Working people....dinner?

[C.Ann]

Yet, every single day on the way home, husband asks me what's for dinner...sigh...I have no idea and I don't care. I wish he'd stop asking me. After 9 years, you'd think he'd get the hint.

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This reminds me of my late DH's sister and her DH.. When I lived closer to them I used to visit quite frequently in the evening.. Her DH was never there at the traditional dinner time because he also had a construction business on the side.. Most nights he would wander in around 9 or 10 p.m. and the conversation would go like this:

Him: "What have you got to feed me?"

Her: "What do you want?"

Him: "What have you got?"

Her: "What do you want?"

Him: "I don't care.. What have you got??"

I have to tell you - more than once I wanted to take a frozen steak out of the fridge and whack him right in the forehead with it..

 

[Kimmumum]

Working mom of 2 here. We do alot of grilling, crockpot meals or quicker stuff like tuna casserole, jambalaya, hot ham and cheese sandwiches, spaghetti, perogies (our deli has really good freshly made ones) etc.

We eat in every night but some Saturdays.

 

[Buckalew11]

I cook.

We usually eat out once a week. (Fri or Sat)

 

[crazelion]

I cook dinner in the fall and winter do homecooking. Now in the summer is a different story. I take whatever food I can get when I work 2 jobs in the summer. Sometimes I leave at 8 in the morning and do not 10p.m. a night. Now school feeds me breakfast, lunch and a snack. Now dinner I am on my own.

 

[mjantz]

We get Angel Food every month so I work off that. There's usually a mix of fast stuff like breaded chicken patties & stuff like steaks that need a bit more work. So I plan the night before depending on a bunch of stuff like what we had that night (I try & alternate chicken & other things), what we're doing that evening, how much time I'll have before dinner, etc. Tomorrow evening I have a bit more time so I'm making a bit more time intensive meal. On busy nights it may be either the crockpot or chicken nuggets, rice side & green salad. It just depends on a variety of factors.

The most important thing for me is having a well-stocked freezer & pantry. Its a lot less tempting to go out or get carry out when I know I can make something in less than 30 minutes.

 

[SereneOne]

Currently a SAHM, however, on nights that are busy, I go to Whole Foods and purchase these prepackaged meals they have for $15 for a family of four. They make three different kinds a week and switch them out every week. One of my favorites is the Herbed Chicken with new potatoes and garlic string beans. You also get a nice salad and dressing. These meals are freshly made--the string beans are not canned, etc. We do this occassionally on Wednesdays when our daughter has Cubbies.

When I was working outside the home (and let me add staying-at-home is working), we would occassionally get one of those Stouffer's chicken enchiladas and make a nice deep green salad with veggies and serve fruit for dessert. Tyson also sells chicken strips prepackaged. Make a deep green salad with lots of colorful veggies and heat the chicken strips up in the microwave to add protein. Of course one wants to be careful because of the high sodium content, but once and a while should be okay.

Casseroles are easy...Chicken potpie-combine canned chicken breast, bag of thawed frozen veggies, cream of chicken soup and top with biscuits. Bake for about 25 minutes, add a salad (we like salad, okay ). Easy and decent meal.

 

[goodeats]

I grew up with a SAHM that did not cook. We ate out probably 6 nights a week. I hated it, and don't want to live like that. Seriously, the lady who worked the drive through at a local fast food place tried to get my mom to learn to cook.

Not a mom yet, but currently 7 months pregnant and DH and I both work full time. We eat out probably 2-3 times a month. Every weekend I do a menu plan and go on a grocery run. IMO, most meals take less time to cook than going out and picking something up. Tonight I cooked some ground turkey for taco meat and chopped up an avocado and served with lettuce, salsa, cheese and ww tortillas. Took less than 20 minutes to put together. Other nights it's salad with a meat and veggies or things like spaghetti or an interesting soup. We do probably spend more on groceries than other people (around $400 a month for two adults), but I'm sure we spend much less eating out than they do.

I think Rachel Ray recipes can be helpful to a novice chef. Some of them are odd, but once you get the hang of it they really do take less than 30 minutes. Another tip is to cook something like lasagna on Sunday night then you have leftovers for another night.

 

[Minnie824]

DH & I both work full time, daughters are in soccer, cheerleading, brownies, tumbling, etc. I *try* to cook Mon - Thurs, with crock pot, quick meals, whatever. We eat out over the weekend, and some weeknights. There is just no time. I feel bad they don't have healthy meals all the time, but what can you do.

 

[toledo13]

I make a sit down every day. There are some good recipes in my blog (look at my signature) for black bean burgers and yummy easy pasta salad....

The thing that I do a lot is use the crock pot. I put frozen chicken breasts in with some chicken stock (all organic/free range) in the morning, let it cook all day, and when I get home, just cook up some 5min brown rice, and I'm good to go! I also in the evenings make things like the above mentioned pasta (I make a big pot of whole wheat pasta, and devide it up into some pasta salad, some pasta with sauce, etc to have 'left overs' in the fridge, ready to heat!!)

The above mentioned black bean burgers freeze really well. I make 6 burgers out of the recipe, and throw them in the freezer to have on hand for whenever.

I also make a lot of soups and chili on sunday afternoons to freeze or keep in the fridge for dinners and lunches for the week.

One easy EASY recipe I have is for stuffed potatoes-

Heat up a potato in the microwave-
Top with salsa, black beans, lowfat cheese, cilantro, whatever you want! Serves 2 (1/2 potato per person)

YUM-O!!!

 

[Darcy03231]

I'm a working mom and cook every night. I use both the crock pot and the grill a lot. I also do a lot of food prep ahead of time, either over the weekend or the night before. Here's this week's menu (and yes our family loves salad):

Monday - Marinated steak cooked on the grill with pasta salad and tossed salad (I made both salads on Sunday).

Tuesday - Mexican Chicken in the crock pot served with toritillas and tossed salad.

Wednesday - boneless pork chops cooked on the grill with potato salad, fresh green beans, pickled beets (jar) and tossed salad. On Tuesday night I made the potato salad, prepared the green beans and made more tossed salad.

Thursday - Meatball subs. I made the meatballs this morning before I left for work, browned them and put them in the crockpot with jarred spaghetti sauce to finish cooking. I'll serve them in sub rolls with cheese and a side salad.

Friday - Take out, most likely Chinese.

Saturday - Ham, baked potatoes, corn, rolls and a tossed salad.

Sunday - going to my mom's.

 

[SC Minnie]

I am a mom and work full time and so does DH. For a while DD14 and I would sit down on the weekends and make a menu for the week. We would look at what we had on hand as well as what the grocery stores have on sale. We need to get back to doing this. It worked out great because DD or DH would start dinner by the time I got home and there was no calling me at work asking what's for dinner.

We eat out maybe 3 times a month- some months not at all and other months it may be once a week.

 

[RadioFanatic]

Sundays, I make two meals that each meal is for two nights - usually a crockpot meal or casserold. So that takes care of M-Th. Friday, I make homemade pizza or meatball subs or something like that. Saturday, we usually go out to eat and Sunday I also do a meal for that night. Now that summer is approaching, I'll probably make side salads like mac, potato, etc. on sunday and then can grill each night. Makes life easier, that's for sure and then I'm less inclined to stop somewhere on teh way home.

 

[lovemygoofy]

I'm not a mom or work full time right now though I am going back to work next month. My eraseboard calendar will be coming back out the week before I start work.

I have an erase board in my kitchen that list meals for two weeks. During the week the meal must not take more than an hour to make from start to finish. Sundays, we do a real Sunday dinner still. Saturday night we may eat out or we may not just depends on us.

One night every week is breakfast. It's never the same breakfast meal but always a breakfast night and now I'm implementing a pizza night. We are thinking Monday night is our pizza night because that's the only night we do watch alot of tv. We can sit and have pizza and indulge in useless sitcom laughter.

Every morning, I pull down the stuff I need to make the meal and if a receipe is needed, say my husband gets home before I do but doesn't know how the meal gets made, he can start it at least from the receipe.

I do alot of prep work on Sunday. I cut up alot of peppers, mushrooms, onions and whatver else veggies we will be using.

I do have a crockpot that I use at least once a week and we love our george forman grill also.

What really got us on the kick of eating at home was besides it being better for you was the money and time. For the time it takes to decide on somewhere, wait to get in and then order the food. I can have a dinner ready and half way through to clean up AND save alot of money.

 

[rottiemom]

I work full time & cook us sit down meals every day (and 3 times on weekends ). But I truly love to cook.

I think Rachel Ray recipes can be helpful to a novice chef. Some of them are odd, but once you get the hang of it they really do take less than 30 minutes.

I pooh-poohed rachel ray's 30 minute meals...until my son was born. Those recipes were a lifesaver & truly can be prepared in 30 minutes, even with a toddler clinging onto your legs .

I use the freezer a lot and do a lot of prep work & batches on the weekends. For example, I'll make up a batch of homemade pasta & freeze it in meal sized packages. Do a batch of pizza dough & freeze it in lumps. Make up a pot of sauce, freeze in portions (pasta size & pizza size). Soups, chili, all of my go to "what am I gonna make tonight?" stuff. I take out "dinner" in the morning & it's thawed by the time I get home.

Granted, we're not talking gourmet meals every night but with some planning & forethought (kinda like a WDW trip) it makes things much easier. Let's see...in the past week we've done paella, churasco with quesadillas, American chop suey (it's a Boston thing & my husband's childhood fav), fried calamari and good old burgers. All on the table in about a half hour. Burgers are my go to for those nights when I just don't feel like cooking .

I do have a crock pot but I don't use it when I'm going to be out of the house...I'm too paranoid about fire. I know that kinda defeats the purpose of having one .

I'm not big on pre-prepared foods. I like to have control over exactly what's going into what I'm making. It makes things more difficult but I'm much happier with the results. of course my SON whines for McDonalds & Kid Cuisines . I do remember the time I made him homemade "chicken nuggets" and he complained that they didn't taste right. My husband explained that it was because I made them with chicken .

 

[minniecarousel]

*sigh*

I'm getting so tired of looking for low-sodium for my Mom and low-fat for DH & me. I won't become a short-order cook, so DH & I will add a little table salt, since I won't cook with any salt. It's rough finding any canned foods to use in cooking that are salt-free. I had a recipe that called for canned creamed corn (ordinarily - yuck!, but it was going to be used to make a creamier recipe, without added fat). But I couldn't find any low-salt creamed corn, so couldn't use that recipe! My Mom is very sensitive to salt - it'll put her in the hosp if she ingests a smidge too much.

I gotta admit, the crockpot and the grill (Foreman & outside) are a lifesaver. When my kids were at home and we were running here and there right before dinnertime, it was tough, but we managed. Getting fesh veggies and fruits was important from an early age. Glad I made the effort.

 

[mickeyfan9194]

I work full-time as does DH. We have 2 teen-age boys. All of us are very busy in the evenings (baseball, archery, swimming, confirmation, and going to the gym at least 3 times a week).

For us the key is to stay organized. We meal plan and shop on Sunday mornings for the week. The list is posted on the fridge, so no one should ever have to ask "what's for dinner tonight?" We make bigger meals on the weekends and freeze the leftovers, or use them as ingredients for other meals. Occassionally, I'll also make casseroles on the weekend for use later in the week (put together and freeze, so that when I need them, I can just toss one in the oven). When DH and I first met, I couldn't cook to save my soul. Even now, I struggle with most recipes. Honestly, if it has over 5 ingredients, I won't even try it. So it has to be easy, or I won't make it. DH also loves to grill, so that helps a lot too.

Most all of our meals can be on the table in 30 minutes or less, so it takes less time than going out somewhere. We also save money and have lost weight by eating healthier meals at home. Personally, I get the heeby-jeebies when I think of someone else handling my food anyway.

For what it's worth, here is our menu for this week:
Sun-Roast Beef au jus sandwiches, french fries, corn on the cob
Mon-Chicken kabobs w/peanut sauce, long grain& wild rice, tossed salad
Tues-No Name salmon, rice, asparagus
Wed-Pizza and tossed salad
Thurs-Nachos Grande
Fri-Bacon wrapped chicken breasts stuffed with cream cheese & chives, new potatoes, green beans
Sat-pork ribs, corn on the cob, baked potatoes

Off the top of my head, these are some of our other easy meals:
Burgers
Casseroles
Cheddarwurst
Stir fry
Sloppy Joes
Tacos/burritos/enchiladas/fajitas
Quesadillas
Pita or wrap sandwiches with soup
Steak
Shrimp/crab/fish
Lasagna/spaghetti/ravioli
Roast
Turkey breast (usually from the crock pot, leftovers to be used in casseroles/soup)
Chicken breast (tons of variety)
Ham (again, leftovers in salad/casserole/soup)

 

[HGD24]

DH and I both work full time and are about 30 mins from home, in opposite directions. By the time we get home, we're all very hungry. We've started cooking at least one large meal on Sunday afternoons, enough to last a day or two. Sometimes we'll cook a meal after DD has gone to bed with the purpose of reheating it the next night as soon as we get home. There are nights when we can get a quick meal made before DD gets too hungry. We've learned that giving her a little snack (string cheese, rice cake, dry cereal, etc) while cooking dinner is a good thing and helps us eat more fresh meals.

 

[Missy1961]

It's just me & dad (who will turn 84 in a few weeks), but we eat at home almost every night. We sit and plan a week's worth of dinner from what we have in the freezer & what's on sale. I make a big pot of spaghetti sauce about every 3 months & so we always have that in the freezer. We buy chicken breasts on sale, wrap them individually, so we can always have a quick chicken dinner. Also I buy chop meat when it's on sale, shape some into hamburgers, and package some in 1 or 2 lb. so I can make chili, meatloaf or some stuffed peppers. Dad does a lot of meal prep before I get home--puts potatoes in the oven to bake, makes salads, preps veggies--and then I'll do the rest of the meal. Dad does some cooking--he does all the grilling, and he makes the best stuffed peppers--so much better than mine! On weekends, when I have more time, I'll make something like a stew or a roast that we can heat up during the week. We'll get a pizza if the both of us have busy evenings or if I'm working some overtime. We go out for special occasions or if we got a gift card.

 

[Iott Family]

I am a SAHM but we have 4 kids, 3 of which are in sports/scouts and we are alway son the run it seems. I have a basic menu I buy for weekly of easy to make dinners and a few meals that require more time migt get added onto th elist depending on how the calendar looks for the week.

Our easy to make stand-by meals:

Spaghetti, bread, green salad
Tacos, rice or corn, fruit salad
Ham steak, veg and starch-sweet potato, etc.
grilled cheese and crockpot soup-kids really like my veg soup
baked chicken,rice and green salad
mac/cheese w/ peas, fruit salad
lasagne, bread and salad

yes, I make a lot of salad. Its the easiest way for me to get a veg in my veg hating DH who is diabetic and needs his fresh veggies. I also only use fresh or frozen and never canned veggies. All fruits are fresh except jarred applesauce, pineapple and mandarin oranges. Pre-bagged, washed romaine is an easy quick salad with some carrots, cukes,and grape tomato. My DD 13 is a great kitchen helper so if any of you have a child who is 7 or more years in age. Engage them in supper prep. They will be happy to help and rake up all the praise for serving a great meal!!!

 

[Iott Family]

what happened with this thread??????