Working Moms- how do you have time to make dinner?

[jacdo]

I'm a new mom who recently went back to work. This week was my 1st week of dropping-off and picking up DS at daycare. My DH does help me in the morning but he leaves for work earlier than I, so I'm left with getting myself and DS ready in the AM. By the evening, I just don't feel like cooking. I told myself this weekend that I would cook a few meals in advanced. But, I don't know how I'm going to find the time, since my DS takes only 30 min naps and my DH will be away this weekend. Any suggestions of meals that freeze well besides lasagna? or websites? Thanks.

[proggoddess]

Crockpot cooking is a lifesaver! Beef stew, pulled pork, chili, soups... Google has lots of links to crockpot cooking recipes.

I also relied on buying pre-cut meat and veggies and then just stir frying them. Easy, but still tastes homemade. Or buying frozen vegetable bags, instant rice, then mixing them with a can of chunk chicken and a can of cheddar cheese soup and you get a cheesy chicken casserole.

I found that pot roast and any potatoes do not freeze well. Very unappetizing after the ice crystals ruin the texture of the food.

[kelly ann]

After DC #1, I used to do a lot of crockpot meals and Thai take out :) For the crockpot, I would prep everything the night before and just turn it on before heading out the door.

Since having DC #2, I now go to one of those dinner prep places. I spend 2 hours making a month's worth of food and pop it in the freezer until we need it.

A couple of days ago there was a thread about once-a-month cooking at home (mine is done outside of the home). Maybe you can look at that thread for some additional help.

By the way, sometimes bacon and eggs or pancakes makes a very quick and easy dinner - who said it is only for breakfast ;)

[nitaghei]

Get DH to cook. Seriously. If you do the child care, he has to do the cooking and the dishes. Or vice versa. Right after I went back to work, DH expected things to continue the same way - that I would cook most of the dinners in a week. I tried for weeks to cope and then I lost it. Once DH took over most of the dinners; and taking care of DS on weekends for a few hours while I cooked, things began to settle into a routine.

I cook Indian food - which doesn't help you. What I do is cook double portions and freeze half. Indian food keeps well in the refigerator, so I can cook for the week in a couple of hours on the weekend (having a pressure cooker helps). I also keep a container of cooked pasta of some sort in the refrigerator. Also rice. And I stock frozen veggies. Saute veggies, throw in some jarred sauce and pasta, and it's a quick meal.

Veggies, egg and rice = fried rice.

I generally cook rice, pasta, a couple of veggies, some beans and lentils and a chicken dish on the weekend. This is the basis of dinner for most of the week. I confess that I've descended to using jarred pasta sauce post DS.

If you have some rice cooked, and some canned black beans, you can make burritos.

Even better if you have cooked chicken.

Quesadillas are a quick meal, too, if you have the ingredients.

HTH to start off. GL. It's tough trying to eat well and cope with an infant.

Nita
mom to Neel, January 2003
dog mom to a PWD and a cocker (at the Rainbow Bridge)

"Moderation is best in all things." Hesiod

[kelly ann]

OMG, how did you do this? It is so true that they get used to things the way they were. While on maternity leave I did all of the cooking, but DH got used to this and it was impossible to get him to cook once I went back to work. Well, he would heat up a frozen pizza or make ramen noodle soup with veggies for his dinner attempts.

Anyway, that is why I go to those dinner prep places now. It was impossible once the second baby came along to cook when I came home (plus we moved and the commute is longer).

[ribbit1019]

Dinner? What's that? LOL!!
Seriously, we have the freezer stocked with easy prep foods and we eat out A LOT more than we should. I use the crockpot too, but it is rare that I have time in the morning to put anything together.
I am going to do a mass cooking day one weekend and I am also planning trip to our local Dream Dinners-ish place. I am hoping this will cut out the eating out.

Christy
Maddy born 6/09/04
http://lilypie.com/baby2/040609/3/4/0/-5/.png

Little Man due 3/02/06
http://bd.lilypie.com/cKLom4/.png
Co-Owner Ribbit Baby

"I did then what I knew how to do. When you know better, you do better." ~ Maya Angelou

[nitaghei]

My DH is actually a pretty competent cook. But reapportioning the responsibilities included a long, ugly melt-down and many tears and quite a lot of unpleasantness. Worth it, though. :)

Nita
mom to Neel, January 2003
dog mom to a PWD and a cocker (at the Rainbow Bridge)

"Moderation is best in all things." Hesiod

[elliput]

I'm with Nita, get your DH to cook. Luckily for me, I have a DH that loves to cook and has done 90% of the cooking and dishes since we have been married (almost 13 years). Slow cooking is a fantastic way to make a delicious meal- I wish we used our crock pot more.

Rachel Ray has many books out on 30 minute meals - here is a link to the titles on amazon.com. http://tinyurl.com/dxque

[JElaineB]

Um, I don't. I just started working full-time 5 months ago so I have been struggling with this as well. We (all three of us) leave the house at 7 am and don't get home until sometime after 5:30. DS is starving when he gets picked at 4:45 and snacks in the car aren't quite enough unfortunately. So we have been eating out quite a bit. There was a thread a few days ago about Once a Month Cooking (and a few others if you do a search):

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=37&topic_id=284926&mesg_id=284926&listing_type=search

We have tried that with some success and I want to try harder now that the holidays are over. I think this is going to end up being the best solution for us, but it is a time committment one or two weekends a month.

I did get 12 meals from a local "Cooking Club" place (like Dream Dinners, etc.) but even though a lot of people seem to like them it just didn't work out for us. We still have about 4 of them in the freezer from August! The food didn't appeal that much to us and there were no side dishes included, and the cooking time were WAY off (everything took at least twice as long as they said), and so it didn't really save us any time (compared to home cooking something else) or money (compared to eating out). This was our local place and not a national franchise, so YMMV.

I am considering ordering some frozen stuff from Schwann's too, but I haven't done that yet and I need to look at the ingredients of the food to see how badly processed some of their stuff is. Plus it is a little on the expensive side.

Since you are a new mom, I would say to try and cut yourself some slack right now - do whatever it takes to eat something reasonably healthy for yourself but if that means buying convienence foods for now or ordering in or eating out, do that. And make sure DH pitches in too. :)

Jennifer
mom to Jacob 9/27/02

[nitaghei]

One of the gifts I gave DH for Christmas was a crockpot cookbook. :) :)

I don't do it, because I cook any kind of meat very rarely, and prefer the pressure cooker for beans/lentils.

Nita
mom to Neel, January 2003
dog mom to a PWD and a cocker (at the Rainbow Bridge)

"Moderation is best in all things." Hesiod

[squimp]

I'm looking for a good crockpot cookbook as well. I've made a few things, and love the slow cooked taste and convenience.

[emilys_mom]

Usually I feed DD, as she's starving when we get home, and DH cooks, or I use the crock pot, or we buy a thin crust cheese frozen pizza and add our own toppings/veggies. We also started eating a lot more home cooked burgers and spaghetti. I know-- not the healthiest of meals, but I try to compare it to eating out (which we still do 1-2 times a week) and I think it's got to be better than that.

[StantonHyde]

I went with My Girlfriend's Kitchen www.mygfk.com It's a newer chain. The first time I went and spent two hours with my SIL. After that (and birth of baby #2) I just order online and they pack it and deliver it to my house. It is $250 for 24 dinners. Yes, we could eat cheaper but that would entail a ton of work on my part and it is not gonna happen. It is cheaper than take out and healthier too. My DH has cooked dinner twice in the 10 years I have known him:-) And it's ok that the cooking time is the same as if you cooked it "yourself". I don't have to think or plan or anything--I just pull it out the night before. I keep rice and couscous on hand to cook for a side and salad bags. And I have learned to cook with some new things and sometimes I doctor the dishes. I have also ordered their crockpot dishes and now am very enamored. I do a great dish that takes 1 can of chicken broth, 1 jar of mole sauce (from supermarket), and a pound of chicken. Cook for 4 hours. Pull the chicken apart with a fork and mix around before you take it out. Serve over rice yum! DH does earn points for cleaning up!! Plus I work part time and he works FT plus. So we are happy with our arrangement.

[Dee150]

I'm not a working mom, but terribly disorganized! Nita- I cook India food too and I was wondering how you come up with a week's worth in 2 hours...Any tips or pointers? I'm terrible at planning, and tend to dawdle -not very efficient!
TIA!

[octmom]

Like Nita said, DH can do it. My DH isn't a gourmet cook, but he is probably better than me, and he cooks dinner 98% of the time. We both cooked some (and ate lots of takeout) before DS was born. After DS came along and esp. after I went back to work, I was busy nursing DS right after we got home. While I nursed DS, DH brought me a big glass of water and then made dinner. Even though DS isn't nursing anymore, we still do things the same way. I play with/ tend to DS when we get home (I do daycare dropoff and pickup most days) and DH beats us home and gets dinner started. Then, I often clean up after dinner and DH plays with DS/ bathes him when he needs it, etc. In the mornings, DH tends to DS (breakfast, gets him dressed, etc.) while I get ready, then I take DS to daycare on my way to work. DH gets ready faster than me, so he usually jumps in the shower as soon as DS and I are out the door. Occasionally we wing it and both get ready at the same time so he can get it earlier or so that we can carpool.

I've been curious about those dinner prep places and am thinking about tryinig one before baby #2 comes along this spring. We don't have one in my town, but there is a MGFK about an hour away, so I may try it with some friends.

Jerilyn
DS, Sean 10/03
expecting #2! EDD April 1, 2006, but anticipating a C/S in March: IT'S A GIRL!!! :)

"Baby makes days shorter, nights longer, home happier, and love stronger."

[firstbaby]

I definitely struggle with this more times than others. Some things that I've done that help include sitting down on Saturday or Sunday and planning our meals for the week. Then, buying over that weeked what I will need. I found that if we needed to stop at the store for ANYTHING during the week, we just found ourselves in the drivethru line somewhere. Rotisserie chicken is fantastic - buy one and you can have that with mashed potatoes (quick) or add it to a pasta sauce (red or white) or make chicken salad sandwiches - or all three! If you have a costco near you they have some yummy stuffed shells or manicotti that you just have to add sauce to and a salad and you're done. Also, Southern Living has a cookbook called Easy Weeknight Favorites and we've had a lot of success with some of those recipes including enchiladas and crockpot BBQ. I second the idea for breakfast for dinner! Finally, some simple meat dishes can be mixed the night before and thrown in the oven when you get home (meatloaf, sheppards pie), etc. And breading thin chicken cutlets and pan frying for chicken parm takes two minutes. Boxed mac and cheese while not the most nutritious can have some green beans or ground beef thrown in and it is a little better! The thin chicken is a little more expensive but worth it for the time it saves!

[mommd]

I tried Schwann's a little while back. They are SO expensive for very little food. Not worth it in my opinion. I do once a month cooking now. It usually takes me 4-6 hours on both Saturday and Sunday to do this, so it is a time commitment, but you don't have to cook for the rest of the month!

Try looking at 30 day cooking or frozen assets, they have websites as well. Good luck. :)

[DebbieJ]

As a PP pointed out, I think the key is planning. Plan out your meals for the week and shop accordingly. I even look at the sale papers first and try to plan my meals around what is on sale. Then you can do any prep for the next days dinner the night before. I always make my crock pot dinners the night before (I have a removable crock). I put the crock in the fridge overnight and then just start it the next morning.

I am thinking of trying our local "make in advance" place just because I am so mentally tired of planning and cooking dinner. DH just started up his own biz, so he is working constantly and I work at home, so we are both pretty tapped for time right now. I'm working through all the stuff in my freezer first (like the baby back ribs I got for $1.50/lb at Sam's Club, so I bought four full slabs!).

Good luck. It's hard.

~ deb
DS born at home 12/03
2 year check up: 25 lbs with clothes on and 35 inches!
BFARed for 20 months and 6 days
(Breastfeeding After Reduction is possible! www.bfar.org)

http://www.bfar.org/members/fora/style_avatars/Ribbons/18months-bfar.jpg

[ILoveLT]

Another vote for DH cooking! DH makes at least two dinners a week and it is so great to come home to a hot meal after a hard day's work! How did I get him to do it? He has always cooked and I never cooked that much. Also, he is kind of a neat and control freak so he prefers to cook.

[proggoddess]

I second the rec for rotisserie chicken! I forgot all about that. When on sale, it's almost as cheap as buying the whole roaster/fryer chicken and cooking it yourself, but all the hard work is already done! If you time it just right, you have chicken dinner on Thursday night, chicken sandwiches for lunch on Friday, and then on the weekend, boil the bones, throw in some frozen veggies and some egg noodles, and you have chicken soup! (Freezes very well, I might add. And very expandable. Just add more water and more noodles!)

DH and I like to make "mexican" mac and cheese by adding a bit of salsa to our boxed cheap stuff. Gives it some oomph.

[nitaghei]

Let me check with DH. It was something I grabbed off the remainders tables at Borders on impulse. It just struck me - I give hime a cookbook every Christmas. I guess that's how weird traditions get created.

Nita
mom to Neel, January 2003
dog mom to a PWD and a cocker (at the Rainbow Bridge)

"Moderation is best in all things." Hesiod

[lizajane]

i haven't replied to this thread because i don't work outside the home and therefore can't answer the question... but finally, i just can't help myself... how do stay at home moms find the time to make dinner??????? i don't have ANY idea how ANY mom makes dinner!!! my DH does it a lot. or we open a can of soup.

[daniele_ut]

I think that I forgot how to cook while I was pregnant, LOL! I was so sick that I rarely cooked at all the whole 8 months. I did a little better when I was on maternity leave, but DH wasn't expecting a whole lot when I went back to work. The first couple of weeks really sucked, honestly and we ate a lot of pizza and take-out.

I finally sat down and worked out a meal plan every Saturday and made the grocery list from the plan and that helped immensely, but sometimes I was still too tired to cook what I had planned. I haven't been able to get organized enough to do once a month cooking, but now I buy meat in bulk so that I will have it on hand and that it takes a step out of the process. I cook 5 lbs of ground beef or ground turkey and freeze it in 1 lb portions. I will bake a whole bunch of seasoned chicken and chop them or slice them also into 1 lb portions and freeze them. If I want to make tacos I just pull out a bag of ground beef, defrost, throw it in a pan with the seasoning (I buy a big jar at Costco) and 5 minutes later we have tacos. I have a bunch of easy recipes that call for cooked diced chicken as well. If I'm really lazy, we'll have Chicken Caesar Salad for dinner.

I have also used My friend's Kitchen and I loved it. I'm planning to go back again soon. I split the meals in half so that I had 24 dinners in the freezer. I found the food to be really tasty and definitely stuff we liked.

As others have said, I use the Crockpot a lot as well. I just put together a meatloaf that I will make tomorrow while we are at church. I find it is much easier if you prepare it the night before and leave the crock in the fridge overnight so you just have to turn it on before you leave for work.

[DebbieJ]

Liza,

As a WAHM, I make big batches of stuff and we eat the same thing 2-3 days in a row. And lots of frozen veggies. Just this week I made Italian Sausage in the crock pot. Today was day 3. :)

I also prebrown and freeze the ground beef in 1 lb portions, so it's pretty easy to pull something together at the last minute. I also keep a couple frozen entrees from Trader Joe's on hand.

~ deb
DS born at home 12/03
2 year check up: 25 lbs with clothes on and 35 inches!
BFARed for 20 months and 6 days
(Breastfeeding After Reduction is possible! www.bfar.org)

http://www.bfar.org/members/fora/style_avatars/Ribbons/18months-bfar.jpg