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 !

Don’t be hard on yourself op. Life has been tough and you have made sure your children have full bellies. It’s not the best and you realise that. But honestly if I was in your position I would be the exact same. Sorry for your loss. Sending love and hugs xx

Another vote for Cook. High quality, tasty frozen meals with good ingredients. From single portions to family portions too. Can get a subscription of meals you choose at any frequency. Life changer for me when no time or inclination to plan, shop, prep meals.

I know how hard it is I have 3 boys, not single but a slow cooker is an absolute life saver during the winter for casseroles etc. Now the Warner weather is coming, things like pizza and salad, pasta salad pretty much anything with a side of salad 🥗 it's a doddle to prepare and only takes minutes.

Eggs.

Have free range eggs, sliced wholemeal bread & quality butter always to hand. Come home, put the kettle on, slap the bread on to toast, & then fry/scramble/poach eggs. Few minutes later, everyone can eat something simple & nutritious.

Add baked beans/smashed avocado/grilled cheese or roasted tomatoes as a booster. Stir a generous knob of butter into the beans.

Fresh fruit for pudding. Ice cream for treats.

Weekend batch cooking is great if you can carve yourself the time. Think like a restaurant, prepare the basics so that you save time & money. Roast a chicken, strip & shred the meat for sandwiches/salads/sauces. Use the bones,skin & scraps to make a stock in the slow cooker, freeze into ice cube portions. Throw a cube into shop sauces or gravy to lift the flavour.
Tray roast some peppers & tomatoes to keep in the fridge for easy blending as a pasta source or as a vegetable mix.

Merchant Gourmet grains is a good tip as in microwaveable rice (plenty of variety from Tilda etc).

@Lookwhostalking25 you are doing incredibly well.

Also have a go at making home made chicken nuggets out of chicken breast cut into pieces. Just need a bowl of raw egg and a bowl of breadcrumbs to dip them in, you could get the children involved, my 6 year old loves to help making these. Infinitely better than shop bought ones. We love them with salad, beetroot, pickled onions and some humus or avocado.

When I was raising kids I made a big pots of
soups and stews every Sunday. Enough to have some through the week and still reserve a family size section for the freezer.

My mom used to do this she called it cold supper. We loved it and still do it.

I just want to say you are doing remarkable and your children are lucky to have you.

Do the children have a hot dinner at school/ nursery?

If so, how about giving them a more simple/easy to prepare tea instead during the week- sandwich, beans on toast, veg sticks with dip, cheese and crackers type thing.

Then you only need to focus on preparing a dinner twice a week.

You’re doing brilliantly under very difficult circumstances, OP. I’m just echoing what everyone has said. My go to dishes when I didn’t have the time or energy included:

pasta/tortellini with a sliced up packet of ham, some frozen peas, and a carton of basil or garlic passata. Cheese for those who wanted it. That’s a 10 minute dish and my kids would eat that happily every day if I let them.

Packet of ding rice, pack of ready cooked chicken, some frozen peas/sweetcorn, and a jar of curry/spanish tomato sauce.

Wraps with ham/chicken, cheese and salad. You don’t even have to make these. Just put the fillings on the table with a packet of wraps and they love making their own.

A shop bought quiche - can be eaten cold or hot.

A ready made pie or sausages with either instant or ready meal mash.

You are doing ok @Lookwhostalking25 . Don’t be too critical of yourself for relying on takeaways for a bit.

Tbh I think the pp recommendations upthread for HelloFresh etc are rather unrealistic. Thise plans still need a lot of cooking time.

I recommend you start off with getting some family-size readymeals from https://www.cookfood.net/
These are much better quality than supermarket ready meals.

Browse the supermarket for cook-in sauces that can make a meal in <10 mins with the addition of 2 or 3 ingredients.

Don't attempt HelloFresh until the above starts feeling too easy.

I have relied on takeaways and ready meals before when things have gotten too much- and my pressures were nowhere near as significant as yours, so hats off just keeping it together!

My only recommendation is to keep things super simple until you get into a rhythm. Sunday night chops up a load of raw vegetable sticks (cucumber, carrots, peppers, radishes, baby corn, mange tout) and put them in an air tight container in the fridge. Bring some out for every meal and have that as the sides. Add potatos if you need / feel like it. Have super simple meals- scrambled eggs, beans on toast, cheese toasties etc. That with the veg sticks is going to cover all the bases even if a little boring. Batch cook when you can. If you have the hob space you can make two dishes at once- I used to make bolognese sauce in one pan and a really easy chicken casserole in the other and freeze portions. Then you just have to cook rice or pasta as you can.

If you have veg sticks and a protein you can easily bulk things out with a good sourdough and butter which I often fall back on as I have a child with sensory issues around food who often does not eat much and needs calories.

Save 'proper' cooking for the weekend - and batch cook if you can.

I also really rate this book; Nosh for busy mums and dads. It has a great variety of recipes and snacks.

https://www.feedingboys.co.uk/2013/01/28/review-nosh-for-busy-mums-dads-by-joy-may/

Slow cooker if possible, if you bulk it up you end up with enough to freeze a few portions to add to microwave rice etc.

You can use frozen/pre prepared veg in place of what is in the recipe (e.g. if it says 3 carrots just Chuck in 6 or 7 handfuls of pre cut frozen carrots - no peeling no cutting)

You can do bolognaise, curry, stew etc and try to do it big enough for plenty of frozen ones to reheat. For reheating put in fridge night before to defrost then micro on high for about 5 mins, stir then 2 mins.

Pre prepared veg plus slow cooker I really found helped so that the making of the meal was a few mins in the morning (and you can put the veg in bowls if needed and ask the kids to Chuck it in the casserole dish as 'chefs' to try to contain them for that period) and come home to a dinner and some spares for another day

Keep going in general though loads of respect for you and so sorry for your loss

Eggs on toast; baked beans on toast. Chopped cucumbers. That's two of your dinners.
You can do also a sheet pan dinner: veggies roasted with a bit of oil, fish fingers and chips all put in the oven at the same temp and for same length of time (about 25m).
Pasta with frozen peas chucked in the middle of being cooked; drain and add shredded cheese.

Does anywhere near you stock the ‘Cook’ meals which are proper home cooking style froze ready meals? They were really great for us when we were going through my daughter’s cancer diagnosis and treatment as they felt like ‘proper’ food but didn’t require any headspace with prep etc.

sorry for your loss OP, you sound like a lovely mum

The key is planning what you are going to have in the next week and going shopping armed with a list or even better getting a supermarket delivery. Once you are up and running it will save you time. Get an air fryer. Have half a dozen staples. Omelette, wedges peas or salad, sausages, rice and broccoli, pasta with chopped veggies stirred in the sauce, ready made, jacket topped with beans and cheese, your wallet will thank you. You are doing a brilliant job, hopefully things will get easier soon.

100% this, I'm the same. Op your doing amazing don't be hard on yourself, your kids are fed that's the main thing

Keep it simple, invest in an air fryer or slow cooker or both

Fresh pasta and pesto
Fresh store bought soup and cheese toasties and veggie sticks
Scrabbled eggs, omelette and veg sticks or cucumber, and cherry Tom's
Nuggets, chips in airfryer and beans, and veg on the stove
Pre-cooked chicken and salad
Chicken breast in the airfryer, steamed veg
Spag bol and fresh pasta (cook the bol. On Sunday when you cook Sundays dinner)
Burgers, chicken burgers in the air fryer plus veg or salad
Fish fingers or battered fish and chips plus beans and veg
Chicken and micro rice
Veggie sticks, hummus, pita, and delivery meats or pre-cooked chicken
Stir fry
Stews, chilli, curries, braised joints in slow cooker. Bung everything in first thing in the morning and set the timer.

Google 20 mins dinners for more variety. The above will take a maximum of 20 mins. Buying pre seasoned/marinated chicken breast helps, and you can also get tray bakes and other things from the grocery store.

One of my easy but takes around 40 mins is the marinated chicken in curry paste, add onions, Peppers and sliced carrots bake in oven for 20 mins add 1/2 can coconut milk and cook for another 20mins. Meanwhile, cook rice and veg. Naan in the oven while serving up and then take it out. We do homework and prep for the next day while dinner cooks.

You're doing really well. It will take you time to establish new routines and get use to prepping and shopping accordingly. If you have the occasional take out, no biggie. It's a fair bit to manage. Small steps.

Meal planning does help, big pot of bolognaise, freeze half for next week ( I grate carrot and zucchini into mine for extra veg). Have that with pasta one night a jacket potato a day or 2 later.
Roast chicken ( or Batchelor hand bag from the supermarket) with veg one night then use leftover for wraps or fried rice or similar that takes about 10 minutes.
Once you plan and shop ahead, it is often quicker and cheaper to cook at home if you are not stopping for ingredients or takeaway on the way home.
Dont be too hard on yourself , you are doing well to get through your days.

Ok im a widow and I have two kids but I don’t understand how you can’t even manage to pop some fish fingers in the oven, a potatoe in the microwave and the veg in a saucepan? Ok not the best if dinners but seriously your takeaway is full of shite and costly. Don’t get me wrong I too have to resort to takeaway some days but that’s very rare.

on a prestical level now you are a widow you have to prioritise the things you are doing around the house. Feeding yourselves is one of the top priorities there are lots of others that can slip.

Hello fresh and gusto are good as everything delivered but as they bulk out with pasta and potatoes etc and your kids are young don't get a meal per head get a 3 meal portion size. Choose the ones that are the quick recipes and make tea time a family event if you can all be in the kitchen chatting while you cool or maybe even the primary kids helping add ingredients etc as well.
At the minute your still in survival mode it's hard you lost your partner have had to change up gear while still greaving but by doing this your know your strong so don't judge yourself to harshly but be a little regimented with your evening time which can be easier said than done.

Good luck

I could never batch cook in the evenings. I tend to do it in the weekend. I might make a chicken casserole say and cook a double batch and freeze one meal for another night.

Could you do things like roast chicken or pieces if it's easier? You can do the roast vegetables at the same time.

You can serve the left over cold chicken, assuming there is some and on the basis that this isn't the mumsnet elastic chicken that can feed fourteen, with maybe microwaved potatoes and a simple salad of lettuce and tomato etc. Or some nice sliced ham (not the slimey full of water sort) with salad and microwaved potatoes.

I think it helps to have salad leaves washed and in a container in the fridge with a paper towel to absorb moisture. The only time I ever trusted the washed bag of lettuce we all went down with a stomach bug. I wash and use a salad spinner. Or maybe you don't hate washing lettuce as much as I do.

The easiest chicken dish I know uses chicken pieces. Rub with lots of paprika. Pour a tin of undiluted condensed soup over the chicken pieces eg mushroom or celery. Bake covered for 1 hour at 180 degrees. Yes, the soup is processed and there is quite a long cooking time but it just cooks away while you get on with other things. It is surprisingly nice.

The second easiest dish is also chicken pieces. Flour chicken - do this over the sink for easy clean up. Take a tin of apricots in juice and half a packet of French onion soup - mix. Pour over chicken. I usually stick the apricots over the chicken piece. Cover and bake. Strangely this one seems to be ready after about 30-40 minutes at 180 degrees although it might be better cooked longer. Again, tasty albeit some processed ingredients.

Serves with unpeeled microwave potatoes that you've speared a few times with a fork. I also do rice in the mircrowave. I do a cup of rice and two cups of water uncovered for about 13 minutes, stirring a couple of times during the process.

If you want to serve a green vegetable, put some frozen peas in a cup. Put a saucer over it - no water added. Depending on quantity microwave a minute or two till they are piping hot. Minimal clean up.

Aluminium foil is your friend. Line cooking dishes or trays with it so you can just throw out the foil without having a big clean up job on the trays or dishes.

When my husband used to work overseas I found it really tough to get dinner on the table when I got home from work and I only had two children - albeit one was a vegetarian and the other a committed carnivore. I have the utmost respect for you going back to work in the circumstances. I would just try to gradually increase home cooked meals while still having some takeaway evenings.

Definitely get a slow cooker! I fill mine in the evening, pop its dish in the fridge and then back in the slow cooker and on in the morning.
My biggest tip is to use lots of root veg type stuff (in bolognaise/chili for example) and peel but don’t bother chopping it to save time. Then when it’s all cooked, add a couple of stock cubes and go at it with a potato masher! Then enjoy that evening and freeze the rest.

I would suggest as simple meals as possible:
-Baked beans or eggs on toast
-pizza
-cooked chicken and salad
-tortellini pasta and sauce
-jacket potatoes and fillings
-stir fry with the ready made kits
-fish fingers, chips and peas
-toasted sandwiches

To save time when doing recipes, use pre prepared veg, chopped onion and prepped frozen herbs (garlic, gingee, coriander etc).

Bolognese sauce from a jar, chilli from a jar, curry from a jar.

A batch of recipes that are quick and easy to do are the 30 minites5 from Taming Twins website

Finally, maybe the kids can have thwir hot meal at school or nursery and then just beans on toast, scrambled egg, picky tea etc in the evening?