How do you cook meals with crazy work schedule?
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A pressure cooker, a foreman grill, salads and a lot of prep!
I work 7 12 hour shifts in a row, I go to the gym for an hour in the morning 5 of those 7 days, which means packing breakfast and lunch for work. I leave my house at 5 am and don't get home until 7:30 pm or later.
I love a crockpot meal, but the meats I eat (boneless chicken breasts mainly) tend to dry out after 14 hours in the crock pot (even with a warming function). I do quick dinners that I've prepped out on an off day (stir frys, foreman grilled chicken, salads, etc). My pressure cooker is good for really quick meals. Occasionally I'll do a bean soup in the crock pot that does well with longer times. On off days I'll do a crockpot meal where I can watch it and put it into single servings.
I prep breakfast for the week on a non-working day. This week I made a quiche and I broke that down into single servings to eat.
I put everything out the night before (gym bag, food). Somedays, like today, I forget my socks. I have a spare pair in my car because I do it a lot.
If an opportunity for dinner with someone comes up, I take it and adjust.
Plan, plan, plan
Prep as much as you can on an off day.0 -
I agree with nearly all that people have posted, plan a head, cook all your meals on weekends and freeze. Crock pot (if by crock pots you mean slow cookers)
That aside, your husband. Hmmm
So he works, and it’s so very hard to come home from a busy day and help?
He needs to ‘man the fush up’ and you; well you need to get a grip.
I leave the house at 0600 and get home at 1930, I work 60 hours + a week, I cycle into work and home every day, I get home and if there isn’t a meal ready, I will cook. No drama.
My wife works 20+ hours and does voluntary work three days, we’ve a teen daughter she’s got three afterschool activities a week, and modern dance on a Friday.
Plan everything, and shop with that plan in mind, don’t waste money or time and more important don’t waste your life rushing from pillar to post missing out, just because you’re disorganised.
I still have time to garden and go to the gym, I get to go out with the boys for a beer, I also have ”me time” and “we time” as well as “family time”.
Spend a couple of hours once a month planning that month’s activity, write it on the calendar in the kitchen and stick to it. Someone wants some of your time, and then they have to fit into your schedule and not the other way round.
All for the sake of two hours planning, once a month. It’s not rocket science.0 -
If you get a spare day, try cooking up loads of meals and freezing them - just like a ready meal from the supermarket, only much healthier and yummy. You could make curry sauce, pasta sauce, cottage pie, soup, anything really. Take it out in the morning so it's defrosted by the time you get home, then either put it in the microwave or on the hob with whatever else you want (if anything)
You could try getting one of those books that teaches you to cook meals in 30 minutes. I can do chicken (or veggie equivalent for me), mini roast potatoes, veggies and gravy in exactly 30 minutes (and quite often do after work). Just takes a bit of organisation
Fish is super fast to cook, so is a stir fry. I like doing mini casseroles - shove garlic, herbs, tomatoes (fresh chopped up or tinned) and whatever meat/veggies you like in one pot, cover in tin foil, and leave in the oven for an hour, kick your feet up til it's ready :happy:0 -
Crockpots are good.
Stir fries are fast.
Take any meat in small sections (hamburger, pork chop or smaller, chicken breast, fish), add a light barbecue sauce or Hoisan sauce or soy sauce. Stick under the broiler for 5 minutes on a side. While it's cooking, sautee vegetable of choice. Add salad on side.
Make an omelette with veggies on the side.
Make a roast chicken on Sunday in the crock pot. Fancy dinner. Take meat off the bones and boil bones in crockpot for the next nights' dinner: chicken soup. It will also last for several lunches or serve as a broth. Chop extra meat and add carrots, celery, and mayo or yoghurt with currants for chicken salad for several extra meals.
Make turkey meatloaf mix up at night and throw in fridge. When you get home, toss in oven while you collapse on the couch. Eat when it's done.
The more you cook the more efficient it gets.0 -
cook bulk and freeze its how i survived uni, and how i afforded decent food...
i would buy lots of nice veggies and meat from the market, id make a stew the one day, then something like a veggie lasagne the next, have one portion then freeze the rest in individual portions for the following days/weeks
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crockpot... easy 5 ingredient recipes or I always keep all kinds of frozen veggies and brown rice on hand and throw together a stir fry of some kind. Any meat (chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, whatever) season however you like.. Yummy and quick 0
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First, visit this link: http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2011/08/crockpotalooza.html
It has over 250+ crock pot recipes. Sure, some of them are less than healthy, but it gives you an idea and a place to start. My crock pot has become my new best friend. 2-4 skinless chicken breasts, 1 onion, 1 green pepper, 1 can of pineapple chunks (in juice, not syrup), and 2 cups of BBQ sauce...put it all in the crock pot on low for 6-8 hours (depending on when you need your meal to be ready) and serve over brown rice. Voila.0 -
I work one week 9-530 then the next week 1230-9.
On my late night work weeks I start by planning my food on Sunday.
Most of the time I cook enough chicken and beef for the week and all sorts of delicious fresh veggies and pack up 4-5 containers worth of dinners. So that I can easily bring them to work with me every day.0 -
We do a mixture of things but the key is plan as much as you can for the week ahead:
1 - cook in batches and freeze/refrigerate
2 - choose quick cook veg - stuff that can be steamed in 10 mins or microwaved (rice and pots particularly)
3 - choose non-cook meals - salads, 10 mins to prepare.
4 - use a slow cooker - just chuck it all in and hey presto - it's ready when you get home
5 - both do it, know who is to do what on which days0 -
When my daughter was home and we were transporting her to and from school where we lived out of district, I worked 50+ hours, on top of two music practices per week (2hrs each - my practices), the gym at 4:45am, and my commute to and from work was 45 minutes each day total - I did bulk cooking on either Saturday or Sunday.
3 Gal marinara
10# individual meatloaves
10# meatballs
10# seasoned burger patties (made my own, nothing boxed in my house - ever!)
3 Gal Chicken stock
3 Gal Beef stock
5 Gal homemade chicken vegetable soup
10# compound butter all different varieties per pound
I will purchase bulk meats on a quarterly basis and break them down myself - alot of work but the savings is so much more important:
1- 50# case of boneless skinless chicken breast
1- 40# case of Beef eye round
1- 40# case of pork tenderloin
1- 25# case of all natural pork belly - to make my own bacon
1- 25# case of whole roaster chickens and turkeys
Seafood was purchased the day we planned to consume it and it had to be a fresh shipment that-day, otherwise I will go elsewhere for my seafood purchase
I purchase alot of fresh produce: tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, eggplant, rainbow bell peppers, white onions, white mushrooms, large portabella mushrooms, about 5# garlic (some for roasting, some for compound butter, some as is), about 10# butter, olive oil up the ying-yang, fresh herbs, dried herbs and seasonings, odds and ends like worcestershire sauce, kikkoman, and I always love me a good trip to the Asian market for my fresh ginger, lemongrass, mint leaves, scallions, mung beans, daikon, baby bok choy, shang hai celery, napa cabbage.... some of the vegetables gets prepped ahead while the rest remain whole.
During the week, I will take out a protein that I have previously seasoned to let it thaw in the fridge (most require a two-day thaw), by the time I get home, about 80% of everything is already prepped and ready to cook. Dinner is ready on average in 20-30 minutes.
20hrs is really nothing, even with kids to be honest.... that would feel like a vacation to me! LOL!
I long to be that organised. Can you give me lessons?0 -
I will eat the same breakfast, snacks & lunch almost every day for an entire week. This way I only have to worry about dinner. It might be boring, but as long as its stuff I like I don't mind it. This week it's my shakes for breakfast, turkey sandwiches for lunch with quinoa salad, snacks are grapes yogurt or baby carrots. I also plan out a week's worth of dinners and write out a menu to put on the fridge 0
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I freezer cook. One weekend every 2 months i prepackage my food and freeze it. Maybe that just means marinating chicken breasts and then throwing them in the freezer, but thats a meal done. You just have to remember to thaw, cook and make a side salad. There a practically a million site online dedicated to freezer meals. I would go nuts without this way of cooking.0
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I cook homemade soups or other dishes on the weekend and have them for lunch and dinner for the week. I also freeze things that can be taken out and cooked relatively quickly.0
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My Freezer is always full of Lean dinners also, for those days/evenings my dishes don't come together as planned. I tend to do alot of putting evening meals together on the weekend and freeze to take out in the morning to refrigerater. I use the crockpot alot too. Days I have energy left from my 8 hours at work, I get onions, green onions, carrots & celery cut up to be tossed in the crockpot recipe in the morning before I leave for work. My meat to use in the crockpot gets diced up also.The smell is wonderful to greet me at 5:30
I hope this is helpful. Good luck in your wt.loss.
Kindly, Whoopi0 -
Cook your meals for the week on your day off. Sunday is usually good. Then Tupperware them and put them in the freezer. When you get home and want to rest and are starving, pop those bad boys in the microwave. Home cooked meal without the fuss 0
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i have one day a week that is a cooking day. i'll make like, 4-6 pounds of grilled chicken breast, a whole pot of rice, a big pot of pasta and meat sauce, and whatever else i feel like. it makes meals during the week a lot easier.0
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Just about everyone said what I was about to... but I am going to suggest that if you do start slowcooking (with a crockpot/slow cooker).. to buy those slow cooker liners... at Target they are about $2 for a package of five... that way you don't have to actually wash out your crock pot every time... at least not the soaking and scrubbing variety that always takes me forever.0
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Sorry but working 20+ hours a week is not a 'crazy' or 'hectic' work pattern. You are too tired after 7 hours to cook meals? I understand that you have children so this is tiring as well but it is not too much at all.
I work from 8:30am until 6:00pm all week - I then take my puppy out for an hour and a half so usually don't get home until 7:30 / 8:00pm depending on where I take him.
I still manage to have decent breakfast before I leave, decent lunch and make myself a tea. Sometimes when I'm tired I do just do a ready meal but I always make veg and stuff for with it...
You aren't that busy. Life is never too busy that you can't sort out a healthy diet.
Umm yeah it is when you are not working a steady shift. One day could be 8-3:30 and the next 2:45-10 i don't really think you have room to judge how busy my life is. I asked what people do when they have busy schedules for meals. I didn't ask what your opinion was of a "busy schedule vs a "non busy schedule" I work retail i am tired! I have medical problems too that make me even more tired but i don't feel the need to get into my medical business with you because you think i have a "non-hectic schedule" Try sleeping 8 hours a night but REALLY only sleeping 4-5 then talk to me. Suggestions are appreciated not negative opinions thanks0 -
Just like everyone else has suggested: you have to plan!
I work 40+ hours every week, full time college student - attend night classes 2 days a week along with another day class on my lunch break and an online class (12 credit hours total), full time wife and mom to a 15 month old, 2 yellow labs that like their walks and I manage 4 days of 30 minute boot camp sessions.
Sunday is my main prep day! I will make all my salads and grab snacks for the week. I also prepare one dinner that lasts 3 nights (Monday-Wednesday). Wednesday night or Thursday morning I will throw something in the crock pot for the next 3 nights. Breakfast usually consists of yogurt, oatmeal and toast plus fresh fruit. We try to keep it very simple.
It's all about finding the balance that is right for you all.0 -
Hang on. A 7 hour day or 20 hours week is hectic? When did that happen?
add in sleep apnea, vitamin d deficiency, hypothyroidism, RETAIL JOB where my hours are never the same and yeah i am tired and consider my life hectic. Plus hubby works 3rd shift 5 nights/week and i have a 7 and 5 year old. Wish people would be less judgemental about what i consider "hectic" and just offer me some suggestions geez. And i said 20+ hours doesn't mean it's 20 every week! This week is 32. Wait why should i have to explain myself?0 -
Just remember the old saying "never put off until tomorrow what you can do today"..whenever you aren't working use part of that time to prep food for the times you won't have time or are rushed. If your husband can find some time to make some meals I think you should be able to find the time too..check out some of the websites for freezer meals-they even have recipes for light freezer meals and get organized for a healthier family and you..0
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Sorry but working 20+ hours a week is not a 'crazy' or 'hectic' work pattern. You are too tired after 7 hours to cook meals? I understand that you have children so this is tiring as well but it is not too much at all.
I work from 8:30am until 6:00pm all week - I then take my puppy out for an hour and a half so usually don't get home until 7:30 / 8:00pm depending on where I take him.
I still manage to have decent breakfast before I leave, decent lunch and make myself a tea. Sometimes when I'm tired I do just do a ready meal but I always make veg and stuff for with it...
You aren't that busy. Life is never too busy that you can't sort out a healthy diet.
Umm yeah it is when you are not working a steady shift. One day could be 8-3:30 and the next 2:45-10 i don't really think you have room to judge how busy my life is. I asked what people do when they have busy schedules for meals. I didn't ask what your opinion was of a "busy schedule vs a "non busy schedule" I work retail i am tired! I have medical problems too that make me even more tired but i don't feel the need to get into my medical business with you because you think i have a "non-hectic schedule" Try sleeping 8 hours a night but REALLY only sleeping 4-5 then talk to me. Suggestions are appreciated not negative opinions thanks
You just need to organise better. A lot of people here are working shifts, long hours, plus studying, working out, dealing with kids/family, dealing with medical problems etc and every one of them has to find a system to work for them. For some that is living off of processed ready meals quite happily, so others its a weekend full of wall to wall batch cooking. Somewhere in all of these replies they'll be a combination of idea that you can make work for you.0 -
Hang on. A 7 hour day or 20 hours week is hectic? When did that happen?
add in sleep apnea, vitamin d deficiency, hypothyroidism, RETAIL JOB where my hours are never the same and yeah i am tired and consider my life hectic. Plus hubby works 3rd shift 5 nights/week and i have a 7 and 5 year old. Wish people would be less judgemental about what i consider "hectic" and just offer me some suggestions geez. And i said 20+ hours doesn't mean it's 20 every week! This week is 32. Wait why should i have to explain myself?
Because you're the one whining about your life being too busy to knock together a salad or grill a bit of chicken.0 -
A crockpot can be your new best friend! Super easy, done when you get home. Also, when you have a free day pr a few hours durin the week, cook things ahead of time so they are easy to grab. I usually take my sundays and get my food ready for the week. Make some grilled chicken, maybe a big pot of soup or chili, precutting some veggies and putting them in servings. I know with your schedule it may b tough, but if you could get a few hours to set aside for this, the rest of your week will be a breeze and you will have foods right at hand
exactly this. Im lucky and have time to prepare before I eat, but my sister works full time, is a mom, and even gets her *kitten* out of bed at 5:30 am to hit the gym! She takes a few hours on Sunday to precook some things, cut veggies, and make little snack bags that are already portioned out. When she leaves for work in the morning, she just grabs what she needs fast. I think she waits to cook her dinner proteins, but she plans what she will do with them ahead of time and prepares what she can so she doesn't have to think about it when she gets home from work. If you find you are so busy that every minute counts, you can even go so far as to portion out things like cereal, grains, etc, into baggies, so that you don't have to measure when you are pressed for time.0 -
Hang on. A 7 hour day or 20 hours week is hectic? When did that happen?
add in sleep apnea, vitamin d deficiency, hypothyroidism, RETAIL JOB where my hours are never the same and yeah i am tired and consider my life hectic. Plus hubby works 3rd shift 5 nights/week and i have a 7 and 5 year old. Wish people would be less judgemental about what i consider "hectic" and just offer me some suggestions geez. And i said 20+ hours doesn't mean it's 20 every week! This week is 32. Wait why should i have to explain myself?
Because you're the one whining about your life being too busy to knock together a salad or grill a bit of chicken.
Where in my post was i whining? I asked for suggestions for how people do it with families and busy schedules. What i didn't ask for is people's opinions about how many hours it should take before i can consider my schedule "hectic" some people are just plain RUDE.0 -
Hang on. A 7 hour day or 20 hours week is hectic? When did that happen?
add in sleep apnea, vitamin d deficiency, hypothyroidism, RETAIL JOB where my hours are never the same and yeah i am tired and consider my life hectic. Plus hubby works 3rd shift 5 nights/week and i have a 7 and 5 year old. Wish people would be less judgemental about what i consider "hectic" and just offer me some suggestions geez. And i said 20+ hours doesn't mean it's 20 every week! This week is 32. Wait why should i have to explain myself?
Because you're the one whining about your life being too busy to knock together a salad or grill a bit of chicken.
You probably could have cooked a few meals in the time you have spent on here complaining.. just saying..0 -
Hang on. A 7 hour day or 20 hours week is hectic? When did that happen?
add in sleep apnea, vitamin d deficiency, hypothyroidism, RETAIL JOB where my hours are never the same and yeah i am tired and consider my life hectic. Plus hubby works 3rd shift 5 nights/week and i have a 7 and 5 year old. Wish people would be less judgemental about what i consider "hectic" and just offer me some suggestions geez. And i said 20+ hours doesn't mean it's 20 every week! This week is 32. Wait why should i have to explain myself?
Because you're the one whining about your life being too busy to knock together a salad or grill a bit of chicken.
Where in my post was i whining? I asked for suggestions for how people do it with families and busy schedules. What i didn't ask for is people's opinions about how many hours it should take before i can consider my schedule "hectic" some people are just plain RUDE.
You have to expect that when you're going on about having no time to cook to people working double the hours and dealing with all whatever they are dealing with too that you're going to get some criticism. People working 14 hour shifts are going to find it galling when someone complains complains about their 7 hour job. That's life.0 -
I want to read this later. Bump.0
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I love the crock-pot ideas. But, I also love to make some fresh fish (cooks up really quickly) and quinoa (about 20 minutes to cook) I serve it with spinach or broccoli (frozen cooks up so quickly too!) I also sometimes will make a whole family pack of chicken or roast a whole chicken then I have it in the fridge to whip up a quick dinner. I will take left over chicken and quinoa and put it into a lettuce wrap or low fat tortilla with a little shredded cheese and salsa. And, I always have sliced turkey breast, hummus and pepperige farm light multi grain bread (35 calories each slice) and that can make a healthy sandwich that has less than 200 calories!0
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The bad part about Lean Cuisine meals is that they are too tiny, and I have to eat two of them.
These are some great suggestions though.0
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