How do you manage food with a crazy schedule?

[talulabelle]

i have 5 kids who are all involved in sports, some have 2 teams a season (club sports) and all are active at school, my husband coaches many of the teams, so he isn't home to help. As many have already said, the crockpot is a huge help. Especially since kids are coming in at different times and everyone can dip up a hot meal as they come in and then I don't spend my whole night reheating. If you go on pinterest, there are a million recipes. I usually just type in the search bar Crock pot, recipe, and ____ (whatever meat is in my fridge or freezer) That said, I would personally go insane eating crock pot meals nightly, we do it about twice a week at most. I try and cook something that takes more time on the weekends, we usually have carry out or go out once a week (sometimes once every 2 weeks if money is tighter). Even on weekends ,its hard to find a time to eat together with all the games. We are Italian, and I really hate how many nights a week we can't eat together as a family. So the other 2-3 nights a week I give the kids a heavy snack after school(1/2 a sandwich or something to carry them over) then we all eat together late like around 8. It is important for us to have this family time . I make something easy, like pasta or a pork tenderloin, burgers or chicken breasts - but we all sit around the table , say grace together and eat together and discuss our day. I am shocked how many families have completely abandoned this practice. I used to do this everynight, but my daughter who is very health conscious and runs after school found as she got to high school that she was so hungry after running that she would come home and snack too much waiting for dinner, then wasnt hungry for dinner that late. So that is why I added the crock pot meals nights so she could eat as soon as she gets hom a couple nights a week, but she still enjoys the later family dinners a couple times a week to. It seems to balance out and work for us. As others said, it is all about planning ahead and having the menu worked out for the week and all the groceries bought on weekend. Your dead in the water if you don't. It would be all carry out every night if we didnt plan ahead.

 

[Minniesgal]

In the summer we do salads and meat cooked on the BBQ as it is quick.

In the winter we do a lot of casseroles done in the over on the timer or chills and Bolognaise or curries done on the slow cooker all ready when we come in.

We also cook double quantity each time and freeze half for next time.

 

[tnd]

We do breakfast for dinner, leftovers, or soup and sandwiches on activity nights. All can be done in 15-20 min. I also sometimes use the crockpot if I am organized enough in the morning.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I agree a crockpot can be your friend. It is so nice to put dinner on before leaving for work and coming home to a yummy full cooked dinner. Plus the meals usually make more than enough to have left overs so I usually can get 3-5 meals out of just making 2 crockpot meals. Use crockpot liners for a quick clean up

 

[McKelly]

This same thing was happening to us so I took a Sunday and I cooked big pots of beef stew, sloppy joes, soup, chili, formed hamburger pattys and made a couple casseroles. Enough for an entire month. We eat those freezer meals on Mondays and Fridays, Tuesday is breakast for dinner, Wednesday is pasta and Thursday is pizza. Weekends I make meat, potato, vegetable meals.

And I just bought a pressure cooker - hoping that helps out too. I made a whole chicken and potatoes in 20 minutes last night! Fall of the bone tender! I liked to use the crock pot, but things were getting over done if I got stuck at work and sometimes mornings were just too chaotic to get things in there!

 

[ELSA711]

We always cook extra Sundays. Taco meat, sloppy joes, chili.

I'm not against, soup and sandwich nights or breakfast for dinner either. If it's nice like yesterday we grill extra meat like chicken and I chop it up to make big salads or pasta dishes or even quesadillas, my kids favorite.

 

[Patience]

A crock pot is your best friend. I do the chicken with salsa, black beans, and corn thing (but we don't put cream cheese in it). We usually serve that over instant rice. I also do the chicken with wing sauce and dry ranch dressing recipe. Shred and put on whole wheat hamburger buns and serve with a bag salad or coleslaw. Chicken breasts cooked with barbecue sauce is also good to use on sandwich buns (or just by itself). I try to keep bags of the quick steam broccoli and cauliflower in the freezer to serve as sides. Burgers and sausages thrown on the gas grill are quick. Some of us eat beef burgers and some of us eat bean burgers in my family. The bean burgers are super quick. We will also throw Italian sausages (turkey) on the grill at the same time we cook the burgers and use those the day after we eat the burgers. I often cut the grilled sausages up and put them in marinara sauce to serve over pasta. Frozen meatballs (I use turkey but I will also use vegetarian meatballs) in marinara sauce is quick too with bag salad on the side but a lot of times, I will simply slice cucumbers and tomatoes and mix that with a little ranch dressing or make a super quick balsamic vinegar dressing. We eat take out Chinese almost every Wednesday as that is a busy night for us and my husband will pick it up on the way home from work. He smoked a chicken this weekend and I used the leftovers to make chicken salad which we will eat tonight for dinner with grapes as a side. We do a lot of grilled cheese and tomato or vegetable soup. My mother in law has a garden and freezes vegetarian soup made with fresh veggies for us. I make a really quick vegetarian chili that we serve over rice and a really quick vegetarian Mediterranean pasta salad made with orzo or sometimes couscous. My oldest daughter is a vegetarian, I used to be vegetarian but will now eat a little poultry, my youngest and my husband will eat anything but I don't cook pork or beef with the exception of the beef burgers that my husband will sometimes throw on the grill for himself. In other words, it's complicated! But somehow we manage and I don't think we do too badly in the nutrition department for a busy family.

 

[JenzyHP]

We make some meals that can be portioned out and frozen with a vacuum sealer. We do this especially with The Pioneer Woman's Dr Pepper Pork or Pork BBQ. Both can be made in a crock pot then frozen in meal sized portions. We heat it up in the bag in boiling water.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

We have a relatively short list of weeknight meals, and they can all be prepped ahead or are quick to prepare. It took a little while to build up that list--it started out really short and I added to it over time. I actually keep it in an excel spreadsheet with all the recipes. I admit that could be a little obsessive, but it helps to see a list rather than feeling like I'm brainstorming every week.

Once a week, prior to grocery shopping, I look at a calendar and map out activities (more on that later) that will be keeping us out late. Then I plan what meal we will have each night. Usually I do this on the previous Friday so we can grocery shop and do any prep over the weekend. COOK AHEAD anything you can. Stick to the calendar. Have a back-up just in case (like sandwich stuff).

I don't even try to get everyone to sit down and eat at the same time for weeknight dinners. It just doesn't work for us. I try to make up for it on the weekends when we eat 3 meals a day together.

Our kids are limited to one activity at a time, but they're still elementary aged and would be exhausted with more anyway.

Here are some suggestions for things to keep on hand that are quick:

• Good quality frozen breaded chicken breast (not pre-cooked). Bakes in about 30 mins. Eat plain, top with spaghetti sauce from a jar for chicken parmesan, cut up on salads, use hot sauce for buffalo chicken, etc.
• Casseroles that can freeze--we like chicken tetrazzini and chicken pot pie a lot.
• Frozen fish filets--they do not have to be thawed before cooking. Just brush with olive oil and sprinkle on some seasoning. Then they cook in about 13 mins. (I like the non-stick foil for these)
• Cheesesteaks.
• Always have good sandwich stuff on hand--family doesn't mind having sandwiches when we have good meat and cheese and even some good bread (I freeze the bread and thaw in oven when needed)

 

[brooke789]

We do all of our cooking on the weekends and have leftovers all week long. For breakfast yesterday DH made pancakes so we'll have pancakes one night. For lunch I made baked sweet potatoes and cheddar cauliflower soup. For dinner DH made quesadillas. Bonus that he made an additional pizzadilla to go in the kids lunch boxes one day.m hat from Sunday we have 3 nights leftovers. We'd picked up pizza on Saturday night and have leftovers from that...so that just leaves one night this week to figure out something for dinner. That night will rob ably be something along the lines of chicken nuggets and Mac and cheese. This has. Even the best solution we'd come up with for dinner. It's nice that it's just ready...just needing heating.

I know some people don't like leftovers but it is great for us!

 

[Jake&IzzyLand]

There is no magic answer. Try some of these suggestions out and see what works. I like cooking once and eating twice or more. Try it once and see how you like it. Make pulled pork in the cockpit on Sunday. That night have loaded baked potatoes topped with it. Then have nachos, then have sliders. Dinner is taken care of until Wednesday.

 

[Minnesota!]

Rotissirie chickens from Costco are a life saver. I usually get two. They can become so many things and last so long! Soups, quesadillas, pasta salads, shredded chicken sandwiches, etc. So easy to just pull off the meat you want and use it!

 

[neatokimmo]

DD has activities every night (she is a competitive gymnast and a taekwondo junkie). I have a lot of precooked meat in the freezer. I can get a 2 pound bag of stir fry veggies from aldi and toss it in a pan with pregrilled chicken, and dinner is done in 10 minutes (it comes with sauce!). It is super easy to grill 20 pounds of chicken breast when you do it all at once. I slice it, then freeze it.

I crock pot 10 pounds of ground beef at once. The 90/10 from sams doesn't have a lot of fat. Easy to drain, easy to freeze. I have also made 10 pound batches of taco meat which makes a crazy fast meal.

I also crock pot chicken breast with 2 boxes of broth. I shred the chicken and make chicken salad for lunches and keep some out for dinners. The rest is frozen in the correct portion sizes. I take the broth and make chicken and dumplings which is simple and quick. Plus my kid loves it.

In a perfect world, you meal plan, and have your meat defrosting in the fridge for faster meals. I am not quite there yet, I have some awesome organized friends who are. They know how long each thing takes and have notes to pull certain items before they go to bed. They are awesome.

 

[Katy Belle]

I'm terrible at following a meal plan, even when I write it myself. So I usually think of a weeks worth of meals, shop for them, then pick one each evening and cook it. Doing prep on weekends certainly helps. And purchase veggies pre prepped, shredded carrots, green beans that have already been topped and tailed, etc. or even frozen veggies.

What are you eating in restaurants? Make it at home. burgers, tacos, chicken nuggets (make your own, baked) , pizza (frozen, pre made crust,French bread, bagels...all easy and fast ways to make pizza.

It's a constant battle for sure! Good luck!

 

[bethy]

This is a great thread!

We have scaled back our weeknight commitments as some here have suggested. But I do have a highschooler and for us it is inevitable that she have some activities and be involved in the community in order for her have a healthy social life and to get into colleges, etc.

Anyway, we also have food allergies in our family and so that makes it hard in that we can eat almost no economical processed foods. No canned soups or soup mixes, no dairy anything for some family members, no stuffing mixes, packaged breads, etc. We also have to watch our weight and cholesterol so that eliminates things like pork shoulders. So the crockpot is a little trickier for us due to these things but we do use it.

Our main strategy for convenient eating is to eat picnic style. I just keep the fridge stocked with tons of ready to eat things like deli meats, fruits and veggies, yogurts, artisan breads or breads I back in the bread machine. We eat a lot of sweet potato fries and baked beans as sides. Each meal we just piece plates together everyone sort of buffet style, tailoring each person's plate to their allergies and tastes. And then about 2-3 times per week I cook a "real" meal. Usually Mexican food or grilled chicken or homemade pizza.

 

[leahgoogle]

How do you let boneless skinless chicken breasts cook in the crock on low all day? Mine get done in a few hours and then then will dry out. Pork is always fine, but not boneless skin skinless breasts

I put chicken broth/stock or even water in with the chicken to keep them from drying out. Usually enough to almost cover them. It works well.

 

[neatokimmo]

OP, you can also stack your meals to make it easier. I cooked 4 pounds of ground beef. Used 1 pound for dinner (Italian), 1 in fridge, 2 in freezer. Next day we had loaded mashed potatoes with our meal (with chicken). Tonight, we are having cottage pie. It's the fridge ground beef, the leftover loaded potatoes and some veggies. Easy peasy.

 

[Ali]

well, I guess I fail at the whole cooking dinner thing when we are busy every night because we had HArdees tonight, BBQ last night. and other assorted quick food places will round out our week. Our power was out all day yesterday and Sunday is my bulk cooking day! I guess the crock pot would work but we are literally oit of the house from 7 AM to 8 or 9 PM every day so eating on the go is the only way to eat. High school sports are rough!

 

[smokeyblue]

My parents both worked, there were 3 of us, we lived in the absolute boonies (no store for 15 miles) and we always had dinner on the table. How they did it is beyond me. I'm talking complete meals, protein, vegetable and salad. Once it got down just to my parents and myself (the youngest) it did get harder because my mom was spending just as much on groceries as she was before. When I turned 16 my dad handed me the checkbook and I would go to the grocery store and do about 80% of the grocery shopping. I would plan out the meals for the week and buy what I needed and I would cook every night after I got home from school or whatever practice I was at. I wish I could a.)afford to do this, food has gone up quite a bit since I was a teen in the 90's b.) had the motivation!

Anyway, my quick meal go to's are mexican stuff. Always good to have cooked ground beef or pre-cooked chicken in the freezer. You can do tacos, burritos, fajitas, nachos, burrito bowls, taco salads, all kinds of meals. Just make sure you always have black beans, toritillas, salsa, rices, cheese, chips. You can have a meal on the table in minutes.

 

[aprilchem]

We've handled it by modifying our schedules and limiting activities. We have three kids, and we have a 1 activity policy at our house - not one per person, one total. That means they have to all 3 agree to do an activity or a couple can do an activity while the other one takes a break. For a while it's been swim team, but we're taking a break from that right now and may try music lessons for the 3 of them. We try to exclude activities that are very time consuming (we don't do anything with "traveling" in the title of it) as well.

I also modified my work schedule so that I go in really early 3 days a week and am home by 3 when they get off the bus. That way I can cook a full meal those days and have enough leftovers to tide us over for Thursday and Friday, when I work later to make up for a lost hour M-W. And if I want to do something relatively time-consuming for dinner I prep on the weekend - for example, I'll sometimes make 3 or 4 lasagnas and free them so all I have to do it take them out to thaw the night before and throw them in the oven.