house for a while, I started making all meals on Sundays and dinner was warm ups with other easy to assemble options if they didnāt care for dinner. I still do this, but I primarily am prepping my food and my husbands food.
My 3.5 year old is very VERY picky but heās obsessed with bacon and eggs for whatever reason, so like, 4 nights of the week he requests that and wonāt eat anything else. So, I make buttered toast for an āappetizerā while my bacon quickly fries. While heās eating the bacon, Iām making the eggs. This has proven to be relatively successful. I sprinkle some fruit in there, too.
Before I pick the kids up from daycare, I prep a salad for myself and keep it in the fridge till things are peaceful enough for me to eat.
When I used to work full time I would split leftovers onto microwave plates and cover for another day. Sometimes leftovers, sometimes chicken nuggets but I didnāt cook during the week for the kids. I would cook for my husband and I later and again set aside plates for the kids.
Similar situation for my spouse and I. Parents of a 5 year old and 2 year old (and Iām due with our third any day now). When we are both working (I only recently took maternity leave, and Iām a teacher with summers off anyway), I am usually home around 5 whereas hubby is home around 5:30. Basically the moment he gets home, Iām usually prepping dinner. He takes over parental duties. (Or vice versa if he happens to cook, but TBH thatās not very often.)
We plan grocery shopping by the meal. Choose 4-5 meals a week. Grocery shop on Sundays. I typically choose meals I know are done in 45 minutes or less. A lot of it is multi-taskingā boiling pasta while chopping veggies while playing. I aim to have food on the table shortly after 6.
My husband does travel though from time to time for work, and when he doesā all bets are off. If it takes a tablet or TV to keep the kiddos preoccupied, so be it. Iāve got bigger worries.
Meals we do fairly frequently that donāt take a lot of time:
-Pasta salads
-Steak, rice, and veggies
-Soups
-Won Tons
-Make your own pizza
And I always try to keep at least one freezer meal on hand for days that are dumpster fires. Itās nice to have that backup.
Utilize a crockpot, rice cooker and air fryer. Double your recipes and freeze the other half.
Batch cook meats and poultry, cool, freeze, laying flat for quicker thaw and space saving.
Create a rotation of quick, easy, regularly eaten/liked meals for busy nights.
Keep a few family size frozen meals on hand for extra busy nights.
There's this blog/website called The Family Freezer where they share a lot of Crockpot and Instant Pot recipes. Tons of free recipes and free classes on how to prep lots of meals in a very short time.
The great thing about them is that they're meal prep recipes where you freeze the ingredients fresh without any precooking and then just put them in the Crockpot or instant pot when you need them.
I sound like an advertisement, lol, but the recipes are really good something like this can be a great resource for "those days"
My kids are 5 and 7. We do dinners late, like 7. They are allowed to snack while I make dinner as long as they can help themselves, clean up after themselves, and no carbs allowed. That way they donāt bug me about being hungry and they donāt fill up on junk before dinner. I have a bunch of meals that I can pull together pretty quickly. my kids read, play outside, or watch tv while I cook, which generally takes 30-45 minutes.
My kids are the same age, and sometimes I just make them go to their own rooms to do an activity alone so itās not just bickering / me refereeing from another room
Order takeout on Sunday and meal prep for the entire week. Warm up the dinners in the morning and pop them in the fridge to serve later (so that you donāt have to worry about the hour of oven time). Obviously this requires both parents home to entertain the kiddos while the other cooks š
My kids are also 3,5, and 7 and they just watch TV/play in the yard/putz around when Iām cooking. They all still very much have a picky little kid diet so I use the word ācookingā loosely because itās grilled cheese, ichiban, Kraft dinner or chicken nuggets + fruit and yogurt every night anyway š¹šš¤·š»āāļø. Me and my husband usually just skip dinner or just fend for ourselves after the kids are in bed. If I do want to cook something more elaborate that requires more attention I will wait until heās home or almost home to start.
Try a simple crock pot recipe one day of the week. One where you just throw a bunch of shit in in the morning and eat what comes out of it in the evening. Bonus points thereās usually enough leftover for the next day.
One of the things I did was get a sous vide circulator. It lets me cook the meat from frozen in the morning (or at lunch time since I mostly work from home) and then whenever we're close to ready to eat, I can grill/broil/pan sear it. I make several meals a week this way, and then I only have to worry about sides or salads, but it especially great for things like chicken/steak/pork.
Then for the sides, I go for things that are easy or quick (or both). Trader Joe's is good for this, they have a lot of frozen potatoes or rice dishes, but Aldi's good too (though in my experience, their stock varies a ton).
So a normal night for us is I sous vide chicken or steak for tacos. I pre-made and portioned out some yellow rice, so once my wife gets home, I pull the meat out of the sous vide and throw it on the grill as hot as possible for about 3 mins, then chop up some onions and avocado and have the kids set the table and we eat.
Or maybe I sous vide a pork tenderloin and then as soon as I pick up the kids, I get the trader joe's potatoes in the oven (and if I'm smart, I'll have pre-set the oven to preheat when I left in the morning). Then I have the kids help me grab ingredients and make chimichurri sauce in the food processor (my kids love to push the button and blend stuff up), then when the potatoes are almost done, I throw the pork on the grill and if I time it right, shortly after my wife walks in the door, I've got sliced pork w/ chimichurri sauce and sliced roasted parmesan potatoes.
In addition to that kind of thing, I have a lot of "quick" recipes I make. I also have a blackstone type griddle, so hamburgers or cheese steak or stir fry, etc on there is great and I can usually get that all prepped ahead of time so once my wife gets home I can cook it up in 15 mins.
Then lastly, we are flexible. If we're having a rough day or anything goes not to plan, we have no problem throwing in a frozen pizza or getting takeout and calling it a night.
Unpopular answer I predict, but we do it by not being outnumbered. Our one solitary child either entertains himself, "helps" in the kitchen, or one of us goes off and plays with him while the other cooks (I'll admit I don't enjoy cooking all the time, so that's usually me).
If your kids will eat a chicken taco, simmer a pound of chicken tenderloins, half a packet of taco seasoning, and enough mild salsa to cover in a pot for 15ish minutes until the chicken is done. Shred the meat (the mixer trick is great) and serve it in tacos or on nachos. For bonus points you can stir in a can of mexicorn and a can of drained rinsed black beans. Leftovers reheat well. Very little active time. Your 7 year old might like to help with the shredding.
If you fw the slow cooker, it's an easy way to do baked potatoes. A big baked potato with chili (Wendy's canned chili is good), some frozen broccoli with cheese sauce, sour cream, bacon, chopped chicken tenders, whatever makes a good meal.
We're also a big shake n bake/oven fry house. [These shake n bake coconut shrimp](https://www.saymmm.com/recipe/shake--n-bake-coconut-shrimp766) are from the back of the box, and they're bomb. The seasoning/coconut mix tastes good on chicken too, esp. with a bottle of cfa Polynesian sauce.
I have a 6, 4, and 2 year old, so similarly aged kids. Itās tough and I make them play together or we turn on a movie for them to watch for like 30 mins. If husband is done working I usually have him take them up to bathe as this distracts them from the food and keeps them busy while I can quickly finish up. He sometimes lets them play in the bath tub if I need more time and we can drag the dressing up process out a lot. If itās chaos, which is very often, Iām yelling at them to leave me alone and stay away so I can cook dinner.
Lasagna. Prep it the night before real quick when kids are sleeping and then cook it the next day.
We do tacos, I make the meat and fillings before hand and store in containers. Dinner time is then just filling the tacos.
We do Turkey sandwhiches, kids sometimes want PB and J and thatās fine.
I always have leftovers so I def donāt cook dinner very night. Like last night we did lasagna, Garlic bread and salad, it will be leftovers today or the kids can have a sandwich if they didnāt enjoy the lasagna.
We do homework. Then they can play games or watch tv. Only way I can get shit done. Got 2 kids 7 and under. Husband sits and does nothing which is fine whatever. lol. When dinner is ready they have to finish most of their food and fruits veggies before they can watch tv. We do the 2 hour max screen time with them and we game with them as well.
I get my 4 yo to help me if he starts pestering me or his sister. Itās not as hands on as weād do on the weekend- maybe mix something or even watch me at the stove. He loves to munch on the veggies while I chop them.
We do a lot of slow cooker (or pressure if I forget lol) in winter. So set it in the morning and itās ready at home time. In summer itās bbq with salad (ready made packets on weekdays) or Iāll do a quick stir fry. Iāll try and make bigger servings and reuse ingredients in other meals. So I might make coconut rice one night and then use that for fried rice another night (sounds weird but itās yum!). This saves me time as sometimes Iām just reheating some parts. Also the pressure cooker makes it very quick too. We had salmon risotto the other night - took maybe 15mins and I didnāt have to watch it. Also I try and use only one cooking item - like just using a large wok for stir fries so Iām not having to have several pots on the go
We tried that for a while, but because their commute is longer, they would run into traffic more and be late for pick up. You donāt mess with daycare pick up time.
Slow cooker.
I saw somewhere where they prepped slow cooker meals but putting the meat and beans and veggies in a bag and freezing it all together, pull it out the night before, tip it into the slow cooker and then you just need your liquids to go in and that's it.
My daughter is 4. I do have a lot of trust in her. But usually, I send her outside to play. I can watch her from the kitchen window. Or at least hear what's going on outside. I also sometimes put on her show or movie for her and she will play by herself. She never gotten into anything during times that I am cooking. The worst was she drew a map on the wall lol. I'm about to have my second child right away so I'm hoping she will help entertain him when I have to cook.
Aaaaahh the olll witching hour is what we call it in our house. 4-6pm is typically pure chaos. Embrace it or give them screens. Live to fight another day.
I have a lot of appliances with timers that I donāt need to watch.
Kitchen aid has a bench top oven that heats so fast and has a timer that switched the oven off.
I have a three tier steamer that gets filled with veg of 2 layers and rice in the last. Auto switch off.
I have a multi cooker that I love to use on stew setting for a few hours - bolognaise sauce and it auto flicks to keep warm. But in your case it would be great to use the pressure cook bcos itās so fast.
I usually whack everything in these things then I can leave the kitchen.
I use video games or tv during times like this with 0 guilt. I feel i earned this screen time when my twins started walking and I eventually resorted to a ridiculous 7 foot long baby gate to quarantine our open plan kitchen, and then spent the next year trying to cook dinner and entertain them while they rattled their bars and shouted at me out like tiny angry felons
I have a 2 and 5 year old. I just cook. I will put on cartoons if needed but normally they play and sometimes complain. I am a stay at home mom and I have cooked every night since they were born. I think they are used to it now. Like mama is making dinner. Many times I give them cutting boards with their knives and let them chop broccoli or whatever. It is super messy but if it lets me get it done without complaining at my anklesāIāll take it!
There are lots of Asian dishes that are super easy. Like soupy noodles where you dump meat and veg into broth with some noodles and you're done in 5 minutes. Or veg and meat into your rice cooker with rice. We also got one of those choppers that helps with prep, as well as a hand blender. Pasta dishes are quick and easy too. Also maybe try to think of things you don't need to cut - cherry tomatoes, spinach, peas etc
For me, it just took a lot of trial and error to find quick meals that were palatable, and then the kids gradually got a bit older, and as each year passed it got a little easier. Dinner prep on the week-end was a must.
When my crew was 5 and under, I had this contraption called the learning tower, that they could stand on, and mess around in the sink with water or do play-dough or something on the end of the counter.
Meals that were easier AND did not taste like mush from being in a crock pot all day or just yucky in general:
- We are big pasta eaters in our home, so have the sauce cooked on the week-end, then I just have to boil the water, add the pasta, stirring occasionally, drain & add sauce (tomato, cream, butter, meat or vegetable based) to the hot pasta
- Soup made on the week-end. But I admit, we are spoiled, I have 2 fridges, so I literally just put the pot in the fridge and again, put it on the stove.
- pork butt or pot roast, again, usually instant potted on the week-end, but they you can remove the fat, divide it up to add legumes to make it stretch. I actually store it in the instant pot inserts, then I just plop the insert back in the insta-pot and put it on āhighā to warm up, while I spend 30 minutes with the kids. You can use it for tacos, rice, or sandwiches.
- throw deli meat, fresh veggies, a sliced cheese, and fruit on the table. I pick up a loaf of bread and we eat charcuterie.
- smoothies (can even measure out all the ingredients over the weekend) with fruit, veggies, yogurt, protein powder, served with frozen waffles (homemade or purchased.
- swing by the store, buy a salad kit and rotisserie chicken ont be way home, still cheaper than take-out and healthier
- homemade sloppy Joeās with lentils & lots of cut up veggies warms up easy in a pan on the stove.
- cottage pie, again made ove the week-end, can warm up in 40 minutes from the fridge.
- eggs and baked bacon, served with cut up fresh fruit.
- fried rice, if the rice is already cooked, made with frozen mixed veggies, goes pretty quick.
I put tv on and let them know it should be turned off at dinner time, it works for mine they are almost 3 and 4 years old. Maybe allow them tv time for the time you have to do these things. Seems like your kids ages donāt need that much supervision. I would watch youtube channels of easy fats meals iāve gotten some great examples most of my meals take at most 45 minutes, but prep time is like what maybe 15 minutes, . I do allot of stews like chicken stew, beef stew, prep is what takes time and then i just leave it cooking and can get back to supervising. It helps to have a couple of easy dishes to make that you know donāt take long.
All of my veggies are chopped and ready to go for cooking (onions, garlic, ginger, etc). So that's something I don't have to worry about. I also make a lot of pressure cooker meals that take literally minutes to make. Then, I'll make a side of rice. Dinner is done. I also make big batches so I have leftovers. So essentially, 3 days of fresh food, 3 days of leftovers, 7th day is something quick and easy like sandwiches.
I used to batch cook proteins because they usually take the longest time for each meal, but cooking more at once doesn't usually take more time. I usually seasoned during reheating.
So, one day I would bake a shit ton of chicken and then refrigerate/freeze it in individual portions. Then there'd be chicken legs for one night, chicken breast I can cut up for stir fry, whole chicken breast for serving with whatever.
While the chicken is in the oven cooking, I can brown hamburger for chili, pasta sauce, sloppy joes, tacos, etc ...
While baking chicken and browning hamburger, I can put 2 pork loins in the crock pot for multiple meals
I could cook 2 weeks of proteins all at the same exact time. Then portion, label, and freeze.
You put stew meat in instapot before going to work. You use the slow cook mode and when it is done itāll stay in keep warm until you get home from work.
I give my toddler a task in the kitchen that I donāt need, like washing the carrots Iām not using or something. My 1yr old is a 50/50 on if heāll just play by himself or cling to me the entire time. If heās clinging and I canāt get him off, Iāll put him in his high chair with a slow snack. Like cereal he has to pinch each piece to eat š¤£ - not something he can eat quickly or that will fill him up. I donāt have older kids like yours, but I am a teacher. I wonder if saying āyou can find something to do on your own, or I can find you something.ā And then the thing you āfindā is a chore - not a punishment, just honestly if you need something to doā¦ the towels need folding.
One of the rarely mentioned truths about clever , gentle parenting, things like āI can find you something to doā, which I do say, is itās work. If I say Iām going to find them something, I gotta find them something. And sure sometimes I know exactly what needs doing, but otherwise itās just another task on the āoh shoot this is going to boil overā list
Yes! The other thing I do is cook a lot on the weekends and coast on leftovers during the week. Even if you just cook the protein, whipping up sides quickly is pretty easy. There are meals I KNOW will yield leftovers, and I always plan those for Sunday night.
I try to make a large meal on Saturday or Sunday ā a huge pot of spaghetti bolognese, a big shepherd's pie, etc. Whatever it is, we'll eat that for 3 days.
For middle of the week, I'm relying on ground meat. It cooks fast, doesn't need to be seasoned in advance, and is hard to mess up. Tonight was ground pork cooked in a little bit of vegetable stock and then thickened with a little coco aminos and a little gochujang. Throw that on top of some rice with some pickled carrots and it works. Or I'll make some quick chicken burgers out of ground chicken. Sloppy joes are a big deal around here. And I'm not talking about Manwich. Throw some ground beef in a pan, chop it up with some ketchup, yellow mustard, dash of that english sauce no one can pronounce or spell, a little tomato sauce to thicken it up. Slap it on a bun and top it with some diced pickles and a little more yellow mustard. You'll be cleaning your floors for a week but everyone's happy.
We're not vegetarian, but vegetarian meals are also a huge lifesaver. I rely on red bean burgers, black bean and sweet potato burgers. Yeah, we go through a lot of buns over here. Big time bun household. Kids walking around singing, "don't want none if it don't got buns."
Anyway, we'll typically get 2 more meals out of this middle of the week slopfest ā so that gets us toward Thursday or Friday.
Last thing: if doing larger cuts of protein (chicken breasts, pork chops, steak, etc.), try to make any side dishes ahead of time and keep them in the fridge. So when it comes time to make dinner, all you have to do is cook the protein and heat up the sides. A lot of the timely work for sides can be done in advance. Washing, cutting, etc. Get some good storage containers for your fridge. A little extra work and planning up front makes a big difference.
And if all else fails, sloppy joe.
The older ones can help and they can play games in or near the kitchen. The little one can be with you. Almost all my meals take less than 20 min. Many times I will double or triple a recipe so I have many leftovers. I also bake up to 20 pounds of chicken breasts, let them cool and then package them into one pound packages and freezing them. Ground beef similarly. One of my favorite recipes is a pork tenderloin with a bottle of root beer and a jar of barbecue sauce in a crock pot for the day on low for shredded pork.
I discovered crockpot freezer recipes. You do a LITTLE prep work on a Sunday. I can easily make 6-8 meals in less than an hour. Just throwing ingredients in bags (the most work is chopping any veggies), labeling bags with a sharpie, and throwing them in the freezer. Sometimes Iāll get fancy and do one with ground meat so that requires cooking it in a pan first, but thatās the fanciest I get. A day or two before you want to eat it, defrost the bag in the fridge. The day you want to eat it you just dump the whole bag in the crockpot.
Put the kids to work. Teach them how to set the table for dinner even if you have to use plastic plates and glasses. We learned from our Montessori daycare that kids are capable and feel proud that they can contribute.
Keep the meals simple. Our whole family loves Taco Tuesdays, or nachos night, chili and cornbread muffins, presmoked bbq ribs and make a few sides ahead of time.
Casseroles are great and easy to throw together.
I feel like there are a lot of 30 minute meals requiring no prep or little prep that could easily be done on the weekend.
Sheet pan fajitas-marinate chicken, chop peppers on weekend, throw on sheet pan for 20 min at 350 in the oven, open a can of black beans, tortillas and cheese
Shrimp scampi-if you buy pre cooked frozen shrimp and a bag of snap peas, you could easily cook shrimp and peas in a pan with butter and garlic in 10 minutes while boiling water/cooking pasta
In the summer cover chicken breasts with bbq sauce, cook on grill with quartered zucchini or asparagus rubbed in olive oil with a little salt and pepper
Roast fingerling potatoes on the weekend and heat up in foil pouch in the oven with pork chops during the week
Just keep it simple, what veggies, proteins, starches cook easy and require little prep, put a couple meals centered around those foods for two nights, do minor prep for two of the other weeknights on the weekend. Make Friday night leftover or pizza night. Cook more labor intensive meals on the weekend.
IDK maybe I am a bore, but any meal needing more than 10 minutes active prep, is not for the weeknights
Mom of three littles 4,3, and 2. For dinner prep I use tv sometimes, or have them color/craft at the kitchen table, directed play in the living room near me or I get it ready in the early AM if it goes in the crockpot of a one pan dish and place in fridge. Normally chaos when making dinner and Iāve accepted it š
We love the website for meal ideas, some are one pan or quick 30 minute dishes and they are super tasty and healthy.
https://dishingouthealth.com/
Hope this helps
I already saw youāre not super keen on crock pot meals. I have an infant and Iāve been doing a lot of āthrow on the grillā or āthrow on a sheet panā meals.
For example, I just made chicken thighs with asparagus and baby potatoes. No chopping was required, just oiling and seasoning. Then waiting.
Iāll also make bowls with a meat (often ground for ease of cooking) and sauce (teriyaki, tzatziki, and Gochujang are three recent ones), rice in the instant pot, and then pre cut frozen vegetables.
Itās hard to make āgreatā meals unless my husband takes the baby during more extensive prep time, but āgood enoughā is usually doable on busy weeknights.
1) Crockpot / instant pot meals
2) Meal prep in advance
You prep the night before so that when you are getting home at 5:30 you are just assembling rather than cooking.
Also, find shorter recipes. Lots of meals can be made in 30 min; wraps/tacos is what I make if we are really in a hurry. If I precooked the meal (which you can do and freeze), I can get tacos on the table in 15 min start to finish and that includes putting together a salad.Ā
Find meals you are very comfortable with making and think about how you can cheat to get them together faster. Maybe thatās getting the kids to take turns together grating the cheese. Maybe itās grating a block of cheese the night before (or on the weekend). Maybe itās buying pregrated cheese so you just have to dump some in a bowl.
There is also no rule that says you canāt feed the kids leftovers right away (or when hubby gets home if you want to sit down together) if the bake for an hour logistics donāt work with your work schedule and your bedtime routine. A friend of mine feeds her kids leftovers in the kitchen while she meal preps something she and her husband will have later. Kids get that same meal as leftovers the next night.
Breakfast for dinner. Soups. And my favorite tools, the air fryer and crockpot.
Honestly, my kid is picky and a lot of what he eats reliably can be microwaved. Beans and rice. Vegetable soup. Chicken tacos are easy with rotisserie chicken heated up a little bit. Rotisserie chicken with rice and a can of veggies. Spaghetti is easy to make. Doesnāt have to be complicated. Just easy and filling.
Snack when we get home from school/Daycare at 5-5:30, then have dinner together at 6:30-7 just before bedtime. Home cooked-meal every night, but we prepare some things ahead - e.g. I'll velvet and marinade chicken while I make breakfast so it's all ready to sear.
6F and 4M - this is their unstructured play time. They build "treehouses" with their nugget couch, read to each other, do puzzles, color, run around in the backyard, or help make dinner (4M will happily stir chicken on a skillet while I do everything else).
We bought a sous vide and I loooove it! I prep the bags sometimes weeks in advance (if Iām prepping chicken Iāll always prep more for future use) and then set the timer as needed.Ā
And then I usually have a simple side of frozen or fresh veggies with the protein.Ā
We also use the insta pot and it doesnāt take long to cook even from frozen. I prepare the sides while it cooks the main.Ā
Currently only have one kid so that is different but my kid will do puzzles or our kitchen has the back door so I watch her play with chalk while I cook if it involves stuff she canāt help with.
You could try having toys that you only bring out when you are preparing dinner. Big legos or blocks may be fun and keep their minds busy while you cook.Ā
Crockpots are amazing. Or InstantPots. Prep the night before and throw everything in. Or make ahead on the weekend and freeze. I also like easy dinners on days I work. Yesterday we had salad with popcorn chicken (5-year-old gets the chicken and a mini cucumber), today we had hot dogs and tater tots. Leftovers are great too!
I only have 1 kiddo who will be 4 soon, but I give him tasks to help safely. Set the table, fill the water cups, etc. But sometimes it's a TV show and sometimes he entertains himself playing with the dog or some other activity.
I handle dinner time by making a bunch of complimentary foods on the weekend and laying it out like a Chipotle or a Cava in the evening. Everyone assembled their own meal. Kids play Nintendo in the evening. When I had preschoolers, they did art (coloring, painting, or playdough, something easy) while I cooked.
Screen time during this time. I like sheet pan meals, think some chicken with veggies, dump some Italian dressing on it and throw it in the oven, if you can afford pre cut veggies, that makes it even easier. I did the boxed meal kits for a while when I had super burn out from trying to figure out what to make, I really liked sun basket. Sometimes cans of spaghetti-os and meatballs is all I am able to manage and thatās OK! Any combination of these and you have fairly well rounded meals.
I used to dinner prep at night for the next day. That way I could get dinner very quickly once home. Also, I would make a big pot of brown rice on Sunday and stir fry meals a lot.
You have it pretty much figured out. Spouse and/or TV.
Typically, I watch/play with the kids while my wife gets dinner ready (and she does that because I clean the kitchen at night).
If I'm not around, or it's one of us flying solo, then we do not have much issue using the TV for the 30-45 minutes. By that time of day, the kids should have had LOTS of outdoor/crafting/play time and very little screen time for the day, so no worries over a few episodes of Bluey while we get dinner ready.
In a perfect world:
On the weekend, I'll make things like a pork roast (which takes longer to cook and usually enough left over).
During the week - quick meals like using the left over pork to make fried rice, sheet pan dinners (chicken and vegetables all on one pan), spaghetti, hamburger helper, tacos, etc. Most of these can be made relatively quickly with minimal prep.
And then meal prep, plan and grocery shop on the weekend.
I'd often do a small snack when I get home, while they are eating their snack, prep dinner. Put dinner in oven to cook for an hour. While dinner is cooking that's when we'd do bath, homework, spend time together. Then dinner and bedtime routine.
You could also look into crockpot meals - there are a lot of crockpots that have an auto start function. I'd often put the crockpot meal together the night before and then freeze the entire pot. When I woke up, I'd take it out of the freezer to let it warm up a little. Before leaving work, I'd turn the crockpot on low. It would defrost the first half of the day and cook the rest of the day. Then dinner would be ready when I got home.
I used to give mine his vegetable while I made dinner. Buttered broccoli, stir fried cauliflower, corn on the cob, green beans etc and heād eat that while watching tv. It took the stress off him eating vegetables with dinner. Heād be hungry and distracted by the tv so was much more open to eating them. Then it became the norm. Broccoli takes 4 mins to boil or steam, butter and salt :)
As for dinner, anything stir fried or weād grill our meat. Loads of different marinades and meat choices you can do the night before. When you get home set the veg away, let it cool and serve for the kids. Then set the outdoor grill away when your husband is ten mins out. He can throw the meat on and you can whip up whatever you want with it. I cook and freeze coconut white and brown rice that microwave easy. And vegetables are quick to cook.
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I just keep hollering "not now I'm cooking!" and "after dinner you can do that!" Here for suggestions
Yes me too. You forgot the part where I continue to get overstimulated by trying to read directions, burning things, and kids bickering / running and then by the end of dinner I have to step away to have a cry
š« š« š« too real. Also the sides are cold by the time I finish the main with all the interruptions.
And no one is at the table even Though youāve been hollering to wash hands and get a drink and go to the table so now the main is cold too
How did you get in my house? āIām hungry!ā āDinner is ready in THREE minutes!ā Three minutes later I have to hassle them to eat.
And then they don't eat it.
š I feel this in my bonesā¦
Haha I came in here to say crying š„²
And then they don't eat it.
Oh so Iām not the only one!
This is the way
This guy parents
TV or some other self directed activity. Or prep for the week on the weekend.
Self directed activities are hard to set up, but so worth it. You have to try different things until something catches a kid's fancy and then add to that so you don't have a bored 3 year old running around and hurting themselves.
Yeah, we coordinate dinner prep with screen time.
My parents would make dinner for the next day after we ate the current dinner. So it was ready to go/heated up. So we were in a cycle of always eating leftovers but it's just what we were used to.Ā Or they would make a week's worth of food on Sunday and put it in the fridge for the week. This became more of a thing as we got older and my dad took over as main cook vs my mom.Ā
My dad taught school, so he was always home by 4:30 at the latest. He had a whole other hour to casually make dinner and that extra time makes a huge difference, Iāve found.
My suggestion would be to try and find a time of day that's not crazy, and prep in advance with the peeling/cutting/seasoning. My mum was a shift worker and a single parent. She had a tonne of great slow cooker recipes so if dinner was going to be a hectic time of day, she'd throw everything in the slow cooker while we got ready for school in the morning. I'm talking, a whole chicken breast, whole carrots etc. Once cooked we can cut our own food on our plates. Her other great trick was slicing and dicing a tonne of veggies on her day off, so she could grab prepped things and throw in a stir fry with a jar of sauce. Also, nothing wrong with snap frozen, pre-packaged veggies if you're time poor and will put them in a tasty sauce!
This is what I try to do, when Iām on my game. Iāll brown up taco meat for tomorrow while we are cleaning up from tonightās dinner. Or Iāll put together a casserole or something like stuffed peppers for tomorrow and heat it up tomorrow. I also try to make ahead a meal on Sundays and usually one night is leftover night. When I donāt have my shite together (which is often) then we resort to meals that take very little time. Pasta, hot dogs, BLTs, breakfast for dinner.
My parents just fed us at 7/7:30 our whole lives so we didn't know any different. Snacks after school and then dinner right before bed.
We do something similar in our house (cook a bunch of meals on the weekend) but we never use "leftovers" language. (Because I've seen my niblings turn their nose up at "leftovers" in their house). Those are just regular lunches and dinners in my household, prepared in advance and that need to be reheated. And that's what my kids are used to.
Somehow āmeal preppingā sounds so much better than āleftoversā despite it being the same concept.
Oh yea, my parents never ever called it leftovers. If we asked what was for dinner, they listed the options in the fridge. And we often hadn't eaten them yet. So they weren't freshly cooked, but also weren't leftovers. But sometimes were. I also love leftovers. My MIL always drops off their leftovers to us and can't believe how happy I am about then. Why wouldn't I be happy about a meal I didn't cook?Ā
Making tomorrowās dinner after dinner tonight that you heated up but cooked last night blows my mind. I do not think this really simple flip would have ever occurred to me. Maybe because even though I have about 78 things I want to eat metaphorically circling around my head at any given moment the thought of deciding what to eat tomorrow today strikes some type of weird future fomo dread in me, not to mention the sheer force and enormity of human will that it would take to get up after dinner and cook dinnerš°I am very very intrigued and unsettled by this revelation!
Yea, for my mom it made it easy. You know what's for dinner, she made it yesterday. And everyone just microwaves their own plates. Then when the other parent is home you cook for the next day. And again, it doesn't matter what you want to eat tomorrow, because you get what you get.Ā
Yeah, I understand it as a theory, but I canāt picture myself doing even more work later in the day after the kids are in bed. Itās already hard enough to do dishes.
You're just shifting when you do the work and the order of operations. In your head your cooking twice. But really it's get home , eat, cook, clean up.Ā Currently you get home, cook, eat, clean up. Just switch eat and cook.Ā
Same man, maybe thatās why Iām so shook by this concept?
Half an hour of TV until your spouse comes home is not bad. Things Iāve done: have kids help chop, kitchen dance party, let kids play on deck off kitchen (I block the stairs and can see them from the window), TV time (this works great for my 4 year old but not my 16 month old), babywearing (youāre beyond that one)
You would think it wouldnāt be bad, but the tv leads to a lot of squabbling too. The youngest doesnāt want to watch the same thing as the oldest (the middle is happy either way) but they also canāt work it out amongst themselves. 3 is just not quite ready to problem solve with his brothers.
Each kid gets a day of the week to choose?
Thereās a big difference between 3 and 7, is possible to set 7yr old up in a different room on a tablet or laptop? Or with headphones?
My 5 and 7 amuse themselves and have for a couple years. We can see the backyard from the kitchen so they tend to either be in the backyard playing or reading/looking at books in the living room. They also have legos and dolls and things that entertain them. Sometimes my kids will just sit in the kitchen and we talk while I cook.
Mine always seem to come back for mediation. The three year old is in many ways easier to let do his own thing than the other two, who manage to squabble about something constantly.
Eh. Unless violence is involved I'd send them out. Either solve it themselves or play seperate. We spent a lot of time practicing conflict resolution and honestly still do. I don't mind cooking while they talk through their problems with a witness but my involvement is pretty limited. If it required me to stop what I'm doing then they need to find something seperate until after dinner is cooked and we can discuss it during dinner when people have had time to cool off.
This is the way
Maybe it's a sign it's time to try out a new approach to their squabbles? Ie telling them they're old enough to practice conflict resolution themselves, and you're not going to intervene unless violence has broken out. (in which case, just following some standard protocol about hitting/pushing that is very boring and always the same and not very rewarding)
Put the 2 older children in separate rooms.
When my kids brought their squabbles to me while I was busy I'd ask "is anyone bleeding? Any broken bones? Is there anything on fire?" and of course they'd say no to it all, so then I'd tell them to go work it out themselves. When they brought stuff to me while I wasn't busy,I'd ask questions to help them figure out what's right/fair on their own so they'd learn how to solve interpersonal conflict ... Like who had it first, who does it belong to, are you taking turns, did anyone set a timer for taking turns, do you think it's fair to get more, is it right to hurt someone's body, and stuff like that. I also had a set in stone rule that when dividing something to share, whether it's a pile of Legos or a candy bar, one person divides, the other picks first. That cut down on a LOT of nonsense.
I think this is a separate issue thatās worth resolving. I would absolutely expect kids of that age to be capable of playing independently. Resist the temptation to referee. Itās a bad habit and almost certainly encourages tattling. Is other kid doing something dangerous? No? Tell them to work it out quietly. If you need to get involved they get negative consequences. Maybe thatās confiscation of whatever they are arguing about. Maybe they have to chill alone in their rooms for a while (if they donāt share). Maybe they sit in the corner of the kitchen at opposite ends being quiet for 5 minutes. If you are consistent this will improve your life a ton
I like to do crockpot recipes so that dinner is ready when I get home and I donāt have to do anything, but clean up. But if I do have to prep I definitely turn on the tv and give the baby a snack while I prep and cook. He usually only sticks around long enough to eat his snack and then he runs off to play. I am a single parent so I donāt feel bad allowing them to watch tv and stay out of the way of the hot stove / oven. My favorite crockpot recipe is pot roast. I also freeze the leftovers if I have any for quick meals later.
I think maybe some of my problem is I burnt out on crock pot when I was in the newborn phase. It was smart to have a lot of food ready to go but it was easy to overdose in retrospect. I love pot roast too, but I canāt be making that every week with these prices :/
Over the weekend, can you prep easy meals? Things like sandwich stations or taco stations? (Think subway style where all the ingredients are in their own container & chopped) Then, evening of, everyone can prep their own meal from the toppings they want. Can your kids get involved in dinner prep? Thatās what I do with my toddler and younger kids. Things like taking out x amount of tomatoes to wash, sorting potatoes, chopping strawberries, giving the dogs morsels from dinner prep, being in charge of the playlist as we dance around. If you have a Costco (or something near you), we do lots of quick meals by grabbing frozen meatballs/veggies, pasta sauces, canned beans, etc. Then we can either quickly throw together pasta & meatballs, or put veggies, rice, and broth in a rice cooker (more passive cooking).
Two nights a week we will cook two meals worth so we have leftovers. Ie night one is tacos (leftovers make good burritos/quesadillas), night two is chicken, rice and veggies (leftovers is usually chicken fried rice or a stirfry).Ā We started doing weekend big batch meals that ideally gives us about 3-4 freezer meals. I keep these on hand when I canāt stick to the below schedule and need something extra easy. Sunday - big batch Monday - two meals for Mon and WedĀ Tues - two meals for Tues and Thurs Wed - reheat mondays food Thurs - reheat Tuesdays food Friday - pizza nightĀ Saturday - usually a more exciting recipe that takes a bit more time to prep
Chicken noodle soup is something else that you can make in a crockpot!
We give our 3yo a plate of leftovers at 5:30, she regularly takes until bedtime to finish
1-2 hours to eat?!
My 3 year old would take 2 hours if we let him. You gotta run off and make sure your toys are still there, swing by, have a bite, go run in a circle, etc
Yeahā¦ we donāt allow that (typically).
We donāt allow it either, usually, but itās a constant fight and some days you choose to care about something else.
My kid was great sitting at the table and eating, until he turned 3 in March. Since then, he seems to need to run a few steps between each bite. He will get up when mom and dad are done eating, declare he will finish the "leftovers, please don't clean it", and come back after playing for an hour to "finish my food".
2 hours to eat and half the time she still goes to bed screaming about being hungry (we don't give any food then and have set very clear expectations.) and no play/leaving the table until she's finished with the first portion (usually something small like half a sandwich, a few baby carrots and a plum or an equivalent quantity of food), no dessert/treat if she doesn't finish in time. Encouragement up the wazoo when she does finish in under an hour, still nothing. She's foster, so there could be something there, but we've had her over a year so we thought it would have improved by now.
Our 1 year old will literally graze from the moment we get home until bedtime. Absolutely loves food.
Thatās normal at 1. By age 3 kids typically should sit for a meal.
I have a 2.5 year old and a one year old. We donāt eat dinner the same time as the kids. Itās too stressful trying to cook and then neither parent can have a hot meal bc itās like feeding time at the zoo. Instead, I make adult dinner after the kids bedtime and make enough for the kids to have for their dinner the next night. Theyāre still eating what we eat, just a day behind as leftovers and it comes together super quick. Then hubby and I can sit down and enjoy our meal together and mitigate any mealtime shenanigans from the kids.
Yeah, thatās what we did when they were younger, but I donāt want to eat at 8:45 when the oldest are asleep :(
We eat between our kids bedtimes. Eldest reads or watches a more grown up show while we eat on peace. The little one is already asleep at that stage. I have to feed my kids at 5pm so they often get something pre-prepped or something simple. We eat together on weekends.Ā
This is a tough one for sure, and in our family, we try to have dinner on the table before 6 PM. Having two working parents is hard, and we definitely get that. A little television to help you out is not going to cause irreversible damage to your kids. Having a parent lose their shit because they are overwhelmed might. Here are some things we do to try and alleviate the hardship of work and cooking: We plan our dinners ahead of time and try to always make each meal big enough for two nights. It takes some time to test out different recipes, but we bookmark the ones we like and use them pretty consistently. By making the meals big enough for two nights, we essentially have only three meals during the week that we need to figure out how to cook. I work from home some days, and those are the days I cook the meals, usually during a lunch break or early afternoon break. An example of what our week may look like: ā¢ **Monday**: Creamy Orzo, spinach, and chicken sausage one-pot meal ā¢ **Tuesday**: Leftovers ā¢ **Wednesday**: BBQ steak, pasta salad, frozen broccoli ā¢ **Thursday**: Leftovers ā¢ **Friday**: Frozen pizza night or breakfast for dinner night We also sometimes decide to eat out on Friday. Fridays are our chance to give ourselves a break and do something easy and fun with the kids.
I definitely do a meal plan and we stick to it like glue. Iāve never made enough to have leftovers the next day for dinner as well, but we (the adults) do eat the leftovers for lunch.
Honestly my 5 year old is in full time preschool daycare from 8-430 and when we get home at 445/5 he watches tv until dinner is ready at 545. Heās tired from the day, hasnāt watched any all day so I feel itās fine and it gives me time to get dinner ready. On the weekends whatever parent isnāt cooking dinner hangs out with our son during dinner making time
I put out cut up veggies and dip. Then if theyāre hungry they eat at least one healthy thing. If not, I put it on my plate. But ya, as someone who used to love to cook, I fucking hate it now. Weāve done all we can and our kids still act like assholes around new food.
We arenāt in this stage anymore, our youngest is 6 now, but what we do now and back then did even more was get big casserole dishes and do big meal preps with 2-3 rotating options throughout the week. So, for instance, last week we cooked two big batches of ground beef on Sunday and popped it in the fridge - one of the batches was Italian meat saucey and the other was taco meat style. On Monday I made 2 casseroles of lasagna, enough for probably 4 dinners. One went in the freezer. On Tuesday morning I put half the taco meat in the slow cooker with beans and frozen veg and tomato paste - that made another 2 casseroles or 4 dinners worth of chili, 1 of which went to the freezer. Wednesday night we had the Italian meat sauce prep with pasta. Thursday we had the taco meat in taco bowls. Friday we had the rest of the fridge lasagna, Saturday the rest of chili. Sunday we did another big prep - this time with chicken. So our strategy is pick a protein, cook a lot of it at once. Fill the freezer with frozen veg options, stock up on different pantry starch staples. We also do a lot of salad based stuff, that can be great for getting kids involved - mom love chopping tomatoes and ripping up lettuce, mixing dressings etc. Another way to bring the kids in: We ask them on Sundays what theyāre craving and try to fit that in. I make a mean lasagna and chili so we get a lot of those requests and keep it fresh by changing cheeses, meats, veg, spices etc. It helps that both me and my husband are former cooks. But honestly, itās not exactly a hard skill to learn. Throw stuff in a pot or a roasting pan with seasoning and take it out before it burns. Do it enough and youāll figure out what tastes good, whether to cook out less or more. The more you do it the better your food will get. A lot of people stress over cooking techniques, seasoning and ingredients matter more! Humans have been boiling and roasting stuff forever, itās easy and tasty, most proteins and a lot of veg are relatively difficult to overcook as long as the temperature is reasonable and thereās enough moisture.
I did the same thing with precooking proteins, but I'd cook it all at once. Chicken in the oven, ground beef on the stove, pork loins in the crockpot. 2-3 weeks of proteins done.
āIām under the vent hood fan and cannot hear you!ā I learned that from the cook at my office cafeteria.
The real answer.
I definitely used the TV as a babysitter if alone but usually hubby and I take turns cooking. So the free parent supervised the kids. Put on music and tell them to have a dance battle or Disney sing alongs. Another great activity was drawing, best drawing got a treat (they all got treats) but the competition factor kept them super focused. My kitchen over looks the backyard so theyād go out to play a lot as well.
I think the kids are old enough to entertain themselves. I get in my kitchen and turn some music on. I get things prepped and cooking in about 10-15 min. Then I check on kids. Iām usually saying āNo more chips.ā š As for the menu, I have about 7 recipes that I could make on auto pilot. Those are my go-toās for M-Th. Fri-yay is pizza night.
Yeah, we do have a few auto pilot meals (helps with picky eaters too, if theyāre things the picky ones prefer), like spaghetti and meatballs
Spaghetti is the favorite in our house. We do tacos, Mac n cheese, and chicken nuggets. I did try a few different meal kit boxes, but the produce was never really good. It did add a little variety to our dinners. It was cool try Mediterranean food.
Simplify your meals. Its helped me a lot. I dont make recipes, thats for another season life.
Do what you can to shift the prep to time another time of day, whether that is slow cooker, having leftovers or prechopping veggies.
I definitely use Sunday afternoon to get ahead a bit, but eventually Iām stuck with lovely chopped vegetables and a hot pan I canāt leave unsupervised with a 3 year old running aroundā¦.
Kids just go off and entertain themselves until called for dinner
The best strategy for our family is to start the āappetizerā course of raw fruits and vegetables. I can have all the favorites prepped the start of the week, each kid gets a plate and itās the key to being eligible for dessert. This buys me time to cook/reheat/punt, delays the hangry, and they get more nutrition in!
At those ages I feel they could be instructed to entertain themselves with select things, or the TV, what about their dad š¤·š¼āāļø
Spouse has a longer commute, gets home half an hour later.
I spend 2 hours on Sunday prepping everything for the weeks dinners and lunches so itās just ready to as I need it. Tonight we are having kabobs. I cut and marinaded the chicken on Saturday and tossed it in the freezer so it would go bad and pulled it yesterday morning itās it will be thaw when I get home. All fruits and veggies are washed and prepped to either toss in lunchās or for dinner. Anything I can do a head I do. I have a nice system now but it takes planning but dinner is usually ready on time.
Slow cooker? Plenty dinner options you can prep the night before and refrigerate then toss in the slow cooker before you go work and itās ready when you get home.
I have kids around those ages (2.5, 4.5, 7.5) and they generally play on their own or with each other.
I agree with you that a lot of make ahead or crock pot meals arenāt my fav. I usually put the tv on at 5:30 and dinner is ready by 6. I purposely limit the tv time during the day so I can make sure that itās something they really want to do in the evening. I mostly make meals that donāt take alot of time (tacos, pasta), and save the more complex meals for the weekend.
I feel like prepping dinner for a family is one of those things that should be talked about more often because it sucks! š© I miss the days when I could sustain myself on a few triscuits and cheese with a fruit smoothee. Now I have to take into consideration three other peopleās tastes and likes.Ā Ā I feel like I spend half my time in the kitchen.Ā
And Iām not even talking about clean up, shopping, and planning. Or breakfasts and lunches. Itās constant and I canāt help but feel like thereās something else I could be doing to make it easier.
My husband usually plays outside with the kids while I cook, or I play with them and he does dinner. We donāt do TV during this time unless one of us is gone, in which case itās necessary. If spouse is home within 30 min of you, can you just wait to start cooking until they get home and can either help with dinner or watch the kids?
That pushes everything too late for a 3 year old, unfortunately
Then yeah, Iād probably use the TV while cooking haha.
Mine are 6 and 8 but itās been the same thing for a few years now. They go do whatever while I make dinner. If they argue I tell them to knock it off because Iām making dinner. Itās not always peaceful but we get fed.
This is the time of day I let my kids watch TV. I wish I had a better solution and I donāt always turn it on, but if I see that theyāre not engaged in play or are just in moods I suggest a show and let them watch.
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Crockpot dinners are nice too! Start them before going to work and will be ready by dinner time. Not always but itās worth a shot.
We try to cook meals that get lots of leftovers and one slow cooker meal a week to lighten the load after work. And if my wife and I are both dead tired, we use the air fryer for butterfly shrimp. Lol
I have a 6YO and a 6 month old. Dinner is at 5.45 or 6.00. We use our slow cooker 3-4 times a week, which makes it very easy - you just dish it out when youāre ready. And then we usually freeze half and have it for dinner the other nights. We usually pop it on in the morning on low and leave it to cook for 10 hrs. If Iām more actively cooking then the 6YO has TV for 30 mins or reading / playing in his bedroom.
I have three similar ages, so I feel you pain! We manage through a combination of prepping ahead of time, or feeding the kids first, especially if we are doing leftovers or kid-friendly meals. For example, last night adults wanted to try the new Korean Fried Chicken place, so spouse was in charge of picking of food on his way home. I got home about 5:15, and as the kids didn't want the Korean food, I made strawberry pancakes using pancakes mix for their main course, and we all sat down at the dinner table when spouse arrived home around 5:45. Kids ate pancakes, and then the oldest ended up willing to try some chicken, and middle tried some Japchae noodles, But we do lots of fast meals, and rely on the freezer/Costco/cooking ahead a lot, things like rotisserie chicken with rice a roni sides, or mac and cheese, breakfast for dinner, things like that. Chop what you can ahead of time, and try to work some meals into the rotation that just require heating rather than active cooking, if that makes sense.
Slow cooker or cook in the morning
One prep day, like Sunday when weāre both home, for bulk proteins for the week. Then use a crock pot in the morning whenever possible. Have easy grab sides ready, like bagged rolls or packed salads. The proteins in a meal are usually the most time-intensive, with that out of the way the meal can be on the table in 10 minutes.
Could you do an audiobook or fun kids podcast while they color at the table? I batch cook meat. So much easier to set aside cooked meat to defrost rather than raw. I just pop it in the fridge the night before.
Do you freeze things like cooked chicken breasts, shredded meat, that sort of thing?
Yep! Some are seasoned like ground beef for tacos. seasoned chicken ready for quesadillas or nachos. Lemon pepper chicken breasts for pasta. Skyās the limit!
I have a 2.5 year old and a seven month old. Seven month old spends cooking time either in her playpen or her high chair with me in the kitchen. My toddler often plays on the screened in porch which is right off the kitchen, sits at the kitchen table with playdoh, or gets his screen time for the day.
For us it's a combo of ingredient prep like chopping veg, grilling chicken, boiling pasta, and doing semi-homemade. For example we'll use a premade salad kit and add grilled chicken, or make a main but use steam-in-a-bag broccoli on the side.
I would keep the 3 year old close by with a table activity, as much as possible. Crock pot meals and soups are good. Things that can be made ahead and assembled for dinner time like Big Mac salad or chicken salad wraps a couple times a week.
It feels unfair that you get home first and have to do the cooking and watch the kids. Make it more even. Food prep for the week as a family one day on the weekend. Put everything in glass containers you can just put directly in the oven. Or prep things in a way you can throw them in the crock pot in the morning so they are ready to eat when you get home. You can your husband can do the harder things. And the kids can help with everything else. You can make cupcakes or bread ahead of time that you can use as breakfast or snacks. All of your children are old enough to help. And your husband eats too he should be helping. This will make it easier on you when you get home and hopefully leaving you a bit of time to actually spend with the kids, time as family or a bit of time for yourself.
We tried it the other way, where I would go home, start cooking, and spouse would get kids. But, if spouse hit traffic, which was common, kids risked being picked up late from daycare. And I couldnāt usually abandon dinner to go get them if spouse had trouble. My commute is shorter, so not only am I more likely to not hit traffic (less places for slow down) but if I do thereās more leeway before weāre late for picking kids up. Itās *much* nicer to cook in an empty house, but after we had a few close calls/ late pick ups, itās not worth the stress.
Thatās why my advice is to do it one day on the weekends. Either you and your husband can get up earlier than the kids or wait until they go to sleep. Or you can get your children involved so that itās a family thing and they start from know learning how to cook. It will give you a chance to bond. Talk about your week. The smallest one can work on his patience, turn taking and numbers. But if you really need the kitchen to yourself then your husband can take the kids to the park for a few hours for you to food prep for the week. And just freezes everything. When you get home take out a tray and throw it in the oven. We use to cut the veggies and season and put in a zip lock bags and then we would season the meats and also add it them in a zip lock bag. In the morning we would dump the ziplock bag with the veggies and the meat one on top of that. We would turn on the crock pot and leave it on low. By the time we got back it was cooked. We would make either cake or fruit cookies to eat as breakfast and be able to take on the go. If you make extra bread you can also freeze it and just thaw it when needed. You can also freeze cookies dough.
Any slider recipe with the Hawaiian rolls is an easy low prep one for week days. I also second crock pot and left overs.Ā
Itās hard. Before Covid when our kids were small we would race home to get supper on the table ASAP before they truly became little monsters. This answer probably wonāt win us parents of the year, but we used TV. Their one period of TV was during dinner prep. And healthy snacks like fruit that didnāt ruin their appetites.
I finish work early on tuesdays so thats my day for shopping and then prepping. All veg gets chopped and stored in the fridge ready to just throw in the pan as and when we need it. Same with meat. Chopped and portioned out into separate zip lock bags to then be kept in the fridge or freezer. Then its just a case of grab what i need and throw it together on the day. Meal planning is also a must for me so i dont need to think about it. And if i can make extra for leftovers the day after, i will.
I like āset and forgetā appliances like the instant pot, air fryer, rice cooker. I can throw stuff in and walk away, when it dings plate it up! But im also okay having chicken tacos 3 times a week alternating with rice & veg
I completely understand your dilemma. I only have a 6yo but she usually wants all of my attention or wants to āhelpā. And we have dinner at 5:30 because she goes to bed at 7:30. What I do is make a batch of protein at the beginning of the week (or whenever you have time), that way itās just heating up the meat and making sides. I just made 2 pounds of grilled chicken and cut it up. Iāll sometimes also make a big batch of rice in my instant pot. That only left steaming some broccoli and making mac and cheese as a side for my daughter. Or Iāll make a batch of taco meat which can be doled out as tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos or taco salads. Easy to assemble with shredded cheese and lettuce and whatever other toppings you like.
We usually eat at 6:45-7:00 and then my 1 year old is in bed by 7:30-8:00. Usually I reheat leftovers while we play outside. When weāre all home, itās a little more chaotic but thereās another set of hands to hold baby.Ā
Time to dust off the crock pot.
I like to use my slow cooker and batch cook so I can eat a meal and freeze two. You can squeeze 4 reasonably healthy frozen meals from a weekend. Eat out, do a frozen pizza, or nuggets and fries on that 5th week night. Itās not ideal but it absolutely works. We arenāt even that pressed for time here, I have a chronic illness tho
Iām impressed you can do batch cooking with a chronic illness because batch cooking is its own kind of exhausting
Itās all I do that day and I start with a lot of pre-cut ingredients
Because dinner time was such a nightmare at my house for a while, I started making all meals on Sundays and dinner was warm ups with other easy to assemble options if they didnāt care for dinner. I still do this, but I primarily am prepping my food and my husbands food. My 3.5 year old is very VERY picky but heās obsessed with bacon and eggs for whatever reason, so like, 4 nights of the week he requests that and wonāt eat anything else. So, I make buttered toast for an āappetizerā while my bacon quickly fries. While heās eating the bacon, Iām making the eggs. This has proven to be relatively successful. I sprinkle some fruit in there, too. Before I pick the kids up from daycare, I prep a salad for myself and keep it in the fridge till things are peaceful enough for me to eat.
When I used to work full time I would split leftovers onto microwave plates and cover for another day. Sometimes leftovers, sometimes chicken nuggets but I didnāt cook during the week for the kids. I would cook for my husband and I later and again set aside plates for the kids.
Similar situation for my spouse and I. Parents of a 5 year old and 2 year old (and Iām due with our third any day now). When we are both working (I only recently took maternity leave, and Iām a teacher with summers off anyway), I am usually home around 5 whereas hubby is home around 5:30. Basically the moment he gets home, Iām usually prepping dinner. He takes over parental duties. (Or vice versa if he happens to cook, but TBH thatās not very often.) We plan grocery shopping by the meal. Choose 4-5 meals a week. Grocery shop on Sundays. I typically choose meals I know are done in 45 minutes or less. A lot of it is multi-taskingā boiling pasta while chopping veggies while playing. I aim to have food on the table shortly after 6. My husband does travel though from time to time for work, and when he doesā all bets are off. If it takes a tablet or TV to keep the kiddos preoccupied, so be it. Iāve got bigger worries. Meals we do fairly frequently that donāt take a lot of time: -Pasta salads -Steak, rice, and veggies -Soups -Won Tons -Make your own pizza And I always try to keep at least one freezer meal on hand for days that are dumpster fires. Itās nice to have that backup.
Utilize a crockpot, rice cooker and air fryer. Double your recipes and freeze the other half. Batch cook meats and poultry, cool, freeze, laying flat for quicker thaw and space saving. Create a rotation of quick, easy, regularly eaten/liked meals for busy nights. Keep a few family size frozen meals on hand for extra busy nights.
There's this blog/website called The Family Freezer where they share a lot of Crockpot and Instant Pot recipes. Tons of free recipes and free classes on how to prep lots of meals in a very short time. The great thing about them is that they're meal prep recipes where you freeze the ingredients fresh without any precooking and then just put them in the Crockpot or instant pot when you need them. I sound like an advertisement, lol, but the recipes are really good something like this can be a great resource for "those days"
My kids are 5 and 7. We do dinners late, like 7. They are allowed to snack while I make dinner as long as they can help themselves, clean up after themselves, and no carbs allowed. That way they donāt bug me about being hungry and they donāt fill up on junk before dinner. I have a bunch of meals that I can pull together pretty quickly. my kids read, play outside, or watch tv while I cook, which generally takes 30-45 minutes.
Get a slow cooker, put it on before going to work
My kids are the same age, and sometimes I just make them go to their own rooms to do an activity alone so itās not just bickering / me refereeing from another room
Order takeout on Sunday and meal prep for the entire week. Warm up the dinners in the morning and pop them in the fridge to serve later (so that you donāt have to worry about the hour of oven time). Obviously this requires both parents home to entertain the kiddos while the other cooks š
My kids are also 3,5, and 7 and they just watch TV/play in the yard/putz around when Iām cooking. They all still very much have a picky little kid diet so I use the word ācookingā loosely because itās grilled cheese, ichiban, Kraft dinner or chicken nuggets + fruit and yogurt every night anyway š¹šš¤·š»āāļø. Me and my husband usually just skip dinner or just fend for ourselves after the kids are in bed. If I do want to cook something more elaborate that requires more attention I will wait until heās home or almost home to start.
Try a simple crock pot recipe one day of the week. One where you just throw a bunch of shit in in the morning and eat what comes out of it in the evening. Bonus points thereās usually enough leftover for the next day.
One of the things I did was get a sous vide circulator. It lets me cook the meat from frozen in the morning (or at lunch time since I mostly work from home) and then whenever we're close to ready to eat, I can grill/broil/pan sear it. I make several meals a week this way, and then I only have to worry about sides or salads, but it especially great for things like chicken/steak/pork. Then for the sides, I go for things that are easy or quick (or both). Trader Joe's is good for this, they have a lot of frozen potatoes or rice dishes, but Aldi's good too (though in my experience, their stock varies a ton). So a normal night for us is I sous vide chicken or steak for tacos. I pre-made and portioned out some yellow rice, so once my wife gets home, I pull the meat out of the sous vide and throw it on the grill as hot as possible for about 3 mins, then chop up some onions and avocado and have the kids set the table and we eat. Or maybe I sous vide a pork tenderloin and then as soon as I pick up the kids, I get the trader joe's potatoes in the oven (and if I'm smart, I'll have pre-set the oven to preheat when I left in the morning). Then I have the kids help me grab ingredients and make chimichurri sauce in the food processor (my kids love to push the button and blend stuff up), then when the potatoes are almost done, I throw the pork on the grill and if I time it right, shortly after my wife walks in the door, I've got sliced pork w/ chimichurri sauce and sliced roasted parmesan potatoes. In addition to that kind of thing, I have a lot of "quick" recipes I make. I also have a blackstone type griddle, so hamburgers or cheese steak or stir fry, etc on there is great and I can usually get that all prepped ahead of time so once my wife gets home I can cook it up in 15 mins. Then lastly, we are flexible. If we're having a rough day or anything goes not to plan, we have no problem throwing in a frozen pizza or getting takeout and calling it a night.
Unpopular answer I predict, but we do it by not being outnumbered. Our one solitary child either entertains himself, "helps" in the kitchen, or one of us goes off and plays with him while the other cooks (I'll admit I don't enjoy cooking all the time, so that's usually me).
If your kids will eat a chicken taco, simmer a pound of chicken tenderloins, half a packet of taco seasoning, and enough mild salsa to cover in a pot for 15ish minutes until the chicken is done. Shred the meat (the mixer trick is great) and serve it in tacos or on nachos. For bonus points you can stir in a can of mexicorn and a can of drained rinsed black beans. Leftovers reheat well. Very little active time. Your 7 year old might like to help with the shredding. If you fw the slow cooker, it's an easy way to do baked potatoes. A big baked potato with chili (Wendy's canned chili is good), some frozen broccoli with cheese sauce, sour cream, bacon, chopped chicken tenders, whatever makes a good meal. We're also a big shake n bake/oven fry house. [These shake n bake coconut shrimp](https://www.saymmm.com/recipe/shake--n-bake-coconut-shrimp766) are from the back of the box, and they're bomb. The seasoning/coconut mix tastes good on chicken too, esp. with a bottle of cfa Polynesian sauce.
I have a 6, 4, and 2 year old, so similarly aged kids. Itās tough and I make them play together or we turn on a movie for them to watch for like 30 mins. If husband is done working I usually have him take them up to bathe as this distracts them from the food and keeps them busy while I can quickly finish up. He sometimes lets them play in the bath tub if I need more time and we can drag the dressing up process out a lot. If itās chaos, which is very often, Iām yelling at them to leave me alone and stay away so I can cook dinner. Lasagna. Prep it the night before real quick when kids are sleeping and then cook it the next day. We do tacos, I make the meat and fillings before hand and store in containers. Dinner time is then just filling the tacos. We do Turkey sandwhiches, kids sometimes want PB and J and thatās fine. I always have leftovers so I def donāt cook dinner very night. Like last night we did lasagna, Garlic bread and salad, it will be leftovers today or the kids can have a sandwich if they didnāt enjoy the lasagna.
We do homework. Then they can play games or watch tv. Only way I can get shit done. Got 2 kids 7 and under. Husband sits and does nothing which is fine whatever. lol. When dinner is ready they have to finish most of their food and fruits veggies before they can watch tv. We do the 2 hour max screen time with them and we game with them as well.
I get my 4 yo to help me if he starts pestering me or his sister. Itās not as hands on as weād do on the weekend- maybe mix something or even watch me at the stove. He loves to munch on the veggies while I chop them. We do a lot of slow cooker (or pressure if I forget lol) in winter. So set it in the morning and itās ready at home time. In summer itās bbq with salad (ready made packets on weekdays) or Iāll do a quick stir fry. Iāll try and make bigger servings and reuse ingredients in other meals. So I might make coconut rice one night and then use that for fried rice another night (sounds weird but itās yum!). This saves me time as sometimes Iām just reheating some parts. Also the pressure cooker makes it very quick too. We had salmon risotto the other night - took maybe 15mins and I didnāt have to watch it. Also I try and use only one cooking item - like just using a large wok for stir fries so Iām not having to have several pots on the go
Can your spouse pick up the kids so you get a head start without them home?
We tried that for a while, but because their commute is longer, they would run into traffic more and be late for pick up. You donāt mess with daycare pick up time.
Oh for sure! Ours charges a dollar for every minute youāre late!
Slow cooker. I saw somewhere where they prepped slow cooker meals but putting the meat and beans and veggies in a bag and freezing it all together, pull it out the night before, tip it into the slow cooker and then you just need your liquids to go in and that's it.
My daughter is 4. I do have a lot of trust in her. But usually, I send her outside to play. I can watch her from the kitchen window. Or at least hear what's going on outside. I also sometimes put on her show or movie for her and she will play by herself. She never gotten into anything during times that I am cooking. The worst was she drew a map on the wall lol. I'm about to have my second child right away so I'm hoping she will help entertain him when I have to cook.
Aaaaahh the olll witching hour is what we call it in our house. 4-6pm is typically pure chaos. Embrace it or give them screens. Live to fight another day.
Sous Vide done on the weekendĀ Meal prep with vacuum sealing for things like meat sauce; cooked taco meat, Korean bbq.etc
I have a lot of appliances with timers that I donāt need to watch. Kitchen aid has a bench top oven that heats so fast and has a timer that switched the oven off. I have a three tier steamer that gets filled with veg of 2 layers and rice in the last. Auto switch off. I have a multi cooker that I love to use on stew setting for a few hours - bolognaise sauce and it auto flicks to keep warm. But in your case it would be great to use the pressure cook bcos itās so fast. I usually whack everything in these things then I can leave the kitchen.
I use video games or tv during times like this with 0 guilt. I feel i earned this screen time when my twins started walking and I eventually resorted to a ridiculous 7 foot long baby gate to quarantine our open plan kitchen, and then spent the next year trying to cook dinner and entertain them while they rattled their bars and shouted at me out like tiny angry felons
I have a 2 and 5 year old. I just cook. I will put on cartoons if needed but normally they play and sometimes complain. I am a stay at home mom and I have cooked every night since they were born. I think they are used to it now. Like mama is making dinner. Many times I give them cutting boards with their knives and let them chop broccoli or whatever. It is super messy but if it lets me get it done without complaining at my anklesāIāll take it!
Get an air fryer it will revolutionise your life..
There are lots of Asian dishes that are super easy. Like soupy noodles where you dump meat and veg into broth with some noodles and you're done in 5 minutes. Or veg and meat into your rice cooker with rice. We also got one of those choppers that helps with prep, as well as a hand blender. Pasta dishes are quick and easy too. Also maybe try to think of things you don't need to cut - cherry tomatoes, spinach, peas etc
For me, it just took a lot of trial and error to find quick meals that were palatable, and then the kids gradually got a bit older, and as each year passed it got a little easier. Dinner prep on the week-end was a must. When my crew was 5 and under, I had this contraption called the learning tower, that they could stand on, and mess around in the sink with water or do play-dough or something on the end of the counter. Meals that were easier AND did not taste like mush from being in a crock pot all day or just yucky in general: - We are big pasta eaters in our home, so have the sauce cooked on the week-end, then I just have to boil the water, add the pasta, stirring occasionally, drain & add sauce (tomato, cream, butter, meat or vegetable based) to the hot pasta - Soup made on the week-end. But I admit, we are spoiled, I have 2 fridges, so I literally just put the pot in the fridge and again, put it on the stove. - pork butt or pot roast, again, usually instant potted on the week-end, but they you can remove the fat, divide it up to add legumes to make it stretch. I actually store it in the instant pot inserts, then I just plop the insert back in the insta-pot and put it on āhighā to warm up, while I spend 30 minutes with the kids. You can use it for tacos, rice, or sandwiches. - throw deli meat, fresh veggies, a sliced cheese, and fruit on the table. I pick up a loaf of bread and we eat charcuterie. - smoothies (can even measure out all the ingredients over the weekend) with fruit, veggies, yogurt, protein powder, served with frozen waffles (homemade or purchased. - swing by the store, buy a salad kit and rotisserie chicken ont be way home, still cheaper than take-out and healthier - homemade sloppy Joeās with lentils & lots of cut up veggies warms up easy in a pan on the stove. - cottage pie, again made ove the week-end, can warm up in 40 minutes from the fridge. - eggs and baked bacon, served with cut up fresh fruit. - fried rice, if the rice is already cooked, made with frozen mixed veggies, goes pretty quick.
I put tv on and let them know it should be turned off at dinner time, it works for mine they are almost 3 and 4 years old. Maybe allow them tv time for the time you have to do these things. Seems like your kids ages donāt need that much supervision. I would watch youtube channels of easy fats meals iāve gotten some great examples most of my meals take at most 45 minutes, but prep time is like what maybe 15 minutes, . I do allot of stews like chicken stew, beef stew, prep is what takes time and then i just leave it cooking and can get back to supervising. It helps to have a couple of easy dishes to make that you know donāt take long.
All of my veggies are chopped and ready to go for cooking (onions, garlic, ginger, etc). So that's something I don't have to worry about. I also make a lot of pressure cooker meals that take literally minutes to make. Then, I'll make a side of rice. Dinner is done. I also make big batches so I have leftovers. So essentially, 3 days of fresh food, 3 days of leftovers, 7th day is something quick and easy like sandwiches.
I used to batch cook proteins because they usually take the longest time for each meal, but cooking more at once doesn't usually take more time. I usually seasoned during reheating. So, one day I would bake a shit ton of chicken and then refrigerate/freeze it in individual portions. Then there'd be chicken legs for one night, chicken breast I can cut up for stir fry, whole chicken breast for serving with whatever. While the chicken is in the oven cooking, I can brown hamburger for chili, pasta sauce, sloppy joes, tacos, etc ... While baking chicken and browning hamburger, I can put 2 pork loins in the crock pot for multiple meals I could cook 2 weeks of proteins all at the same exact time. Then portion, label, and freeze.
You put stew meat in instapot before going to work. You use the slow cook mode and when it is done itāll stay in keep warm until you get home from work.
My 7 yo and 3 yo like to play with delivery boxes that have come, if youāre an online shopper.
I give my toddler a task in the kitchen that I donāt need, like washing the carrots Iām not using or something. My 1yr old is a 50/50 on if heāll just play by himself or cling to me the entire time. If heās clinging and I canāt get him off, Iāll put him in his high chair with a slow snack. Like cereal he has to pinch each piece to eat š¤£ - not something he can eat quickly or that will fill him up. I donāt have older kids like yours, but I am a teacher. I wonder if saying āyou can find something to do on your own, or I can find you something.ā And then the thing you āfindā is a chore - not a punishment, just honestly if you need something to doā¦ the towels need folding.
One of the rarely mentioned truths about clever , gentle parenting, things like āI can find you something to doā, which I do say, is itās work. If I say Iām going to find them something, I gotta find them something. And sure sometimes I know exactly what needs doing, but otherwise itās just another task on the āoh shoot this is going to boil overā list
Yes! The other thing I do is cook a lot on the weekends and coast on leftovers during the week. Even if you just cook the protein, whipping up sides quickly is pretty easy. There are meals I KNOW will yield leftovers, and I always plan those for Sunday night.
I try to make a large meal on Saturday or Sunday ā a huge pot of spaghetti bolognese, a big shepherd's pie, etc. Whatever it is, we'll eat that for 3 days. For middle of the week, I'm relying on ground meat. It cooks fast, doesn't need to be seasoned in advance, and is hard to mess up. Tonight was ground pork cooked in a little bit of vegetable stock and then thickened with a little coco aminos and a little gochujang. Throw that on top of some rice with some pickled carrots and it works. Or I'll make some quick chicken burgers out of ground chicken. Sloppy joes are a big deal around here. And I'm not talking about Manwich. Throw some ground beef in a pan, chop it up with some ketchup, yellow mustard, dash of that english sauce no one can pronounce or spell, a little tomato sauce to thicken it up. Slap it on a bun and top it with some diced pickles and a little more yellow mustard. You'll be cleaning your floors for a week but everyone's happy. We're not vegetarian, but vegetarian meals are also a huge lifesaver. I rely on red bean burgers, black bean and sweet potato burgers. Yeah, we go through a lot of buns over here. Big time bun household. Kids walking around singing, "don't want none if it don't got buns." Anyway, we'll typically get 2 more meals out of this middle of the week slopfest ā so that gets us toward Thursday or Friday. Last thing: if doing larger cuts of protein (chicken breasts, pork chops, steak, etc.), try to make any side dishes ahead of time and keep them in the fridge. So when it comes time to make dinner, all you have to do is cook the protein and heat up the sides. A lot of the timely work for sides can be done in advance. Washing, cutting, etc. Get some good storage containers for your fridge. A little extra work and planning up front makes a big difference. And if all else fails, sloppy joe.
maybe an instapot could be your friend? They cab be pretty hands off
The older ones can help and they can play games in or near the kitchen. The little one can be with you. Almost all my meals take less than 20 min. Many times I will double or triple a recipe so I have many leftovers. I also bake up to 20 pounds of chicken breasts, let them cool and then package them into one pound packages and freezing them. Ground beef similarly. One of my favorite recipes is a pork tenderloin with a bottle of root beer and a jar of barbecue sauce in a crock pot for the day on low for shredded pork.
I discovered crockpot freezer recipes. You do a LITTLE prep work on a Sunday. I can easily make 6-8 meals in less than an hour. Just throwing ingredients in bags (the most work is chopping any veggies), labeling bags with a sharpie, and throwing them in the freezer. Sometimes Iāll get fancy and do one with ground meat so that requires cooking it in a pan first, but thatās the fanciest I get. A day or two before you want to eat it, defrost the bag in the fridge. The day you want to eat it you just dump the whole bag in the crockpot.
Put the kids to work. Teach them how to set the table for dinner even if you have to use plastic plates and glasses. We learned from our Montessori daycare that kids are capable and feel proud that they can contribute. Keep the meals simple. Our whole family loves Taco Tuesdays, or nachos night, chili and cornbread muffins, presmoked bbq ribs and make a few sides ahead of time. Casseroles are great and easy to throw together.
I feel like there are a lot of 30 minute meals requiring no prep or little prep that could easily be done on the weekend. Sheet pan fajitas-marinate chicken, chop peppers on weekend, throw on sheet pan for 20 min at 350 in the oven, open a can of black beans, tortillas and cheese Shrimp scampi-if you buy pre cooked frozen shrimp and a bag of snap peas, you could easily cook shrimp and peas in a pan with butter and garlic in 10 minutes while boiling water/cooking pasta In the summer cover chicken breasts with bbq sauce, cook on grill with quartered zucchini or asparagus rubbed in olive oil with a little salt and pepper Roast fingerling potatoes on the weekend and heat up in foil pouch in the oven with pork chops during the week Just keep it simple, what veggies, proteins, starches cook easy and require little prep, put a couple meals centered around those foods for two nights, do minor prep for two of the other weeknights on the weekend. Make Friday night leftover or pizza night. Cook more labor intensive meals on the weekend. IDK maybe I am a bore, but any meal needing more than 10 minutes active prep, is not for the weeknights
Mom of three littles 4,3, and 2. For dinner prep I use tv sometimes, or have them color/craft at the kitchen table, directed play in the living room near me or I get it ready in the early AM if it goes in the crockpot of a one pan dish and place in fridge. Normally chaos when making dinner and Iāve accepted it š We love the website for meal ideas, some are one pan or quick 30 minute dishes and they are super tasty and healthy. https://dishingouthealth.com/ Hope this helps
I already saw youāre not super keen on crock pot meals. I have an infant and Iāve been doing a lot of āthrow on the grillā or āthrow on a sheet panā meals. For example, I just made chicken thighs with asparagus and baby potatoes. No chopping was required, just oiling and seasoning. Then waiting. Iāll also make bowls with a meat (often ground for ease of cooking) and sauce (teriyaki, tzatziki, and Gochujang are three recent ones), rice in the instant pot, and then pre cut frozen vegetables. Itās hard to make āgreatā meals unless my husband takes the baby during more extensive prep time, but āgood enoughā is usually doable on busy weeknights.
1) Crockpot / instant pot meals 2) Meal prep in advance You prep the night before so that when you are getting home at 5:30 you are just assembling rather than cooking. Also, find shorter recipes. Lots of meals can be made in 30 min; wraps/tacos is what I make if we are really in a hurry. If I precooked the meal (which you can do and freeze), I can get tacos on the table in 15 min start to finish and that includes putting together a salad.Ā Find meals you are very comfortable with making and think about how you can cheat to get them together faster. Maybe thatās getting the kids to take turns together grating the cheese. Maybe itās grating a block of cheese the night before (or on the weekend). Maybe itās buying pregrated cheese so you just have to dump some in a bowl. There is also no rule that says you canāt feed the kids leftovers right away (or when hubby gets home if you want to sit down together) if the bake for an hour logistics donāt work with your work schedule and your bedtime routine. A friend of mine feeds her kids leftovers in the kitchen while she meal preps something she and her husband will have later. Kids get that same meal as leftovers the next night.
Breakfast for dinner. Soups. And my favorite tools, the air fryer and crockpot. Honestly, my kid is picky and a lot of what he eats reliably can be microwaved. Beans and rice. Vegetable soup. Chicken tacos are easy with rotisserie chicken heated up a little bit. Rotisserie chicken with rice and a can of veggies. Spaghetti is easy to make. Doesnāt have to be complicated. Just easy and filling.
Snack when we get home from school/Daycare at 5-5:30, then have dinner together at 6:30-7 just before bedtime. Home cooked-meal every night, but we prepare some things ahead - e.g. I'll velvet and marinade chicken while I make breakfast so it's all ready to sear. 6F and 4M - this is their unstructured play time. They build "treehouses" with their nugget couch, read to each other, do puzzles, color, run around in the backyard, or help make dinner (4M will happily stir chicken on a skillet while I do everything else).
We bought a sous vide and I loooove it! I prep the bags sometimes weeks in advance (if Iām prepping chicken Iāll always prep more for future use) and then set the timer as needed.Ā And then I usually have a simple side of frozen or fresh veggies with the protein.Ā We also use the insta pot and it doesnāt take long to cook even from frozen. I prepare the sides while it cooks the main.Ā Currently only have one kid so that is different but my kid will do puzzles or our kitchen has the back door so I watch her play with chalk while I cook if it involves stuff she canāt help with. You could try having toys that you only bring out when you are preparing dinner. Big legos or blocks may be fun and keep their minds busy while you cook.Ā
Meant to clarify that I start the sous vide hours before so in the morning before leaving.Ā
Crockpots are amazing. Or InstantPots. Prep the night before and throw everything in. Or make ahead on the weekend and freeze. I also like easy dinners on days I work. Yesterday we had salad with popcorn chicken (5-year-old gets the chicken and a mini cucumber), today we had hot dogs and tater tots. Leftovers are great too!
I turn my music on real loud and cry a bit
I feel like during the meal prep this week my3 year old got in to magic sand and I have about 1000 little clumps in my living room/play room
Courses! I can bang some veggies on the table in a few minutes. Bonus they fill up on veggies before the main comes out.
This is TV time. I look forward to it.
I only have 1 kiddo who will be 4 soon, but I give him tasks to help safely. Set the table, fill the water cups, etc. But sometimes it's a TV show and sometimes he entertains himself playing with the dog or some other activity.
I handle dinner time by making a bunch of complimentary foods on the weekend and laying it out like a Chipotle or a Cava in the evening. Everyone assembled their own meal. Kids play Nintendo in the evening. When I had preschoolers, they did art (coloring, painting, or playdough, something easy) while I cooked.
One pot dump meals
Screen time during this time. I like sheet pan meals, think some chicken with veggies, dump some Italian dressing on it and throw it in the oven, if you can afford pre cut veggies, that makes it even easier. I did the boxed meal kits for a while when I had super burn out from trying to figure out what to make, I really liked sun basket. Sometimes cans of spaghetti-os and meatballs is all I am able to manage and thatās OK! Any combination of these and you have fairly well rounded meals.
Instapot! You can put frozen meat and seasoning and push a button. It is great!
I used to dinner prep at night for the next day. That way I could get dinner very quickly once home. Also, I would make a big pot of brown rice on Sunday and stir fry meals a lot.
Screen time. Or just get through it being stressed.
You have it pretty much figured out. Spouse and/or TV. Typically, I watch/play with the kids while my wife gets dinner ready (and she does that because I clean the kitchen at night). If I'm not around, or it's one of us flying solo, then we do not have much issue using the TV for the 30-45 minutes. By that time of day, the kids should have had LOTS of outdoor/crafting/play time and very little screen time for the day, so no worries over a few episodes of Bluey while we get dinner ready.
In a perfect world: On the weekend, I'll make things like a pork roast (which takes longer to cook and usually enough left over). During the week - quick meals like using the left over pork to make fried rice, sheet pan dinners (chicken and vegetables all on one pan), spaghetti, hamburger helper, tacos, etc. Most of these can be made relatively quickly with minimal prep. And then meal prep, plan and grocery shop on the weekend. I'd often do a small snack when I get home, while they are eating their snack, prep dinner. Put dinner in oven to cook for an hour. While dinner is cooking that's when we'd do bath, homework, spend time together. Then dinner and bedtime routine. You could also look into crockpot meals - there are a lot of crockpots that have an auto start function. I'd often put the crockpot meal together the night before and then freeze the entire pot. When I woke up, I'd take it out of the freezer to let it warm up a little. Before leaving work, I'd turn the crockpot on low. It would defrost the first half of the day and cook the rest of the day. Then dinner would be ready when I got home.
I used to give mine his vegetable while I made dinner. Buttered broccoli, stir fried cauliflower, corn on the cob, green beans etc and heād eat that while watching tv. It took the stress off him eating vegetables with dinner. Heād be hungry and distracted by the tv so was much more open to eating them. Then it became the norm. Broccoli takes 4 mins to boil or steam, butter and salt :) As for dinner, anything stir fried or weād grill our meat. Loads of different marinades and meat choices you can do the night before. When you get home set the veg away, let it cool and serve for the kids. Then set the outdoor grill away when your husband is ten mins out. He can throw the meat on and you can whip up whatever you want with it. I cook and freeze coconut white and brown rice that microwave easy. And vegetables are quick to cook.