Takeaways every night !

[Lookwhostalking25]

I am sure I will be absolutely jumped on
but I just cannot get the hang of sorting dinner out 😂😂🙈
single mum of 3 ( baby and 2 primary school kids, one of which is disabled ) widowed nearly a year now.
I can juggle about everything else but food I struggled before returning back to work but wasn’t too bad but since returning I just haven’t managed it.
today was day 14 of takeouts after going back to work 2 weeks ago 😂😂
please send me tips because I’m sure the kids will come accustomed very shortly to take our lives haha !

I’m like the last person that should have laughed at this but I did 😂😂🙈

personally ill admit id like them for a bit

OP you sound absolutely lovely and you are doing a heroic job!

The kind of cooking I chose when mine were young and life was frantic was put something in the oven (chicken, fish, fishcakes, sausages etc), maybe with baked potatoes (started in the microwave if in a hurry) then do a few veg in the last few minutes (often cooked in the same saucepan and frozen is fine). Pasta is always easy (mine liked pasta, peas and cheese so that was a straightforward one). I’d sometimes make a massive chilli or bolognaise and freeze some of it.

The takeaway you mentioned with salmon and baked veg sounds pretty good anyway.

I’m so sorry for your loss. You sound like a great mother who is prioritising her children. None of us are perfect across the board but you sound pretty darned inspirational to me! 🥰

i think the type of takeaway you’re doing is fine OP. I am so very sorry for your loss.

I think this is the issue though 😅 they are used to eating things like that and
goat curry / sushi / fish / jerk chicken and rice
I actually don’t think until my DP passed away they had tried a chicken nugget or fish finger - that is not me gloating because as we have established I had 0 input In that 😂😂
the take outs are mixed at the moment
so most days it’s a takeout like the one I just described but I won’t dent the occasional McDonald’s / kfc / Nando’s has crept in - also Nando’s they at least eat sweet potato and broccoli 😂

But I think that’s ok. It can be a problem if foods are seen as taboo so some less healthy things aren’t a disaster. When they grow up, they will make their own choices and, in my experience, the ones who had the most controlled diets as children went wild as teenagers.
Variety is good!

It sounds like you are doing amazing, I am not a good cook by any means and short on time as I work shifts full time.

Ideas I do

Filled pasta and sauce, maybe with some cucumber or salad
Sausages, chicken or micro fish and butter sauce - with ready made mash or micro new pots with micro bags of veg
Rotisserie chicken with a baguette and salad
Slow cooker chilli/spag bol/curry
Jacket potatoes
Something on toast
Picky plates
Fajitas - can use the ready to eat chicken pieces if needed

I found hello fresh/gusto great for no waste but they always take ages to prep, always an hour start to plate on quick stir fry types so as you’re time poor I would suggest don’t do those.

your take aways sound great! But also relatively easy to make with a little help to make your life easier - try meal easy kits from the supermarket, or stir fry veg in a packet and pre cooked chicken. Pre cut veg - like sweet potato fries. Sainsbury’s do meal kits for that are pretty easy to follow.

itsu does frozen dumplings, Leon does frozen potato salad waffles, Nando’s does spice mix in packet.

air fryers are great for ease and speeding things up.

Honestly I think Hello Fresh et al are overated and actually a faff.
Ready meals would be a step up from takeaways and a bit cheaper until you get to grips with some easy cooking.

Another for Gousto.

You can filter their recipes by length of time they take to cook.

There’s plenty of choice. Lots of healthy options. You’ll pick up cookery skills as you go (I have!)

If the kids are hungry after school, maybe stash healthy snacks in the car so they’re not super hungry while you’re cooking.

When me and mum lost my dad we lived on ready meals. It's tough to focus on everything at once.
I'd say do a roast chicken, then serve that over a few days. Do boiled potatoes one night, but make double so next night you pop the other half in to roast.
Do a pot of rice that lasts a couple of days. You can boil it with bouillon and a few frozen or chopped veg for flavour.
Maybe a slow cooked beef stew, with potatoes, carrots, swede etc? You can freeze any leftovers.
Pasta with tuna, veg and jarred tomato sauce as well.
That plus a few bits from the freezer section and tins of beans, spaghetti hoops, salads, hummus, tztatziki, tarama, pitta?

Make the next day's dinner at night after the kids go to bed. It really doesn't take that long. I can make a vat of bolognese (good for easily four meals for four) in less than half an hour.

Bake some chicken to use in sandwiches, salads or reheated. Or a turkey crown. You can do this at the same time as making the bolognese. Boil some eggs. As pp said, a platter with hardboiled eggs, cheese, vegetables, whole-grain bread, olives, whatever, is fine. My mother used to make that for us 50 years ago.

Pancakes are easy and just take minutes. Omelettes or scrambled eggs. Microwaved jacket potatoes are quick and easy. As long as there is plenty of good protein and some fruit/veg they will be a lot better off than with takeaway.

How old are your other children? We received a child's cookery book at age 8 and were able to make pancakes and other simple fare by age 10.

We have Ocado deliveries; the Picard frozen range have some very good healthy options, eg the vegetarian lasagne and the very versatile, home-cooking style tomato sauce that comes in chunks so you can defrost to just the amount you want.

We found that a roast chicken delivers really useful left overs; eg roast meal the first night, chicken fajitas the second (can use the fajita box)

You can get chicken already roasted and reheat which would be quicker.

My kids love the M and S lasagne.

OP, I make a big batch for a weeknight meal and freeze extras. For example, on Tuesday I made a bolognese sauce and we ate some for dinner, and the rest went into smaller portions in the freezer for another time. And Thursday was a shredded beef brisket chilli which I made a few weeks ago—took it out of the freezer Tuesday night and let it thaw slowly in the fridge for two days. Thursday night all I needed to do was heat up the brisket and cook some rice. I find it’s less daunting if I’m not cooking a full meal every night…it doesn’t take extra work to double or triple a recipe for later. xx

Solidarity from a fellow widow with children. You are doing amazingly and have had some great tips already. Finding the space/energy to add to the mental load can feel overwhelming.

Some ready meals such as M&S, Cook etc help. I try to serve with a fresh or frozen veg or even just some veg sticks. I also and keep fresh fruit, yogurts in as well.

Be kind to yourself

www.cookfood.net

https://www.cookfood.net/

And can be cooked from Frozen, which is a huge bonus.

Probably the best ready meals out there and they deliver them nationwide.
not the cheapest, but a fair bit cheaper than takeaways.

Some other options are the meatballls you can get in the meat section of the supermarket—my kids love these.
Stroganoff (beef stock cube, onion, garlic granules, sour cream/crème fraiche/or cream cheese), rice/mash/pasta, side of frozen peas.
Thai curry (coconut powder or coconut milk, red Thai paste, spoon of peanut butter, soy sauce, couple of spoons of mango chutney, mangetout/sugar snap peas), rice.
Bolognese meatballs w/ pasta.
Teriyaki (soy sauce, spoon of cornflour mixed with water, garlic granules, powdered ginger, squidge of honey, dash of apple cider/white wine vinegar, beef stock cube, sesame oil (optional)), rice, veg eg tenderstem broccoli steamed over the rice pot.

Id really recommend the What Mummy Makes books. The flavourings/ sauces tend to revolve around the same things so once you’ve got them in your cupboard you can usually find an idea and everything is easy to make. Fast Family Food would be particularly good for you - lots of quick or no cook ideas and slow cooker and traybake recipes. I’ve started to love a traybake.

I was just coming to suggest doing a Cook order once a fortnight. Then choose some really easy sides you can make yourself to go with them (and I mean REALLY easy, like those frozen steam bags of veg, or sweet potato wedges, or a salad or some cous cous).

Mix in a few extremely simple meals you can cook yourself, to keep the cost down. Jacket potatoes with ready made tuna mayo and a bag of salad. Fresh pasta and sauce. Pre chopped stir fry with grilled salmon fillets. That kind of thing.

And give yourself a fucking medal woman 🏅

I also came here to say this!

you’ve been through so much.

I’d wean yourself off slowly- next week do 3 nights cooking and 4 nights takeaway. Keep decreasing week by week.

good luck OP

This is me. I can’t be arsed quite frankly. Tried hello fresh and the likes, also can’t be arsed with them.

Just crack on op life is too short 😂

You have nothing to beat yourself up over at all!

However, if they like Nando’s, you can buy the seasonings in the supermarket. Toss some chicken pieces in and do jacket potato/oven chips/sweet potato wedges and some broccoli and sweetcorn and you’re good to go.

Ready made fresh filled pasta and tub of sauce - you can buy frozen Mediterranean veg and chuck a handful of that in if you want to give it a boost.

Another really easy pasta dish, bung some tagliatelle on to cook. Thrown a packet of lardons in a pan and fry until golden, add some sliced courgettes and cook for a couple minutes. Chuck in a tub of Philly and a bit of pasta water, then drain the pasta and stir it though. Takes 10 minutes.

Spice Tailor curry sauces are brilliant if your kids like more adventurous food. I’m not a huge fan of jars of sauce but I love these and use them regularly. Also, microwave rice!

These ready prepped fresh meals are also really handy…add microwave in the bag veg and new potatoes.

single mum here. You are rocking it! When I'm overwhelmed with work / parenting I do ready meals with salad or frozen veg so it feels a bit healthy

I'm sorry for your loss OP, and I can't even imagine how busy you are! Batch cooking just one big meal a week helps loads. Eat another portion of it in the week, and stick a few more portions in the freezer. After a few weeks of doing this you have loads of meals in the freezer. Things like spag bol, chilli, curry etc are good for this. A slow cooker or Instant pot are also good, as you can do other things whilst they're cooking, you'd don't need to keep an eye on the hob, repeatedly stirring etc. Other than that I'd go with really easy meals, supermarket ready meals, things like fresh pasta and a ready made sauce, something you just bung in the oven like supermarket fish and chips. Most of those options aren't much more work than actually buying and picking up a takeaway, honestly. I wouldn't try and cook fresh homemade meals every night (even from somewhere like Hello Fresh), that's going to be far too overwhelming I think. But aim for one big batch cook meal a week, and take it from there.