Re: Moms who work outside home-- dinner?

I have the same schedule and its really tough. DH and I try to prepare the night before

Re: Moms who work outside home-- dinner?

I cook a couple of meals on Sunday (like meatballs & sauce, meatloaf, roasted chicken, beef stew, chicken & rice soup) and we have that early on in the week. I also make enough to freeze meals for the following week. Then late in the week we'll get Chinese food one night and have left overs. It works out A-OK.

Message edited 1/29/2008 12:29:02 PM.

Re: Moms who work outside home-- dinner?

We started buying meals from a place like Supper Suppers. They have relatively healthy meals already prepped in the freezer to pick up. I'll get 2 or 3 different meals. They usually require little or no prep on your part. Most of the time, I can put something in the oven and then give the boys a bath while the food is cooking. In 30 min we have a full meal ready.

Another fav is Trader Joe's, they have great meals that don't take a lot of prep time.

Re: Moms who work outside home-- dinner?

I still cook 3-4 weeknights, and we do takeout 1-2 nights. It is very hard. I don't get home until 6 or so, then DS has to have his bath and playtime then bed at 7. So I start cooking then and we eat around 8. By the time we finish and clean up it's 9, then we have to prepare DS and ourselves for the next day. Then we pass out. But it is worth it to me to cook because my food is much tastier than takeout. I find it hard to cook on the weekends for the whole week because I don't want to spend my whole weekend cooking when I can be with DS, and also, we don't want to eat the same thing day after day in a row.

Re: Moms who work outside home-- dinner?

Well, I feel DH should be cooking more b/c he is home with DS on leave at the moment, but he hasn't been. Plus, I've been doing OT. So we've been having a lot of pizza, etc.

I should care, but honestly, I spent 9 months not being able to keep my food down, so I don't really care what I am eating at the moment.

Re: Moms who work outside home-- dinner?

Re: Moms who work outside home-- dinner?

Most of the time DH makes dinner or I make something quick. HOWEVER, I usually am home by 4:00.

Re: Moms who work outside home-- dinner?

I know I know

It's called take out.

Otherwise we get frozen dinners from BJs.

Re: Moms who work outside home-- dinner?

Posted by Diana1215

Ummm -- I don't work - and I never make dinner. VERY bad wife here!

Re: Moms who work outside home-- dinner?

Lots of chicken breast skillet dinners, 5 minute rice, pork chops on the skillet too, steaks (skillet) - - if your oven has a grill on it - use it!! I wish mine did, one day I'll get one like that.

I signed up for Campbell's (as in the soup) meal emails and once a week I get an email with a quick and easy dinner.

I also scan Rachel Ray's recipes on the food network. I bought one of her 30 minute dinner cookbooks but didn't like much in it, the shows I think are much better in terms of things we like to eat.

I also cook up carrots and parsnips on Saturday or Sunday and we have the leftovers Monday and sometimes Tuesday (it's a favorite of ours, we use 1 large package of baby carrots and peel about 4 large parsnips and chop into 2" chunks, boil together and drain and mash up with a bit of butter - it's good). Same thing sometimes with mashed potatoes.

I also sometimes make a stew on Sunday, that's good for Monday and possibly Tuesday to heat up again.

I make spaghetti bolognese, sometimes kielbasa with peppers and onions (some stores like A&P or Stop & Shop sell the veggies cut up already) in the skillet - the kielbasa is already cooked so you can just heat up and the veggies cook up in a bit of oil - get some big rolls and you're good to go.

eta: You can also invest in a crockpot, but I always use it overnight and DH usually gets up around 3am or so to use the toilet, and turns it off, by then it's done and when I get up at 5:30am (blah!) I put it in the fridge. Then when we get home we reheat. It's not optimal but I am too afriad to leave it on when we are not here.

None of these should take more than 30 mins to 1 hr to make. We get home about the same time, if DH gets home earlier he may start it first, then we eat by say 7pm, then 7:30 or so is bath (we don't bath daily, but every other day), then bedtime by 8pm. Sometimes he crashes before then, we just put him into his crib, that's rare but when it happens it's easier than to fight him to eat and bathe, etc. But I end up eating mostly around 8:30pm if I eat at all, alot of times I eat lunch at 3pm so I don't really eat a dinner, just a few bites.

HTH
Mary

Message edited 1/29/2008 10:01:50 PM.

Re: Moms who work outside home-- dinner?

There's always places like Super Suppers too...check them out.

Re: Moms who work outside home-- dinner?

DH cooks. On the nights he isn't home, or can't make dinner, I heat up soup or have hummos and broccoli!