Tips for managing meals and energy when starting full-time work

[Honeysucklelane]

I’m starting a 40hr a week job soon. This is the first time I’ve worked that many hours since I had kids. I’ve been incredibly lucky to have been able to be a SAHM or work PT.

Youngest is 16 now so childcare isn’t an issue

Please can any of you amazing FT working mums drop your top tips in the chat for how to manage food shops, meal prep etc I don’t want to end up buying lots of take aways due to being more busy.

Anything else you can suggest on how to maintain energy would be fab too. As a vegi suffering from low iron, I’ll need to be far more on it with supplements and generally taking care of myself.

Thanks!

A friend of mine works full time and has 3 adult children in the house. Each adult is responsible for cooking one night a week. They sit down on a Sunday, say what they plan to cook then the ingredients are ordered online. They have another system for cleaning but it’s similar.

Single parent of one child here.

I get shopping delivered once a week. If there were more of us I'd get it twice a week so it stayed fresher (but currently spend the delivery minimum).

We eat meals that can be cooked in under ten minutes during the week.

I also have a cleaner once a month. £50 and worth every last penny. My time is too precious to spend it scrubbing at weekends.

Shopping delivered once a week.

When I really can't be bothered and don't want to put in any thought I have a "25 item shopping list" saved as I know if I buy those items I can make a whole variety of meals out of them and we won't go hungry. Obviously this will vary for everyone but mine is:

Carrots
Peppers
Broccoli
Potatoes
Onions
Bananas
Apples
Oranges
Tomatoes
Eggs
Butter
Cheese
Milk
Greek yoghurt
Minced beef
Chicken
Prawns
Bread
Tinned beans
Tinned tomatoes
Rice
Pasta
Porridge oats
Bag of mixed nuts
Bag of mixed frozen veg

It's helped that we always have a stocked spice rack, oil and buy things like washing powder and toilet roll in bulk.

I cook a bean casserole or dahl and a pot of rice on Sunday, and prep my lunches for 4 days, treat myself on Friday’s. Also cook enough for 2 nights when cooking family meals. DC each cook one night per week.
Kids have chores: bins, dishwasher, hoover, change their own beds and put their stuff away.

My DH actually does a lot of the cooking, but if we can get food shopping delivered and be more prepared or have meals frozen, it’ll be easier on both of us.

I think what I’m gathering from this thread is that my kids don’t do enough! Mind you, they all work and have varied shift patterns so they’re not around on regular evenings. Which brings its own shopping / cooking challenges as sometimes there’s 2,3,4 or 5 of us for dinner.

Great idea. I need to do more cooking. I did have lots of frozen homemade leftover meals for lunch at work.

My DCs (16 nd 14) actually do very Iittle. I’m usually pressed for time so taking the time to supervise them or train them to complete a task often seems more energy when I could just do it. But I am trying to change that. Ds1 has learning issues but he is in charge of cleaning tfr bathrooms.. we have three and there is a basin in every room( former bed and breakfast). Ds2 has started a bit of cooking. But I know that when you are under time and energy pressures it can be easier to just do it. I’d batch cook and freeze for the first few weeks while you get into the swing of g t he new role then work it out from there.

It sounds like only you do everything in the house rather than nearly 4 adults in the house. Surely everything should be shared?

This is literally not difficult. You just food shop and cook in your non-working hours like all the other working people out there. What did you do before you had children? You do that.

We have our food shopping delivered on a Saturday. I do the meal planning and order on Friday. I don’t commute anymore, but when I had a long London commute, I did it on the train on the way home.

Cooking every night about 6pm. Usually takes 1-1.5 hours, but I don’t cook every night. A few nights a week are leftovers. I no longer have an office job, but when I did, I’d pack up my breakfast and lunch for the next day as I was doing dinner or when tidying up, so took everything with me for the next day so I never needed to buy breakfast, lunch or sometimes also dinner out.

You don’t have little children (I was doing the above from when mine were 12 months), so you don’t need to rush to eat early. We have dinner at 7/8pm most nights and my youngest is 8. I plan dinner in between running my teen to work/sports, so cook 6-7:30, eat, Dh or I go collect eldest at 9pm while younger one is getting ready for bed. But yes, as your dc are old enough to sort themselves I wouldn’t really be running around after them. Can everyone not cook or buy their own meals or do their own washing or whatever?

Meal plan on the wall so everyone know what is for food level of complexity depends on how much I like the people in the House.

Do it yourself breakfast and lunch I add a list of what is there.

food shop delivered Friday or Thursday

keep on top of the kitchen daily when doing dinner

bathrooms couple of times a week when I’m in there

vac upstairs at a weekend

kids sort their own bedroom

everyone responsible for putting the correct washing in the correct basket I have darks, whites, bedding/towels and underwear/specialist

stick a load of washing into wash and dry daily

clean clothes go up at a weekend after I have ironed

becomes a very easy boring routine that is second nature

I have two (5 & 10) and have worked FT since the start. Here's what works for me:

We do a weekly online shop, have the delivery pass so it's at a convenient time, and I use the favourites/saved list function a lot so I'm not having to reinvent the wheel. I do a rough meal plan and check what's in stock before doing the shop, but 30 minutes on that once a week is a far better use of my time than grocery shopping in person.

Meals - advice here needs to reflect what you actually like to eat (e.g. slow cooker meals don't work for us) - but meal prep, quick meals, and batch cooking are all worth exploring.

Laundry - I tend to put a wash on most days so it doesn't build up.

Tidying - declutter as much as possible so it takes less time to tidy. Older kids are responsible for their own rooms, no food in that room, all dirty laundry goes in the laundry basket daily and trash must be taken out minimum weekly. Stop the tide of stuff coming in, don't shop as a leisure activity.

Exercise and personal care - I'm really trying to fit in a daily workout but it's hard, cycling to work has been most effective for me as it means I've got exercise in while doing something else. Also habit stacking for good habits - vitamins live next to the kettle so I take them first thing, I do skincare while the kids do bath time so I don't forget.

Organisation - everything goes in the google calendar, have weekly meetings where you and your partner talk through what's coming up and what life admin needs to be taken care of. Share the load!

or you read the Organised Mum Method

which is a lot of common sense
but helps you keep your weekends free! Life is bloody too short to waste it on housework and weekends are precious