Working mom, 2 kids, sports! Dinner ideas?

chrystenfo

Here's the issue, I work full time and my young kids (elementary school) are in sports Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday night. Work ends at 5, sports start at 6 and end at 7. Home by 7:30.

I have been getting them a snack (fruit or granola) between work and practice, but dinner feels impossible. What are some of your tips for dinner on these crazy nights. How do I have three of these nights in a row!!!

ArmsandCharms

Following! I have the same issue. I feel like a bad mom not making a nutritious dinner every night, but How?? We barely have time for showers and homework.

bigmuney

Make their father cook

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ArmsandCharms

LiftingLady5 wrote: »

I would say make the crockpot your friend. Tacos, pulled pork, chicken, chicken tacos, soups, fajitas, all that stuff can be done in the crock pot. You can even get those crockpot liners that make clean up a breeze. I haven't tried them but I've seen them mentioned. I feel you. I have five kids and we have sports every night but tuesday. I am a stay home mom, but even I do the crockpot because once they get home from school we are usually out the door and gone until 8 or 8:30.

I have used those crockpot liners. They are amazing!

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angel7472

I have 2 daughters that right now play volleyball. Last week not one child was home at the same time for dinner. During the summer is softball and the same thing happens.
Crock pot has become my best friend. You can search Allrecipes.com or Pinterest.
http://www.sixsistersstuff.com
http://just2sisters.com/100-amazing-crock-pot-recipes/
Just a couple that I follow. Good luck. It don't get easier as they get older. Mine are teens and I'm lucky if if we get to sit down as a family one day a week.

chrystenfo

bigmuney wrote: »

Make their father cook

Well this seems uncalled for. He also works and he and I coach their teams. I was asking for ideas, not for snarky answers.

qwikstreet

Crock pot will be your savior. Especially since you can literally throw frozen chicken breasts in there and let it cook for hours without it being looked after. We even use a timer that will turn on the crock pot at a certain time so we know it will be ready at the time we need it.

chrystenfo

LiftingLady5 wrote: »

allrecipes.com is a good site or pinterest....I've just put chicken breasts in the crockpot with a packet of taco seasoning and some water...was very easy to shred several hours later and the kids liked it in tortillas and taco shells.

Thank you, I have heard of crockpot liners but never used them. I sometimes have a problem with my food overcooking since I leave for work so early. I know this sounds like excuses, but just wondering if you have any tips to keep that from happening.

chrystenfo

qwikstreet wrote: »

Crock pot will be your savior. Especially since you can literally throw frozen chicken breasts in there and let it cook for hours without it being looked after. We even use a timer that will turn on the crock pot at a certain time so we know it will be ready at the time we need it.

The timer is an awesome idea, overcooking can be a problem!

PLAID1977

I've got 4 kids, all involved in multiple sports every night. It's rough! I feel your pain!
The crock pot will be your bff. Also rotisserie chicken and frozen veggies or raw veggies with dressing/dip. Make extras of anything you make on your less busy nights to either eat as leftovers or re-purpose into another meal. For example: Grilled chicken and veggies and rice on Sunday? Leftover chicken, sliced up becomes the center for a fajita or chicken and cheese quesadilla on Wednesday! Pot roast in the crock pot on Monday? Chop it up, add barley and broth...Beef Barley Vegetable Soup on Thursday!

Plan ahead and this totally works!

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wwkwag

LiftingLady5 wrote: »

I would say make the crockpot your friend. Tacos, pulled pork, chicken, chicken tacos, soups, fajitas, all that stuff can be done in the crock pot. You can even get those crockpot liners that make clean up a breeze. I haven't tried them but I've seen them mentioned. I feel you. I have five kids and we have sports every night but tuesday. I am a stay home mom, but even I do the crockpot because once they get home from school we are usually out the door and gone until 8 or 8:30.

100% this!

SkinnyGirlCarrie

same boat here! 2 kids in multiple sports, we've got a practice every weeknight and several games over the weekend. crockpot is good...i also try to cook 1 or 2 things over the weekend that can be reheated. and have quick things on hand for during the week. my kids like mexican so using one of the ortega type kits can usually get tacos or enchiladas on the table pretty quickly. and then there's always breakfast for dinner, eggs and toast or frozen pancakes/waffles

charestcr

When I was going like that I used to cook enough one night to last two meals, we ate leftovers every second night. If you get creative you can put a 'spin' on it to make it a little different. For example I used to cook extra chicken and steam broccoli then the next night throw some garlic and olive oil on the broccoli and roast it and dice the chicken and heat it in the frying pan with some kind of sauce. Become the queen of leftovers. That and crockpot.

Sarahb29

I see people suggested crock pot already so I'll skip that idea. What about making a large casserole on Sunday and saving it for leftovers on the days you can't cook? I seen a pizza casserole on pinterest that looked really good, and filling too. You could load it up with whatever veggies the kids will tolerate. Something like this?

My toddler loves everything pizza so I usually will end up making homemade mini pizzas with english muffins when I'm busy. Slice them in halves, top with pizza sauce, veggies, pepperoni and cheese. It's a hit and only takes 10-12 minutes to bake.

fbref9

Planning ahead is the key although I find that our plans are often disrupted because of the sports, errands and all the other stuff we have going on.

As everybody has said.... the crock pot is usually the go-to meal preparer. We mainly do chicken, pulled pork or meatballs so they can tossed into a roll for a sub/sandwich. Also family sized frozen vegetable steamer packages work out well.

If time permits and we are looking to have a more "traditional" meal, we will stay up and prep everything the night before that way we only need to throw it in the oven when we get home. So by the time the kids shower, change, etc... the meal is cooked and ready to serve.

With busy lives and kids sports/activities.... there is never enough time in the day.

Queenmunchy

We usually cook on weekends and freeze so all we need to do is warm up and go. On the days with no activities, we tend to plan for something easy, but fresh, like some rice, baked chicken, and pre-trimmed veggies that we can throw in to roast.

NewMeSM75

Queenmunchy wrote: »

We usually cook on weekends and freeze so all we need to do is warm up and go. On the days with no activities, we tend to plan for something easy, but fresh, like some rice, baked chicken, and pre-trimmed veggies that we can throw in to roast.

I second this. I did this when I knew my work would be hectic. I froze an aluminum pan of lasagna rollups, browned and bagged hamburger meat, chicken spaghetti, grilled chicken (sliced and bagged).

It was a massive help!

TuesdayLucero

chrystenfo wrote: »

qwikstreet wrote: »

Crock pot will be your savior. Especially since you can literally throw frozen chicken breasts in there and let it cook for hours without it being looked after. We even use a timer that will turn on the crock pot at a certain time so we know it will be ready at the time we need it.

The timer is an awesome idea, overcooking can be a problem!

This is a good idea, but please make sure you're being food safe. You don't want food sitting on your counter for 4 hours at room temperature before the crock pot turns on. That's asking for a foodborne illness.

MsArriabella

Crock pot of course, but I also use a pressure cooker fairly often because I'm not great at planning ahead I can have food from the freezer to the table in well under an hour.
Cooking ahead is great too if you have some extra time on the weekend. Or just make double what you need and freeze half for another night.

Lounmoun

Cook in advance so you just have to heat it up. Double recipes on the other nights.
Breakfast for dinner- eggs cook quickly

yayamom3

I don't cook at all during the week because we are so busy. I cook in large batches on the weekends and then just reheat. I always cook two of something. Eat one, freeze one. I also cook large batches of ground beef, shredded beef pot roast and chicken. I freeze those, and they can easily be used anytime in tacos, pastas, soups, etc.

agbmom556

I have 2 teens and are busy 4 out of 5 weeknights.
We started making rice bowls. Make some rice in a rice cooker.
in a separate pan you can make different add ins depending on what is in the fridge/freezer-
stirfry veggies
chicken
ground turkey
beans/lentils
or use the crockpot to make- curry, salsa chicken, pot roast etc.
etc.
I let the kids make their own bowls and add toppings.
The leftovers are usually taken for lunch.

JeepHair77

Yep. Crock pot. I am in the same boat - Tuesdays and Thursdays. This morning, I put beef tips in the crock pot. Thursday, it'll be meatballs (uh, HEB frozen meatballs, but my family doesn't know that).

I have one of those fancypants crock pots with a timer built in. I tell it what I'm cooking, tell it what time I want it to be done, and it adjusts itself.

JeepHair77

This right here is my favorite crock pot recipe in the entire world. The leftovers are even better than day 1. We come home, warm up some tortillas, chop some cilantro, and we're eating in 5 minutes.

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/12/03/recipe-best-pulled-pork-crock-pot/

Golbat

This is my life, except that I don't work very much (just a few hours a week.) But the evenings are so crazy between marching band, robotics club, and art and piano lessons. Ugh! My kids love keeping busy but it keeps the whole house busy.

I try to cook extras of everything so we have leftovers. My family will eat leftovers, but I know some families have trouble with that. Still, it's a struggle.

Another problem is that sometimes I've cooked but my kids put their noses up at it. I tell them they can eat what I cook or make their own dinner. They'll get tired of peanut butter eventually.

ashleyx41987

I have 6 kids and most days we don't get home from the gym and other activities until close to 7 and kids go to bed around 730-8ish... the one thing I cannot live without is my pressure cooker! If I haven't meal prepped dinners or forget to pull meat out of the freezer it's a life saver. It cooks frozen chicken in 21 mins, rice in 6 mins, beans in 21 mins. There's unlimited things you can make with it and it saves me from having to wash tons of pots and pans after

Golbat

Oh yeah, I use a pressure cooker too, and there is a pressure cooker group here at MFP if you search in groups.

WinoGelato

I'm always in for this topic as I work full time and also have two boys in elementary school balancing soccer, chess, boy scouts, homework right now. My husband is gone two nights a week which actually coincides with soccer practices on Tues/Thurs - so on those nights I usually feed the kids something super quick that they choose which tends to be either breakfast for dinner, grilled cheese with tomato soup, or macaroni n cheese and fish sticks/chicken nuggets/mini corn dogs. I always give them fruit and a couple of carrot sticks or edamame as well.
I either eat what they are eating or I make myself something after they go to bed so that I can do some housekeeping while they eat.

For our family meal nights - you've gotten a lot of suggestions about crock pot meals which I can totally echo. My kids aren't super adventurous eaters but they do like pulled pork sandwiches, last week I made a beef roast and shredded that for french dip sandwiches, or meatball subs. You mentioned the food getting dried out in the crockpot - I have that issue as I'm usually gone from the house for at least 10 hours so I need things that can cook for a long time (not chicken!). I have good luck with large roasts like pork or beef, or short ribs, sometimes bone in chicken. A lot of times I start with frozen meat when I put it in, that actually can add an extra couple of hours to the crockpot cook time without it drying the meat out.

I also try to do some meal prepping when our weekends aren't too busy - one thing I like to do is buy a couple of family packs of ground beef and cook it all on a Sunday afternoon, then I drain it and divide it into 1 lb portions and put it in individual ziplock bags then freeze it. This is the perfect size to throw together weeknight spaghetti, chili, sloppy joes, tacos, or even Hamburger Helper! With the meat already cooked all of those come together in less than 15 minutes.

I also will often cook 3-5 lbs of chicken breasts in the crockpot with some seasonings and a bit of chicken broth, then shred that and use it for enchiladas, pasta, on top of salads, etc.

The other thing my kids tend to really like is anything with rice - they aren't crazy about a lot of sauces but I will make stir fry with chicken, carrots, snap peas and edamame and pull some of all that out separately and serve that to them with plain white rice, then I add in whatever stir fry sauce I want (red curry coconut or sesame ginger or teriyaki) and serve that to husband and I with everything mixed together. I give them a bit of that to try and sometimes they like it, sometimes not - but by pulling the stuff out ahead of time I know I've got something they will eat. Same with burrito bowls - they really like making their own with the shredded chicken mentioned above, cheese and sour cream.