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?!

She has a new book out this month. I’m looking forward to it.

We took turns cooking.

Each time was a batch cook slthough most was done at the weekends for the week as we didn’t get home till 6:30 ish

Then on nights when kids had activities we’d do a quick meal if there wasn’t any batch food left
So pasta
Eggs toast beans
Soup stew ( tinned minestrone with extra beans, spaghetti, frozen veg)

One night a week when it was swimming ie over two hours at the pool, we made sandwiches.

how we coped ??? its all a blur

We both work full time, 3 small children, batch cooking and my slow cooker is my best friend!! The pinch on nom books are good with slow cooker recipes in

What’s a maggi sauce sachet?

Another vote for batch cooking. We call them "Ten Minute Teas" here as it's literally just a case of cooking pasta / rice / jacket potato (in the airfryer) and warming up a bolognaise / chilli / curry or whatever I've taken out to defrost that morning.

Thanks all - some really great ideas here which I’ll definitely use! Our weeks are a blur as I also do a lot of evening work and my hours change weekly, DH’s job means his return home time is unpredictable, and we rely on grandparents (who do sometimes feed the kids too). If it were the same every week it’d be a lot easier to plan for… I’ll try to implement some of this and carry on clinging on by my fingertips too 😂

I used to cook several meals on a Sunday tea time so there were things in the freezer to grab midweek. Curries, pasta sauces and chilli are easy to freeze (I do a big batch chilli and do it with nachos, with rice and with pitta bread for three meals). I also had the same problem, not getting home until 6 with a toddler that needed feeding and it was just me, no one else to help prep.

The BBC Good Food website is great for quick recipes you can get on the table, and already prepped products are your friend like veg and sides. Frozen mash is great and it is just potato.

Failing that, jacket potatoes, beans on toast, dippy eggs, stir-fries with ready made stuff, fresh pasta and sauces, sandwich and soup (can batch cook this). It sounds like this isn't an every day occurrence, so a couple of nights a week of fast meals won't hurt anyone.

Make things the night before and reheat e.g. lasagne, bolognaise sauce, curry etc.
Cheats like pouches of rice and pre prepared veg.

https://www.maggi.co.uk/products/herb-and-spice-mixes/

this kind of thing.

You can also cook up things like decent sausages or meatballs and freeze. Then chop up, add a tin of taco beans, heat them through in the microwave and serve as loaded nachos/potato skins/dirty fries etc.
Was the kids favourite quick tea.

Fresh pasta & pesto with some chopped cherry tomatoes and baby spinach - takes minutes.

Stir fry a bag of stir fry veg and ready cut chicken strips add ginger/garlic paste, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil and chilli flakes if you like a bit of heat! Chuck in some straight to wok noodles at the end.

Chicken fajitas - ready cut chicken, cut a couple of peppers and and onion into strips and fry with a fajita spice mix, serve in warm wraps.

Prep a tray bake with chicken breasts and veg the night before and leave it in the fridge. Plonk it all on an oven tray and sprinkle over some herbs, paprika and garlic granules, bake for for about 20 mins or until chicken is cooked through.

When we were juggling kids and clubs, I batch cooked every Sunday. All our meals in the week were microwaved, and I only cooked the carbs on the night - pasta, rice, etc.

Winter - slow cooker meals
summer - batch cook salads at the weekend and eat
all year round - jacket potatoes (from frozen), anything with cous cous, ramen (chuck in frozen prawns)

not the best for the environment but ‘slow cooker liners’ saved my life! saves all the scrubbing and soaking. And I use them as dump bags with the meal prepped in just take out the fridge put in slow cooker and add water if needed - they are a game changer for our busy family of 5

On the washing thing, my slow cooker is just the cheapie one from Asda, I mainly picked it because I wasn’t sure I’d use it much and I wanted one with a metal bowl that could go on the hob for searing the meat and reducing it down.

it cleans up amazingly easy, nothing seems to properly stick to it.

https://direct.asda.com/george/electricals/kitchen-appliances/slow-cookers/matte-black-scandi-35l-slow-cooker/060006566,default,pd.html?cgid=D59M02G02C07

Batch cooking is great but does involve work and headspace.there's really nothing wrong with having simple food like eggs and beans on toast or fish fingers or something else from the freezer etc on the days that are busier. Or even on the days when you are not busy.

-tortellini
-bags of veg that can be cooked in the microwave
-microwave rice
-pre chopped and flavoured meat eg garlic and herb chicken
-batch cook at the weekend and then just heat up

You can make a 'dump bag', basically chop the veg then put it in a bag with meat and seasonings and store in the fridge. Do this on a day you have time, on the day you want to eat it just take it out of the fridge and dump it in the slow cooker.

Don't worry about searing onions just dump it all in the SC.

You can get slow cooker liners, if you use one as your 'dump bag' there is virtually no washing up.

As a PP said beans on toast, eggs on toast etc are quick and there is nothing wrong with them as a quick meal.

Toastie sandwiches?

Tins and packets are fine for the odd meal. Home made soup is much better but canned soup is OK if you are rushed.

Tray bakes can be prepped ahead of time, in a similar way to a dup bag.

Interesting some of you have said that meals are ok being on low for 12 hours. I had assumed it would all be mush by that point. I will give it a try this week instead of the timer.

I tend to prepare the food the night before and put the pot in the fridge. That way it literally is just turning it on in the morning.

Batch cook some bolognse or chilli. Get it out in the morning. Then just boil some pasta or microwave rice. If you don't like them frozen jackets you can even pre cook fresh ones. I do this for lunches for work and taste fine heated up. I did a curry in slow cooker for 12 hours and it was a bit stringy. Think should have used thighs on bone instead of breast

I have never heard of these - thank for the tip!

Easy stuff here since I’ve never managed to get into the slow cooker although I might be tempted to revisit based on some of the suggestions above. So night before chuck chicken breasts in a freezer bag, pour over marinade and put back in the fridge and then into the oven when you get home. Serve with pre prepped veg and microwave rice. Stir fries with straight to wok noodles. Make a bolognaise sauce at the weekend. Fajitas/tacos with chicken or thin cut steak are quick and can be served deconstructed family style to allow for different tastes. Spice tailor curry kits (my kids like the butter chicken as not too spicy) with microwave rice. Occasionally burgers with oven chips. If all else fails pesto pasta with garlic bread and a salad.

Batch cooking!

Once a month I make a batch of bolognese. That's every Monday night sorted (get out of freezer in the morning and then hear while pasta cooks - 10 minutes cooking tops)

I'll also always make double of anything stew/casserole/curry/meatballs. Currently have paprika chicken x3, meatballs in red wine gravy x2, chicken casserole x2, bolognese x4 in my freezer to have with rice or pasta.

Or soup (tinned or frozen) with part baked bread from the cupboard and extra tinned veggies/pulses/soup pasta added.

On late days the slow cooker, say a chilli that we can just eat with wraps or pitta, bolognaise then do quick cook pasta, a casserole one pot that has all your veg and potatoes in it, sometimes just beans on toast or with microwave chips.

Thank you! This may just change my life 😊