Working mom, 2 kids, sports! Dinner ideas?

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  • MsArriabella
    MsArriabella Posts: 469 Member
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    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
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    Cook in advance so you just have to heat it up. Double recipes on the other nights.
    Breakfast for dinner- eggs cook quickly
  • yayamom3
    yayamom3 Posts: 939 Member
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    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
    agbmom556 Posts: 694 Member
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    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
    JeepHair77 Posts: 1,291 Member
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    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
    JeepHair77 Posts: 1,291 Member
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    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
    Golbat Posts: 276 Member
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    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
    ashleyx41987 Posts: 26 Member
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    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
    Golbat Posts: 276 Member
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    Oh yeah, I use a pressure cooker too, and there is a pressure cooker group here at MFP if you search in groups.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    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.

  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    Here are a few of my favorite sites for recipes:

    For Crock Pot meals I have always loved Crockin Girls since I first started following their blog - they have families and lots of stuff going on and when I used to watch their weekly videos I always was impressed with how they made it all work:

    http://www.crockingirls.com/


    Weelicious - she really focuses on cooking only one meal for the family and no substitutions for the kids, which I love in principle but doesn't always work for us.

    http://weelicious.com/family-meals/

    Skinnytaste - one of my favorites for making lower cal, tasty meals

    http://www.skinnytaste.com/


  • vnb_208
    vnb_208 Posts: 1,359 Member
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    This thread is awesome i use my crock pot alot but as stated sometimes my food does overcook and it does not have a timer but i may look into purchasing a pressure cooker ! thanks for all the advice everyone ! and thanks to op for the thread
  • solieco1
    solieco1 Posts: 1,559 Member
    edited October 2016
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    Same here. The crockpot is your friend. Go to allrecipes.com and search 'slow cooker' - they have lots of great ones. You can even put in whatever you have, for instance, 'slow cooker pork potatoes'.

    I invested in a hamilton beach crockpot with a 'warm' setting it can be programmed to hold after how ever long you want. Not expensive on Amazon.
  • AngryViking1970
    AngryViking1970 Posts: 2,847 Member
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    JeepHair77 wrote: »
    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/

    I love this website; she's got some great ideas/recipes.
  • knittnponder
    knittnponder Posts: 1,954 Member
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    I have an Instant Pot (electric pressure cooker) and it's become my best friend. It has a delayed start setting so I can prep everything and it will just turn on at the time I need it to so when I get home, dinner is ready!

    Another idea, if you have the time to do it, is to do meal prepping. On Sunday I prep breakfast and lunch for the week so all we have to do is grab the container and go. Dinner can be done in the same way or you can make freezer meals for the week (month) and just pop them in the oven or crockpot. Some of the crock pots have timers so they will switch to "warm" when the cooking time is done. My Instant Pot has this too.
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
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    vnb_208 wrote: »
    This thread is awesome i use my crock pot alot but as stated sometimes my food does overcook and it does not have a timer but i may look into purchasing a pressure cooker ! thanks for all the advice everyone ! and thanks to op for the thread

    @vnb_208 if your crockpot doesn't have a timer, just plug it into one of those light timers that you use for vacation. They're around $5
  • AngryViking1970
    AngryViking1970 Posts: 2,847 Member
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    My 6th grader has something almost every night, so I feel you. And everyone has already said what I was thinking: crockpot/weekend casserole prep/brinner or grilled cheese and soup.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    knittnponder wrote: »
    I have an Instant Pot (electric pressure cooker) and it's become my best friend. It has a delayed start setting so I can prep everything and it will just turn on at the time I need it to so when I get home, dinner is ready!

    Another idea, if you have the time to do it, is to do meal prepping. On Sunday I prep breakfast and lunch for the week so all we have to do is grab the container and go. Dinner can be done in the same way or you can make freezer meals for the week (month) and just pop them in the oven or crockpot. Some of the crock pots have timers so they will switch to "warm" when the cooking time is done. My Instant Pot has this too.

    I've been thinking about asking for an Instant Pot for my birthday or Christmas - so you would recommend?
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,831 Member
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    new fad around the cooking blogs: SHEET PAN DINNERS. I've tried it and it works! Throw everything on a sheet pan and bake. Google "sheet pan dinners" to find lots of suggestions.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    I'd make casseroles on the week end too, and probably cut them in portions and freeze, so it can be ready in 4 minutes in the microwave or something (I don't like eating 5 days old leftovers so I'd have to freeze, lol).

    For the crockpot, find one that just switches to 'keep warm' after whatever time you set up.

    Or get a foreman grill and lots of frozen veggies and you can have a meal ready in 10 minutes (which you can do while your kids do homework or something anyway).

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