How do you sort family dinner on working days?

[InsolentAnnie]

I work pt, DH works ft. Really struggle on the days neither of us get home til 6 (DCs in childcare after school). We need to eat straight away, ideally, or it’s too late for the little one who is only 6, but we never manage to eat before 7 because it takes time to make things! We like cooking, do most stuff from scratch, but even basic things take 45 mins unless it’s something like tuna and sweetcorn pasta, which we can’t have all the time! What do other people do?!

Slow cooker! The Bored of Lunch recipe books have some lovely dump dinners ie no pre cooking. Prep the night before, turn on when you leave. A digital slow cooker will switch to warm once it's done the 4 hours on high or whatever you set.

Also micro rice etc with batch cooked one pot dinners. Very quick food like salmon (12 mins in oven).

Also meal planning is crucial so the ingredients are defrosted.

Same situation here for average of 3 nights a week, kids are nursery and primary age. I literally don’t bother to cook a family dinner those nights. The kids get something that takes 5 mins or less - cheese on toast, omelette, porridge, snack plate of crackers and cheese etc, followed by a yogurt or fruit.

I find it’s pretty pointless even trying to do a proper sit down dinner. They don’t want to sit at the table, they’re exhausted and it ends in tears particularly if it’s a dinner they don’t like or don’t want.

I also figure that in the limited time I have with them on those evenings I would rather spend my time cuddling / chatting / reading an extra bedtime story vs cooking a meal for them.

I have a series of meals I can do really quickly eg

• chicken fajitas take ten mins (chicken is pre-spiced and chopped in small strips, airfryer means fridge to table in 10 mins; meantime fast-fry the onions and peppers)
• spaghetti carbonara (homemade)
• Poached smoked fish with fried eggs and crusty bread (the bread is from the shop)
• stir fries
• salmon teriyaki
• pan-fried chicken or turkey with veg

and so on

The there’s all the obvious batch cook meals that barely need any effort eg spag bol, stuffed peppers, pasta with creamy sauces etc

I then do food prep and meal prep at 6am.

So that means:
-table laid
-saucepans ready - if it’s rice or pasta, already weighed out
-kettle filled ready to boil
-ingredients prepared

Backup of beige food or ready made quiche in case it all goes wrong!

Don't have a slow cooker but do batch cook and microwave eg. Veg chilli, curries, pasta sauces - all then take only the time for the pasta/rice to cook and there is time to chop a few veggies or get salad or frozen veg ready. Pre cook meat like chicken then freeze it cooked to go in sauces etc. Shepherds pie base cooked in advance then microwave or boil potatoes - only needs 20 min in the oven so maybe 45 minutes in total. Stir fry takes about 15 min (chop veg and use cooked chicken or frozen prawns straight from the freezer). Jacket potatoes (microwave first then 10-15 min in hot oven to crisp the skin) with cheese, tuna, coleslaw and side salad. Omelette/frittata. Sometimes we do pizza, fresh pasta with homemade tomato sauce (takes 10-15 min - garlic, herbs, tinned tomatoes and puree) or fish fingers with jackets or in a sandwich.

the secret is to meal plan, get stuff ready the night before, and batch cook.

I have mixed feelings about slow cookers, some stuff is just mush, but some is OK. Throw it all in the night before and stick it in the fridge. Then plug in as you leave.

Or make a lasange on Monday, and make 2x the meat sauce, so on Thursday when you come home late you cook spaghetti and heat up the sauce.

Every time you cook something that can be frozen, do double (curry, chilli, beef casserole etc) and freeze half. Then take it out of the freexer the night before and put in the fridge, just need ot do rice when you get in and heat it up.

Buy pre-chopped veg and packs of pre-chopped meat for a stir-fry and have it with either noodles (which take four minutes in boiling water) or microwave rice packs. Whole meal takes 10 mins. Either buy sauces ready-made or prep them at the weekend and keep them in a jar in the fridge.

Spaghetti carbonara (Italian style with no cream!) is very quick. Buy packs of bacon lardons/pancetta pieces, and pre-grated parmesan and the only other ingredient is eggs. You can serve with a salad bowl on the side.

In summer, salads in general are very quick and easy. Chicken caesar salad with pre-cooked cold chicken, pre-boiled hardboiled eggs, gem lettuce, tinned or fresh anchovies (or cold crispy bacon if you're not keen on anchovies) with packet or air-fryer croutons and Caesar dressing from a bottle is really quick too.

Same as others have posted get the slow cooker ready the evening before ,then a curry or stew or casserole can be switched on in the morning and be ready for the evening meal.

Gousto and choose the 10 min or quick and easy options, love them. We do that 3 days a week and bits and bobs the other days

Batch cook and heat in microwave, slow cooker or something like soup that just needs heating up. You could also pre-cook jacket potatoes and then just heat them up and add fillings and a salad. Salad in summer.

With the slow cooker if I know I’ll be short of time in the morning I sometimes chuck everything in it the evening before and put the bowl in the fridge overnight, then just add liquid in the morning. They’re also absolutely fine left on for 12h, just put on a lower heat.

When I cook I always make enough for at least one more meal, either gets eaten in the next 2 days or put into the freezer. I plan batch cooking and make extra sauces, just have to remember to take things out into fridge the night before you want it. I find Autumn/Winter easier as stews etc are more amenable to batch cooking. An air fryer cooks things faster than the oven.

Batch cook or make something easy to prepare in the slow cooker the evening before that can be reheated in minutes eg make a ragu for lasagne on a night you have time but make extra ragu for spaghetti bolognaise a couple of days later, or a make a casserole or curry the night before using diced meat and preprepared fresh or frozen veg.
Non UPF pizza and salad
Pasta pesto with peas and broccoli
Carbonara and salad or asparagus
Ramen made with non UPF bone broth (or homemade), leftover chicken, veg and a soft boiled egg
Special fried rice using leftover chicken/rice and frozen veg
Poached or pan fried salmon (or any fish or chicken breasts or steak) with potato salad or microwaved new potatoes and veg.
Halloumi burgers and salad
Stir fries
They can all be on the table in 15 mins.

If you work PT, how many days are you out of the house until 6? On those days, can you have something you have previously batch cooked or a meal which you construct from fresh but prepared ingredients (so a chicken stir fry with pre-cut strips of chicken & a bag of stir fry veg or salmon steaks with a bag of salad for example) so you’re not having to prep anything?
What childcare do your DC attend and what do they eat there? Our DC went to a childminder and would have a proper tea there. We’d collect them at 6 and get home shortly after & all have a snack then they’d play or watch TV for 20
mins whilst I did meal prep & then I’d give them a bath & get them into bed and only then would DH & I cook

One very quick thing I make for the Gdcs (always starving after a day out) is egg fried rice, only you do need to cook the rice in advance - it needs to be cold. So I cook it first thing.

Then it takes just a few minutes - a little oil, fry, stir in a couple of eggs , some peas and/or or a small tin of sweetcorn, and last time I added some chopped red and yellow peppers. Gdcs always like this.

I'm not a morning person so I set my slow cooker going the night before. On low. I cook everything from mince for bolognaise, stewing beef, lamb & chicken casseroles. It's lovely to come home to a nice aroma from the slow cooker. Just bung on rice, pasta etc and dinner's ready in under 15 mins

Never had a problem with off meat and I've been using one for decades. The only question I sometimes ask myself is - do I need 2 as they are time consuming to wash up and are better after a soak.

Worth their weight in gold

Make it the night before.

Fill the slow cooker the night before and then in the morning you get it out of the fridge and switch it on.

Hubby sorts it all when he gets home from work at around 5.20/30 as he's a far better cook than me! 😀

Try some of the Sarah Rossi cook books. She also has a website with loads of recipes on called Taming Twins

I pre-prep salad and veg sides while I’m unpacking the shopping too, so it basically goes from shopping bag to in to the fridge in a ready to eat state.

I have a big Tupperware that I make a salad in, head of lettuce, sweetcorn, pickled beetroot, cherry tomatoes, peppers, maybe some jalepenos or radish or whatever else I have and fancy.

Then some steam bags that I put a mix of greenbeans, asparagus, sugarsnap peas etc in.

When I walk through the door at the end of the day before I even take my shoes off I lift the slow cooker bowl (it’s a metal one that can also go in the oven or on the hob) and put it on the hob with the lid off so it simmers and the liquid thickens. Then I either get the salad out and put it on the table or grab a steam bag or a pack of microwave rice and put that onto cook. That’s about 2 mins work, and then I can sort out shoes, putting bags and stuff away, getting people settled in. By the time that’s done about 10 mins will have passed, the slow cooker food has thickened up and the veg is ready to eat so it all just goes on plates and we eat.

@Septemberisthenewyearwe love some of the Taming Twins recipes!

I hate cooking and find this really difficult too. I’m not a morning person and tbh find it quite difficult to think through ingredients, grocery shopping etc.

so my magic formula is 20-30min fresh meals….

protein - salmon fillet or chicken breast in the oven, or fried meatballs, halloumi, that sort of thing

carbs - pasta, rice (microwave is okay! But even for dried rice I use a microwave steam cooker so it’s 11 mins tops), quinoa, couscous, bulgar

veg - could be salad (so just chopping raw stuff, get a ready prepped bag of lettuce, or cook broccoli, sweetcorn, baby corn, carrots etc.

then add a dip or drizzle or healthy fats - a sour cream and chive dip, or bottled salad drizzle, or pesto or olive oil on the salmon or chicken for some healthy fats.

You can easily ring the changes by using different combos/veg. I find if I think about it in this way it’s not so overwhelming.

Lots of batch cooking and freezing into portions to defrost and reheat

Quick pastas done in 15 minutes - lemon and prawn, cacio e pepe, pesto and olives, puttanesca

Omelettes with ham, mushroom, cheese with salad

Leaving something like a chilli in for 12 hours will do it absolutely no harm.

We managed this by making meals the night before and then zapping them in the microwave or set the oven on timer or used the slow cooker or used the instant pot.

There’s quite a few options but all of them need advance preparation.

Thinking outside the box can you do anything to get home a bit earlier? I took a 20 min lunch at one point when my DC were just not managing to get home at 6. Leaving work and getting home half an hour earlier made a big difference.