To make frozen pizza every night?

[Cinocino]

Yes, I think that’s an obvious yet. But between cooking healthy meals and snacks for toddler and freshly weaning baby I’m spent at the end of the day and running out of ideas and energy for adult dinners.
Dinners have to be separate during the week as kids eat about 4:30/5pm but DH doesn’t get in from work until 7:30.

What are your go to 1 step more than shoving a pizza in but incredibly low effort dinners?
Im struggling to have the time to plan out meals, do them on the food shop and then cook the meals in the evening at the minute due to sheer exhaustion of waking up a lot at night and the mental exhaustion of a whingey baby and toddler.

I’ll probably start this and not be able to read it for ages due to said high maintenance baby 🤦‍♀️

I used to cook dinner midday then reheat. We ate so many currys, bolo, lasagne. Stuff that could be preprepared at weekend and frozen plus it was handy as could take smaller amount out for toddler

My husband and I do really quick meals and oven meals, such as:

• tortellini, mozzarella, cherry tomatoes (literally 5 mins!)
• Baked potatoes with cheese and beans
• Tinned soup and garlic bread
• Pasta, beans and tuna (student meal!)
• Breaded fish and chips

This would obviously depend on funds (although there are always discounts floating around for the first few boxes) but Hello fresh for us is great ...we still eat later and separately from the kids during the week (this will change once both are at school) ...and having hello fresh really helps those evenings when bedtime has taken a little longer ...yes you still have to prep / cook the dinners but there is not that element of having to decide what to cook ...lots of the dishes (not all) also only take 15/20 mins in total

I'm a big fan of doing the prep/cooking when you have the time and energy and reheat it when it's time to eat (or maybe you've done a slow cooker or traybake so chop, drizzle, stir, bung in the oven for 45 mins).
Check out the Batch Lady. You don't have to be making loads of portions at once but the principle of having a "dump bag" that already has your prepared ingredients I quite like!

Could your husband cook something when he gets in, with enough leftover for you to reheat for the kids' tea the next day?

If you cook the rice earlier - it needs to be cold - egg fried rice is super quick and easy. Gdcs love it - for 3 of them I add 2 eggs and some frozen peas and sweetcorn.

Do you eat fish? Couple of salmon slices thrown in the oven. Chop up some veg and stick that in the oven too with some oil and spices thrown over. Some nice bread rolls for carbs. I do the fish and veg thing often - would be even quicker to buy ready chopped veg. Or a stir fry? Ready made from supermarket and maybe just add a bit of chicken?

Batch cooking for me doesn’t mean spending time at weekends slaving over a hot stove. It just means making a huge pot of something, eating dinner and then freezing the rest in portion sizes. So for chilli, for example I’ll freeze probably 6 nights dinners. Ditto curry, spaghetti bol etc. if that’s done on rotation, I’m probably only cooking one huge recipe once a week (or less if some nights you have shove in the oven meals or stir fries)

Invest in a huge pot like this.

A pre-cut salad kit. Or pre-cut mixed veg., fresh or frozen.

Plus a protein - steak, salmon, tin of tuna, tin of beans, a few boiled eggs, a quarter of a rotisserie chicken...

Done in a few minutes and far more nourishing for a breastfeeding mother's body than pizza!

My kids never went to be that early, it was 8/8.30 until they were old enough to stay up later. I would only get home from work at 6/6.15pm when they were tiny so it just wasn't possible. I didn't know anyone who worked full time and finished work before 5.30.

Also I saw an amazing tip on insta and I now do this for my kids and it works well - pre prepare healthy things for them to snack on while you're making tea. So literally chopped cucumber or pepper etc, stick it in front of them while they're waiting. Even if they don't eat as much of their tree, they'll be occupied, less starving for tea, and at least they're filling up on the good stuff!

Frozen peas direct from the freezer are brilliant for this - they love them cos they're sweet and the temperature is a novelty, and they're slow to eat because they need to use their pincer grip. Ours still love them at 6 and 4, they often have a bowl at the weekend watching TV while we cook dinner. They're surprisingly nice!

If pizza is the one thing that you'll eat and have the most energy for. Go for it. There is nothing wrong with frozen or microwave meals. There is plenty of variety in shops (other than pizza). Sling it in over or microwave. I like the Cook ones.

You know you can roast in a slow cooker? Whole chicken, roughly chop a carrot and onion. put on base, add some herbs -- tyme and rosemary are good, fresh if you grow them - plonk chicken on top, season, and switch on

Pulled pork - dry rub the pork, stick a halved onion on the bottom of pot to rest the meat on, add a bit of stock - not a lot - or water - switch on. When cooked and falling apart, shred, add the wet sauce of choice - bottled is fine - and leave on low till ready to eat

An air fryer is great as well tbh. I got one for daughter who has a 17yo, 10 and 2 year olds and she finds it invaluable to rustle up very quick meals for the 2 year old and 10 year old and the 17yo can now make his own hot snacks without trashing the kitchen . I use one here all the time, not kids, just three adults with different dietary wants/needs. Between that, the microwave, frozen veg and a full salad drawer, I can have dinner on the table in 30 mins , sometimes all three of us eating different components to the same meal

Meals I make that are quick, tonight is fakeaway doner kebab - seriously 3 mins to prep last night as I was cooking last nights dinner and will take 30 - 40 mins in the air fryer to cook, served with flat breads and salad.

Tomorrow - its sausages , if the weather is bad it will be casserole ( on hob, one pan, takes 30 mins ) served with couscous - just boil a kettle or if good, air fryer and served with either mash and veg or beans and jacket spuds - 10 mins micro and 10 mins air fryer

Spag bol - Now I always cook double or treble when making this, slow cooker is grand for large amounts, so I shall grab a bag from the freezer, cook pasta for 2, wedges for 1, salad, and dinner on the table in 20 mins

Same with curries, I always cook once, eat twice or three times - portion up and freeze

Salmon and new potatoes, I grease a sheet of foil, add salmon and flavouring - a wee drop of liquid ( wine, dash of water, whatever) parcel up and in oven for 20 mins - time to cook the spuds

Tray bakes, so many to choose from, loads online, just throw everything into a roasting tin and in the oven - let it cook whilst bathing or feeding baby

I hear you. I’ve been sick. Child is sick.
DH got a pork pie for dinner last night…

Make the same meal for everyone as much as possible, just don't add salt etc. for the kids. Soup and pasta are the easiest.

I would recommend getting a multi cooker/instant pot. Throw in rice and frozen diced vegetables. Select cook rice function. It does its own thing, you come back once it's done. Crack an egg in, mix and close lid. Let it sit in keep warm for a few minutes and you have healthy vegetable rice with eggs. Use that as a base and you can grill some chicken/fish for extra protein on the side if you wish.

Do batch cooking so it's easy reheat on hard days. You can do a huge tray of roast chicken drumsticks and vegetables, portion it and put in the freezer. Good luck!

This was my routine too. DH heated his up, or I covered it and put it in the oven on a really low heat. I wanted to model table manners for DC, so prioritised a “family dinner” every night, even though it was only with one parent present. It also was a good time to recap the events of the day, be it what happened in nursery / play dates / school. Two separate dinners (and double the washing up) would have sent me over the edge!

could you and DH set aside some time one sunday - say every other month to do batch cooking. If I make a roast and I am standing in the kitchen I often just use this time to batch cook and ram the freezer full. I use reusuable freezer bags and put curry, pasta sauce, casserole, chilli in them that way a really lovely meal is just there in the freezer and its only cooking rice, jacket potato, pasta etc thats left to do?

I tend to try and make it all at once so maybe 4 x curry and 4 x pasta 4 x casserole. (so end up with 12 nights of food covered in one stint) Do all the veg at once or just get freezer veg. roast all the veg in the oven then just combine on the hob with chopped tin toms, herbs, spices, coconut milk whatever and divvy up and freeze. I know its standing in the kitchen for a couple of hours (hence why I do it at the same time as a roast) but having essentially decent ready meals available takes alot of the midweek strain away.

When my kids were small I absolutely lived for eating my meal in peace infront of the TV with DH when they're in bed. We all have nice family meals now no problem and I sat with them when they were small. I wanted to eat my dinner and enjoy it without helping small children eat after a long fucking day.

You can get some nice pre made pasta bakes and things like steak and chips, with peas. If they do have a nap during the day and you have a slow cooker you can stick all sorts of shit in there.

When the children were that clingy - Cook ready meals.

I never ate later. 😂 5:30 with the 2 yo.

Yeah, we eat at 5:45 and get the toddler up for bath time at 6:30 and in bed by 7:15. The little baby goes up slightly later. It was a bit of an adjustment at first but now I'm absolutely starving at that time. We have a sneaky pudding later when the kids are asleep.

I have a ninja 15 in 1. It's really good for 1 pot meals, more than a slow cooker IMO.

It's not massively varied but weekly I do at least 1 rice and 1 pasta all in the pot dish just mix up the herbs/ spices. I mean everything in raw I don't seal/ pan fry etc.

Chicken pasta bake - raw chicken, frozen onions, frozen broccoli,(any veg you want) raw pasta, water, stock pot, herbs (Basil/ oregano or cajun) pressure cook for 7 mins. Stir in some philly. Grill

Chicken rice - raw chicken, frozen veg again or fresh, raw rice, stock/ 5 spice or ginger + garlic, pressure cook.

Beef stir fry - beef/ frozen stir fry veg/ soy + spices all in pressure for 20 mins, add in those pre cooked noodles at the end.

If you have a few more mins there is a very handy steam meal setting where you set the 3 layers up for a full meal - spuds/ veg/ protein.

The beauty I find is I put it on and walk away. My son is now 2, but I having a baby next week. When DS was a baby I found I could throw everything in and if it got forgot/ nap trapped or whatever, that was fine because it turns itself off - watch the keep warm function!

I'm disabled and used to adore cooking and cooking but don't have much energy so my time windows are short. My best friend saved our bacon in a way neither of us expected by giving is a ninja foodi 9 in one, they bought it and only used it for a Sunday roast but it wasn't big enough so her mum bought them a bigger one and she gave us hers. I make everything from pasta bakes to tray bakes and risotto in it (Just dump all the raw ingredients in and go) and also do burgers/steaks/fish/chicken in it too. I have also baked much more as the cakes/pavlovas etc come out cooked more evenly and faster and I don't have to get up and down checking them with skewers dozens of times and there's no trying to bend (for me). It's fast and easy although we could never have afforded one ourselves it's worth looking into if you are in a position to. My teen dd is also obsessed with it too,

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020705-cheesy-spicy-black-bean-bake - serve with tortilla chips, coriander, sour cream & guacamole (if you can be arsed). Also works with shop bought garlic bread.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1023609-chile-crisp-fettuccine-alfredo-with-spinach - serve with flat parsley and parmesan

Both take about 15 mins.

I wasn’t even focused on that but yeah it I’ve rushed to try and cook spaghetti bolognese for 4:30 and sat down to eat it with a 2y and spoon feeding a 7m old I would not actually be eating much of the food! It’s bad enough if I go out to eat lunch with just the baby sometimes 😂

We eat separately from the children half of the week too and it's absolutely fine. I still sit at the table with them and have a cup of tea and a chat and then eat with DH later.

Quick meals I make for DH and I in the evening when I CBA are:

Tortelloni with a jar of sauce (add peas to same pan when the tortellini are cooking for some veg.)

Jacket potatoes with tuna mayo or cheese and beans

Stir fry (literally takes minutes..... I do often buy those kits for speed if I'm pressed for time, healthier than a frozen pizza.)

Spaghetti with prawns, lemon and chilli. Fry chilli, garlic and lemon zest and prawns in olive oil while the spaghetti cooks then drain the pasta and toss it into the pan. You can use chorizo if you don't like prawns. Takes 10 minutes.

If you get an instant pot they are amazing for throwing things in and leaving to cook. I use it for casseroles, curries and even risotto (takes 15 mins) a lot. I like the instant pot because you can set it going and it's safer than having pots bubbling on the hob with children around, it also switches to keep warm mode when it's done cooking so something like a curry or a stew just keeps warm until you're ready to eat it. I often use diced beef or chicken and those packs of chopped casserole veg for speed.