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

@BarnacleBeasley - I wonder if that chickpea dish would work with a jar of roasted peppers and tinned tomatoes rather than roasting both in the oven? I try not have the oven on much because it’s so expensive to run in comparison to cooking on the hob.

I don't know if this would work for you but something I do (DH doesn't as he cannot multitask..) is when I have a meeting where I am primarily just listening, I do some meal prep, we do a lot of tray bake type meals and I often prep these during the working day, put in the oven and then put the oven on a timer

This sort of thing

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chicken-new-potato-traybake

Kids eat at 6 when they get in, a portion of leftovers from last night that has been siphoned off for them - just needs reheating. One of you can supervise them eating while the other cooks from scratch.

Kids dinner done by 630pm ISH, little play and then stories, get ready for bed around 645 or 7pm (whatever time suits your family). kids in bed by 715pm. Your dinner is cooked and being kept warm at this time.

730pm (or earlier) kids are asleep and you can eat your dinner. Save a portion for the kids for tomorrow.

Then clean up and sit down together, enjoy your evening.

I think cheese on toast with hummus and veg is totally fine for a meal a week. I'd then do a rotation of a few other quick things like:

Beans on toast and veg sticks
Omelette and salad with a crusty roll
Baked potatoes and tuna mayo or beans and cheese (if the person at home can pop potatoes in the oven)
Warm chicken wraps made with leftover or bought roast chicken.

Or something like pasta and make double and save the extra in the fridge to microwave the next day. You can make a very quick sausage or chicken pasta using the cartons of passata that have onions/garlic/herbs in them, add a dollop of cream cheese at the end or a spoonful of red pesto. Add broccoli to pasta half way through to cook in the same pan.

If you do a roast chicken or roast pork at the weekend then chicken fried rice is good (with or without egg) and you can use frozen peas and sweetcorn and packet rice for speed. I just add soy sauce, oyster sauce, garlic powder for a bit of flavour - very simple.

Are you saying the person at home waits for everyone to get home before they start cooking? Can’t the meal be ready for to be served as soon as your children have changed out of their uniform and washed their hands?

It’s a mix of being more practical certain nights and also accepting the normality of a later bedtime. We have certainly eaten at 7/7:30 or even closer to 8pm since youngest was born probably. He’s now 6. I don’t think that’s particularly late in primary school. He has activities that run til nearly 7 some nights. Your routine shifts for the eldest usually and toddler has to just come along. So some of this may be about changing expectations now that your children are getting older.

If one of you is home cooking, there is no reason a meal can’t be on the table in 30 ish minutes most nights. Yes, you can do simple cold meals (ploughman’s, cold meats, cheeses, salad sort of things), but also pasta with veg, jacket potatoes with salad, baked fish with noodles and veg, all take no time to make. While making cheesy pasta with veg, start a bolognese which cooks while you eat, then bam, 2 more nights of food, just need to make more pasta.

For mornings, get up, get organised and wake them up. Mine definitely don’t just get to sleep til whenever on a school day. One has to be at the bus stop at 8:05. They get woken up by 7:15.

What are they eating at lunchtime? So long as they have a balance of food across the day then I say feed them what you suggest. Lots of schools/ nurseries do a hot lunch, in which case that’s their main meal and dinner can be toast/ soup/ sandwiches/ whatever you need.

other suggestions - buy precooked chicken, heat a jar of sauce and there’s a korma. Stir fry is super quick and you can buy the bags of pre cut veg. Pasta and cheese/ pesto with peas and sweetcorn is genuinely quick. Egg on toast, beans on toast. precooked jacket potatoes? Do you have a slow cooker? If so, you could prepare a meal whenever (after their bedtime, or in the morning) and have it ready to go immediately when you come home. If you do some kind of casserole you can put potatoes in it so it’s literally just one pot. You can slow cooker a chicken, or a gammon too! Now I’m getting hungry…

I don't think it would be as nice, as it's the combination of the flavours roasted together (esp the cumin) that makes it so delicious, but you could always do it when you need the oven on for something else anyway. I mentioned it for this thread for the time convenience of just sticking it in and not having to actually do anything, but I guess a tomatoey chickpea stew made on the hob would also be a good thing to have in the fridge or freezer.

Oven on as soon as you get in

Salmon fillets/sausages/chicken Kiev in as soon as oven hot enough

Rice in rice cooker, or jacket pinged in microwave for two mins then in oven

Open tin of peas/beans/sweetcorn

Done.

Tbh, I think you should re-consider your weekend plans with your family.

Cooking is a part of every day life and something even young children like getting involved with plus it's a learning experience for them, and something you can do together as a 'fun activity'. Even though it may not seem like it to you!

Something basic like ready made pizza bases, tomato sauce, grated cheese etc

I'm a single mum, and I generally managed to feed ds within about 20 mins of getting home at 6pm. Forward planning is key.

Suppers included :

• fish fingers, oven chips & peas,
• Cornish pasties and veg,
• butcher's sausages, veg and mash (made the night before),
• pasta carbonara with broccoli
• cheese & tomato omelets
• veggie soup & chunky wholemeal bread

After ds was asleep, I might have more to eat.

Get lots of ziplock plastic bags and every time you make a bolognaise / chilli / curry etc freeze the leftovers in single serve portions. No stress to do a big massive batch cook but you soon build up a freezer stash of easy access meals.

Peel veg for the evening at the same time you're making breakfast. I try and get a plan for the evening meal sorted at breakfast time - get the meat out of the freezer, peel the potatoes / carrots etc. Just get a little bit ahead.

Pesto pasta with chicken is super quick and easy. In the door, kettle on for the pasta, cook the pasta and poach the chicken in the pasta water at the same time, can even add peas in the same water at the end too. Drain it all, chop up the chicken, add jar of pesto.

Make a slow cooker beef stew at the weekend - eat some at the weekend and then put the rest in the fridge in a pie dish. On a weeknight unroll shop bought pastry on top of the dish and bake. Frozen veg on the side.

Frozen chopped onions or peppers are great.Tip some in a frying pan, while they cook chop up some cooked chicken or ham, add a bag of microwave rice to the pan, stir through with the meat / veg and add a bit of soy sauce.