Any tips for managing to put a reasonable dinner on the table if you both work?

[bumbleweed]

I go back to work part-time next week and can't get my head round how I will be able to get a dinner on the table in time for us to eat before dd's bathtime at 6pm.

I already struggle to cook whilst looking after dd (12m) because she gets so tired and fussy late afternoon. But I want us to be able to sit down and eat as a family as I think it provides a good example to dd for eating healthy food and social skills and is proper family time.

How do you all do it?

We don't, simply couldn't manage to eat together before 6. I wouldn't worry too much about eating together on work days whilst the baby is so young. Eating toegther when you can = good enough for now. Cut yourself some slack and don't throw more stress into the mix. You can sort these things out when a) she's a bit older and b) your're bit more used to being back at work with a child.

Try quick to prepare foods: Stir-frys, pasta, spag bol. or something that you can make 2 of and freeze one, I do this with lasagne, shep pie, chicken pie etc.

A colleague of mine always prepared the next nights food the day before (everything!) then it all gets put in the oven as soon as they return from work by the time they are chilled out, opened the post etc its ready.

We don't make it for 6pm because of commutes and timetables.
We do manage 6.20 - 6.30pm most nights though and as others have said, it is a combination of defrosted previously made dishes like stews/lasagnes, grilled meat/fish with steamed veg, or pasta made with a quickish sauce like sauted leeks and bacon.
It's HARD though bumbleweed and I'd be inclined, as Tinker suggests, to get used to your new new routine first and then phase in your plans to eat together.
IMO it is worth all the pan-clashing angst though - as we both WOTH we love to eat with the dcs at the end of the day. We do also love Fridays when we have diner a deux as well

buy yourself a slow cooker so that you can put all your meat and veg in together ,set it on low then when you come home will be all ready for you to eat ( make sure enough liquid in ) then if you want,when you come home, make some dumplings or something and put them in with the rest ,they take about 20 mins but turn cooker uo for that.

What time will you and your partner get back from work? My 17-month old would go into meltdown if we delayed her 6 o'clock bath, just couldn't last that long.

I used to have to do this too...
Once you figure out the starch, you're halfway there! I would set timers on either the rice cooker or the cooker (for jacket potatoes.) If that's done when you get in, all that's left is relatively quick veg and meat. I had a slow cooker as well but didn't use it that much. Toasted sandwiches for dinner once a week won't hurt either!

Same as everyone else - lots of frozen meals, make twice as much when you do have time to cook and freeze half, have some ready made stuff like pasta sauces in the cupboard for nights when you can't be bothered.
We don't manage to eat as a family every night as I think not worth keeping DD up late to do so, but try to make a point of eating together at weekends.
AND (BAD MUMMY ALERT) I find CBeebies extremely useful for that tired grumpy just got home from nursery toddler to chill out in front of while I make the tea...

I second Tinker and Marina.
I work full-time with a 2 and a half year old and an 8 month old.
Familty time and eating together is really important to us but we can only do what we can. We only get in by 6. The children have half an hour to chill and catch up when we get home, we drink tea and milk.
Then I put the kiddies in the bath and dh starts dinner. That really is the best we can do during the week.
We always eat together at the weekend.

What are your partner's plans for when it's his turn?

I sometimes just make 3 dinners altogether. The other night I did an Irish Stew and a spag bol whilst making the meat and two veg for that night. Ate the spag bol the next day and the stew the day after as it's nicer when reheated and the potato starch has thickened the gravy.

Otherwise, we eat quite a few "steam cuisine" type things from M&S and "cook in two mins" type pasta thingys.

if you can swing it and have the facilities I'm a big fan of everyone having a proper cooked lunch at work/nursery, meaning an easy 'high tea' of the toasted sandwiches / soup / scrambled egggs variety in the evening...

An alternative is to sit with her while she eats her dinner and you have olives / breadsticks / etc as a 'starter'.

Make a big beef casserole one evening to last for the next two nights - brown casserole beef (already chopped by butcher), add beef stock, big chunky carrots (hardly any chopping) an onion cut in two (no chopping - it will soften and you can either stir in or take out at end), and a bit of white pepper. Can add swede if you want but that's more faff. Simmer for 2 hours. Add a bit of bisto and cornflour paste and bring to boil to make gravy. Dead easy to heat up the next night and taste's even better when you do. Serve with those spuds you boil in the skins - no peeling or chopping - what more could you ask!

Another favorite of mine is pasta with Loyd Grossman's basil and tomato sauce - add some tuna or grate on some cheese for protein. Lovely!

I love food that lets you spend more time with your kids!

Judicious use of pasta sauces with your own fresh stuff added is a boon I agree
Mine scarfed down sauted mushrooms with a sack of spinach wilted into a New Covent Garden sauce last night on pasta. It took me 20 mins all told. Wish that bathtime were so easy

I agree with all the comments made, which all help, but sometimes you are just too tired.

Depending on what children have at nursery/childminders before they come home, they might not need a full meal. You can just have cheese on toast or some other snack/supper all together before having a "proper" meal with DH later.

I find a good healthy standby dinner is to wrap (frozen) salmon steaks in tin foil the oven, with boiled new potatoes, carrots and frozen peas.

Buy a pressure cooker

You can cook a good stew in 20 mins

I notice you are going to work part time. I work 3 days. What I do is make sure I cook double 3 of the 4 days I am not working and freeze. Then there is one other day at the weekend when I either cook something that will not freeze/reheat or we go out visiting or have take away. Occasionally I make triple. You do need to be very organised though to do this.

I'm on maternity leave at the moment but I went back to work 2 days a week when DS was 6 months old. On work days I would always do something quick but healthy, normally a stir fry or spag bog which take about 20 minutes. I normally had dinne on the table for about 6.30pm and I was finishing work at 5.30pm.

I've got another that is dead easy to do and diet food at that! Get a chicken breast for each person. Crumble up some stilton or cheddar and mix into about a tablespoon of mayonnaise each. Make a slit in chicken breasts and spoon the mayo mix inside. Do up with a kebab skewer (you can wrap in bacon/parma ham if you like but I don't bother). You can then put in covered oven tray in fridge ready for next night's tea. Pre-heat oven to 190C/gas 5. Brush chicken with olive oil and season and bake for 25 mins. I always slice up before serving to make sure it's cooked through. Deelish!

I agree with Sallystrawberry, i returned to work parttime and ended up giving my dd something rubbish for dinner really quickly whilst we ran around feeding the dogs/unpacking our workbags/running her bath etc and we felt she was being dumped on her own with not so nutritious food (in fact basic junk food) so we now cook a few massive meals in bulk ie spag bol, chillis, casseroles, curies etc and freeze them in tuperwares and store them in the deep freeze and its a simple case of boiling some pasta or rice quickly whilst she plays for 10 minutes and we can all sit down and eat which is so nice again. YOu can get whatever you fancy out the night before and let it defrost in the fridge and if you cook a few on one sunday then it can last a good month depending on how many dishes you make and its nice at weekends when i have more time to have something completely different but it works for us!

we eat together at 6.30 on my non-working days but ds eats on his own at 6pm on childminder days and we eat later.

motherinferior - i do all the cooking and for his contribution dp has done every single bedtime (inc weekends) since I went back to work. this takes 1.5hours so is no shirk either.

Good to hear! My DH does every single part of the bed/bath routine and has done since the birth over two years ago - can't really moan about boiling some pasta on a work day now can i?!

We both don't get home till at earliest 6 p.m. - so we don't eat till 7p.m.! Kids (now 4 and 6) are used to it. They veg in front of teh TV while I prepare meals. A slow cooker is VERY sueful - I can spend 30 mins before work browning meat etc for a stew - and then it's all ready when we get in. I ALWAYS make enough for 2 nights. An electric steamer for veg is good as once you've prepared the veg you can forget about it until they are cooked (so when they're cooking I play with the kids). I also use a breadmaker so I can come home to a stew and fresh bread! By the way - I use one of these plug in timers for my slow cooker as it doesn't have an integral one. Just set it to switch off once I reckon the meal is cooked.

i work f/t and don't get in till 7.00pm earliest - so we don't eat together on weekday evenings. breakfast and w/e lunches are family meals.