What time is your tea/dinner if you eat with your children? (Olive's food enquiry number 342)

[oliveoil]

dd1 is 3, dd2 is 15 months.

Want to start doing 1 meal for us all (dh inc).

BUT:

dd1 is in bed at 7pm, so to fit in bath etc, seems a rush job to eat any later than 6pm.

I work 3 days and get in at 5pm and don't relish starting to chop when I get through the door.

We normally feed the girls at 5ish and we then eat in civilised peace at 7pm.

Help.

PS - dd1 eats f**k all anyway, or changes what she will eat every day.

Must admit that on the three days that I currently work the lo's are fed tea at Nursery (16.00) - for precisely the practical timing reasons that you've described - I'm not back home until 17.15 on those 3 days. When I am at home with the kids we (them and me) eat at 17.30 except for dh whose food is plated up for him and then he gets a solitary dining experience when it is reheated around 20.00 (at home by then)

Weekends = all 4 of us at 17.30

OO - Sacrafice the bathtime! Something has to give. Either you bath earlier, put dd1 to bed later, or move bathtime!!

Our kids are about the same age aren't they?

We arrive home at 6pm.
We all eat between 6.30pm -7pm. Dd goes to bed at 7.45pm and Ds goes up at about 8pm.

Bathtime just fits in whenever we have time!! Sometimes its whilst I'm cooking dinner. Sometimes its after dinner if we finish quickly. But usually its in the morning when DH is starting a bit later. But its never more than 3 times a week.

I've also started to buy things like:

mashed veg
steak pies
Chicken & Veg Pies
Lasagne
Pork & Leek Sausages

All from Tesco's Finest Range. They taste lovely and homecooked. They do fine for the evenings when I can't be arsed peeling potatoes.

I think 4 days at table all together is very valuable in itself, so i wouldn't stress yourself on the days you can't because of work. If you really want to though, could you maybe make and freeze meals for those days on your days off, or freeze pasta sauces if you don't use shop bought? At least you'd only have to reheat then. Something like a por roast perhaps that is easy but warm and filling too.

Recently we have taken to not always eating with the boys (the reverse trend I believe to everybosy else) about twice a week and then having something adult with a bottle of wine after they go up. This is our version of us time as we only go out properly once a year. We do try to be in the kitchen when the boys eat though, and if you sit down and chat in the kitchen on days you don't eat with them I would think that's fine.

I agree with Sacky - sacrifice bath time and take some short cuts with the food on the days that you work!

I am lucky in that I get home at 5 and so does dh so we are all there at the same time.

At the moment, I reheat specially prepared stuff for the girls that I have made earlier and took out of the freezer.

Dh cooks our dinner each night.

I have this vision of us all sitting down at 5.30pm with a cottage pie steaming away that actually gets eaten.

May start with the weekend like you and see how we go (my twin).

Why not save family meals for weekends while the children are so little? In our experience, it's the only way we can eat together without stress levels spoiling the meal for everyone! The weekends are really special with our family meals to look forward to. Plus my time with DH in the evening is the only chance we get to catch up and relax together.

I don't get what the problem is OliveOil if you're all in at 5pm!!!

Am I missing something here? Why don't you just prepare something for you all???? Isn't it just that simple?

sacky - dd1 is nearly keeling over at 6.30pm so would no way make it to 8pm for bedtime, or would but would be hideously overtired and unbearable.

because if I get in at 5pm, what on earth do you make that is tasty in 30 mins?

As well as giving out cuddles etc and asking how your day was whilst stiring onions?

But I don't understand why if you're home at 5pm you can't have something prepared for 6pm???? It only takes half an hour to slap a steak pie in the oven and bake some tatties!
Or chuck on some pasta...... or toss a salad...... or heat a lasagne!

You can't possibly expect to create a massive family meal from scratch in a short timescale.

Much nicer to let them eat whilst still awake...... then bath them whilst sleepy.... then straight to bed!

Sorted.

Now get to Tesco or M&S and get some lovely homemade chunky family pies.

Why not get a slow cooker and have lovely casseroles etc ready for you when you come in?

lol posts crossed!

Whilst afore mention pie and potatoes are baking..... lots of cuddles etc.
Chuck some broccoli/cabbage/carrots in a pot of water 10 mins before the pies/tatties are ready.

dh has meetings a lot of week nights at 7.30pm so we tend to eat with ds (2.5) between 5.30 and 6pm.

I love it when dh is in for the evening and we can eat by ourselves!

ready meals are banned in this house by order of the food snob (dh).

I bought the dinner lady cook book at lunchtime so may peruse that and see.

dd1 hates pasta.

Well then OO, you are making it damn near impossible for you all to eat at the same time!

This is how other people manage.... something has to give.
Choices are:
1)Buy food thats quick to prepare
2)Don't bath every night
3)Move the kids dinner on an hour and yours back an hour.

If your DH wants to cook a culinary masterpiece from scratch every evening then the answer is NO you can't do that in 30 mins!

Unless you can make time stands still then you're fecked!

3/4 days a week. We always eat together at weekends plus one or two days during the week. If DH is going to be late (after 7.30) I eat with DD1 and DD2 about 5pm, then he has his when he gets in. DD1 has just started school and is very hungry when she gets home so I tend to feed the children at 4.30. On the three days that I work I don't like to start cooking the minute I walk through the door - I like to spend a bit of time playing with/talking to dds first, so I usually do a quick pasta and sauce or fish fingers on those days.

I must admit I do enjoying sitting down with dh when the dds are in bed and enjoying nice food and a glass of wine.

I say do a bit of both...

dont bother

we dont

save it for the weekends

Snap! my dd hates pasta too. I thought that she was the only child in the world who spurns it...

Actually, thats a better answer Enid. Even though I have all our dinners ready at the same time most nights, we rarely sit at the table together anyway! So why stress about it?

Ok

lol

if its imp to fit everything in, why dont you rearrange the order? you could bathe, chat and cuddle, get jammies on. make meal, eat and do teeth and mouth just before bed?

My dd is nearing 8 months so not full of practical ideas for such situ's but theres my tuppence worth.

Enid has this knack of cutting to the chase and giving a deft and sure conclusion eh

I have a huge bee in my bonnet over mealtimes, so maybe just need to get a grip and stop analysing.