If you and DH work FT, what do you do about dinner?

We are having some stress these days about getting food into the girls before they go into a major screaming meltdown. We get home from daycare/work at 5:45 and they freak if they're not in their high chairs 5 minutes later. If DH gets home before me, he can start some fish sticks or something, but otherwise we always wind up scrambling to slice cheese, nuke some frozen veggies, ANYTHING fast. And half the time I wind up giving them their milk sippies just to shut them up, but I don't want them in the habit of wandering around the house with them, either.

If you have a similar situation, what do you do? Will they eventually learn to wait just a little? It seems somewhat unrealistic to always have something ready that I can just stick in the microwave and have on the table in 5 minutes or less.

ETA: I don't think they're really starving, either -- usually daycare gives them some crackers or something at 4:30 or 5.

 

I do A LOT of crock pot meals!! And when I forget to set something out I resort to giving the kids nuggets, corn and fruit!

We went through a phsse similar to what you described-- the minute we got in the house they both were starving and then the whining would start. So I started being more prepared and cooking a lot in the crockpot.

It is stressful bioth working full-time and then having to come home and start dinner, etc...

Hang in there!

 

We've been trying to deal with dinner prep by splitting the duties: I make their dinner while dh plays with them in the other room or puts a video on. We give each girl a pretzel rod or graham cracker to munch on while I get dinner ready.

We also tend to stick to quick meals for them: sometimes we go with canned stuff like Chef Boyardee or Annie's Mac 'n Cheese. Also, I cook up a bunch of pasta every few nights, and then mix it with various things on different nights and zap it in the microwave. I'll also cook up a pound of ground meat, such as turkey, pork, or beef, and freeze it in ice cube trays. 3 cubes of meat mixed with pasta, plus a little cheese, applesauce or milk to bind it - and voila - there's a quick meal.

They don't call it the witching hour for nothin' - it's definitely a tough time of day!

Good luck - hang in there!

-Karen

 

We're in the same situation, we get home around 5:45 and I either give them something quick like chicken nuggets and vegetables, or those country crock mashed potatoes and the already prepared "Beef Au Jus" by hormel (it's actually pretty good). Easy mac and Chicken Vienna sausages.

Other times, I do what pp said, I will have DH play with them or distract them while I prepare dinner. I don't usually cook anything that takes longer than 30 minutes on a week night.

The other thing we do is put them in the high chairs and give them a snack, like cheese crumbles, handful of goldfish, fruit, just something to tide them over until dinner is ready.

One thing mine really liked was the meatloaf meatballs in the TS CALL cookbook and it makes ALOT so you can just put some in the fridge for the next night and dinner is almost ready! So that's another idea is to make a couple nights worth of something and not have to worry about dinner the next day.

 

Don't have a DH but I get out of work at 5:30 which means I don't start cooking until 6. Things were tough when they first went to table food. I did quite a few of those homestyle bakes at first because I could prepare it quickly then while it was cooking I could give them my complete attention which usually helped. It definitely has gotten better for us, some nights we don't eat until 7 or 7:30 and they are perfectly ok with that! It will come with time and in the meantime there is nothing saying you can't give them a little something to tide them over during this phase. Sure, it may mean they eat a little less dinner but happiness is equally as important in my opinion.

It should get better with time and age!

 

By the time I get them from daycare and get them home it's 6:15 when we walk in the front door. We definitely went through a tough transition to get to where we are now, where we're doing dinner around 6:45ish and into bed by 7:30ish. It just took some training and a lot of patience for them to figure out that they had to wait. Also just getting to a stage where they were more into their toys and books and such and had longer attention spans with those -- that definitely helped a lot! If we can bring them in and get them occupied with blocks, books, etc., then usually my husband can get their dinner fixed relatively quickly and in peace. Honestly a lot of days we all 4 play for a bit before my husband starts cooking and they are fine with that!

Unfortunately that has meant that we always do something quickie for them -- microwaved chicken fingers, veggie burger, etc., and some steamed veggies. And then after we get them in bed my husband and I take a breather and then cook for ourselves all over again.

Now that they are getting close to 2 I am determined to have us start eating all together and eating the same thing, so I did go out and buy a crock-pot last weekend. So far it has bene going really well. My husband had surgery this week, but my mom is here and we have been sitting down with the girls all at the same time and eating the same thing. So far I am digging it! It was definitely great on the day of his surgery when we were at the hospital all day and we were able to come home to a fully cooked meal and feed the girls, who were stretched past their limit, getting home an hour later than usual.

So, like others have mentioned, a crock-pot is really helpful! I recommend getting one that has a timer so you can set it to cook for a certain time, then it switches over to "keep warm" -- that way you can set it before you leave for work, and even if it's something that takes, say, 6 hours and you are out of the house for a total of 10, it cooks for 6 hours then just keeps it warm until you come home 4 hours later.

 

Plan ahead! Know your menu and prep and do whatever to make it easier at dinnertime. Get everything you need for your planned menu during your weekly shopping. Stops on the way home slow you down.

I get home at 5:45 every day and I get right to it. Usually it's either something already marinated and ready to be grilled (10 minutes) or warmed or stir fried. BUT all prepped -- either the night before or that morning. Veggies can be steamed in 12 minutes, potatoes can be microwaved in 7.

It's a grind, yes. (Lucky for me, I like to cook, I feel for those who hate it -- this is not my favorite way to cook however, so it probably evens out).

 

I make big batches and freeze in small quantities so there is always something quick, easy, and healthy in the fridge. It is the same food my husband and I eat, but served on a different night. I do lots of crockpot meals, chili, pasta, soups, potatoes, and chicken all work well. I also keep containers of cooked veggies that the kids eat cold. In a pinch, I give them a plate of veggies, chick peas or beans, or a sandwich to occupy them while I finish getting dinner ready. Fridge magnets are a good distraction -- so are frigets.

 

Thanks everyone! It's good to know we're not the only ones having this problem.

I think we need to upgrade our crockpot. I hate to get rid of a perfectly good appliance (esp when $$ is so tight!) but it doesn't have the "keep warm" setting or a timer -- it just has on & off. So it does make it hard because if I want to use it on a weekday, it has to be something that can cook for 10 hours.

And we need to get organized. We tend to get home and go "Yikes, what are we feeding the girls?!"

Also glad to hear that other people use snacks. I had been wary of doing that because I didn't want them to always fill up on crackers and then not eat whatever I was making for them.

As Bettie said, I am also hoping to start eating as a family sometime soon, at least once or twice a week. My thought is that one night I'll cook a batch of something after the girls are in bed -- then the next night, all of us will eat it together.

 

quote:
Originally posted by Minette:
I think we need to upgrade our crockpot. I hate to get rid of a perfectly good appliance (esp when $$ is so tight!) but it doesn't have the "keep warm" setting or a timer -- it just has on & off. So it does make it hard because if I want to use it on a weekday, it has to be something that can cook for 10 hours.


Before they invented programmable crockpots, my mom always used one of those standard appliance timers like this kind. You can even set it to cook and then rewarm since it can go on and off 2x in 24 hours.

The one thing that concerns me with programmable slow cookers is the food sitting around, but if it's just for a couple hours... I'm looking forward to the day there's a model that is a programmable combo refrigerator-cooker.

 

DH and I both work less than 10 minutes from home and the girls are cared for in our home by the grandparents so we have more time than most, but I like dinner on the table by 5:30, so we do dinners quick.

Our local grocery store makes up salads so I always have those on hand (Spring mix with grated cheese, Greek, Spinach salads with fruit--you just add your own dressing). This saves tons of time!!!

So we usually have salad with:

Leftovers--Sunday I usually make a roast so there is meat for sandwiches and for our Monday meal. We have hot sandwiches or just duplicate the Sunday meal. Luckily, nobody minds leftovers at our hours.

Wraps--just cook up chicken (I pre-cut a bunch and freeze it in meal size freezer bags and take them out the night before) with peppers and onions. Wrap them up with grated cheese, salsa and sour cream.

Pasta: I try not to have this more than once a week, but it is easy and quick. I just add ground beef to jarred sauce (usually Classico) for DH and I, and the girls like it with butter and parmesan.

Pizza: Again, our local grocery store comes through here. They make pizzas fresh in the store and they're 2 for $10. I just toss them in the freezer, and again, thaw one out for the next day.

Soup and grilled cheese--or other sandwich. We end up eating this at least once a week. DH's mom makes her own homemade chicken noodle which the girls love. We usually have that.

In the summer it's easier because we grill a lot--veggies and all. We do this at least twice a week. Can't wait for the warmer weather.

Hope you get some good ideas. I wish things worked out in my Crock pot. Maybe because it's so large, nothing I make turns out--It ends up over-cooked and dried out.

 

We're in the same situation so their dinners are typically some sort of leftover or something that can made in 10 minutes. The thing I've tried lately though is to have them "help" me cook. I bring a chair into the kitchen and engage them in what I'm making. They love to help me and it allows me a few extra minutes to get it all together. That said, we still typically wind up having to eat our dinner after the girls go to sleep. The other thing we do is get meals from Let's Dish. Depending on what it is, we can get it started and either eat with the kids (and they can eat the meal as well) or have it all prepared and ready for us to eat when they are asleep.

 

quote:
Originally posted by Marieber:
The one thing that concerns me with programmable slow cookers is the food sitting around, but if it's just for a couple hours... I'm looking forward to the day there's a model that is a programmable combo refrigerator-cooker.


Yeah, me too. And DH is a biologist and food-safety freak, so I know he'll have issues with that.

I could swear I saw that combo refrigerator-cooker somewhere -- but I just googled around and couldn't find it. Maybe I dreamt it. Anyway, good idea about the appliance timer!

 

Well the crock-pot starts cooking right away, and the timer only turns it to "warm" when it is done cooking -- so there is never any raw meat just sitting around on your caounter waiting for the cooker to come on, KWIM? And then when it goes to warm it's kept a warm enough temperature to be safe.

Would it seem weird to you to have a pot of chili or beans or soup that cooked all day on the stove and then you turned it down to low until you were ready to eat? To me that is a normal way to cook (hey I'm southern, all-day cooking is what we do!) so it doesn't seem strange to have that transfer to the crock-pot. My crock-pot manual does say that it doesn't recommend using the "warm" setting for more than 4 hours, but I don't know if that's more for food safety reasons or for just maintaining the quality/texture/taste.

 

We too are the yikes what are we going to have for dinner family.... so when I walk in the door at 5:45... dh works much later ussually till about 7 or 8 so I am on my own with them for that.... I usually have them sit at the table and have raw veggies while I cook them somthing quick, or reheat last nights dinner... or if dh does happen to be home, my saviour is get in the door and while I cook dinner, they take their bath! Tehy love the bath still so it takes their mind off being hungry! We have tended to hit Mcdonalds one to many times due to the crunch and I am trying to stay out of that habit, so the bath, and the veggies beofre the meat and rice/potatoes or pasta is ussually how I deal with it, plus, Molly comes on at 6 here, so Molly and Lunette are part of my help for making dinner

 

Bettie, it would seem a little weird to me to have food cooking all day and then turn it down till it's time to eat (unless it was just like 20 minutes), but I'm not Southern! I did have some downstairs neighbors once (from the South) who asked me to come stir their collard greens because they were going to be out all day.

But my bigger concern is DH. He takes the leftovers out of the crockpot (before we even sit down to eat) and puts them in a tupperware, then puts the tupperware in an ice bath to cool it quickly so the food doesn't spend too much time in the "danger zone." And I think if the crockpot kept stuff warm enough to be out of the danger zone, it would essentially still be cooking.

Oh well -- we'll figure it out!

 

I've tried this new company called Dream Dinners by my house (there are other companies out there with different names... same concept). I go one day a month and make 24 meals at a time. Sometimes they give me a side included... and sometimes they just give suggestions and you do stuff on your own. But it's really easy, it eliminats a big portion of grocery shopping and mess from food prep. And it forces me to plan ahead. I keep them in the freezer and defrost each week. Some take a skillet or bbq to do a meal and some are just pop in the oven and bake. If it's something I have to prep, I generally pop the kids in front of one of their favorite movies (on the couch or in their booster seats) with some water and either popcorn or carrots or crackers or something somewhat healthy... they also love those edename that you can get at costco in a pack and microwave real quick - those are a fun new treat. That buys me some time while I finish prep and they're getting in some veggies. If they absolutely can't wait, I always try to keep some gerber graduate meals on hand which have a main course and a veggie so I can microwave it real quick in a pinch. Or quesadillas with canned veggies and fruit are always a good stand by if they can't wait either. And sometimes they just have to fuss a bit and I tell them to "cool their jets - mommy is making dinner as quickly as possible". Only thing I won't do is give them sweets before dinner... cuz then I surely don't get them to eat their meal Good luck!

 

I like to cook one night for DH and I and then serve them their portion the next night. It makes things so much easier. Then I usually cook for DH and I while they are eating. My girls also love whole wheat bread and butter. They also like frozen peas that are served still frozen! I usually give them their vergetable first (otherwise they won't eat it), then bread and butter, then their main meal (meat, pasta, etc.), then fruit for dessert. If I need a little more time cooking the rest of the dinner, I always give more fruit and vegetalbes. I try to wash and cut up fruits and vegetables when I get home fromthe grocery store, just to be ready. Also, planning a menu has really made a big difference.

 

When my boys were young I had the same issues. My husband was deployed and I worked until 5:30, so by the time I got home (sometime after 6pm) the boys were out of control and ready to eat. I cooked whatever I could quickly and saved "family meals" for the weekends. Like Dianne said, as they get older it will get better. Until then, hang in there and do the best you can.

 

We cook at night when they are in bed.

They take the food to daycare the next day and eat it there at lunchtime. We eat it in the evening when we get back and they eat sandwiches and eat some off our plates if they fancy it.

This gives us more time to cook and they are used to eating a cooked meal at lunch time because that's what we've done the last two years and what people do here in Germany.