Mumsnet users share their tips for easy evenings with Sky Store and The Incredibles

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Evenings can sometimes feel like they’re over before they’ve even begun. With this in mind, Sky Store would like to hear your tips for making your evenings easy - so that you still have the time to sit down as a family and enjoy a good movie night in together.

Here’s what Sky Store has to say: “This week we are celebrating the release of the most anticipated animated sequel of all time – Disney/Pixar’s Incredibles 2 in Sky Store, so you can create your perfect movie night in with your family tonight.

With Sky Store evenings are incredibly easy! You can download this family favourite straight to your TV at the touch of a button, so it’s ready to watch as soon as the kids get home.”

What tips do you have for an easy evening? Maybe you meal prep so you spend less time on cooking? Do you have tips for getting your children ready for bed in record time? Have you discovered the secret to making the kids tidy up after themselves? Perhaps you watch new films at home instead of taking a trip to the cinema?

All who post below will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher for the store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

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We sometimes have a power tidy, set the alarm for 20 minutes and everyone has to be busy tidying/cleaning but I don't care what. With all hands on deck we get through lots and means everyone has time to sit down and enjoy the evening.

We try to eat together at the table a couple of nights a week but Fridays are trays and take out and a film. It does us all the world of good.

Slow cooker is a godsend. Everyone puts their dirty washing by the washing machine at night and lays out their pjs after they are dressed in the morning. I try to have dinner ready as soon as they get thru the door and empty and repack bags and PE kits straight after.
Movie afternoons with early nights all round. The kids have kindles and that has made a big improvement to bedtime as they all go up and read

Definitely haven't mastered easy evenings here. Giving the kids a decent snack straight after school has helped, along with then cracking on with making dinner straight away instead of waiting till later. Having one evening a week where we don't have clubs or homework to do and they just watch some TV or play on the computer gives us a good balance too. I will be reading everyone else's tips though!

An easy evening for me, is to precook the day before, give the kids an incentive and plan for them to clear away and wash up, let the dog have a day of rest and pick a great film....

Weeknight teas are always either from the slow cooker, defrosted batch cooked meals, or simply something convenient from the freezer. My sons are home from school by 3pm so the routine is get washed and changed, do any homework they have, a bit of Xbox time, then tea at around 6. We all help to clear up / do dishes. They don't get a bath every single night, usually every other night. This means we're usually ready to sit down by about 7.30 - I wouldn't say we ever have time for a movie night during the week, but we have a couple of hours to watch TV or just chat.

I follow basic daily routines so the house almost takes care of itself and if I want a total chill evening I put something yummy in the slow cooker at breakfast time so it's ready to dish up come tea time.

Slow cooker freezer meals. Prepare several different meals on the weekend before, putting all the ingredients in a ziplock bag, then on the way out the door in the morning, take out a bag, throw the contents in the slow cooker... woohoo... dinner is served when you come home. Then early on night, and relax.

When cooking from scratch, make two dishes and pop one in the freezer for those busy evenings when time is short.

A "Floor picnic" makes sandwich tea more interesting when I can't be bothered cooking.

Slow cooker
Easy food during the week
Shower as soon as home from school

If we have a movie night planned, we we order and collect our takeaway (which is a real treat for the kids), we sit on beanbags in the living room floor, and half way through I pop a bag of microwave popcorn into the microwave and have a bag for the last half of the movie. Job done.

Not letting the 2 year old nap is my best one!
I also sometimes do an early bath before tea - means they are kept occupied, and ready for bed straight after dinner!

Fortunately my DD 6 has tastes for whatever is on my plate, (steamed salmon, tuna, and vegetables usually), so I steam cook the same meal for both of us. But have a few prepared meals (Quorn chilli, curry etc. which can be taken straight out as they don't contain meat). I've not nailed the tidying up yet! She's pretty good at going to bed on time, but we will have a movie night on a weekend with popcorn (I'm a bit of a homebody, so rarely go out...!)

Get into a routine. Doesn't terribly matter what it is, but babies and children love a routine in the evening. It also means that a break from the routine can easily seem like a treat and something special - so a win whatever way you look at it.

Dinner at 6 and then when jobs are done and it's time to chill out I change the lighting from overhead to low level. It signals that it's evening and calm time. Some days it happens earlier than othersix!

For an easy evening we will have something that has been batch cooked and only needs reheating. This then allows us more time as a family to play, read and watch. Then before bed time we have a cuddle on the sofa.

Occasionally we go out for an early dinner and then spend the evening at home watching a film together

slow cooker

Meal prep absolutely essential, we were eating too many takeaways before doing this. I try and get all chores and errands finished before our evening meal, then kitchen tidied and dishwasher is put on soon after we've eaten.

If we're watching a good film I will put my phone/ tablet on the far side of the room, I get sidetracked otherwise and can't resist just checking emails...then before I know it I've missed something crucial to the plot!

I'm a sahm so if I make the dinner when my daughters are at school then I can have a lovely chill evening with them. Apart from it never seems to work out, arg!

My children have competitions on who can get ready for bed the quickest.. Obviously the real winner is me! 😂

Slow cooked meals are perfect on week nights in winter 😍

We love to snuggle up and have movie nights on the weekends. My sons favourites at the moment are Finding Dory and Polar Express 💖

Another slow cooker fan here! All the prep can be done in advance, turn it on in the morning and then a lovely dinner ready when you want in the evening.

Also, clothes for the week are all ironed on Sunday so there's no last minute panics about finding something to wear in the mornings/night before.

Now, if only we had a dishwasher that'd make evenings even easier....!

My tips for an easy evening is to prepare tea, I set my oven to come on around 4 and have chicken nuggets in the freezer, so when you come home the oven is ready, pop in your chicken nugget, frozen chips, and with some dips (ketchup and barbecue sauce are our favourites). I love when we are sitting with our 'film teas' on our laps and watching a blockbuster. Its a treat for them, and stress free for me, then it's a chat about the film 'what did you think of ...................?' etc etc then we are ready for bed - and it's a grown up movie for the adults !

Evenings are quite easy for us. We eat together as a family around 5pm and have the rest of the evening to ourselves or to spend together.

Flexibility! We’ve never had a set routine and bedtime is a window between 7pm-8pm; this means that if things aren’t going to plan, or we’ve got something different to do that evening he doesn’t suffer from us not having stuck to a rigid routine.