Vent and please I need quick and easy dinner ideas...

I feel like there are just not enough hours in the day now what with being back at work and only having a couple of brief hours to spend with Jake after I get home and before he goes to bed. Before I know it, it's almost 8pm and definitely too late to start cooking a big complicated meal.

DH and I both get home around 6pm. Jake eats at 6:30pm (the whole getting ready for bed and eating process take about 1 hr). And then it's off to bed at 7:30-8ish. It's a very stressful schedule - where in the world am I supposed to find time to cook in there? Well... it looks like we'll be eating late dinners from now on.

Anyone have any suggestions for quick meal ideas? I need more than one. Does anyone have a similar schedule? How do you deal? It's only week 2 and it's already starting to get to me.

Re: Vent and please I need quick and easy dinner ideas...

Hey...do we know each other? DH & I don't usually eat till about 7:30. I do cold cuts 2 times a week. Tacos, easy stuff like that. Chicken cutlets & pasta salad.

Re: Vent and please I need quick and easy dinner ideas...

It def. is very hard to balance everything - but I'm sure you will get into a routine soon.

My mom just bought me a year subscription to Rachel Ray's cooking magazine. I think she is all about the meals that take 30 minutes and under to make. I'm sure she has a website. I'm not much of a cook yet - sorry!

Re: Vent and please I need quick and easy dinner ideas...

One quick & easy thing I make is chicken teriyaki stir fry. Cut up boneless skinless chicken breasts, marinate in teriyaki (or just add it while cooking to save time), mix in pre-packaged frozen stir fry veggies, sautee and add teriyaki. I usually serve over minute rice or even goya black bean rice. Takes about 15 minutes. Just remember to defrost that morning or the night before!

Re: Vent and please I need quick and easy dinner ideas...

Im in the same boat. Im home a little after 5 some nights, dh gets home after 7.
I do pasta, chicken, burgers on the foreman grill. He understands, its the 2 of us and I am not going to make huge meals.
I dont do frozen dinners. I just cook on the foreman grill or even in the skillet.

Re: Vent and please I need quick and easy dinner ideas...

Sometimes I make a grilled chicken caesar salad. While the chicken is on the grill, I prepare the salad and then just toss in the chicken. Also, my DH and I love penne with vodka sauce...the vodka sauce made by Victoria is really good and the hardest part about that meal is boiling the water.

Re: Vent and please I need quick and easy dinner ideas...

There's a crusted chicken parm recipe on the the Recipe board that is so easy. I made it Fri night. I had Nate sitting in his high chair in the kitchen while I prepped it for the oven. After I put it in the oven, I gave him his bath. By the time I was done dressing him it was done, so I just turned off the oven. Gave him his bottle, put him to bed and then we ate dinner.

Along with the chicken I made roasted potatoes from Ore Ida (they were cooking at the same time as chicken) and a side salad.

I always found making spaghetti with sauce and ground turkey was quick. On those other nights that I don't have much time, I'll make a frozen pizza w/salad.

Re: Vent and please I need quick and easy dinner ideas...

what i have been doing is on teh weeksn i marinade a whole bunch odf stuff usually 2 or 3 meals and then all i hjave to do is throw it in the oven. most of teh studff i do is ww but it is very good. one thing i do is i marinade chicken with lemon juice garlic salt pepprer and fat free chiocken broth and then i cook it teh next day with some red potatoes cut up and iots delicious. you just leave it in tehover til its doen no turning or anythgng. good luck

Re: Vent and please I need quick and easy dinner ideas...

Re: Vent and please I need quick and easy dinner ideas...

I am in the same boat, minus baby though. I get home at 7:30.

Yesterday, I made a lot of turkey burgers and froze them. I made them with garlic and veggies and cooked on george forman. So when I go home or DH eats, I just have to heat them up.

I also did this with chili. And I have a frozen lasagna too right now. I cook a lot and freeze everything. Last night I made bran and pumpkin muffins, about 18, froze them, so I can take one out everynight, and DH and I can take one in the morning.

Caesar salad is an easy favorite. Anytime I cook chicken, I always make 2 nights worth, so much you can do with it. Throw it on top of pasta. throw into soup.

Some nights I make eggs and turkey bacon and english muffins, that is quick.

He is a hispanic rice lover. So I always make 2 cups, 1 for the first night, then save the rest for the next night.

It is all in planning. But it must be so hard with the baby. I would not want to spend anytime in the kitchen.

Also maybe get into doing a crockpot in the morning too.

Re: Vent and please I need quick and easy dinner ideas...

Hey...why not invest in a crock pot! You can do SO many things in it (stew, soups, roasts ect.)! Sounds like that would be great for your schedule....after Jake is in bed....throw a few things in the pot to have ready for the morning to plug in!

Re: Vent and please I need quick and easy dinner ideas...

I can totally relate, by the time I pick up Claire I get home at 6:30, DH is home around the same time. Spending time with the baby is much more important then cooking, so what I do is spend 2 hours on sunday cooking 2-3 larger meals and then just reheat them in the microwave during the week. I cook chicken or pork cutlets, pasta, meatballs, sausage and potatoes. Its easy to heat up some rolls or start the rice cooker once you get home for a side dish. In a pinch I also buy the frozen stir fry dinners from birds eye or lean cuisine and those are great too!!.....it will get better once you get into a routine.......

Re: Vent and please I need quick and easy dinner ideas...

Get a crock pot!!!

I am a teacher, no kids, but always take about four hours worth of work home with me as I teach AP and college level course. I try to do most of my cooking on Sunday or at least I...

1. make a big salad for most of the week

2. make one big dinner in the oven (2 nights)

3. then another big dinner on the stove (2 nights)

4. one in the crock pot (2 nights)

5. one night we will eat light... soup and sanwiches

6. when I make a quiche, lasagna, etc. I'll make a few trays and freeze one.

Message edited 10/24/2005 6:14:46 PM.

Re: Vent and please I need quick and easy dinner ideas...

Thank you girls - these are some really great ideas!! I made burgers tonight and although it's not exactly healthy eating - we are done and it's only 8pm!

I'll have to start preparing at least one dish to freeze on Sundays, that will help alot. And I love the big salad idea. Never thought of that!

Quick question about the marinating chicken - can it stay in the fridge for a couple of days or do you have to freeze it?

Re: Vent and please I need quick and easy dinner ideas...

i have marinaded it for aas long a two days and it was fine and its was soo tender form marinading that long..

Re: Vent and please I need quick and easy dinner ideas...

Two days works for me - thanks!

Re: Vent and please I need quick and easy dinner ideas...

stuffed cutlets....there's a recipe somewhere....you take a cutlet, mix stuffing mix , and put that in the cutlet and roll...and pour the cream of chicken soup mix over the cutlets and bake

I'll try to find it for you

You can also make cutlets in advance and freeze/fridge for a few days....use for chicken caesar salad, sandwiches

you can grill chicken in advance and also use that for salads, etc. it's better marinated! I use different salad dressings as marinade.


anything with a sauce is freezable: stir fry, chili, meat sauce, beef stew, pot roast

Message edited 10/24/2005 8:24:59 PM.

Re: Vent and please I need quick and easy dinner ideas...

Another vote for the crock pot - you'll be exhausted between washing bottles, laundry. If you got to AllRecipes they have some good ideas.

Re: Vent and please I need quick and easy dinner ideas...

I cook a ton on the weekends and eat that all week long. Last weekend I made a ton of marinated chicken, a turkey, and quiche. We eat leftovers for lunch and dinner. Sometimes we make chicken tacos, which are quick and easy. Good luck! How about frozen Stouffer's meals? Their lasagna is delicious!

Re: Vent and please I need quick and easy dinner ideas...

Another good tip is on either saturday or sunday I will make a hugh pot of soup or sauce and freeze it in quarts and pints and make a ton of turkey meatballs and sausage and do the same with it and take it out of the freezer in the morning and when we get home home all we have to do is boil water and even if you forget to to take it out of the freezer come home and pop in the microwave!

Re: Vent and please I need quick and easy dinner ideas...

I frequently don't get home untill 7:30 , so we eat late also.
One idea, sinc eyou are , jsut busy, is to put something in the oven when you get home, that doesn't need a lot of prep & then it can cook while you tend to Jake.

My mom used to pre-mix meatloaf & cover in with plastic in the pan & then jsut put it int eh ovenm when you come home & an hour alter you have dinner.

Same thing with a chicken breast, or pork cops.

Lay them out on a pan the night before & seson them & then just stick them in the oven.

Re: Vent and please I need quick and easy dinner ideas...

just last night, we made (on the stovetop) chicken and fresh veggies (mushrooms, peppers, red onion, shredded carrots, scallions)
in a terriaki/worshtershire creation sauce) and put it in a wrap.

Healthy, quick, and GOOD!!!