Hellobee Boards

I don't cook everyday, mostly because DH has a crazy schedule and is only home one night a week (and we still cook dinner together). My son is 2 1/2 and eats a ton of fresh foods that don't really need to be cooked so I end up eating a bowl of granola or a sandwich on a normal night.

Yes, otherwise we wouldn't eat! Cooking is very important to me and I find the time to do it. We don't have a lot of options for takeout/delivery and my husband doesn't like to use a lot of prepared meals. The most he will be okay with is a frozen pizza.

Anywho, some tips that I have to make it easier:

-plan ahead and do menus for the week. there are tons of resources for this, but what I find works best is just making a list of things that you like to eat and prepare. add more complicated things later.
-do your grocery shopping alone and early in the morning. when you come home, go straight to the kitchen and start your prepping. I find it a lot easier to just chop up a bunch of carrots once rather than drag out the cutting board 5 times.
-do a sunday roast that you can use for leftovers, like a whole chicken on sunday, chicken tacos on monday, chicken noodle soup on wednesday
-your oven is your best friend. use it to roast veggies and potatoes, cook meats and beans, etc. I find this uses less pots and pans, especially if I cook the potatoes in the same pan as the chicken.
-if you need a recipe, either find something more simple to prepare so you don't need it or transfer your most used recipes to single sheets of paper and put them all in a ring binder. Attach a clothespin to one of your upper cabinet knobs and attach the paper there. Much easier than making space for a big cookbook and having to touch it with dirty hands.

HTH!

Not daily but a few times a week and then we do leftovers in between. I also cook big portions and freeze half so I have something to defrost, too. I want the whole family to eat well so I think the only way to do this is to cook. We eat very healthy and I don't like to eat out very much anymore as I find everything so salty and fatty in comparison.

@Bee, I think once charlie is a little older and olive too, Say 3-5 then I think you'll be able to plan your meals accordingly.

I don't necessarily cook everyday and Mavi can be a picky eater too (he won't eat the same thing 2 days in a row) but I try and get alot of meals done on the weekends. Like casseroles etc. That way, I can either freeze them or pop them in the oven when I get home from work.

I cook 3-4x/week, but we don't have any kids yet. I can only imagine what that number will dwindle down to once the baby is here!

I cook 2x/week, usually on weekends and when I do, it's a big production... so I have to decide between family time or cooking.

I was just working on a post on this for my blog. I took a workshop with Purple Kale Kitchenworks (based in Brooklyn) and it just opened my eyes to a new way of cooking. The class was specific for parents with the same motivations-- love to cook, don't have the time or energy. You should consider it, Bee! There was a great feature in last month's Whole Living which really pares down the PK concepts of cooking without recipes which allows you to be more free form and cook more often, especially with kids! I loved the class. There's one coming up in December in Park Slope!

http://www.2minutestodinner.com/2011/10/08/parents-at-the-stove/

I do all of my grocery shopping and meal planning over the weekend, and on Sunday I do all the prep work for a full week's worth of meals. I put a few meals in the freezer and a few in the fridge. This has completely changed the way we eat, shop, and save money. I have a feeling it will be a godsend once we have children.

For the most part, we're eating a home cooked meal every night, bit that may mean leftovers. But, we don't have a baby yet! Luckily pre-pregnancy I was working full-time and now I'm a stay at home wife/mom in training, lol. I do plan on taking advantage of not working during my pregnancy to cook and freeze a bunch of meals for right after the baby arrives.

I want family dinner to be an important part of my kids' lives, especially when DH isn't deployed!

I would recommend finding some crockpot recipes if you feel like you're strapped for time! Just throw some meat and veggie in the crockpot, do whatever you have to do all day, and you have a great homecooked meal that evening! And it makes your house smell good all day!

The crockpot is an excellent suggestion. This week I made a big taco soup and it was available all week long for quick dinners and/or lunches. Then I only had to cook an extra meal once or twice for lunch/dinner if we weren't in the mood for taco soup.

I've also made chicken tikka massala this way and it was a delicious week indeed.

Yes, the crockpot! I gave mine away when I moved, but I plan to get another one eventually. I hardly used it, but that's because I was single at the time.

I don't cook every day because it's just the two of us and we have a lot of leftovers. I really enjoy cooking though and feel like it's my way of contributing to the household since my husband makes significantly more money than I do and works way more hours. I'd say I average around 3 to 4 times a week. I also grew up in a home where my mom cooked 6 days a week though so I think that has really influenced my opinions on cooking.

To make things easier I use my crockpot a lot or make something the night before and pop it in the fridge and bake it the next day.

I cook every night of the week. Our go to is broiled/grilled protein (fish, chicken, pork, steak) steamed veggies and a carb (rice, pasta, potato). I do a lot of crock pot recipes (chili, stew, shredded chicken/pork) Sometimes we do sandwiches - burgers, sloppy joes, grilled cheese & soup. Both hubs and I eat breakfast & lunch at work - So we do cereal or oatmeal at our desks, I cook a big pot of veggie/chicken soup and divide it up for our lunches and pre-plan our weekly menu before going to the grocery. I've gotten to the point where i can get dinner on the table in 30-40 minutes. And if hubs gets home first he'll call and I give him the prep steps to do.

I love to cook and since I work from home, it is easy for me to make dinner nearly every night of the week - I cook and my husband cleans! He takes me out once or twice a week - usually on the weekend.

I try, but I'm not always successful because life just gets in the way sometimes. When I do cook, I make sure to at least have plenty for leftovers!

Take a break, Mrs.Bee! Pumping and nursing is hard work, yah?
We had to simplify recently b/c we are overwhelmed trying to be superparents. Before, we used to both cook twice a week.
Thurs- while at Farmer's Market we eat there
Fri- on our own (opposite schedules)
Sat/Sun- I cook something BIG once so we can have leftovers
Mon-Eat Out
Tues-something really simple
Wed- Husband cooks (date night so he's trying to butter me up)
I swore I would never do paper plates...but we do since it's less dishes.

I love to cook. I menu plan and grocery shop once a week because I waste less fresh food that way. On the days that my husband works I have a meal ready when he gets home or before he leaves depending on what shift he is on. On the days that he is off we run a lot of errands, and have date nights, so I don't usually cook then.

We don't have kids yet, but once we do I am going to try really hard to keep cooking so we never get out of the habit of family meal time.

Oh, and the reason I do most of the cooking is because my husband works and I don't, so I have more time. I also enjoy it more.