please help WOHM, full time school, dinner recipes, no time, HELP ME PLEASE

[DaveOHara]

please please help me.. I'll try and explain my dilemma

after easter dd will be at school full time (currently she gets her meals at CM's). I am WOHM, we get home at 6pm (on a good day). at the momnent dd (4.5) goes to bed about 7-7:30.

Now, after easter I'm going to have to squeeze in cooking a healthy balanced main meal into the evening routine. Obviously dd's bedtime will have to be pushed out to about 8-8:30 but I don't want to spend the little time I get with her in the evening cooking... and what about baths etc... oh god just the thought of how I'm going to do this is turning my stomach!

I've been thinking maybe I could get a repatiore of meals I could make one night and serve up the next evening etc but I don't know what.. I'm not great in the kitchen... so at the moment that would be cottage pie, lasagne etc but need meals that aren't just variations on mince..

easter is sooo soon, HEEELP.... please, I'll love you forever.

I use my slow cooker most nights - put a casserole or bolognese (about all I have managed so far!)in in the morning and it is cooked by the time we get home,

How about freezing batches of your usual dinners so they're ready to go with some fresh veg on the night?

Things I make on the quick are omelette and salad, chicken wraps with salad, chicken and rice and peas (something like sweet and sour or something not too spicy for the kids), soup and crusty bread.

They don't have to be hefty meals to be nutrious. I sometimes make a ham and pea soup at the weekend and freeze it so my mum can give them something easy on the days I work.

will try to come up with more.

I don't have one (and I'm skint at the minute) thought about that!

didn't know whether to put this under working, food, parenting etc...

I'm suh a Kitchen clutz.

What about steaks/chops etc with new pots and veg - then you can wack the meat under the grill, the veg in pans and it'll only take 20 mins.

For freeze ups - what about curries/chinese dishes - you just need chicken portions cut up, cooked in a sauce (could be any sauce) and then frozen up - these can then be served up with rice.

Lamb/Chicken/Beef casserole/stew - this could be done really easy and frozen down. Or fish pie (poached cod in white sauce and peas and prawns topped with mash and baked in oven) - healthy and easy to freeze and just serve up with veg.

Message withdrawn

Kbear, can you post your recipe for ham and pea soup please? I am trying to add variety to my DD diet and she seems to enjoy soups. Thanks

Something like this...

Ingredients
1 tbsp Butter
2 Onions, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
small handful of thyme leaves (optional)
800g frozen peas
1 ham bone
1 litre vegetable, pork or chicken stock

Method

1. Heat the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat and add the onions, garlic, thyme and peas. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly.

1. Add the ham bone and stock.

1. Bring to the boil and simmer for 1 hour.

1. Remove the ham bone; transfer half the the mixture to a blender and whiz until smooth - mix back in with the chunkier mixture. Serve immediately.

Freezes well.

I also have a recipe that uses split peas (dried). Have a google, see if you prefer that.

I get in at gone 6 most nights and put both girls to bed on my own and cook a meal from scratch 9.5 times out of 10. Kids go to bed at 7pm I start dinner then and DP gets in at 7.30ish.

It's easily doable, don't panic sweet, honest.

But hang on, sorry, are you saying though that you want DD to eat with you before she goes to bed?

Where will DD be after school? Can she have her tea there?

Oh, yes don't panic. Kids adapt to whatever routines we throw at them!

I have nicked Sunnywong's Pea and Ham Soup recipe from another thread in Recipes....

Sweat down chopped carrots, celery and onions in olive oil for 15 minutes. Add chopped garlic, 2 bay leaves and dried mixed herbs. Put the ham bone in a slow cooker and add the veg. Meanwhile bring 300g red lentils to the boil, skim off the white froth and add to the cooker, including boiling water. Then the trick is to make a reduction of balsamic vinegar and muscavado sugar and add that plus pepper and a bit of oyster sauce or dark soy for depth of flavour. Cover the lot with water and slow cook for 6 hours, then add some finely shredded cabbage and cook a further hour.

She says "Makes you gassy but very very good for you".

And I can give you a recipe for ev ery thign I made this week and last week and what I'm going to make next week.

Big key - be organised. Decide what you'll make, get it delivered to you on a Sunday, then it's all in fridge and ready for the week.

I make proper meals and am f/t working mother with two small children and dh away for 6 weeks at a time.

Planning is all.
That and freezing.

right I bown dopwn to you all..

don't mind iff dd eats on her own.. or I eat with her.. teecee please, that would be a god send.. so I just have to get the 'organised' bit into shape now... and then there's the making sandwiches

please please and thank you thank you thank you everyone

one of my quick teas is baked salmon. i keep a bag of salmon steaks in the freezer and just take however many i need out on the morning to defrost in the fridge.

put a blob of butter on top of the steak
wrap in a loose foil parcel
in oven on 180 for maybe 20-25 mins
serve with new potatoes and green veg.

easy peasy.

sob sob, I don't even know what is freezaBLE and what isn't

Won't she eat at after school club/childminders? Are you talking about adult food? Can't dh do it every other night at least?

Food we've had over last few weeks:

roast chicken, takes 10 mins prep (if you do veg and potatoes from scratch, less without) and then just leave it to cook

poussin, ditto, although you could add lemon/garlic

Jamie's cod: get green beans, throw 2 cod steaks on top of them, add a few proscuitto slices on top scattered over, some olive oil, a couple of lemon halves and a couple of cloves of garlic in its skin, cook 20 mins

Get some M&S Cook range in the freezer as standbys, they're fantastic, we had sea bass with rosemary and herb crust tonight, it was fantatstic.

Omelette is quick and you can put lots of things in it

Almost any fish can be put in foil with lemon, capers, olive oil and cooked for 20 mins or less

And children don't have to be bathed every day imo.

Tesco do lovely organic salmon steaks with garlic and herb or mediterranean butter, you can freeze them and they only take 15 mins to cook. Only £3.30 (so £1.15 each, which is good value imo) too

I always have frozen peas in the freezer because even if I can't be arsed to peel a carrot I can be bothered to put hot water over peas

sweet potatoes can be shoved in oven the min you get in and baked, then add butter, creme fraiche, pepper, whatever. Or bake baby potatoes in their skins, just shove in oven with a bit of olive oil, salt and rosemary.

Tesco also do bags of nice mediterranean veg and we use those when we really, really can't be arsed to lift a finger. They take 20 mins.

Thanks for soup recipe Kbear. Will have a go at the weekend

god, I don't bath her everyday now lol

ok, dp doesn't get in until 9-10 each night. CM will give her a light tea but not enough if she's only had sandwihes at school. Have thought about shool dinners somedays.

M&S Cook sounds great.

Unfortunately she won't eat Omlette (Doesn't like egg) or salad, other than that will eat
pretty much anything.. lvoes curry and the likes.

It's going to be a bumpy ride for a while I think... got to learn to make sandwiches in the evening etc as well

Right, on Sundays make big things like stews, casseroles, spag bols, shepherds pie. Then that's dinner for Mon sorted and a meal in the week.

On Monday you can still maybe cook a meal for Tues or do some prep.

I'm going to start posting receipes now but honestly babe, it really will be ok.

I have 2 girls to put to bed, neither of whom can undress themselves or do much of anything for themselves and one of whom requires at least 2 stories. I still eat a meal from scratch every night.

OK - so tonight.

GRILLED LEMON SOLE WITH CREAMY CHEESY LEEKS AND STERAMED VEG

I bought broccoli that was in florets, carrots were chanteray (sp) so just had to top and tail, green beans already sliced.

Girls in bed, I came down put grill on and started boiling water.
Chopped up leeks. x 2
Put them onto steam with a large handful or 2 of green beans.
Put veg in a ovenproof dish.
poured over double cream and grated some cheese, put in oven.
Put lemonsole under grill for 5 mins.
Put carrots onto steam.
After 5 mins turn fish and put broccoli in to join carrots.
After another 5 mins serve.

Cream isn't that healthy but not the end of the world and the rest is very healthy.

More to follow

Where will dd be between finishing school and coming home? Whoever is looking after her will surely provide a meal?

Also, you may well find that when dd starts full-time school, she will be very tired (at least to start with) so pushing back her bedtime may not be possible.

Also a bath every night is not necessary.

Sorry I don't mean to sound negative, just trying to be practical.

Hi there, new to this, but just discovered the joy of cooking (maybe just the fact of having the excuse of being on my own in the kitchen for a while). Watched A karmel this morning (Have all been stuck at home with the flu for 3 days and soooo sick of Cbeebies) and made her delicious tomato sauce with pasta - just Chopped Tomatoes (which are better for you when cooked with oil apparently), 2 Onions, Garlic, chili flakes and a teaspoon of sugar. You could make it up at the beginning of the week just fry onions and garlic add tomatoes, chili flakes and sugar, and then use to make pasta (add olives/anchovies/roast peppers(in a jar)), add to mince for bolognese or chili con carne or you could put it on chicken, fish etc. cover and bake in the oven. I also make alot of casseroles, just brown meat and put in a casserole with veg and you can add lentils and herbs etc and bung in the oven for 1 hr - always a bit of an experiment but normally tastes pretty good. Happy cooking

Sorry posts crossed!

Tbh I think you either need to go for school dinners or ask the childminder to provide something more substantial. Then all you need to do is baked beans on toast or similar.

Ok, if she likes curry:

Chicken breast cut into strips
Jar of Pataks Korma
Rice

Takes 20 mins.