How do I get dinner on the table if I only have 30 minutes?
Hi Kristen,
I'm nearing the end of my maternity leave and getting ready to head back to work very soon! I'm worried about getting delicious, well-rounded meals on the table each night. I haven't had trouble with this in the past, but now I will have TWO little ones (3 months and 3 years) vying for my attention when I get home from work.
I usually have the older one watch a tv show while I cook dinner, so I have less than 30 minutes to prep, cook, and get the meal on the table. But if the little one needs to nurse at that exact time, my husband steps in and follows my dinner instructions.
What tips or meal ideas do you have for me? A bit about us: I meal plan every week, shop mostly at Aldi and Costco, and typically cook with whole ingredients (though I'm not afraid of shortcuts).
-Lydia
(note: Lydia sent this question to me at the end of October, so I'm afraid my answer isn't super timely! Sorry about that, Lydia! But I bet she could still use some suggestions, and I'm sure some of you all could as well, so I thought it would still make sense to answer her question.)
Congrats on the new (ish) addition to your family!
Getting dinner on the table in 30 minutes is a pretty big challenge, especially if you're wanting to cook with whole ingredients.
Here are some tips to make the job easier for you (and I'll ask for reader input in the comments too!)
Consider doing a bit of weekend prep.
Give yourself a headstart on weekday dinners by getting part of the work done on the weekend.
Could you chop veggies? Mix up a marinade? Throw a roast into the crockpot for reheating later in the week?
Obviously, you won't want to spend your whole weekend in the kitchen, but investing an hour or two could pay great dividends over the week.
Make sure you have a plan.
I know you said you plan, but a note to everyone else out there: if dinnertime is stressing you out, try making a plan.
If, at the beginning of the week, you know what you're making, you can make sure you have the proper groceries, and you can also remember to thaw things in time to use them.
If you're on a 30-minute deadline for dinner prep, you definitely haven't got any time to look for meal ideas or wait for meat to thaw, so make sure you've got a good plan laid before the week starts.
Make two, freeze one.
I'm not a big freezer-cooking kind of gal, but when I happen to cook something freezer-friendly, I like to make a double batch and freeze half.
Most times, doubling a recipe isn't that much harder, and you buy yourself an almost effortless meal for the future.
Good freezer candidates: Beef au Jus, Pulled Pork (pictured above), Sloppy Joes, Stuffed Shells, Jambalaya
Subscribe to Cook's Country
I recently got a subscription to this magazine from my kids, and I love it! Some of the recipes take more than 30 minutes, but inside each issue, there's a pull-out center section with four 30-minute recipe cards, and I've found some great meal ideas there.
Cook's Country is a part of the America's Test Kitchen empire, so you know the recipes you get from the magazine are going to be tasty and reliable and they're not going to call for a bunch of processed ingredients.
A subscription costs $24.95 for a year and I think it is so, so worth it. Highly recommended.
(You can also try out the Cook's Country website for free here.)
Invest in some speedy/make-ahead cookbooks.
As you all know, I'm a huge fan of America's Test Kitchen, so of course their quick cookbooks are what come to mind first.
A couple of options:
The ATK Quick Family Cookbook
(You can buy a used copy on Amazon for $5 or so! Such a bargain.)
This spiral-bound cookbook is full of recipes that can be done in 45 minutes or less. I know 45 minutes is a little too long for you, but there ARE plenty of 30-minute options available in this book....45 is just the upper limit.
This book would be my number one pick for you, Lydia, and I know lots of my readers have bought it and found it to be super helpful.
ATK's The Make-Ahead Cook
This is a paperback $17 book, and it could be really useful if you decide to explore make-ahead options. There are freezer meals, crock-pot meals, cold meals, and more in this picture-filled book.
The Healthy Slow-Cooker Revolution
While I generally think ATK healthy books are a little bit too fat-phobic, this book does have a lot of fresh, veggie-filled crock pot meals, so it may be worth exploring if you need some new crock-pot ideas. But do feel free to use more than a teaspoon of oil when you bloom your spices. 😉
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Alrighty. I am positive that we have some experienced 30-minute dinner cooks around here. If that's you, could you share your tips in the comments?
Help Lydia (and other rushed cooks) get dinner on the table fast!
(This post contains affiliate links to the ATK products I use and love. Purchases made through these links help keep the lights on around here at no extra cost to you, and I honestly believe that these cooking resources will save you money by helping you cook and eat at home. Good recipes are such a great investment.)
When I went back to teaching, I started cooking doubles on Saturday and Sunday, then using them on Monday and Tuesday. (Cooking triples would allow one batch to be frozen.)Wednesday was a fast day--broiled meat, salad, chicken cutlets, etc. Thursday we took our kids--middle schoolers then--out for something such as Mexican food or pizza, with doggie bag leftovers or eggs, grilled cheese on Friday. When the kids were a bit older, they helped by taking over once a week.
My friend used to work with her neighbor, alternating cooking days.
I have a similar situation at home, so I'll be both contributing and taking notes on everyone else's tips!
What has worked for us (and what hasn't):
-I keep a stash of quick-cooking proteins on hand. Thawing meat is pretty much out of the question, but we keep lots of eggs on hand, as well as shrimp and chickpeas.
-I don't explicitly "do" freezer cooking, but I always keep a stash of "emergency" freezer meals on hand. Soup, chicken enchiladas (from this site!), a homemade-then-frozen pizza.
-My husband has Tuesdays and Thursdays as "his" cooking nights. The meals aren't always edible, but it's too much on one person otherwise, it gives him an appreciation of what goes into getting dinner on the table every night, and our little one gets to see him contributing to the running of the household.
-Slow cooker ingredients, not necessarily whole meals. I'll sometimes do meat for tacos, for example, in the crockpot. Lots of soups and stews too, but I like using the slow cooker for ingredients better, since it feels lighter.
-Breakfast for dinner.
-Giving our toddler a small but substantial snack (hummus and carrots or something equivalent) when we get home buys us a LOT of sanity. I actually got that tip from the French Kids Eat Everything book and it totally works for us.
-Meal planning, oddly enough, hasn't worked for us. I think the longest we've managed is two weeks, and none of us enjoyed it.
-The blog Dinner: A Love Story has a dedicated section on super-quick meals, and we've had some real hits from there. The Shrimp with Feta, the Lentils with Sausage, and the Burrito Bowls are on regular rotation around here.
-Almost any leftovers work as taco fillings. Chop up some tomato, onion and cilantro for a quickie pico de gallo and fry up some tortillas, and you're set. That was actually dinner for us last night, mmm....
Wow! Great tips! Thanks for taking the time to type it out!
I use my slow cooker often for quick meals! I set it before leaving for work and love arriving home with dinner pretty much ready.
I'm also a fan of grilled cheese sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, or salads thrown together with leftovers. Those meals aren't necessarily amazing but in my stage of life ( 2 year old and one on the way) those meals get the job done and of course my toddler really likes those meals.
Oh, and Pinterest has some great one pan meals. A lot of those are 30-45 minutes and often times the longer ones are just needing simmering so you can play with your kids while it finished up.
We eat a lot of pasta and rice-based meals. My rice cooker makes rice in less than 30-minutes, and in that time I can make a bean chilli or a stir fry with veg and tofu or something else along those lines. If you start the water first, pasta works out much the same. While the water is coming to a boil, I can make tomato sauce or a creamy goat cheese sauce or greens and beans.
Recently I've learned to steam more veg in the microwave, which helps make sure we get a fresh veg, even if I don't have time to put another pot of water on to boil. Fresh broccoli, frozen green beans, and frozen peas all work really well.
The summer I had two children under two years old was really hard. Be patient with yourself. It gets better.
Dishes made with mince, pre-cut meat (stir fry or stroganoff strips, cubed beef or lamb) or bite size pieces of seafood (shrimp, marinara mixture, small scallops), and pre-cut or diced vegetables are quick cooking favorites of mine. Stir fries made with different sauces and with Asian-type noodles added or with boiled or steamed rice, curries with veggies and rice, pasta sauces, or other savory protein and vegetable mixture dishes like savoury mince are other possibilities.
Large pieces of meat you can cook all day in a slow cooker like a whole chicken, or a roast size piece of red meat are good too, served with vegetables cooked alongside the meat in the slow cooker or separately, and some rice, noodles or potatoes.
Thin fillets of fish will panfry in under 20 minutes. Serve with vegetables, etc cooked at the same time in the microwave or on another burner of the stove.
I'm a big fan of freezer cooking, just because it saves us from PBJ sammies on Mondays and Tuesdays when I'm at work all day. There are a lot of options for them - check out Pinterest! A no-fail dinner for us is omelettes - two eggs per person and I can usually dig around in the fridge and find leftovers to spruce them up. All it takes is a spoonful of leftover veg or meat, add some cheese, throw some bread in the toaster, mix up some OJ or perk a pot of coffee. My peeps love breakfast for dinner!
If ANYONE sounds like a candidate for freezer cooking to me, it's Lydia! If her husband is home on the weekends to help, then it will work great. If she doesn't have a ton of extra freezer space, then just cooking for the week ahead will still be a huge help. As Kristen said, also use a crockpot. I will share a little idea I used when I had little ones who demanded my attention: I cooked dinner at nap time! Yes, this meant I cooked a whole meal at 1 or 2 in the afternoon, covered and reheated later. Doing this was sometimes the only way I'd ever get a meal cooked. I did this for a whole year at least, until nap times changed. Also, how about leftovers? Kristen touched on cooking more at each meal for freezing, but you can also cook more and refrigerate for the next day, or the day after that, and jazz it up with a different veggie or bread, etc to make it seem a bit different. You can plan for doing this too, for example, a roast in the crock can be French dip sandwiches or roast beef hash next, or a whole chicken in the crock can be chicken soup or chicken salad, etc. Breakfast for dinner is quick and economical, and usually well-received; and it's easy to make a batch of pancakes in advance and store in the freezer with wax paper between each one. Cook up some bacon and cut up fruit, and dinner's ready. Having prep out of the way is so helpful, too, I chop two onions and put in a mason jar every weekend. They will last a long time and it's so nice to pull this out during the week and use it for whatever I'm making.
Thanks so much for the tip on cutting onions all at once. Brilliant. I have a small freezer and I don't have the room to store extra meals. I prefer to buy meat on sale and freeze it for future meals. Sometimes I will make a marinade for my chicken thighs or breast, put the chicken and marinade in a freezer bag and freeze it. Then it can defrost and marinade at the same time. I usually cook one meal on day 1 and we eat leftovers on day 2.
I'll be taking notes, too!
*I poach and shred a bunch of chicken. One night I'll mix some with salsa and black beans for tacos/burritos/taco salad, and another night we'll have it tossed with BBQ sauce with green beans or corn on the cob on the side. There are some delicious curry sauces at Trader Joe's for a different approach with rice.
*Make and freeze spaghetti sauce. I have a crazy-sensitive nose and palate, and I can't generally taste a difference with frozen sauce. Use for: pasta, meatball subs, homemade pizza.
*Snack night! Hard-boiled eggs, edamame, carrots & celery sticks with dip, etc.
*Prep your spice mixes. If I'm making something herb-intensive, I'll measure it all into a custard cup the night before and cover. It's mid-boggling how much time that saves.
*I save fish for the weekend, since it requires such close attention. But if I do the foil or parchment packets the night before, I can pop those in the oven when I get home.
*
I feel your pain, Lydia!
I have two suggestions to add:
1. Always have sandwich ingredients on hand. There are nights when even the best laid plans fall apart and we make sandwiches and chop some veggies on the side. It is so much easier and cheaper than take out. The kids seem to like this option better than something fancy anyway.
2. Make your own cookbook. Whenever I find a recipe that checks all the boxes I print it out and put it in a recipe binder. The recipes are alphabetized. I keep two lists in the front: one alphabetized, another organized by category (pastas, salads, quick prep, etc). New recipes are hand written in, and then I reprint the list with new additions maybe once a year. Also included on the list are meals in cookbooks, with the book and page number. This binder is a lifesaver for me, and included more than a few frugal girl recipes. 😉
When Aldi has the family packs of chicken breasts on sale for $1.49, I will buy 10-15 pounds. Then I will cook it all up at once (usually roast or grill) and then cut into large chunks and freeze. It's easy to thaw and use for any number of dishes. I also do the same with larger cuts of beef and a ham. Cook it all up and then freeze in meal-size portions.
I love having a meal in the slow cooker when I get home from work. Maybe add a salad and we're ready to eat!
My family loves frittatas, which can be made with any kind of meat, veggies, whatever you have on hand. Saute the fresh veggies, add cooked meat of choice, (or just veggies is great too!) and then add the egg mixture...quick and easy.
Those Aldi boneless chicken breasts are the best! My family loves them and they are a good size. I usually buy a few family-size packs at once when they are on sale, then make smaller portions to freeze. My husband and 5-year old eat meat (and sometimes 19 year old is home), but I don't, so breaking into meal-size portions works great for us!
I love my Instant Pot. As a single gal, cooking every day isn't something I look forward to. I can prep for the week faster and more efficiently using this pressure cooker.
The great thing about the Instant Pot is it can replace so many other kitchen gadgets. I did end up buying an extra inner pot so that I can quickly make two things, but other than that, it ends up being cheaper than buying a slow cooker and a pressure cooker and a rice cooker. Or all that and special stuff to steam veggies.
I've used it to make very fast risotto, very fast soups, etc. I have to do some prep ahead of time, but it's hard to beat making risotto in 8 minutes, for example.
Oh, and the 7-in-1 makes yogurt too!
I love the book "Good Cheap Eats Dinner in 30 Minutes or Less: Fresh, Fast, and Flavorful Home-Cooked Meals, with More Than 200 Recipes" by Jessica Fisher! It's less than $13 paperback on Amazon and I plan a meal out of it at least once per week.
Our evening looks similar to yours, I pick up our daughter from daycare, am home right around 5 and my husband doesn't get home until 530. I do whatever I can to keep her occupied and out of the kitchen while I'm cooking - whether it's a movie, her alloted 30 minutes on her tablet, or getting out the Play-Doh, whatever works!
I've also given myself some slack on the time-frame. If I can't get dinner on the table by 530 because our little one wants to play dress up or wants me to color with her, we'll all survive if I wait until 530 when my husband gets home and eat dinner a little after 6. I've given up on living by a strict schedule and we are much happier and I am less stressed because of it!
These are all great suggestions. I also highly recommend the slow cooker and breakfast for dinner. Weeknights tend to be especially hard for us, so we do the best we can. My family has come to realize that weeknight meals have to be simple, and I tend to cook a little fancier on weekends when time isn't such a factor.
Get 10 pounds of ground beef and brown, drain and freeze in meal-size portions (12-16 ounces). Can do ham, chicken, pork or beef in the crock pot and dice for the freezer. And roast a turkey to bone and freeze. Then you have protein on hand for everything from spaghetti to omelettes to casseroles. Two and a half minutes in the microwave turns a chunk of frozen prepared ground beef into something you can actually use.
I'm a terrible planner and I don't do fancy. I tend to invent recipes more than I use recipes. But in a pinch, beefitswhatsfordinner.com is my go-to site.
I don't like cooking and 30 minutes is already too long for me! That said, I cook healthy and no junk/in -box food, so I do have little tricks.
- Cook a big batch of rice on the week-end, it keeps well
- Serve easy stuff from time to time : pita wedges+hummus+carrots (baby ones, already cut and washed, is even faster!), yogourt and fruits. To me, if all the basic is there (good grain, proteins, healthy fat, veggies/fruits) than it's a meal!
- Smoothies for myself and hubby in the morning, that got prepared the night before and refrigerated.
- Doubling a batch of something like spaghetti sauce and freezing for later use
- Crockpot!!!!! Throw in a entire chicken or roast beef (frozen is ok), cook all day, throw on your rice or make potatoes wedge on the side (5 min prep. + cooking) and a tossed salad.
- Breakfast for supper : eggs, toasts, tomatoes and avocado slices, fruits, milk
- Pasta is always easy, with your previously cooked chicken, a bit of pesto, veggies on the side (pre-cut/frozen)
Etc, etc!!! Good luck!
And eggs!! How could I forgot eggs! THIS is my "I have 10 minutes to prep" go-to. Throw in 2 eggs per person in the pan, scramble it to cook and put veggies on the side + wedge of cheese + fruits and there is a complete meal! We eat simply but healthy.
In 2014, this was my life. I even met with a dietician to discuss the new challenges. We now eat breakfast for dinner once a week. Bonus - the whole family actually likes it. We try to mix it up with scrambled eggs, breakfast burritos, huevos rancheros, and egg sandwiches. Avodacos and high quality bacon (which I buy from Costco) make it more satisfying that you might think.
I have 10 month old twins and a three year old. At 4:30 (when I would normally start dinner) everyone seems to be losing their minds! Sometimes I give them a snack in order for me to cook dinner, but usually I am working with two little ones hanging on my legs! If I am organized and don't have much to do I will prep ingredients during nap time. Usually for soup or a stir fry. Tacos and pasta are an easy go to and I have learned that while it's not the preferred method you defrost meat in the microwave. My husband takes his lunch to work and sometimes he comes home not very hungry, those are the days we just have snacks for dinner.
I like half-defrosting meat in the microwave, so that it's starting to defrost but still frozen in spots. Then I leave it in the fridge overnight. This prevents some spots from cooking while the rest is defrosting, and - maybe - decreases how much liquid is lost.
When my kids were young, I used to cook after dinner, for the next day. I know it seems counterintuitive, but the stress of getting dinner on the table when everyone is tired and hungry (including the breastfeeding mama, me!) just led us to yelling and tears too quickly. So, I reheated for 10ish minutes, then after dinner when the kids were bathing (bath was next door to kitchen) or playing, I would do dinner for tomorrow, and after bedtime I would put it in containers for the next day. And so on.
Also, if ever I was up with an awake baby who was just not going to sleep or I got up too early then I would cook dinner then and leave it for the evening.
I was going to say the same thing. All the 30-min ideas here are great (and I've used them all!) but as a single parent working full time with small kids I found it nearly impossible to cope with dinner until I started cooking in the evening. When we all walked in the door at 6pm, we were too hungry and tired for the idea of making dinner.
So I started doing exactly what Carla recommends. Most people make dinner, eat dinner, and then clean up. Instead, we would eat dinner, make dinner for the next night, then clean up. Sometimes just doing all the chopping and prepping was enough -- depending on the meal the sautéing part can often be done in a few minutes -- and sometimes I would actually cook the entire meal the night before (spaghetti, sauce, cut up salad, etc.) so that it could just be heated before eating.
When the kids were little, making dinner for the next night was often our "evening activity". They both learned all the basics of cooking and are now (as older teens) pretty comfortable in the kitchen. When they were older, I could help with homework while cooking for the next night. This method saved my sanity, and provided yummy, homecooked, frugal meals for all of us.
It sounds crazy at first, I know, but it sure worked for us.
Two things that have saved my sanity are prepping the next nights meal the night before and our pressure cooker!
The night before, I decide what we're eating the next night after everyone else is down for the night. I pull the meat out of the freezer, marinade, prep veggies, etc and put it all in the fridge. If I'm using the crock pot, it's all ready to dump in the next morning. Prepping in the morning does NOT work for me.
Look up pressure cooker meals. I have a goat cheese balsamic chicken recipe that goes from raw to perfectly done in 6 minutes in that thing. I LOVE it!!! It has revolutionized my cooking. If you don't have one, get a new electronic one. They're safer and a little more "fool proof"
I second the recommendation for the ATK Quick Family Cookbook (it works even if you don't have a family). Lots of great shortcuts, such as Boursin cheese to flavor and thicken a sauce. The Make-Ahead Cookbook doesn't do it for me - I don't need info on how to shop or cook for several meals at once, and I don't have a crockpot, which means I never touch 40% of that book.
Sautéed protein + fresh veg + fresh fruit = a meal. A thin slice of anything will cook quickly: pork cutlet, thin chops, chicken cutlets. Sausages also cook quickly - even more so if you cut them half long-wise. The fruit and veg can be washed & cut ahead of time. (FYI - prepping ahead likely means it will spoil faster; either eat quickly or be OK with that trade-off for the time being. You won't always have a rushed evening with two toddlers!)
Roasts and thick steaks can be cooked in advance and served cold & sliced.
Eggs are uber quick or - like hard boiled - be cooked in advance. Try Japanese donburi for variety. It's onion and optional other ingredients (veg or meat) simmered in a mix of chicken stock, mirin and soy sauce; add the beaten eggs and cook. Serve over Asian-style rice.
Soups, stews, and casserole can be assembled in advance and frozen, or cooked in advance and frozen. Freeze in thin layers (say, a 9x13 pan rather than an 8x8) so they'll heat/cook faster.
Most meat pies and shepherd's pies are stew with a pie or mashed potato topping, then bake till topping cooked and stew hot. Some people don't like frozen-then-cooked mashed potatoes but I've never had a problem. An interesting variation is taco meat as the stew, and cornbread for the topping.
Spaghetti sauce (either tom or meat), taco meat, sloppy joes can be cooked in bulk, then frozen in single-meal sizes for later use. Or use some taco meat to make enchiladas for the freezer.
Ribs are quick and easy to cook. Sprinkle with salt and bake at 350F till done. Mine take 20-35 min.
Stir fry is quick, but only if you do all the prep - chopping, sauce mixing, marinating - in advance. Maybe the night before after the kids are in bed?
For breakfast for dinner, think of making ahead. French toast, waffles, and pancakes are all time-consuming to make; all can be made ahead of time and reheated in the toaster or toaster/oven. There's a recipe for Overnight French Toast which is assembled in a 9x13 pan and let sit overnight; bake the next day. Same for Breakfast Stratas, layers of meat, veg, optional starch (such as taters), with beaten egg poured over; assemble the night before, bake the next day.
Since it's been a few months, we'd be interested in hearing what's worked for you and what hasn't. Please share.
I realized today that Quick Family and Make Ahead have some of the same recipes. I was trying to figure out which version of Beef Taco Bake was the one I preferred when I finally thought to compare the actual recipes. Exact same except for spice level.
Busted!
When I had two under two and was working, I would make two big meals on the weekend (soup, lasagne, casserole) and then just heat or cook when I got home. At that point, two was enough to cover 4 meals for the week and the other would usually be something easy like sandwiches or breakfast for dinner.
Great ideas. We have a late release school (4:15 we get home at 4:30-4:45) on days when we have an activity dinner and homework have to get done FAST.
1) Make ahead waffle batter. I have a yeast raised waffle recipe I really like. With eggs, sausage or bacon + a fruit it's a quick meal
2)I tend to use whole foods too but I've been doing a short cut lately. My kids like spicy food so this ins't a problem. Aldi sells a Jambala mix that is good and has ok ingredients. We follow the directions but saute half of package of kielbasa (Aldi) before I add the rice and water. 10 minutes before it's done I add shrimp and some green beans. Sometimes I brine the shrimp for flavor or add salt to the water when thawing (seems to work). If you want it a bit less spicy I've added plain rice in with the mix (with more water too). You can add chicken but the sausage and shrimp are faster.
3)The ATK make ahead cook book is good too. The make ahead casseroles might be a good because you just have to throw it in the oven.
I cook and freeze ground beef in Ziploc bags, same with some side dishes. If I buy a bag of potatoes I make mashed & hash browns and freeze them in meal size portions. On weekends I make a large batch of something and freeze usually lasagna, chili, stuffed cabbage and soup.
I am not a fan of meals made in a crockpot but I did purchase a Instant Pot Duo which is an electric pressure cooker. I had a stove top one but it made me nervous to use. The IP is such a huge time saver! You can cook a whole chicken in about 20 minutes depending on size and you don't need to baby sit it.
Also I think planning your meals (which I find hard to do) is another great time saver. I just can't seem to plan beyond 2 or 3 days. My husband is a super picky eater he would eat pancakes all day every day if I let him :0 ) so that in itself makes it more challenging.
Planning is your best friend. I spend a large portion of Sunday afternoon/evening cooking for the week ahead. I cook the main part of the meal and have it in the fridge or freezer for the week. I fill in with steamed vegetables and other quick sides to accompany the main course. It has been a lifesaver for me. Planning is very important in all areas when you are working long hours and have a busy family. Good luck!
I find two things save my sanity. The first is that my kids eat a large snack late afternoon. I think of this like dinner part one, so it has to be healthy. Yes they eat less dinner, but everyone is happier. It's normally cheese and fruit or hummus and veggies, filling, healthy and they can eat it without dirtying tons of dishes. The second is that I don't "set the table". I put silverware out and drinks, but food is dished on to plates at the stove, then everyone sits down and eats, no bowls or platters on the table unless we have company. This just cuts out one more step plus eliminates a bunch of dirty dishes!!
The biggest thing for fast meals for me is to keep stuff in the freezer that is already or at least par cooked. Not just meat, but precaremelized onions, precook end fajita veggies, etc. I've even mashed potatoes and frozen them! Anything that you can save five minutes on, really adds up!!!
Good point, Andrea, it makes less work when there's less dishes to do. Prep in advance helps in this area as well. I have four kids and this is the way we served dinner, too, except for certain occasions. When I was a kid, my mom served every meal "family style" with bowls of food on the table. She had less kids than me and didn't work, but beyond that, it was the norm at that time. When I had fewer kids I did this as well. But as they grew and sometimes came in from activities at different times, it made more sense to do it the other way.
We have three kids and also never serve "family style". Partly because it is just too much on the table, lol, but also because I make enough to accommodate my sons sometimes insane appetites (once in a while we get leftovers, though) so all of that second helping food needs to stay warm in the pot or skillet. Nothing says home cookin' like congealed gravy said no one ever.
Not to mention that it is much quicker to cut up food for the kids at the counter, rather than passing plates at the table.
Funny how we take our way of doing things as the norm... I never ever set the table with food, except for cut veggies or bread sometimes. It's always served at the stove, into plates, and that's it. Even when we have visitors. It was like this growing up too, so for me this is just normal. Curious to know what other families are doing now!
I am a HUGE fan of ATK and all their subsidiaries. I used to subscribe to both CI and Cook's country AND then I'd buy the annual at the end of the year because I liked having the books. The books are actually the 6 magazines from the year nicely bound. I'd sell the mags on ebay and often break even between the two. Now I just wait and get the book, ATK frequently offers 2 for 1 books( ie: 2015 and 2014) and I'll resell 2014 if I already bought it. I just bought Cook's Country 2015 on ebay for 15.00( free shipping). I also watch the TV show and all the recipes they show on both shows are available for free on the ATK website. Soooooo many of my favorite recipes are from ATK. I have made the baked ziti so many times that I don't even look at the recipe anymore. Same with the rosemary focaccia and the grilled chicken fajitas. The marinade for the chicken is amazing.
Also, ATK is the ONLY book I use for the slow cooker. Their methods are revolutionary. The teriyaki pork tenderloin is amazing. My meatballs and marinara( from the original book) is excellent too. The recipes do require more work( such as browning or microwaving first), but the results are far superior to the dump and forget it method.
Browning most definitely makes better crock pot results. I just invested in a Ninja Multi Cooker that I can "stovetop brown" and then switch to slow cook. I was uneasy about veering off from the tried and true Crock Pot brand, but so far, so good.
My best advice is to invest $13 and buy the cookbook, "Desperation Dinners" by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross. I was working full time after having TWIN preemies. My husband and I would both would leave work at 5 pm. My husband would pick up the boys from daycare and I would hurry home to cook dinner and try to have it ready by 5:30 when he got home. (Yes, I had a short commute). This book was my saving grace! All of the recipes are easy to make and are ready to eat in 20 minutes (or less!) with no weird or hard-to-find ingredients and very minimal processed food. My sons just turned 13 on Friday and even though I'm no longer desperate, I still rely on many of these recipes because they are delicious and very family friendly. I especially recommend the Sloppy Janes, page 192, Real-Life Lasagna, page 134, French Peasant Supper, page 68 and the Minute Minestrone, page 4. There are some great meatless meals in there also, but with a husband and two now-teenagers (sniff sniff), we do eat a lot of protein, ha! Good luck to you and I hope this helps you as much as it has me:)
Starting when our kids were little, my husband and I had a system of alternating weeks - one week I would cooking and shop, the next week he would cook and shop - and the one not cooking would do the cleanup. This can give each of you some time to do prep as you are beginning your week. Actually while you are still nursing, why not let him do all the cooking?
Hi All! I was really interested in buying the ATK quick cookbook but read a lot of reviews that says it relies heavily on processed foods. I was just wondering if that's what you found Kristen? Thanks for any input 🙂
Huh, that's interesting. I think there are some recipes that do call for processed foods, but my overwhelming impression of the book, based on use, is that it calls for pretty basic, simple ingredients.
You won't find meals that are made of Velveeta and canned cream soup, for instance.
thanks, that's what I was wondering!
It does use a lot of grated cheese, Boursin, supermarket rotisserie chicken, tube breads & biscuits, and so on.
thanks for the feedback!
Hmm, I guess I haven't noticed that because I've purposely been looking for simpler protein/veggie kinds of dishes. I skipped right over the fast baking parts!
Yes, I agree with the reviews. I found that it had too many processed ingredients that I don't typically have on hand, and if I wanted to cook the recipes I had to do a special shopping just to buy those things. I passed it on.
I purchase a couple rotisserie chickens from Costco. Shred them and stick in freezer bags. I just take out the bag to thaw and add to what ever recipe I am making that night. Cuts down on quite a bit of time. I also agree meal planning in essential to getting dinner on the table in under 30.
Talk about a lightbulb moment. I love Costco rotisserie chicken. For some reason never thought of buying an extra one to shred and freeze. Costco is 50 min away from us so we make only one trip a month out that way.Thanks for the brilliant idea!
I agree with weekend prep. Anything to make grabbing take out more avoidable.
I don't have a large amount of freezer space (for a family of 6), so sometimes instead of freezing an entire casserole, I will make a bunch of ground turkey (we're not beef fans), make several batches of taco meat (which can later be used for tacos (obviously) as well as taco soup, quesadillas, burritos, anything that would work), spaghetti meat (use for the obvious pasta dishes as well as lasagna soup etc...).
For super fast, not quite planned as much as you would have liked:
Grilled cheese and soup (make and freeze healthy soups in smaller portions than an entire recipe, and it thaws faster)
Baked potatoes (made in the crock pot) and toppings. (we are LOVING Aldi's steamable broccoli for quick healthy side)
Pita melts (stuff lunch meat, cheese and veggies, wrap in foil and heat in oven while prepping an easy fruit salad)
Pita pizzas
I just discovered making baked potatoes in the crockpot and I love it--add some sort of protein and veggie and you're good to go. I have successfully served it to company, too!
I like to roast a chicken in the crockpot--4 or 5 pound chicken on high for 5 hours does the job and gives us enough leftovers for our family of 4 that I can use the extra in some sort of quick dinner another time--soup, quesadillas, etc. Prep is 10 minutes, max--the biggest time investment is cleaning the carcass. This might be a good weekend meal with the leftovers available for later.
My advice? I am a "sometimes" planner. I find it helpful to keep foods on hand such as rice, potatoes, buns, taco shells, etc. I can throw together a lot of nutritious meals in a small amount of time with them in my pantry.
I agree with Kathy, below--it's more important that you eat together as a family than stressing over the food itself. I try to use whole foods, but sometimes my sanity is worth "cheating" with an occasional processed food.
Oh, the other thing we do, which is helpful and good for the budget--we purchase an additional turkey and ham at holiday time. We cook them and freeze the leftovers in meal-size portions. They are great additions to soups/stews/casseroles and if I'm desperate, we just re-heat the ham for an easy dinner.
I went back to work with a three year old and five month old, and a diabetic husband who worked 12 hour days, five days a week. It was a challenge, and I prepped what I could ahead, but my main focus was making the simplest healthy meals I could. I grew up in a home where we had a meat, three veggies, a starch, and possibly a fruit dish at nearly every evening meal, and I quickly found out that my stay-at-home mom's method just would not work for me. A quick meat, which was often leftovers from a roast or hen cooked in a crock pot a day or so before, a couple of veggies, and that would have to do us. I fed the kids first, because my husband might not get in until 8 p.m, and kept food warm for him. He also hated -- still does -- eating breakfast for supper, so that was never an option for us. With children that young, I think Lydia needs to keep it as simple as she can. Soup, leftovers, crock-pot, one-dish meals, freezer meals, and so on. The full-on, fantastic dinners can come when the kids are older.
I use 30 minute recipes even now on work days. I use Rachael Ray's, among others, and have developed a number of my own.
This article reminded me that I need to start pre cutting peppers and onions for breakfast. Thank you for the tips.
All great tips and advice. The only thing I would add is this...my youngest went off to college this year leaving us with the proverbial empty nest. Looking back, I stressed far too much about meals. My advice is to use these helpful tips BUT also keep in mind that gathering the family for dinner - any dinner - is far more important than what that dinner is or is not. Keep it simple. When you're stressed, the family is stressed. Enjoy whatever it is you can get to the table. Don't beat yourself up - even when it's the third night of grilled cheese and soup! If you're all together, your dinner is perfect.
This was the best, sweetest advice for a new mom! I agree!!
I totally agree. I have very fond memories of the time spent at grandma, yet she never cooked. And I really mean "never"! It was eighter peanut butter toast or canned beans. You wanted something else? Order in. As long as it's healthy (no canned beans, haha), easy to make, that's all that matters to me. No avoidable stress!
I make what I call "dump meats" in my crock pot. These are combinations of things I can dump in my crockpot then ignore. Chicken, sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts. Pork roast, pineapple, ginger. Chicken, tomatoes w garlic, black olives, mushrooms. Pork roast, sliced apples, cinnamon. Baby back ribs, BBQ sauce. Turkey breast, cranberries, maple syrup. I find that many recipes can be reduced to their main ingredients and dumped into the crockpot. While the crockpot portion of the meal is resting, I can microbake potatoes/sweet potatoes and steam/saute' veggies or throw together a salad and dinner is served.
I'm kinda late reading this and everyone has really awesome ideas. I get home late and have to fix things in 30 minutes or less pretty often. I try to spend a little extra on the weekend and cook a large amount of a good quality lean ground beef or turkey then freeze it in meal size portions. Then all you have to do is add sauce and pasta for spaghetti, or taco seasoning with cheese or lettucefor tacos, etc. I also often freeze hamburger meat in patties in meal sized portions. You can use these for hamburgers or hamburger steak. Cook a large pork roast in the crockpot then add BBQ sauce and separate into meal sized portions for easy pulled pork sandwiches, BBQ nachos, or to even top a salad. if you make a lasagne, it's just as easy to make two and freeze one, like Kristen said. Same thing with soups, stews, or chili. You can always add a quick simple side salad or vegetables with dip to any of these things to round it out. You can always buy precut presaged veggies, like carrots, that will last awhile in the fridge to help you out in a pinch. I guess my best advice is to prepare a few things like meats that take longer to cook and plan ahead each week and things will go much smoother. Also just know that some days will be a flop no matter what you do and simple sandwiches or cereal will work just fine.
There are tons of tricks out there. The important thing is to pick one out and use it! I get by in a pinch with rotisserie chicken, frozen leftovers, smoothies, salads, and roasted one dish meals.
For thirty minute family meals I love Jessica Fisher (Life as Mom and Good Cheap Eats) thirty minut meals cook book. She has pairs of dishes and tells you the order to make everything in to get it done in time. All pretty scratch cooking. Crustless potato leak quiche has become one of our favourites, even for my pickiest eaters.
I deliberately keep cheeses, pickles etc in the fridge so that on busy days we have an antipasti type dinner. I did try Jamie Oliver's Thirty Minute Meals etc. Some are great ideas. However, I do not have great knife skills etc and find it takes me longer than his time framing. When my children were little we had lots of shift workers etc so once every few weeks my mother and I made bulk meals and packed them like airline foods. This worked well at this stage as both my husband, father and I had peculiar hours and we needed meals for those at home too.
My baby is now a chef and he spends Thursday and Friday prepping and portioning everything for the weekend ahead. He will make up to 400 individual serves of vegetables and so on. This is how the busy restaurant where he now works deals with the huge number of meals that are dished out non stop.
I second Desperation Dinners. It was a lifesaver when my kids were small. I also like their Cheap. Fast. Good., which is also quick recipes, but focused on saving money. I'm not a big freezer meal person, but it's helped me to always make extra meatballs and often cooked taco meat in the freezer, then tacos and spaghetti are quick to put together for crazy days.
I second what some people said about keeping it simple. Sometimes the simple food tastes the best, and it is much less stress--at least to me!
My family loves a simple spinach salad with goat cheese, toasted almonds, and olive oil dressing. They love grilled pork chops with hoisin sauce, which are fast or turkey burgers, which are fast as well. We do shake and bake chicken about once a week, which with the bone in, takes 45 minutes to cook but almost no time to prep.
We have about 2-3 weeks of fast, mostly healthy, easy to prepare meals that we rotate. This also makes it easier to shop and to have a set stock of things on hand. When I have a break off of work, I'll look for new meals to bring into the rotation.
We also do not eat a lot of carbs, so that cuts down on the prep as well.
Target has a lot of premade things, as does Trader Joes, that you can just put in the oven. While they may be somewhat more expensive, it is cheaper than going out to eat or healthier than fast food.
I jus started on a no grains no sugar diet and, contrary to you, I find that cooking rice or pasta is such a time saver I have to be more creative now...
I am an empty nester and never know exactly when I'll get off work. I may get home at 5:30, 6:30 or (rarely) 7. My husband can't eat real late or he doesn't sleep well. He is self employed and works long hours so he can't help much in the kitchen. What works for us is cooking lots on the weekend. We eat leftovers Monday and Tuesday. I try to make enough to freeze extra for later as well. Wednesday is an eat on the run day as we usually go straight to church after work. Thurs and Fri are freezer meals nights. This method of cooking usually gets supper on the table in 10 minutes or less and a big bonus is pots and pans are used and cleaned on the weekends so kitchen cleanup is much easier on weeknights.
I will add that I am not a quick 30 minute cook. I am more apt to cook simple but tasty main dishes that go together easily and simmer or bake while I accomplish other things. I do keep Aldi's frozen battered fish fillets and their round chicken breast patties on hand for when plans fall through. Decent food and for a good price.
We like Aldi's frozen battered fish fillets too! They definitely work for a quick meal some days!
i have found success with prepping the next day's dinner each evening. So prep Monday dinner on Sunday evening: cook chicken, chop veggies, etc. Then the dinner comes together really quickly Monday evening. After you eat and while you are cleaning up, prep anything that you can for Tuesday's dinner. If you keep repeating the cycle, you are doing the prep when things are a little calmer instead of when everyone is starving.
I haven't seen it mentioned, but shortly after my little one was born, I started menu planning and shopping for a whole month rather than just a week. I take about an hour once a month, print out a calendar and input our dinners for every night of the month, and lunches on weekends. I use that menu to write out every ingredient needed to create those meals, plus I add other things we'll need throughout the month, such as snacks, or hygiene items. Then I pick a day and do a monster shopping trip to Aldi and then Weis. The night before my trip I do a quick inventory and cross off things we already have on hand.
This saves so much time. I don't have to think about what we're eating for a whole month at a time, and shopping only one day a month is so much nicer than carving out time each week to do it.
There is a little bit of thought that has to go into it (bananas and berries are eaten early in the month, apples can last til later in the month), and the freezer gets used a lot, but I find it very worth it.
Throughout the week, the crock pot is my friend. I do a lot of veggie chopping on the weekends, and like someone else said, I end up doing a lot of dinner prep the night before, either while hubby is giving baths, or after bedtime.
Works for us!
I'm not in this boat, but it seems like a lot of women are taking on the dinner load all by themselves. Why not ask your partner to be a partner? Frankly, everyone needs to know how to cook some basic meals, even men, and they certainly should be able to throw a pan of food in the oven. I of course realize everyone's situation is different, but maybe having your husband pull his 50% of the housework would be beneficial - whether its putting something in the crockpot in the morning or chopping up veggies on Sunday.
I always try to have an emergency meal in the freezer (enchiladas, soup & bread). If you want some meal prep inspiration check out shutterbean.com.
Or it could be helpful to have the other partner take on some other household chore/kid bedtime/errand running etc. to free up time for one person to cook. A split doesn't necessarily mean each task is split 50/50, but more that both partners are pitching in somehow.
Also late entry here. Frozen fish fillets from Sam's or other box store are good price and individual portioned, and cook quickly. I use my rice cooker to its full capacity, then portion and vacuum-seal according to number of people I'm feeding. Usually just 2 servings.
Tip from a friend: she buys 2 rotisserie chickens at same time (again with the box store). Cools 1 whole one and freezes as is. When needed, pops it into crockpot whole, and frozen, and cooks on low all day. Thaws and warms it, house smells good! I buy one every time I'm there.
After eating on the one I buy, I pick all the meat off, bag it and use it, or portion and vac seal. I start a bag for the bones, minus the skin, then make crockpot stock once I have three sets of bones in same bag (easy to dump in, add small quantity of carrots/celery/onion/peppercorns in a tea ball) + plus water and 8-10 hours. Works great for overnight cook; I cool, strain, refrigerate, skim fat, and portion into 2 c. quantities to freeze in "bricks" (loaf pans) for quick soups or sauces (once frozen, I pop them out and vac seal). Cooks Country also has some great stock recipes--crockpot or pressure cooker. Happiness for me is a freezer shelf of chicken, beef, and veggie stock, with little or no sodium.
I love the idea of making a binder of recipes that work for you. I seem to find something we like, make it a lot, then forget it!
Anyway, the breakfast for dinner option and sandwiches for dinner are great things to have in rotation.
Here are a few easy dinners that satisfy my family:
Salmon drizzled with a little olive oil and seasoning (like Mrs. Dash or chili powder mixed with a little brown sugar) then baked. It bakes very quickly. Can serve with easy veggie side like steam-in-bag broccoli.
Chicken breasts topped with ready-made pesto, sliced tomatoes, shredded mozzarella & baked. Check Facebook for a quick video of this recipe.
Combine chicken breasts, drained canned beans (low sodium), corn, and salsa in crockpot in the morning. In the evening shred the chicken and serve with rice or as taco filling with shredded cheese.
Crock pot chili: Combine crumbled raw ground beef, drained cans of low sodium beans, corn, tomatoes, diced onion and peppers if you have time, and low sodium taco seasoning in crock pot. Will be ready in the evening and can even be prepared the night before and stored in the fridge for a quick dump into the crock pot the next morning before work.
Of course weekends could be used to soak and cook beans in advance, but reduced sodium canned beans are really nice when you're short on time and energy. On a similar note, I have to forgive myself sometimes and whip up instant mashed potatoes. Time with family on busy days AND weekends is valuable!