Home cooking and working full time....oh blimey

[StephanieByng]

Can you help guys?

In January I will be working full time; DS almost 7, and will be picked up from school by his ADORED grandmother but I'm still wrestling with maternal guilt - I guess that's another thread. The guilt of not picking him up from school may well be making me obsess about his food!

I am trying to be all things to all people and work full time AND provide wholesome home cooked stuff, but I won't be in till 6pm. I don't feel I can ask my mum to cook as she's got enough to do looking after ds, and their relationship is ALL about playing together which I think is unusual accross the generations and I don't want to interfere with that and make it about cooking/clearing up etc.

DS is not a fan of 'wet' food, the kind of thing I could prepare ahead and freeze to make life easier; things that are out are fish pie, bolognese, stew, casserole etc etc

Can anyone give me ideas for quick, V healthy weeknight suppers that I can do when I get in, or things I could be preparing in advance? I can't think...

TIA!

Breaded veal escalope with green beans.
Chargrilled chicken with rice and salad.
Sausages and mash.

Baked potatoes with various filling, done in microwave in a few minutes. Invest in a george foreman, fab for doing chops/chicken breasts/homemeade burgers in minutes. Fritatta. Stir fries with rice or noddles don't take long.

Oh dear that he wont eat the easy freezer stuff.I do a big cook off on a Saturday morning that lasts the DD'S a week at CM's-making all the things you listed and portioning them up in advance.

The only other thing that is relatively quick and easy is stir fry type things.There is a good recipe for Teriyaki chicken in one of the Annabel Karmel books that is easy and quick and very nice.(Its got lots of veg in but is also very colourful so the kids love it)

Pasta I guess?

I slice chicken fine, fry lightly and serve with veg and potatoes. THey LOVE pork chops!
Mine also eat grilled salmon, tuna.

macaroni cheese? lasagne? or are they too wet?

quiche?

Good quality sausages / fish fingers / fish in breadcrumbs?

I guess I'm wanting the impossible - it would take me up to 40 minutes to get chicken and rice on the table; I use the wild type whole rice and it takes ages to cook. OK so quick cook rice would be a good idea! Can you re-heat rice? Could I do a big bowl and re-heat?

Mash is too 'wet' for DS; He could possibly have a healthy style fry up; sausages, egg, etc.

Ta Anna! It's good to 'think aloud' like this!

Noodles.Cook in 10 minutes or so.My dd's love them as they think they are like worms.(They are odd girls )

I use Basmati rice - I find that if I put it on to boil as the first item on the menu, it cooks in 10 minutes, I drain and rinse it in hot water under the tap and bung it in the oven to dry for 5 minutes. So total time is 15 minutes, during which I prep and cook chicken and make salad dressing and throw salad together.

ooh lots of replies - thanks!

OK so I can go for:

Sliced chicken
Pasta
Grilled Tuna
Stir Fry
Pork Chops

Noodles - good idea!

DS would far rather have pasta than potatoes so I think noodles/pasta/rice/bread and the accompaniments I can use really.

OK so lets say
Sliced chicken with noodles
Grilled Tuna with pasta
Stir Fry/noodles
Pork Chops with veg and my homemade tomato bread ()
and using quick cook/basmati rice, Kedgeree...

Wow, thanks everyone; felt so lost but am getting some good ideas!

Message withdrawn

salmon fillet
leg of lamb steak

You can freeze rice - I cook a whole load of brown rice, portion it into plastic bags, lie it flat (for faster defrosting and heating in the microwave) and freeze. Just make sure you cool it quickly and freeze soon after cooking.

Rice noodles are great as they cook in 3 minutes. I like the salmon portions from Waitrose which are frozen, and microwave to cooked in 2 1/2 minutes.

But, is it really necessary for him to have a whole cooked meal when you get home ? Wouldn't it be easier for him to have a cooked lunch at school, then all you need in the evening is sandwiches, or egg on toast sort of things ?

ooh christiana your 'soupy' things remark reminded me that given alot of good bread DS will eat soup, that's something I can make and freeze! Excellent!

Will definitely use the bashing idea to speed things up

This is so useful, thanks - will be printing this thread out, any further ideas welcome!

Do you know what - I think he needs to try to learn to like 'wet' stuff. You working will be benefiting the family in all sorts of ways and your son isn't too young to learn that he plays his part in that by expanding his repertoire foodwise, getting his clothes out to put on and knowing where he left his shoes!

Foodwise - cheese and tomato/mushroom toasties or paninis? Omelettes?

Message withdrawn

cmot a cooked lunch would be such a good idea. But he really doesn't want to - he has something called hypermobility which makes his muscles weaker; he really struggles to use a knife and fork and he's really anxious about being put in that position at school. I considered pushing the issue and making sure his dinner ladies are aware but based on experience so far, at school, you can tell them to make allowances but they don't.

So while that would be the sensible way round, to have a cooked lunch, it isn't going to happen unfortunately!

pizza
you can make beanburgers and freeze them.
would pasta bake count as 'wet'? much possibility there...
grilled minced meat patties or on a skewer

get a bag of frozen mixed veg.

Northern that's a very, very good point. You have made me realise that I'm bending round him rather alot. He has such a good and varied diet in other ways that I've not minded going with it so far; but you're right, time to re-assess, he is getting older.

I think I'll start with one 'easy for me' prepared ahead meal like casserole per week and go from there.

Good point.

also a good point from you christiana - I am actually NOT a single mum, DH could be doing some of the cooking as well but TBH most days we'll both be in at 6pm so I've been assuming i'll do it because I always have up to now!

This thread is surprisingly lie-changing

life-changing!

Pizza - yes! Already have frozen portions of pizza dough ready so that's a definite.

fishcakes, potato salad, peas and beans.
chicken breast wrapped in pancetta with cubey potatoes (!?) and salad
cous cous with veg (pre raosted and reheated) and chicken
Falafels in flatbread with salad cous cous and yoghurt.

Is he generally happy to eat in public ? If so, then perhaps he could try to eat a school lunch one day a week, and build up from there. I think the school lunches for that age group don't require too much dexterity as many aren't very good at cutting up their food. Maybe getting a grip that goes on the fork would help too ?

A meal plan (much as I loathe them) is a really good way of sharing out the cooking equally as there's no arguing about not knowing what to start cooking.

Lakeland do foil soup freezer bags which are great for stocking up