To wonder how you eat well for cheap when at work FT with two small dc?

[NapQueen]

I need your tips! Or at least justification that shoving a pizza in the oven is the best I can expect?

Dh and I both work ft. Leave at 7.45, drop dcs at CMs. Collected between 5.30-6 (dcs eat dinner at Cms), home for bath, play, stories and bed by seven. They are 2 and 5 and shattered as 2yo has dropped their nap.

Dh and I attempt to muster some energy to make food and we are just ending up grabbing frozen pizzas / shoving some cooled pasta and sauce together etc.

Is this what people do in our situation?

Pre make and freeze meals or put something in the slow cooker in the morning.

Its a choice really. 7 is not that late. Could one of you cook (take it in turns) while the other does bath time etc? Also it takes the same amount of time to boil veg as pasta so maybe stick some veg in your pasta dishes at least or have a big salad with your pizza?

Batch cooking is your friend...

I'm the same as you, only lots of bread and chocolate.

Two young kids, and two dogs... both working (DH 48hr weeks, me 30).

We try to eat well now, mainly for weight purposes. Always make salad to go on the side of meals as it's quicker than cooked veg. So if we have pasta we give smaller portions (box some up for lunch tomo) and half a plate of salad.

I suppose its the mental energy involved in planning and making sure we have stuff in and the standing and doing it. After being on the go from 7am. Im just bushed.

Batch cooking
Slow cooker
Jacket spuds
Stir Fries
Pies
Fresh tortellini - cook broccoli in the same pan, stir in pesto/Philly/grated cheese
Use your oven timer
Prep stuff the night before

I'm with you, it is hard. I try to have some souls in the fridge to use as convenience food rather than pizza. I eat this a couple of times a week. I also make pasta salad type things often .

Pasta/pesto/olives/feta cheese/onion/tomato/cucumber. Will last a couple of days in the fridge.

Omelette takes 10 minutes and can be beefed up with tuna/cheese.

Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs.

Pitta bread/tortilla with fillings i.e. Grated carrot/onion/cucumber/hummus/cheese/kale/whatever.

I do some cooking in advance and some quick, healthy meals. Stir fry is very quick, very cheap and very healthy and I can do a lovely, veg filled bolagnaise from scratch in not much longer than half an hour. Just worth planning always, makes it much cheaper and saves that faffing about deciding.
A good microwave steamer is helpful too. I do a lovely steamed salmon and it only takes 5 minutes

Batch cook. Divide into portions. Stick in the freezer. Use when necessary.
You will find this incredibly convenient and cheap! And healthier than pizzas etc

Ive got a slow cooker but tend to use it at weekends shoving something on before we go out for the day. I tried prepping one morning before work and just couldnt fit ut in. Should try the evening prep good idea

Same as OP. I've just not got the head space to think about food after a long day at work.

Evening prep works, or Google "slow cooker dump bags". It's where you batch prepare the ingredients and freeze them raw, so they're ready to throw straight in the slow cooker when they're defrosted.

i work full time 10 hr shifts (1hr commute), i manage to do that and workout 6 times a week.

Here's how:

firstly (this is something i only started in the past 3 months but it makes everything so much easier) drink water- keep a pint glass on your desk or an empty bottle if you aren't desk bound. it's suprising how quickly drinking water becomes easy and you start to crave it

secondly
plan your meals prior to your shop and make a list

prep your lunches on a sunday

salad with cooked meat or those cook in microwave salmon things from aldi

prioritise your health

go to the gym on your lunch break or do a home work out as often as possible- this will give you more energy

wake up early and shovel food in your slow cooker

Slow cooker as some others have said. Also on the "cheap" angle -go to the supermarkets when things are being properly reduced and get cheap veg/meat etc.

Buy a wok, and eat stir fry. Healthy, cheap and quick - little washing up too.

Try looking on the BBC Good Food website. I think you can filter your searches with how long things take to prepare. Our quick meals are
Spag bol with Quorn (20-30 mins)
Stir fry - buy the prepared bags, add some meat/prawns, soy sauce, oyster sauce and hoisin sauce
Jacket potato (i freeze leftover chilli to top)
Omelette with mushroom, cheese and ham and a salad
Pasta carbonara with Philadelphia
Rice one pots
A salad in the summer

Definitely recommend the slow cooker - we do a prep free gammon. Just bung a joint in with honey, mustard and some water. Prepping the night before is good tip too. Also depending what time we each get in, one of us might do the dinner prep while the other does bathtime/stories. I also do keep a couple of curry sauces in the cupboard for emergencies.

Dh and I worked ft. I gave up my job in May (another story). We used to batch cook for 2 days, Monday and Tuesday. Usually would be meatballs, spaghetti Bol, curry. Wednesday would be a ready meal like a lasagna/pizza. Thursday as Dh was out I'd just have a jacket potato. Friday take out. Saturday could be anything, and Sunday roast.

Throw into that mix one night to have cold cuts, cheese, pickles, crusty bread etc, and another night we'd go to a family friendly restaurant.

^^ "dump bags"!

Plenty of ten minute meals about.

• Salad with pan fried meat
• Spoon some pesto onto white fish fillet, put some olive oil over roast veges, place fish on veges and oven bake for 15 mins.
• stir fry (buy the vege bags if you're too lazy to chop)
• pasta with chicken, tomatoes, olives, veges and sundried tomato paste
• marinate chicken thighs in either BBQ sauce, mustard, sweet chilli sauce, or soy sauce, serve on rice and veges as required
• soup (bought or home made)

Forgot to say- make sure to cook the chicken thighs after marinating!

Yes to the slow cooker - I prep mine the night before, pop the crock in the fridge and then put it in the cooker the next day with a timer. I never quite managed to set aside time for batch cooking but I do find it really helps to make double quantities of everything, and put the surplus in the fridge or freezer for another night.

I find the freezer is really handy actually - it makes the planning a lot easier as I don't have to worry about stuff going off. A big vat of tomato sauce frozen in small portions (I actually use silicone cup-cake cases as they're the perfect size) is perfect for pasta, just defrost a portion per person while cooking.

Quick, one pot meals are your friend.

Stir-fries.
Pasta with tinned tomatoes and herbs.
Microwaved jacket potato with a variety of toppings.
Tuna pasta with sweetcorn and mayo.

Batch cook sauces like bolognese/chilli then defrost and just make the rice/pasta after work.

Easy meals like salad with cold meat/fish in summer, or things like bread, cheese and snacky foods.

Nothing wrong with beans on toast, frozen stuff or tinned soup either.

Make yourself a meal plan and prep it at the weekend.

For example - stick a few peeled onions in your slow cooker with 4 tins of tomatoes, any veg you have on hand and some basil & garlic (takes 5 mins to throw in). Leave it for 4 hours on high (or 6-8 on low) then blitz it into a smooth sauce. Freeze in 2 cup portion sizes in bags. I put mine on overnight on low.

Then e.g. Sunday night - take a sauce bag and 500g mince out of the freezer, put in the fridge.

Monday when you get home, brown mince, add sauce, leave to simmer while you do DC bath & bed, serve with pasta (and I always throw some broccoli in the pasta pan too). While one of you clears up, the other one preps some fish parcels (onion slices, piece of salmon on top, lemon or orange and dill on top of fish, make into foil parcel) and put in fridge.

Tuesday - fish parcels in oven on 180 for 20 mins, spuds in water to boil, put DC to bed while dinner cooking, veges in steamer above potatoes for 5 mins. Again - one person clears up, other person chops lots of veges (onion, pepper, broccoli, squash, top & tail snow peas, mushrooms, whatever you like) ready for Weds.

Weds - stir fry veges, add two tablespoons red curry paste and coat then pour in tin of coconut milk. Leave to simmer while you put DC to bed, serve with rice if you want or put some naan in the oven.

Etc etc. We have a 4 weekly menu cycle so we don't get bored and each week has its own spreadsheet shopping list. The most time consuming element is sitting down and working it all out to begin with. I do batch cook at the weekend as well so we have frozen "ready meals" when things don't work out (because days overrun, or you forget to take something out the night before, or the DC are sick) and some nights we eat pizza because we like it! The tomato sauce above works well as a pizza sauce too if you reduce it down a bit further so it's thicker, and I make & freeze pizza dough so it's there if we want it.

Oh and I also work ft, 55h weeks plus overnights. It's just organisation, planning and a big slow cooker.

I remember thinking there's loads of ideas about quick meals, and there's loads of ideas about cheap meals, but quick and cheap is harder.

Loads of good ideas here.
My children were usually shattered by seven.
Meal plan. Double any main meal you have, like cottage pie, and freeze half, or portion out child sized meals from the leftovers you are about to eat even though you don't feel hungry. (Or is it just me that scrapes out the bowl even though I'm full.)

Pasta, sauce and cheese one day.

Jacket potato one day.
Scrambled eggs/omelette.... one day

Fishfingers one day

Beans on toast/spaghetti on toast.

That's six.
Rotate five of them and it's the weekend, even before soup as an alternative evening meal.
.

Nothing against pizza, I forgot it.
No need to justify pizza.