I really need to start getting better at what I feed LO for dinner. What do you guys do? Do you cook ahead? Crock pot? I don't get home from work till 6:30 p.m. and B needs to be in bed by 7:30 p.m., so I have limited time. Oh, and I'm also on my own, so it needs to be something I can do while trying to keep B from throwing himself off our couch/high chair/any high object.
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Right now my big go-to is a crock pot roast. We just bought 1/4 of a cow, so we have lots of roasts on hand, and I buy big bags of potatoes, onions, carrots and garlic from Costco.
Spaghetti if DH gets home before I do (apparently the only meal he can cook... haha)
Waffles + scrambled eggs if I'm really desperate.
Also, chicken, quinoa + steamed veggie (broccoli, brussel sprouts, carrots, etc) is a quick fave (20 minutes or so, even using a frozen chicken breast!)
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On nights I work, I do one of three things: 1) crockpot meals, 2) salads, or 3) leftovers. I often make one casserole or oven meal that we can eat leftovers from for the rest of the week. We also started eating salads 1-2 times a week, which is very helpful (and my kids love help making salads!). I usually only use the crockpot once a week, but again, that provides leftovers for the rest of the week.
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I try to have a protein prepared ahead of time so that I can heat it up with a veggie. While I am preparing it (heating it up), I try to give LO fruit or yogurt melts to snack on. I have been a total *fail*ure (*wink*) this week though, and have fed LO frozen chicken strips. Sure, they're organic, but they're still frozen chicken strips. At this point though, her eating is so hit or miss, that if I get her to eat a decent amount of anything I am a happy mama!
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My son eats a limited variety of things, so dinner for him is the opposite of what he had for lunch. He eats dinner between 5 and 5:15, some days I am not home yet and he eats at my mom's, other days, I prepare his dinner.
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@Honeybee: We do the same. Crockpot, leftovers, or salad with chicken/ground turkey. I really should/could do a better job about prepping on the days I am home.
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@Honeybee: & @swurlygurl: Do you have a favorite crock pot recipe book?
@MsLipGloss: That's a good idea. I guess I should turn Sunday into a prep day for the week. -
@looch: What do you make? I need to get more veggies in my son's life.
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I used to make a few meals on Sundays and then would cook a few times during the week and he'd get leftovers!
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Also making fish or a hamburger for him would be quick!
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@littlek: I have this one, and the recipes have all turned out well for me (some are weird, but you can tell from the ingredients if you're going to like it or not). They're also *normal* ingredients, so you're not trying to track down weird things you've never heard of or will never use again.
http://www.amazon.com/Cooker-Recipes-Better-Gardens-Cooking/dp/0696239280/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1384351166&sr=8-9&keywords=crock+pot+2%2C+4+or+more -
@winniebee: I have never cooked fish. Do you have any recipes? I'm domestically challenged.
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@littlek: I use the Food on the Table app on my phone and just choose one crockpot recipe per week. During a normal week, I make one crockpot meal, one casserole/oven meal, one or two salads, and one or two stovetop or grill meals. I really only cook two or three times a week (always on Saturdays and Sundays and sometimes during the week) and then we eat leftovers and salads the rest of the time.
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@Honeybee: Thank you!!! I just downloaded the app.
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@littlek: you don't want to know, my son doesn't eat vegetables either. It's a battle I don't know how to win, honestly!
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@littlek: Tyler loves salmon or mahi mahi just pan fried with olive oil and salt and pepper. Quick veggies on the side and its a meal!
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@winniebee: I'll have to try it... for some reason I always feel intimidated when I am in the seafood section.. but you made it sound like it's pretty easy and I need pretty easy.
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I'll cook a casserole on the weekend and we'll eat off that throughout the week. I'll also cook mac n cheese (box or homemade) and keep that in the fridge for the week. Since I send her lunches, I like having some quick things available to toss in her lunchbox. Some things I try to keep on hand, usually I'll have one of each food group available in the fridge all week:
Protein: a small sliced ham (from the cold section of the grocery store), chicken strips, hamburger.
Grain: Mac n cheese, rice, pasta (with red or pesto sauce)
Veggie: Always have frozen veggies in the freezer. Green beans, peas and carrots are favorites. I nuke em and in 2 minutes or less, they are ready. -
@littlek: I am so glad you asked this! Ia lmost posted something identical yesterday. I have been struggling with this question a lot, especially now that LO has moved onto eating more of the same foods we eat. Our time is so limited in the evenings and I was also looking for the same kind of advice!
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this was my biggest challenge when i went back to work! our go-to's:
- crock pot meal once a week
- i try to cook soup on sunday (chicken noodle or minestrone - DS LOVES it and i stock it with veggies which he can be picky about)
- a pasta, chicken, broc meal
- fish (like @winniebee: I pan fry with a little olive oil, S&P, and lemon - we usually eat tilapia with a side of rice and green beans)
- rotisserie chicken turns into chicken quesadillas, chicken noodle soup, or chicken for pasta dishPrepping on the weekend is key for me. I usually shop on saturday and prep either during nap time on sunday or sunday night. we also eat a lot of leftovers. I generally cook Mon - Thurs, pizza on Friday, cook on saturday, and dinner at my parents house on sunday.
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@littlek: Fish is really simple and quick, the only trick is not over-cooking it. If you shop at Whole Foods, the fishmongers at fish counter generally have good ideas that aren't very difficult to execute--just ask them. I like to stick filets in the oven and just check them for doneness, because it's even easier than pan-frying. Trader Joe's has frozen fish that come with directions right on the package, too.
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@littlek: I'm in the same situation where M is STARVING the second we walk in the door so I don't have a lot of time, and I'm alone as well so I know how hard it is to try to prepare something with a small child clawing at your legs. So, MOST week days I just save a little bit of what my husband and I had the night before, and give her those left overs the next day. So last night hubs and I had pasta with bolognese sauce, tonight M will have some leftovers along with some canned green beans.
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We cook ahead. Sunday I made a pot of chili and a beef stew. Each of those will be for one week night. The fifth night will be veggie burgers on the George Forman or pasta.
We try to have salad with every meal, so I wash lettuce the night before and leave it in the salad spinner overnight.
We also do a tray of roast veggies with every meal (luckily, LO is totally into this...I'm trying to appreciate it while it lasts), and I set up a baking sheet of cut veggies the night before and leave it in the fridge. I cut them pretty small, so they roast at 350 in 20 minutes.
This keeps my dishes to a minimum too! But I won't lie...some weeks are hard and we don't beat ourselves up for the occasional take-out meal. -
@swurlygurl: God bless Kansas. 'We just bought half a cow' bahahahahaha
I rely heavily on my crock pot, warm or cold weather it's handy! I also prep meals on Sunday. I'll make a batch of muffins, look at our schedules for the week and see what nights will be the craziest. I have box mac&chz and chicken nuggets for those nights. We eat more spaghetti now than ever. Jake will always eat it and it's fast and easy!
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@mediagirl: so similar to us!!
We usually do a crockpot freezer meal each night, but once a week we do pizza night (domino's has a deal right now $5.99 for a large 2 topping!!), about once a week i'll do a quick pasta, jarred sauce and frozen turkey meatballs.
For the random night we don't do any of those, we always have the following things on hand:
Fridge: ham steak (microwaved and cut up into strips), a rotisserie chicken, cooked veggie pasta tossed in olive oil, mac and cheese, cherry tomatoes, all kinds of fruit
Freezer: chicken nuggets and fish sticks (costco has really great versions of both that I don't feel guilty feeding them!), veggies that steam in their own bag (all kinds, but favorites are carrots, peas, corn, broccoli, and green beans)And we usually have rice in the rice cooker.
Once every other week or so I'll prep some onions and potatoes the night before and I'll use the rice, ham steak, and frozen mixed veggies to do a really quick fried rice.
We do a hot breakfast every morning but every now and then we'll do breakfast for dinner... pancakes or french toast, scrambled eggs, frozen sausage warmed up, and fruit. That's Wagon Sr.'s domain now
I am the opposite of a cook for sure, but we finally have a good routine down and we rarely get takeout anymore. We used to get takeout almost every night!!!
It did take quite a while for me to get used to it but the crockpot freezer meals made a huge difference.
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We cook practically every night. On the nights I'm solo (2-3x/wk) I try to leave out leftovers from last night's dinner for LO. Or a super easy meal for her like pan seared fish, steamed broccoli. Or I do steamed eggs for her with spinach, broccoli and mini scallops or dehydrated shrimp.
When DH is home we're home usually 10 to 5. Dinnertime is 6pm. We usually give LO a snack and we make dinner together. We do anything really, a roast, grill, pan seared, etc. ie tonight we're making a roast chicken. Last night was roasted pork tenderloin with roasted cauliflower (super simple took like 20 minutes) and rice pilaf.
ETA: I keep edemame, peas and green beans in the freezer for her.
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we try to have leftovers of our food, or cook LO's food on the wknd and refrigerate/freeze as needed
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@babyjmama: Seriously... never in my life would I have imagined those words would come out of my mouth! Haha
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I meal plan & grocery shop on Sunday's. I do any prep work on Sunday that I can (cutting veggies/brown meat/ect.) to make it easier during the week. I use my crockpot at lest 1-2 times a week. If we are having casseroles I make the night before so all I have to do is put in oven when I get home from work.
LO likes to eat early so I really only have about 30 minutes to have dinner on the table before she's begging for snacks.
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On a good week, I cook ahead one meal on Sunday night and we eat that for Mon and Tues. On Wed I will make a croockpot meal and we will eat that for two nights. Friday evening we spend time with my parents so we usually eat out.
This week I already failed because I put my crockpot meal in this morning and FORGOT TO TURN IT ON! Argh. Second time this has happened in two weeks.
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I usually do at least one crock pot meal for the week. Anything else I'll make what I can ahead of time. Like this week, I prepared the carrot mac and cheese (that was on the blog last week) on Sunday, so Hubs could just throw it in the oven Monday night to bake. And I prepared the filling for enchiladas on Sunday, so last night all I had to do was fill the tortillas, top with sauce and cheese, and bake for 10 minutes! So I try to do that kind of stuff on Sunday so that weeknights are as easy as possible!
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@littlek: Fish: put it in a marinade the night before (ie i buy frozen wild salmon and a pre-prepared marinade), so it thaws overnight and during the day, then put it under the broiler for 20 mins. Done. Only way this is tricky with LO is you have to check it a few times to make sure it isn't overcooking. But easiest fish "recipe" ever.
To answer the question, same as others - crockpot, salads, or broiled meat + veg.
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I made some containers of home-made spaghetti for my LO and froze them in single serving containers. Its like spaghetti-ohs. I made a big pan of them and froze like 8-10 containers. Its not a super healthy meal but at least its homemade versus opening up a can.
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I try to have something ready for LO the night before so we can eat as soon as we get home.
On Monday i:
- made tomato sauce with ground chicken
- cooked sausages
- roasted yams
- made pizza with some leftover doughWhen we got home on Tuesday (when i fly solo), i put some roasted yams and pieces of pizza on her plate. Then that gave me some time to cook some pasta. I also make a pot of broth that she likes to have with rice (which i'll usually have on hand in the fridge) while i finish making dinner. I'll grab a handful of peas and do a quick nuke in the microwave.
If i don't have anything prepared the night before, i find myself scrambling, especially if i'm flying solo. If i'm really in a bind, i'll cut up some cheese and blueberries. Or make her a veggie omelette with rice.
ETA: If i only had 1 hour to do everything, i would definitely prepare something the night before. It makes the world of a difference!!
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The other night I made wonton soup. It was literally 5 min of prep and popping my frozen wonton into the pot. So good, so healthy. I have to make another batch of wonton soon, though.
Sometimes on the weekends I'll do things like make triple batches of mini quiches (again an easy 5 min meal).
Last night we had Italian dressing chicken with pasta. It requires about 10 minutes total time and the girls love it.
Every time I cook, I make enough for leftovers... It just makes life so much easier. So I'll cook on Sat and Sunday and the leftovers usually get us through until Wednesday night... Which leaves me just a couple of nights a week to rustle something up.
Oh and I usually give the girls carrots and hummus or something healthy while I cook.
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I SAH but when I was working, prebaby, I did versions of Once A Month cooking http://onceamonthmeals.com/ because my hours were all over the place. It sounds a bit overwhelming, but it's really not.
Also, my LO is pretty happy to eat veggies but I sneak extra in homemade pouches (applesauce + pureed carrots; just peel and core apples and or pears, chopped carrots in the crock pot) and in any type of muffin, whether it be egg, meatloaf, or banana oat (just add shredded carrots or frozen spinach to it).
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Thanks for all the ideas! I need to get my butt in gear and prep on Sundays.
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@littlek: these are a couple of my fave crockpot recipe sites:
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