Acceptable for dinner?

[TaupePanda]

I honestly do not know how other people cope with this but we just can't keep up with meals - specifically dinners. By the time we have picked the kids up and gotten home it is after 6. The person at home stays and cooks from scratch and it almost 7 by the time we eat. That means our 3 and 6 year olds aren't going to bed until after 8 - after eating, washing up, reading etc... Then they are getting up after 8am because they go to bed too late. So mornings are always chaos! It is an absolute mess that is spiraling out of control.

I am sure the people will say batch cook but it isn't going to happen. Both my husband and I work long hours throughout the week. So, we ensure we spend as much of our time with our kids at the weekend as we really barely see them Mon-Fri. I will not spend that time doing chores such as cooking - something I absolutely hate doing as it is - rather than being present with my kids.

So, my question is would cold, more basic food be acceptable for dinner? At the weekend we eat much better and always try to cook a bit more so we often have dinner for Monday and Tuesday. But for Weds-Fri would cheese on toast, with hummus and carrot sticks be OK? Is that enough for kids? We could eat about half hour or so earlier if we did this and hopefully reset the schedule. What other things could we give? Are there other 10 minutes dinners - like actually 10 minutes. We have scoured the internet and they say they are quick but in the end they really aren't.

TIA

I wouldn’t want to eat like that too often.

Do you have an air fryer? I can cook things like fajitas in mine in about 15-20 min.
You could do some bbq style food now that the weather has changed.
I would also use the slow cooker.
Also nothing wrong with pizza night
Fish fingers, chips and beans once a week.

Cook smarter, if you're cooking from scratch every night then just double the quantity so you have enough for the next night and just need to reheat it.

Use a slow cooker a couple of times a week- again, double the quantity so you can reheat another night.

Use the freezer more.

If you take shortcuts, there's loads of great meals that are quick.

Things that makes meals so much quicker

Microwave rice sachets
Frozen mash
Pre cooked chicken
Pre prepped salads

Yes I agree that cooking 'smarter' is the key here. When you do cook, cook double. You've then got a meal for the following day or something to stick in the freezer for the coming tricky days. Spag bol/cottage pie - freezer portions. Roast chicken on Sunday - leftover meat to do with new pots/noodles/mash/whatever on Monday. Sausages/risotto/stew - double portions half in the fridge and reheat in the next day or two.
Then yes, a 'bits and pieces' dinner once a week, maybe once a week oven/chips/pizza night. I feel you though, it's relentless! 😩

Could you start using things like frozen onions, frozen sliced peppers etc. They will still be nutritious but cut down on the prep time.
Also nothing wrong with beans on toast occasionally or a "beige freezer meal" every now and then don't be too hard on yourself. It's all about balance.

Agree with above as well - that when you do cook from scratch - cook twice the amount and freeze half. Then you'll have at least one home cooked meal ready in the freezer.

We had a phase when we had to get dinner on the table in very little time.
Some ideas for what we ate:
Reheated batch-cooked curry with microwave rice. Sometimes tinned curry.
Reheated bolognese with quick-cook pasta
Tomato soup with cheese toasties
McCain microwave jacket potatoes https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/272423694?srsltid=AfmBOoo477Kni2v1cxCIotRAeWuU-C5hQA3dJNueuc7WCEXP0ZTP3WAW with beans, coleslaw and grated cheese
Shop-bought quiche (look out for offers on Higgidy quiches) and salad
Egg fried rice with microwave rice, soy sauce, prawns and peas
Quicken tacos https://www.tamingtwins.com/quick-chicken-tacos/
Shop-bought pizza (thin crust pizzas cook quicker)
Stir fry using straight-to-wok noodles, prepared stir fry veg, cooked chicken and a packet of sauce

I would give the kids a lighter/quicker meal on school nights.

What are you cooking that's taking an hour?

Is anyone working from home? I will chuck things in the oven at 4:30 when I can to get ahead of the evening rush.

We rely on pasta a lot. Chicken, bacon, sun-dried tomato sauce and Philadelphia with broccoli chucked in takes 20 minutes max.

Burgers and chips take 25 minutes in the oven + assembly time.

Takeaway pizza 1-2 times per month.

The weekend is for complicated cooking.

Aren't there like ready meal deliveries? "Healthy" type. You could bulk buy ready food or have a delivery service and freeze.

Agree with PP about cooking smarter - get pre prepped veg, meat and meal kits etc to save some time. I you are managing to plan your Sunday meal to be something that whilst making you can just make in larger quantities and use for the next few days surely you can do that on the weds for Thurs / Fri too, then you’re only cooking from scratch one night a week. Cheese on toast / veg and hummus isn’t really going to be great for a few nights a week, once would be fine but three is a lot!

I'd say it partly depends on what the kids are having for lunch. If they're having a cooked meal at school/nursery (and they eat it) I would be much more relaxed in the evenings and say your example of cheese on toast plus veg sticks and humous would be fine. Other quick things we eat/have eaten in this house: fresh filled pasta from the supermarket with a tub of chilled tomato sauce plus grated cheese and veg or salad. Scrambled eggs (in fact any kind of eggs) with sourdough or wholemeal toast and avocado. Cook double rice one day or at the weekend, stick half in the fridge, in the next day or two have egg fried rice with some chopped up bacon, spring onion, cashews, chilli sauce, whatever you like. Steamed broccoli on the side. You can also use microwave rice sachets to do the rice for egg fried rice. Beans on toast (or on a jacket) with cheese and salad is also a perfectly balanced meal. Soup (could be Covent Garden type not homemade) with naan breads and butter.

Does the 3 year old already get tea at nursery? Not that mine doesn't also eat a full dinner when he gets home. Anyway, we do batch cook, and as PPs said, if WFH stick something in the oven if needed, but there are also some short cuts for hot food if you have the budget for some pre-made stuff:

• one of those stir fry kits with meat, sauce, veg and noodles pre-prepped genuinely can be cooked in 15 minutes, especially if you serve with noodles instead of rice.
• fresh filled tortelloni cook in a few minutes, and you can throw together a quick salad or steam some veg to go with it.
• we have a rice cooker with a timer, so if we're having something-with-rice we put that on in the morning.
• anything that's just as easy to make twice as much of (e.g. chilli, bolognese etc.) we do once at the weekend and once for a later meal from the freezer. Basic tomato sauces we do 4 x as much of.
• I buy those mini meatballs from the fresh meat section which are slightly more expensive than normal-sized ones but cook in the oven in 15 minutes. During the 15 minutes, I cook some spaghetti and reheat some tomato sauce.
• Cous cous takes a couple of minutes to make. Again that does rely on your having batch cooked something to go with it, but that could be a slow cooker thing or a second portion of something you had at the weekend. Or to be honest, I don't mind a jar tagine sauce sometimes, and you could get some chicken and a tin of chickpeas in there in 15 minutes.

The washing-up gets done by whoever isn't putting the 3yo to bed, a bit later on.

Waitrose do a frozen sofritto mix and a sofritto pasata. Use that for bolognese etc. really speeds it up! And speeds the clear up as there’s no chopping boards etc.

I think that type of meal is fine a couple of days a week but not every day. Could you do a mix of that and then some quick dinners like stirfry or pasta.

I give kids easy teas like scrambled eggs and toast or beans on toast when I need a quick dinner. Or fish fingers.
Batch cooking for complicated stuff is the only way to do it quickly.

Do they have a big meal at school/nursery? If so, I think making dinner more of a typical “lunch” type meal is fine.

But I also agree with PPs about cooking double. And using the slow cooker - the person at home can put stuff in it at lunch time, ready for dinner.

What are you cooking at the moment that is always taking so long?

Batch cooking doesn't take a lot of effort necessarily. I got given the Poppy Cooks slow cooker cookbook and it's excellent, shove it all in and 6 hours later you've got dinner. If you did even one of those on a weekend you've got a home made meal ready for in the week.

We've started getting the slow cooker going overnight - so do the meal prep in the evening once the kids are in bed then by the morning it's cooked and can go in the fridge. Just needs microwaving at dinner time, maybe with rice or pasta to go with it then it really does just take 10 minutes!

I cant imagine how it takes an hour to do dinner especially if there are 2 of you? Pasta/rice takes 12 mins to cook, vegetables 5 mins. I would simplify your meals but not as far as cheese on toast. I would pre prep the night before after kids have gone to bed (chop veg, get kettle full of water, grate cheese etc) and do the cleaning up/washing up after kids in bed so they can get a proper night sleep.

What are you doing that takes an hour? Feels like there are lots of options between one hour, and beans on toast.

Here’s some of our quick - or at least hands off - weeknight options:

Filled tortellini fresh pasta with pesto - takes ten mins from getting in the door to food. Boil some peas in with the tortellini and stir through pesto etc. Can add cooked chicken pieces or ham or whatever you want.

Quiche new potatoes and veg. Ok it takes half an hour to get the quiche cooked but it’s hands off time where you can be getting bags ready and talking to kids. Baby new potatoes on at the same time quiche goes in, and a pan of boiling water for green beans or broccoli takes 5 mins.

Omelette and new potatoes or chips, and veg or baked beans. Does not take 1 hour. Maybe 30 mins to allow for potatoes or chips cooking.

Stir fry. Ready prepared sliced stir fry veg. Oven bake 4 pieces of salmon with oyster sauce drizzled over the top (10-15 mins in oven). Cook rice or noodles and stir fry the prepared veg. Again overall 30 mins with faffing.

Normal pasta - fry up chopped peppers / onion in large pan, add tin chopped tomatoes and two tins of mackerel or tuna, simmer while pasta cooks. 30 mins.

Make sure you have a list and everything is bought the weekend before. If you can speed things up by chopping peppers/ onions before you go to bed the night before, go for it. You can be quick if you are ready and you know what to do.

Actually, PPs mentioning getting some meal prep done when the kids are in bed reminds me that I sometimes cook a whole meal after bedtime, especially if it's something that mainly involves sticking something into the oven. E.g. this chickpea dish by Nigel Slater (scroll down to the bottom) https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/jun/12/nigel-slater-middle-eastern-recipes#:~:text=Mix%20the%20drained%20chickpeas%20with,is%20thoroughly%20hot%20and%20juicy. doesn't need any attention but it does take time for it to cook. I made it the other night, then reheated the next day and served with cous cous and grilled halloumi.

I know you've said you don't want to batch cook" but that doesn't have to look like slaving in the kitchen for hours on a weekend. Just make something for tea on Saturday that can be frozen - chilli or curry or something - in a big pan so you've got triple portions. Then that's one night in the week you don't have to cook. Then one morning in the week do the same with something in the slow cooker - make enough so you can have that thing one day next couple of weeks too. You'll soon build up a stock of stuff and be eating pre cooked stuff most days in the week.

I don't think you are doing too bad. When my kids were that age I would pick them up from nursery/after school club at 6 and we'd be home at 6.15. Dinner on the table a little before 7, kids would do homework whilst I cooked. Then get ready for bed around 7.30, read in bed from 8 and they usually fell asleep by 8.30. Isn't that quite a normal time for them to sleep?

In terms of food, stir-fry's are super quick, especially if you buy fresh noodles. Omelettes too and you can vary these endlessly. Mac n cheese is another one. I made mine with veg in. Also those fresh filled pasta's, like ravioli, just add tomato sauce and a bit of parmesan.

You say you don't want to batch cook but you could make extra portions when you cook at the weekend.

Massive casserole / pot of chilli / pan of bolognaise

Then put in freezer and you have extra portions as well as the leftovers you currently have on Mon and Tue.

But of course a cold supper is OK too. As is a ready meal a week. As is egg, oven chips and peas once a week.

Bung a huge tray of chicken thighs in the oven at the weekend and freeze individually or in packs of two to defrost for chicken salad. (remember to take them out in the morning). Or add the defrosted chicken to a pasta dish. Pasta, pesto, peas, chopped chicken. Not sophisticated or impressive but the sort of staple working families rely on.

After the kids are in bed prep (or cook) the next day's dinner.
slow cooker
cook once for 2 meals so you just have to heat it up
Or if cooking to eat there and then:
Filled pasta with cherry tomatoes/pasta with pesto cheese and peas
Omelette with everything + salad
Air fryer fish parcels
Traybake (25 -45 mins)

How is it taking > 1 hour to get dinner on the table?

You can get your kids involved in helping you prepare food. Or take 10 mins at the weekend to chop/make a freezer dump bag (batch lady) to put in the slow cooker in order to have less frantic and overtired time and connection with them during the week.