working moms - dinner

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  • FettsLady
    FettsLady Posts: 82 Member
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    I work also and have my husband and a teenage football player aka bottomless pit to feed. By the time I get home from work, it is already 6pm. I try to make everything from scratch as much as possible and I totally relate to running out of ideas. One of my new years resolutions is to cook a new recipe every week. I, too, would be lost with out my crock pot but I am finding it easier to come up with meals just because I love to cook and am constantly on pinterest or allrecipes.com looking for recipes. As long as our schedule permits, I generally try to make a BIG meal on Sunday so that the leftovers will last a couple of days. Two weeks ago on Sunday I made a turkey with stuffing and veggies that lasted us a few days. With leftovers like that, it is easy to use the 'same thing' to make different meals. Turkey, turkey sandwiches, turkey on salad, etc etc etc. Think meals that can evolve over a few days :) Good luck!
  • daniellegwilliam
    daniellegwilliam Posts: 122 Member
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    so hard! I get bored of alot of the things I eat too...
    So sometimes its breakfast for dinner! scrambeled eggs, ham, whole wheat toast
    Or easy sandwiches and soup

    Chili is a good easy thing to make as well.

    And casseroles, these are great for leftovers and lunches too.

    I also have to prep alot of things the night before, so when I get home everything just gets popped in the oven or on the grill.
    Heres a weekly example. I used the crockpot twice..and so two nights were left overs. Thats 4 days done!!

    Monday - Crock Pot santa fe chicken (I wrapped mine in butter leaf lettuce. made rice for my daughter)
    Tuesday - Leftovers

    http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/02/crock-pot-santa-fe-chicken-425-pts.html


    Wednesday - Grilled turkey burgers and roasted carrots w/ olive oil (prepare patties, and cut carrots the night before)

    1pkg ground turkey
    1 Cup chopped spinach
    3Tbsp Mayo
    1 Tbsp milk
    3 Tbsp diced onion
    1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
    1 large clove garlic (or more. depending on how you like it!)
    big dash of worchestire sauce
    salt and pepper
    Form into patties (makes 6-8) brush olive oil on each side. let sit for 10 min. Grill 8-10 min per side or until done

    Thursday - Tuna Casserole w/ egg noodles
    Friday - Leftovers

    http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/01/skinny-tuna-noodle-casserole.html


    Saturday - Crockpot ribs and green beans

    Sunday - Frozen fish fillets and veggies. I love the highliner pan sear select fish. Its pricey for 4 pieces (in canada between $9-13)
    But they are easy and delicious and my dauighter loves them,

    And this is my favourite soup recipe, its hearty and thick enough my 16month old can use her hands haha
    http://www.bestofbridge.com/2009/01/01/hamburger-soup/
  • ElizabethKalmbach
    ElizabethKalmbach Posts: 1,416 Member
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    On weekends, I make giant vats of salad for snacks and the veggie component of dinner. Sometimes mediterranian cucumber salad, or broccoli salad, or spinach salad. Sometimes more than one type. Fruit salad is very popular with my 3 year old.

    Then I just put whatever thawed meat I'm having into the toaster oven for half an hour or so, with our without it's accompanying starch and done. (Rice goes in the rice cooker. Pasta goes on the stove. Oven roasted potatoes get laid out around meat in the toaster oven.)

    I love my toaster oven because it turns itself off at the end of bake time, so I don't have to worry about being distracted and burning something. Same for the rice cooker.
  • mishacarlson
    mishacarlson Posts: 6 Member
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    On weekends, I make giant vats of salad for snacks and the veggie component of dinner. Sometimes mediterranian cucumber salad, or broccoli salad, or spinach salad. Sometimes more than one type. Fruit salad is very popular with my 3 year old.

    Then I just put whatever thawed meat I'm having into the toaster oven for half an hour or so, with our without it's accompanying starch and done. (Rice goes in the rice cooker. Pasta goes on the stove. Oven roasted potatoes get laid out around meat in the toaster oven.)

    I love my toaster oven because it turns itself off at the end of bake time, so I don't have to worry about being distracted and burning something. Same for the rice cooker.

    Never thought to use a toaster oven like this. Great idea!!
  • MoniMoni2u
    MoniMoni2u Posts: 211 Member
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    Whether I'm working overtime (tax season), a regular 40 hour week, part-time or not working outside the home at all the ONLY way I get dinner on the table is by having a plan!

    I menu plan based on what is around the house and then make my grocery list based on what is needed to complete the plan.

    I look at our calendar to figure out crazy busy days/evenings and also who will be home. I plan my meals around this as we all have our own likes/dislikes.

    Crockpot, slicing/chopping veggies for several days at one time and then storing in the fridge, making a full crockpot of something (chili, white chicken burrito filling, soups, BBQ chicken, etc) eating one meal and freezing 1 or 2 meals of leftovers that can be brought out in a couple of weeks and the family doesn't think of them as leftovers! are all things I incorporate to get dinner on the table.


    Believe me, there are weeks where the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stu***!) is of dire importance. During tax season, those weeks can turn to months! LOL As long as I plan and know to keep looking at my plan, I'm good. The weeks that I don't plan is a lot of cereal for the family! LOL

    Remember, the plan doesn't have to be time consuming or complex, just nutrionally balanced and sound! (Most of the time...not always!)
  • meadow_sage
    meadow_sage Posts: 308 Member
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    Most useful topic...EVER!!! :happy:
  • queenbea77
    queenbea77 Posts: 404 Member
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    Try to plan your menu out for the week & make something that will be two meals. I like to pick up a rotisserie chicken - one meal of the chicken breasts and the rest of the meat comes off and becomes chicken soup. Crock pot meals are the best - throw the food in and forget it until dinner time. I'm going to try some of the great recipes that have been posted. I buy the fajita chicken strips and cut my peppers & onions into strips - as soon as they are cooked dinner is ready. When my kids were little they loved when we had "breakfast for dinner" - omlettes would be a quick easy meal. I found the best thing is to make a menu so you don't have to come home exhausted and tear your hair out trying to decide what to make.
  • freelancejouster
    freelancejouster Posts: 478 Member
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    I'm not a mom, but living on dorm room food we get pretty creative over here. Our best invention, in my humble opinion, is mac and cheese tacos. It sounds a little strange, but it's so delicious. Use healthy options like wheat tortilla or pita and split a serving (or a half serving) between the two of you for the mac and cheese part.

    My four year old brother loves them.
  • freelancejouster
    freelancejouster Posts: 478 Member
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    also: my mom uses this.

    supercook.com. just enter in the ingredients you have in your pantry/fridge and it'll give you a recipe based on those things!
  • i_luv_irs
    i_luv_irs Posts: 30 Member
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    I get home after 5 pm every night and cook something simple for my son. Beans and rice. Macaroni and cheese. Pasta. Quesadilla. Accompanied by steamed veggies or carrot sticks.
  • jaynalawayna
    jaynalawayna Posts: 80 Member
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    I plan my meals out for the week based on the weekend sales ads for the grocery stores in my area. I generally plan meals that can be reheated a second time and also eaten for lunch. My 16 year old daughter is a vegetarian so I need to be mindful of that - I have type 2 diabetes so I have to be mindful of my carbohydrate consumption. I generally plan a soup for one night, a pasta for one night, one night I plan a meal for her that I can't eat (grilled cheese/tomato soup combo) and I will cook myself a nice piece of salmon and microwave some green beans or spinach. Quiche is another easy dish that is easy and will produce leftovers and can be done with vegetable only (I serve it with a salad). When we used to share a home with another Mother and Daughter I would cook a chicken on Sunday night and serve half of it with a veggie and a starch then serve the rest of the meat in quesadillas or tacos later in the week.
  • caspergirl7
    caspergirl7 Posts: 590 Member
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    I love my crockpot and I'm a stay at home mom. It is so nice to know that come dinner time we will have hot dinner ready to go instead of me spending an hour in the kitchen making something. I would search crockpot recipes and start trying some of them. Good Luck!!!

    ^^This... so easy turn on before you go to work & you have dinner ready when you get home.
  • HealthyinAZ
    HealthyinAZ Posts: 408 Member
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    I do a lot of crock pot meals - before work I'll throw chicken, veges, whatever else in, stick it on low, and it's done to be put over noodles or rice etc when I get home.
  • boggsmroz
    boggsmroz Posts: 20
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    Turkey burgers, tacos, baked chicken, chili or soup in the crock pot, grilled cheese and tomato soup, breakfast for dinner...
    We usually order pizza once a week and do a left over night once a week...usually I only have to cook 3-4 times.
    When I make things that can be frozen....I'll either make 2 of that item or we'll only eat half...then freeze the other half...pull it out in 2-3 weeks and just reheat :) You can do this with things like lasagna, shepherds pie, I've even done breakfast sandwiches and black bean burritos.
  • Confuzzled4ever
    Confuzzled4ever Posts: 2,860 Member
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    I make a ton of different foods..

    I work full time, workout 90 mins or so a day and cook from scratch.

    Open diary.. my kid eats what I do.. he's a bit older, but it was easier to get him to eat when he was younger. LOL
  • DeeBrownBaker
    DeeBrownBaker Posts: 145
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    I love my crockpot!! The kids love my white bean chicken chili .... half a rotisserie chicken, 3 cans of great northern beans, seasonings, a can of rotel and half cup of water... give it a stir, put it on low and forget it till time to eat! throw a salad together and some Crystal lite tea... my kids (who are all very picky!) LOVE it!
  • Koldnomore
    Koldnomore Posts: 1,613 Member
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    It takes me no more than half an hour to make dinner so possibly just need to keep it a little more simple. I try to plan my meals so that any meat that needs to be thawed is put into the fridge a couple days ahead so its ready to cook when I come home. This week we ate pulled pork that I made on the weekend and just froze, butter chicken - just cut up the chicken and onions, toss in the spices, yogurt and tomato paste, cook 20 min and eat, salmon fillet & couscous vegetable fried rice, tonight is spaghetti and meatballs (made over the weekend and frozen). I don't generally use caned things when I cook save the tomatoes for my sauce since I don't yet have a garden capable of keeping up with my demand. We had hamburgers (same meat as the meatballs, made on the weekend) and Greek pork cutlets with salad. I find if you know what you are cooking when you get home it makes it much faster than having to decide when you get home ;)
  • vedra_b
    vedra_b Posts: 135 Member
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    on sunday i make either 2 big roast or 2 big roast chickens then through the week i can make a few things.

    Roast sunday
    stew
    fajitas
    shepards pie
    take the stew thicken it up and make beef pot pie
    sandwiches

    Chicken
    chicken noodle soup or dumplings
    chicken tacos
    chicken cassarole
    chicken cesar salad
    chicken pot pie
    chicken and gravy over brown rice
    sandwiches
  • RuthRW
    RuthRW Posts: 247 Member
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    Bumping to save- great ideas, thanks!
  • LastMinuteMama
    LastMinuteMama Posts: 590 Member
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    Thursday evening I go through my 4,345,746,999 Pinterest food recipes. I pick out 5 meals based mostly on what I have on hand at home. I email them to myself so I can look at them on my phone. I make a grocery list of things I don't have that I'll handle sometime Thursday, or any day thereafter. On Sunday, I spend about 2-3 hours chopping, slicing, grating, mincing, measuring, thawing, marinating, meatball forming, putting into containers, making sauces and rice ahead of time, and sticking it back into the fridge to be made that week.

    I make the recipe for the items that would taste better right away. So fresh seafood is Monday - Tuesday, and the marinated things are last because they're tastier. I have one really simple throw-together pasta type dish for whatever day I need to be even easier than usual.

    This is great!!! I remember a time when I planned out my meals like this - schedule changes = broken routine :sad: Time to get back to it, because this is the best way to do it! Thanks for the reminder!

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