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 🤦‍♀️

Filled pasta taken straight from the freezer and put into boiling water for 5 minutes. Add a little olive oil. Done.

Pre cooked, frozen jacket potato. Microwave and add butter, beans or tuna mayo.

Toast, butter with tinned sardines on top. Very tasty. Tin of peaches for pudding.

Chilled fresh soup. Heated up in microwave. Toast.

Cheese, crackers, salami and a jar of olives.

Roast at the weekend, stir fry with leftovers. Beans on toast with grated cheese - follow up with fruit and you have a healthy meal.

Cook properly for the adults in an evening then save a portion to reheat for the toddler the next evening. Then you're not wrangling a needy baby and a hangry toddler and trying to cook dinner.

Whilst it might not be optimal (eg. Hoemmade, non processed yadda yadda) a pre-made sauces massively cut down cooking times. Throw some rice on, fry off some chicken and veg, bung on a jar of sauce - curry in 20 mins. If you’re feeling really fancy a tin of tomatoes, some garlic puree, a stock cube, a handful of herbs and whatever meat/veg you have to hand makes a perfectly adequate pasta sauce and can be made in the time it takes to cook your pasta.

Super quick dinners (15 mins or less):
Tortelloni with a shop bought sauce (a handful of spinach thrown in at the last minute helps me convince myself it’s vaguely nutritious)
Tuna pasta pesto (shove in whatever salad ingredients you have)
Beans on toast
Sardines on toast (again, I throw some leaves on the side to make myself feel better)

You could also throw some chicken thighs or breasts onto a baking tray with some chopped veg (or buy frozen pre-chopped veg! The Sainsbury’s Mediterranean frozen veg is amazing for this) whilst the kids are having their tea and leave cooking on a low heat whilst you do bedtime.

I totally get it. I have twins, and when they were babies/toddlers I barely had a second during the day. Certainly no time for making evening meals.

I used to batch cook for the children at night time - e.g. make a big bolognese/lamb stew and split it into portions for the freezer. And cook whole packets of peas/carrots/sweetcorn, and put them into little individual boxes for the freezer. Then I just needed to make pasta on the day they were eating it.

For me, it sounds depressing, but I used to roast 5 chicken breasts on a Sunday night. Then I'd take one out of the freezer each day for my dinner, and have it with Caesar salad/rocket and parmesan salad. A bit monotonous, but at least I was fed.

I also do this a lot.

My eldest is autistic and only eats about 5 different foods so youngest (3) often gets reheated leftovers to save her having Chicken/Quorn nuggets and waffles for the hundredth time in a row.

Sheet pan dinners - chicken thighs/salmon/pork medallions/chickpeas and any veg - peppers, courgettes, aubergine, tomatoes, mushrooms, green beans - toss in a bit of vegetable oil and spices (paprika/garlic) and bung in the oven for 30/40 minutes. Serve with microwave rice/mash. Can be heated up later for DH and any leftovers can have for lunch the next day in a tortilla wrap.

Oh god I remember this stage, even down to DH getting home at around that time. I didn't want to eat with the kids as it was a) too early b) I wanted to sit with an adult. FYI - my teenagers have been complimented on their table manners in restaurants since they were toddlers and we love family meals.

I've not read the full thread, but can highly recommend Taming Twins - she even has a meal planner in her book, and slow cooker 'dump bags' on her website which are life saving. Good luck, it gets easier x

I made a lovely tea last night with no effort, 1 bag of parmentier potatoes from Aldi. (( Spanish potatoes in spices with peppers, tomato and red onion )) a basa fillet in tempura batter and a bag of tenderstem broccoli.

The fish and potatoes were frozen but I put the broccoli in the oven too, just laid it on top of the potatoes. Pretty healthy dinner with absolutely no effort and hardly any washing up !

If you’re really struggling then buy in some high quality ready meals such as marks or cook. This stage won’t last forever and sometimes it’s just about getting through.

Stick a whole (mn) chicken in the oven before bath/bed time. Whack a couple of par baked baguettes in the oven when dh gets in and serve with a salad. This is my default can't be arsed to cook dinner, and then have loads of chicken leftover to do lunches/some sort of pasta sauce etc for the next day (or month depending on whether it's a mn chicken). But really any meat/bread/salad combo works well and is simple.

Fajitas are another quick meal in this house - I get the sets that come in a box and can usually have that ready in 10-15 mins tops with minimal cooking needed.

I do an easy sausage cassoulet. Stick all the veg and tinned cannellini beans in a pot (with stock). While it’s cooking put the sausages in an air fryer (if you have). Twenty odd mins later the veg is cooked, add the sausages and serve. Dinner in under half an hour. The only labour is cutting up potatoes (no peeling), the rest is frozen veg.

This might sound weird but due to my schedule I often start cooking dinners in the morning.

Also when my DC were babies/weaning, I would cook food me and DP liked and then would just make really small adjustments for the DC. E.g. if I wanted to make an elaborate pasta sauce with chilli I would cook the kids up some pasta and maybe do it with pesto instead. If I wanted to cook a curry with rice and beans, I'd serve them rice and beans with some little bits of plain meat on the side and well cooked carrots too.

I get sucked in even at the ages my DC are now (8, 6 and 4) to cooking way too many separate meals. It's definitely a balancing act but be determined and you'll find that more often that not they will eat what you provide and adjust over time!

Eggs on toast , mushrooms on toast , beans on toast all with carrot sticks on side and fruit for pudding would be better and just as quick

Giant pot of stew - just throw tins of beans ( small amount of meat if that's your thing) , pre-prepared veggies ( eg a chopped carrots and turnip mix, frozen onions ) , water and marmite , potatoes and leave to cook

Add curry paste on day 2

It's important to really try as living off junk food will make you feel even worse

I would eat later with the children. 4.30pm is like mid afternoon surely?
Ds is now 4, but he’s always eaten with us around 6.30pm.
6.30pm would be a better time for you to eat with them, and then your dh can reheat at 7.30pm.

I would use freezer to pre prep. If your dh makes a larger meal one evening after home, and you make something one dinner time, that’s 2 out of 7 meals covered. If you make bulk then you both freeze 2 meals each, per week. So after a while have a rotation of other fast meals another evening.

Batch cooking helps. I cba to cook the other night so I just defrosted a tub of bolognese and a tub of mash, added a tin of beans and bunged it in the oven for half an hour - no effort cottage pie.

Cook ready meals are a bit better than a frozen pizza albeit more expensive

I feel you, it’s so hard. There’s definitely been phases during the time I’ve been a parent where I’ve relied a bit too heavily on easy freezer food.

I discovered one really easy 10 minute meal that I now cook whenever I’m stretched.

I buy the Schwartz Spanish rice spice mix, an onion, a pepper, some prawns, pouch of cooked rice and frozen peas and chuck it all in a pan together and it’s the easiest thing ever. If you have to buy pre-chopped onion/peppers or other veg for this phase of your life then it is what it is. Better to cut corners this way than rely on pizza every night.

Our lazy (quick) dinners are pesto pasta ( we sometimes sprinkle feta crumbs on top with a few olives and cherry tomatoes), jacket potato with cheese and chilli beans (tinned with added pasata and chilli con carne powder mix), grilled chicken breast and salad wraps with sweet potato wedges (literally just chop the sweet potatoes into chunks and chuck them in the air fryer), salmon with flavoured microwave rice and peas.

None of which requires much prep work at all.

Slow cooker! Make meals like spag bol, curries, orzo or pasta meals etc (I recommend the Bored Of Lunch cookbook, full of ideas). Just use low salt stock etc and your toddler and baby can eat it, then reheat for you and your husband. I also use the What Mummy Makes cookbook for my 7 month old to make things like broccoli muffins for lunches for him and my 4 year old (and me, they are yummy and quick to make).

https://thenoshery.com/roasted-tomato-vegetable-pasta-sauce/ I love this pasta sauce. I normally add whatever veg I need to use in the fridge and extra spices. It doesn't take long to prep and once blended you can freeze it in ice cube trays. That way you always have a decent, healthy meal for your DC.

I think tray bakes would work really well for your set up. I've been relying on them since having my DC. You just chuck everything into one tray and then into the oven. But you could split the food into a small child's tray and then keep the rest in the fridge for later. Just Google easy tray bake recipes or this is currently on sale. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roasting-Tin-Simple-Dish-Dinners/dp/1910931519

No- cook pasta sauce
two big boxes cherry toms, jar roasted pepper, half jar sun dried tomatoes, bunch basil and splosh of balsamic. Whizz I’m blender and freeze in portions. Add different things, chicken and courgette, sausage and aubergine etc

Itsu ramen broth is my go to for a quick dinner.

In a deep pan, fry a squirt of chopped ginger and garlic (from tubes), chuck in a handful of chopped stir fry veg per person, chuck in rice noodles and cooked prawns, then the ramen broth and some coconut milk. Serve with a sprinkle of chilli oil/sesame oil and some black sesame seeds...
Looks absolutely amazing, super healthy and delicious and takes 3 minutes.

Your DH should be bringing home a hot chicken at least once a week to have with salad and bread and a friday night takeaway...

Unless he's coming out of a mineshaft then there's no excuse for him not taking responsibility for dinner at least twice a week!

I would do meals in the slow cooker which toddlers can have then you and DH also eat later- ideal as you can prep it while baby naps.

I would do:
-bolognese
-chilli

• gammon

-pulled pork

• dhal or soup

Look up "dump bags", ask OH to take the children out for a couple of hours on a Sunday and fill up the freezer. In the morning, just dump the frozen contents into the slowcooker and put the lid on.

Traybakes:
Jacket potato wedges, sausages, cherry tomatoes and broccoli, olive oils salt and pepper. Bake for 35 mins then a drizzle of balsamic.

Salmon, new potatoes and green beans, olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake then squeeze of lemon juice and some chopped herbs.

Chicken drumsticks, new potato's, Chorizo, baby corn or small corn on the cobs, sweet potato, oil salt and pepper and some cajun seasoning

Pasta like tortolini and salad

Soup - Roast butternut squash and onions or tomatoes onions, carrots and garlic in olive oil for 30 mkns transfer to a large saucepan. Add stock, herbs and simmer for 10 mins. Then blitz up, can add coconut milk to make creamy tomato soup. Serve with part bake bread or cheese on toast.

One pan cook macaroni and add cauliflower part way through. Make a cheese sauce and bake.