Quick easy meals

allysonb80

I need some food/recipe help. Next Monday the kids start swim lessons. I usually get off work at 330/4 and their lesson starts at 4:40. So we will be rushing to pick them up, get to the community center, get changed, and get out on deck. Swim classes end at 5:15. I figure I will give them a quick toss in the shower to avoid the lengthy bath process later. Then home at about 5:30ish. We usually eat dinner at 530. I think I am going to have to settle for 545/6 dinner. Then bedtime is at 7. So I need ideas for quick easy dinner ideas. Or easy meals I can cook and store on the weekend. (I would like to think I could do this weekly but I also need to face the fact that I am not good at this as I have tried in the past. The weekends are busy enough that finding time to cook on top of clean and everything else can be hard) I thought about crockpot meals but I would have to start it at 545/6am. Then not eating until 530/6 would mean it would be in there for 12 hours. I think that is just too long. *sigh* SO stressed about this.

Tkzk

Would the kids find stuff like this acceptable?
--cheese slices, some canned beans (garbanzos, white beans, black beans, kidney beans) with a little olive oil and salt, some mini-carrots, red peppers, snap peas (other yummy raw snack veggies)? You could even stick something in the toaster oven (spinach pancakes, sweet potato fries) that would take 10 min while they eat the other food.
--pre-made pasta salads made the night before
--cook rice and chop up chicken and veggies the night before, throw it in a pan as soon as you get home with some stir-fry sauce. Wn't take more than 10-15 min if the chicken and veggies are in small pieces. Reheat the rice in the microwave.
--make your own sandwiches. Lunchmeat/cheese/tomato/lettuce on the table with a loaf of bread.

Not sure how old your kids are, but they're going to be super hungry after swimming, so I bet they'll eat whatever you put in front of them! Good luck.

mememej

Don't stress! for my 'later than usual' tea with the kids I either cook fresh filled pasta and a stir in tomato sauce with bagged salad or the microwave steam rice and veg bags served with cooked meats / bread - both meals only take 5 minutes!

EllenGould

12 hours should be okay for a lot of things in a crock pot also most crock pots have high, medium, and low settings. I would look into some recipes for crockpot meals, maybe on pinterest

Breezy415

is your crock pot a high/med/low one or programable my hours? Mine is by the hour, so I can set it for 10 hours and then it automatically goes to a "warm" setting....I would think you'd be fine to do 12 hours

allysonb80

Not sure how old your kids are, but they're going to be super hungry after swimming, so I bet they'll eat whatever you put in front of them! Good luck.

Sorry, my kids are 3 (4 in July) and 2. And the swim classes are Monday - Thursday so 4 days/week for the next 8 weeks.

is your crock pot a high/med/low one or programable my hours? Mine is by the hour, so I can set it for 10 hours and then it automatically goes to a "warm" setting....I would think you'd be fine to do 12 hours

My crock pot is lame. It only has a low/high setting with a nob you click to either setting. :-/

JukieG

The key is to prep on Sunday of each week and use similar foods all week. For example I made chicken on Monday and made 2.5 pounds of it so I could use it for several meals. I have similar struggles with my busy lifestyle with me and my son. I can give you an example of my meals for a few days and the prep I did on Sunday if that helps.

Monday: Grilled chicken, roasted potatoes w/ garlic and onion, and salad. All I had to do was throw the potatoes in the oven with garlic, onion, evoo, salt and pepper. On Sunday I cleaned up the chicken and put it in some extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper and put it in a bag. Cut up the potatoes into cubes and put them in a covered bowl with water. Cut up the garlic and onion and put it in a bag.

Tuesday: Grilled Pizza. All I did was take a whole wheat already made pizza crust and put it on the grill. Then I topped it with a little pizza sauce, veggies, leftover grilled chkn from Monday, and light mozzerella cheese. On Sunday I chopped up the red peppers and onions for it and put it in a baggie.

Wednesday: chicken sausage pasta. This is using a package of already cooked chicken sausage. I used Aidells spicy mango sausage. I saute it with onions and peppers in a little olive oil. My son is picky about veggies so I make my own sauce and puree the onions and peppers in with the sauce so he can't see it. I use the pioneer woman's red sauce recipe. I use onion and peppers I had cut up from previous meals.

This is just a few days sample. I'd say these are all under 30 mins.

booksandcupcakes

Spaghetti bolognese, homemade, healthy and delicious!!!

Watch this video on how to make it, it's really simple . I make it a lot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coZTQa_z6MA&feature=g-upl

mrsjenfrank

What about using your crockpot on the 'low' setting with something hearty like a pork roast or beef roast. (google how to do a roast in the crockpot if you have never done it before) That way it will be nice and tender, but wont turn to complete mush. Then all you need to do is boil some potatoes or rice, and make a salad. And the nice thing would be, if you made the meat on Monday you can get away with using it in sandwiches, on top of salad, or a stir fry later in the week.

Also, as I am sure the poor things will be starving by the time they get home, keep some kid sized yogurts like Mini-go or something around, so when you get home you can plop them at the table with their yogurt while you make whatever last minute part of the meal you need to do. It'll prevent them from being beyond starving by the time the meal hits the table, but wont fill them up too full so they will still eat supper.

Good luck!!

bella_babe_86

I would do crockpot meals, Set them on low in the morning and let it go until you get home!

A few staples that I love are:

BBQ chicken- frozen chicken breasts and your favorite BBQ sauce, Shred the chicken just before eating, serve on whole wheat buns with a fresh salad or coleslaw(I use broccoli slaw)

Salsa chicken- Frozen chicken breast with a jar of salsa, shred the chicken, serve with tortillas, low fat refried beans and rice. This also makes super yummy quesadillas and enchiladas.

Buffalo Chicken Sandwhiches- Frozen chicken breast, franks red hot buffalo sauce, 1 packet of hidden valley ranch seasoning, shred the chicken, serve on a hoagie roll with bleu cheese crumbles with a side of fresh veggies like celery and carrot sticks.

Also check out skinnytaste.com there are lots of good crockpot recipes on there.

If im going to be out of the house and running around for a big part of the day this is what I like to do because it makes sure we have a nice hot meal and no rushing to get everything together. Hope this helps!