How to make return to work less brutal after mat leave?

[Momrage]

I've got a few weeks left after DC2 before I rtw and I am dreading it. With DC1 it floored me and took about 6 months to settle back in, I was bloody useless at work and found separating work/home/kids really hard and very unproductive as I WFH.

One thing I have planned with DC2 is a phased start with two weeks at half the normal time whilst I'm still off, so I can be available if they're struggling or poorly. Then my first week back after that will be half days.

I do pick ups and find in so hard to scramble out the door at five if I'm lucky, 40 minutes round trip for pick ups and then sorting tea. Id love to have tea ready the moment we get home but I'm useless at that kind of planning and can't spend my work day preparing food.

Argh it's like permanent Sunday scaries ATM, when I should really be making the most of last few weeks

Have you got a slow cooker, you could prepare a meal a casserole, . stew or curry the evening before and switch it on in the morning to be ready for when you get home.

Agree with the slow cooker suggestion – that’s how I managed a lot of the time, as well as batch-cooked portions of bolognese sauce etc that I took out of the freezer the night before. Lots of meal planning and weekly grocery deliveries so I didn’t have to think after work and pick-ups each evening. Cooking’s only one part of it, but getting it sorted can make the evenings a bit easier. It’s hard – I sympathise.

I do have a slow cooker and instant pot. Really need to work on finding a good bunch of recipes that will work for us. I do struggle with setting routines

If you can, a cleaner once a week for a couple of hours was a godsend when I went back to work after DC2

Pay for help like a cleaner.

I normally had a good selections of curries and pasta sauces on ice. But I also found plenty of recipes I can throw together in 30 minutes. None of us is a fan of slow cooker recipes so you learn to be fast.
Tray bakes for the air fryer or oven are also helpful, I marinade at lunchtime and then just throw stuff in one pan.

Shop at the weekend or get a delivery with a meal plan plus some emergency food like baked potato, pizza, one or two meals from cook in the freezer.

Any favourite recipes you'd recommend? I do tend to be underwhelmed by the slow cooker

Pesto pasta is easy, you can add chicken, sausages, pork filet, salmon or halloumi as a protein source. Cut peppers and add them to the meat for 2 minutes.

Stir fry, if you are really short on time get one of these pre-cuts veg bags. Rice pouch or rice on the hob or fresh noodles heated for 2 minutes in the microwave. Frozen ginger is a great thing, fish sauce, soy sauce.

Salmon, new potatoes and some veg. These small packs of broccoli are great to steam in the microwave.

Chicken thighs in the oven or air fryer for 20 minutes. Some potatoes and carrots in another tray for 30 minutes in the oven.

Jacket potatoes are 10 minutes in the microwave and then another 15 in the air fryer. Beans and cheese or meat/fish

I do a simple tomato sauce with passata, oregano, pepper, red wine and garlic. Meatballs made from beef mince and pork sausages can be made and frozen raw, they need 20 minutes in the oven. The sauce can also be frozen and just heated while the pasta cooks.

Any leftover bolognese sauce (I normally do enough for 2x 3 people) is easy to reheat and doesn't take longer than the pasta. Or make enough pasta and have a pasta bake the next day.

Bit more complicated but can be done fast is Marry Me Chicken.

Nothing very exiting but is filling and I leave the complicated things for weekends or when I have more time.

Go back now and get your partner to do some shared parental leave (though its probably a bit late to arrange this).

It was great to settle back into my job knowing that baby was still with a loving parent, he became fully competent and equal when it comes to childcare, and I was able to deal with my strong feelings about her starting nursery down the line.

He's self employed,.so not possible. Nice idea though