Help me get dinner on the table

amother

Thu, Feb 25 2021, 11:53 am

metacognizant wrote:

Everyone has a different system, but here's mine. For reference my husband and I both work full time and we have a 1 year old and a special needs 4 year old.

I use a Recipe App called Paprika ($5 one time purchase price iPhone app, they also have a desktop version) where I can store recipes. Paprika also creates meal plans, scales recipes, and create grocery lists. Every Sunday morning I plan what I'm going to cook that week. Once my meal plan and grocery list are done I put in that week's grocery order, including meat for Shabbos. Along with ingredients for my planned meals, my grocery order also includes a frozen pizza, frozen fish sticks, etc -- things I can pull out with no cooking when we run out of leftovers.

My plan is to cook ONLY TWICE a week and to never cook when my kids are hungry. I cook on Monday nights and Thursday nights after my kids go to bed. Each time I cook enough for 3 days, and the meals are nice and abundant enough that leftovers are always appetizing. When the grocery order comes in, I put the meat for Shabbos in the freezer. I put it back in the fridge on Wednesday to thaw. On Monday night I cook a milchik meal, on Thursday night a fleshik meal.

The only thing I don't buy on Sunday is challah, grape juice, and dessert for Shabbos. My husband picks those up on Friday afternoon. On Friday I come home an hour before zman and warm up the food/do last minute shabbos prep.

TL:DR I don't think winging it with babies/toddlers works, unless you have big kids/other adults in the house at the same time who can take care of AND FEED the babies/toddlers while you cook.

Can you post a weekly menu, I like your style.

tweety1

Thu, Feb 25 2021, 11:58 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

All these suggestions sound really good. I don’t know why making dinner is such a block for me. I need to get more organized and make a plan. I like to wing it but it’s not working.

I'm a sahm. I have a very big issue with dinner too. I manage to have dinner ready by 4-430 but it's a daily struggle. I don't have an issue with cleaning, laundry, for those I have a very good system so called, but dinner is tough. I try to prepare alot in the morning. Between busses. Exp, peeling potatoes, peeling vegetables, etc. I also make sure to have at least one food that takes under 30 seconds to prepare exp roasted broccoli, baked potato, cubes melons, cut up grapefruit.

metacognizant

Thu, Feb 25 2021, 11:59 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Can you post a weekly menu, I like your style.

Last week on Monday night I cooked a dish of red lentils and rice with a topping of fried onions and haloumi cheese. On Thursday night I cooked chicken soup and kreplach, chicken paprikash, rice, and a side dish of mushrooms.

flowerpower

Thu, Feb 25 2021, 1:24 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

All these suggestions sound really good. I don’t know why making dinner is such a block for me. I need to get more organized and make a plan. I like to wing it but it’s not working.

I prepare dinner at 2 pm so when my kids come home starved it’s ready for them. Nothing gets dried out. I put lids on the pots

ra_mom

Thu, Feb 25 2021, 2:17 pm

anonymrs wrote:

I love this method! Can you give some examples of menus that work well for this?

Seasoned chicken legs. Separate pan of whole scrubbed and pricked potatoes. Cut while steaming hot and serve with garlic olive oil margarine.

Stuffed peppers. Separate pan of white rice with seasonings and water.

Lasagna, layered, frozen and ready to bake.

Whole chicken (stuffed with garlic and lemon). Separate pan of short grain brown rice.

Frozen raw meatloaf log. Cubed sweet potatoes on a cookie sheet with meatloaf in the middle.,

Minute steak. Separate sheet pan of washed and pricked red potatoes, for crispy cracked potatoes. (When you get home, smash down the hot baked potatoes with a metal spatula, brush tops with oil, salt and pepper and roast at higher heat.

Basically proteins seasoned and frozen. Sides thrown into pan in the morning. You can cube sweet potatoes night before or in the morning. But don't cut potatoes to sit, or they will turn brown (use whole ones).

tichellady

Thu, Feb 25 2021, 4:00 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Can you give examples of dinners you make?

Not this poster but I also do the same. I might not assemble something until right before if it will get Mushy ( like fish tacos) But I will try to have everything ready to go so I just need a few minutes of prep time. Recent examples are spaghetti meatballs with roasted zucchini, salmon rice and bok choy, spinach quiche and sweet potatoes, tofu stir fry and brown rice, lentil chili and cornbread. I will also cut salad earlier in the day but just not mix everything together until dinner

anonymrs

Thu, Feb 25 2021, 4:11 pm

ra_mom wrote:

Thanx! This is right up my alley. I love it! Any vegetable sides, green beans, butternut squash, broccoli, that could work this way? Dh is on scd diet.

amother

Thu, Feb 25 2021, 4:31 pm

tichellady wrote:

Those sound delicious. Do your kids really eat all that though?

ra_mom

Thu, Feb 25 2021, 5:05 pm

anonymrs wrote:

Thanx! This is right up my alley. I love it! Any vegetable sides, green beans, butternut squash, broccoli, that could work this way? Dh is on scd diet.

I usually throw together the vegetables once I come home.

Bag of frozen broccoli spread on a cookie sheet, sprayed with avocado oil and sprinkled with coarse salt. 425 for 25 min.

Pour olive oil in a bag with 1 tsp salt, 2 small squirts honey, 1/2 tsp each paprika and turmeric, 1/4 tsp each onion and garlic powder (or 1 clove crushed garlic). Add frozen cauliflower, close and shake until evenly coated. Roast at 450 for 30 minutes.

Cut butternut squash into fry shapes (or buy ready cut). Toss on cookie sheet with olive oil and salt. Roast uncovered for 35-40 minutes.

Wash and slice zucchini. Toss with olive oil, crushed garlic, salt and pepper. Spread in one layer on cookie sheet and roast at 400 for 18 minutes.

Trim and rinse green beans (or buy trimmed). Toss with olive oil. Spread in one layer on cookie sheet and roast at 400 for 8 minutes. Toss with crushed garlic and kosher salt.

Greek salad with lagagna.

I usually throw a salad together with a bag of ready lettuce 3 times a week.

tichellady

Thu, Feb 25 2021, 5:11 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Those sound delicious. Do your kids really eat all that though?

I don’t cook for kids. It’s not my approach. I try to have something in the meal each person likes. Kids will find something to eat in what I’m serving and we usually have fruit with dinner too which sometimes is what the kids eat.