Now that i'm a Working Mom....
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion: Archive August 2007:
Now that i'm a Working Mom....
i'm having a hard time getting a good dinner on the table when I get home!
I work Mon. Tues. and Thurs. till 5 or 5:30 depending on when the last patient leaves. So I get home around 5:30 or 6:00. Plus the kids have soccer games on certain nights at 6:15!! So there is no time to cook let alone eat!
I was thinking of making a few dinners on Sunday and just freezing them or putting them in the fridge till we need a quick meal.
How do you working/soccer/football/gymnastics etc. mom's do it?????
When I worked, the crock pot was my best friend!
Ditto the crock pot! I would put chicken breasts in it in the morning with taco seasoning and use it for tacos for dinner that night, or put spaghetti sauce and meat in it for dinner, a whole chicken seasoned with BBQ sauce is great in it, pretty much anything can be cooked in it and it's all done when you get home. I even put frozen meats in it in the morning, and by the time I get home, it's done perfectly!
I use the crock pot. With both my boys playing sports, it seems like we either have practice or a game at least 2 or 3 times a week. With homework, it is hectic when they get home. With the crockpot, I know I have a meal ready without that right before dinner hassel.
I use a lot of easy 30 min recipes and anything that I can prepare prior to that evening I do.
Crockpot meals for those days that you barely have enough time to eat before you have to be somewhere.
A great thing to do also is to have something like precooked frozen chicken patties that you can just throw in the oven for 20 min and they are ready. They may not be the best meal you have ever had but they are better than fast food and good to have around when in a pinch (I always have some in the freezer).
Also on days we have those things that happen at 6 or so I tend to give my kids a good snack with protien and just serve dinner late that night at about 7:30. Using a crockpot meal so it is ready when we get home.
I work 5 days a week and don't get home until 5:30 so I use a lot of fast things to cook. And not that my oldest is getting to be responsible enough she is starting to do things like put dinner in the oven at a certain time so we can eat a little earlier than normal.
Ditto the crockpot. I never put mine away!
I'm a huge crockpot fan, too. I use mine several times a week.
I agree with Tara about keeping frozen chicken patties. They are so easy to use to make a quick sandwich or chicken dish like chicken parmesan. Just top with cheese, sauce and bake for 20 minutes.
Brown up ground beef on Sunday and freeze in portions. Easy to make tacos, a crockpot meal, sloppy joes, american chop suey, etc.
Buy sliced turkey or chicken at the deli. Sliced a little on the thick side. Easy to add canned gravy on a slice of bread as an open-faced sandwich. Add a frozen or canned vegetable or salad.
If you BBQ a steak on the weekends make an extra one. Slice up thin and freeze. Easy to defrost for a quick steak sandwich or stirfry. BBQ extra burgers and freeze. Defrost and reheat in microwave on med for a quick burger.
Hope these ideas help you! 
I've always wanted to put something in the crock pot to have ready when I get home, but I leave the house at 5:45 and don't return until 6:00pm, and it can actually stay on all day like that and not start a fire. I mean you can actually cook food without being there to watch it. And what cooks it (steam, grease) I mean do you have to add any oil to it.
I have only made one thing in the crockpot that came out tasting good. That was stew type thing. Stew meat, a can of mushroom soup and a envelope of onion soup mix. Then you put it on rice.
It was good. But i came down with the flu last time i ate it and...well after you throw something up, you really do not want that meal anymore 
Chicken never tastes right to me coming out of the crockpot.
I'll have to find another good crockpot recipe. I can make spaghetti sauce in it, that may be good.
I should just cook some chicken and chop it up and freeze it. I have a lot of recipes that call for cooked chicken....chicken tetrazini, pesto chicken pasta, etc.
thanks for the ideas
I get the best crockpot recipes from Tasteofhome.com. To access some recipes, you do need to be a subscriber. But I've had some great ones from them.
I love "Fix it and Forget It" - my fave crockpot book. It has a ga-billion recipes in it. I never used my crockpot when I worked, but now that I'm a SAHM I use it 2-3x/week usually, which seems weird to me. I vary between working until around 5:00 2 nights per week with one or two afternoon clients. On those nights, I know how you feel! There's little time to make anything so I always (LOL, use the term "always" lightly, meaning OFTEN I do this but not always!) prepare ahead with a crockpot meal or think of something easy. I love the frozen chicken fillets and they're actually quite good fixed in aluminum foil in the oven with great seasoning. Good luck! You'll get in the swing of things soon.
This article was in the paper last week and I tore it out and saved it. It's "52 meals that can ease a hectic night." They're all things that can be made in 15 minutes or less. Some look better than others, but there are a lot of simple things I never would have thought of! The link to the recipes is near the bottom.
52 meals that can ease a hectic night
I know you said you don't like crockpot chicken, but this is so good and I think we will have to make it soon! Maybe next week, before Sarah goes to college. It's from Fix It and Forget It
Sweet and Sour Crock Pot Chicken Recipe
1-1/2 cups carrot, sliced
1 green pepper, cut into cubes
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
5 chicken breasts
8 ounces canned pineapple tidbits
1/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed firm
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon instant chicken bouillon granules
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
1 teaspoon dried cilantro or 10 cilantro leaves
6 cups hot cooked rice
5 servings
8 hours 10 minutes 10 mins prep
1. Put vegetables in bottom of crock pot. Sprinkle the quick cooking tapioca over the vegetables.
2. Place chicken on top.
3. Combine all other ingredients except cooked rice into a small mixing bowl; blend well. Pour over chicken.
4. Cover and cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours.
5. Before serving, make rice. Serve Sweet and Sour Chicken over cooked rice.
6. Leftovers can be reheated in the microwave.
Give it more gingerroot, than it calls for though. It's better that way!
I can also recommend a George Foreman G5 grill that has removable plates. Come home, turn on the grill. It heats and then put on chicken, steak, veggies - anything! They coock super fast and you don't have to watch the food or keep turning it.
I made grilled chicken with onion and mushroom and red potatoes on the grill in a very short time.
Then the plates cool while you eat and when you clean up, just put the plates in the dishwasher!
Also, rather than buying ready made chicken patties which have a lot of preservatives (and who knows what else) take some time to make some baked or fried chicken cutlets and freeze them. This way, they're home made but convenient.
Good luck!
Ame
Well, I, for one, never was that into the crock pot. I didn't like the way things tasted, and honestly, being gone for 10+ hours a day at a stretch, I never felt comfortable leaving it on.
So, my suggestion would be to cook stuff you can freeze, and take a frozen meal out in the morning to reheat at night.
We used to have a member (Barbara, I believe) who would spend a weekend a month cooking and freezing meals. I did something similar, though not a MONTH's worth of meals. I would do a few different meals, double quantities, freeze them, and on the days/nights we had a lot of activities, I'd rely on those. Throw a quick salad together, and voila! You've got your meal.
Also, it won't kill your family if you have a sandwich night with vegies and dip, etc.
I was a firm believer in a full meal every night, but once I became a single parent, and both of my kids had activities nearly every evening after work, AND I was the one responsible for getting them to and from, I realized I needed a little help feeding them, so I improvised. It worked for us - just a suggestion.
I remember having breakfast for supper, once in a while, with pancakes and scrambled eggs. Yummy! Or French toast with scrambled eggs. With some fresh fruit, it wouldn't be that hard to throw together.
I tend to cook lots of meats on the grill on the weekend. It allows for quick meals during the week.
For example last weekend I grilled several chicken breasts.
They became:
Chicken parmesan
Chicken ceasar salad
Chicken fahitas.
etc... Nothing took more than 1/2 hour to prepare.
I do the same thing with pork roasts and roast beef.
I did a lot of weekend cooking and freezing when I was a single WOHM. It worked pretty well, especially after my parents gave me a microwave. Another trick I learned was when I cooked a meal I made enough for two, so as to have leftovers later in the week. It means doing a menu that is good as leftovers. I also used to roast a whole turkey in the winter on a weekend and have turkey sandwiches for lunch, freeze a bunch of slices for later use on hot open-faced sandwiches, etc. Spaghetti sauce freezes really well, and sloppy joe filling, and can be frozen in one or multiple person meal sizes. When you freeze a sauce, put it in a freezer bag and in a solid container (plastic, metal or glass), and take it out of the solid container after it's frozen, so you get your container back. The bags stack better that way.
As Yvonne suggests, chicken breasts are a really good thing for fast meals. If you put them in the frig in the morning to defrost they are usually still stiff enough to slice for stir-fry, etc. and handle easily.
If you like ham, a small whole ham is good on a weekend, with lots of leftovers to fix quickly in multiple ways. For us the final meal from the ham was leftover cut up chunks in a scalloped or au gratin potato casserole.
The trick with most fast meals (chicken breasts or anything else) is the sauce and/or trimmings. If the sauce is good and one your family likes, that is something you can make ahead and freeze in meal-size packages, and don't have to defrost - just heat and add your chicken breasts (whole or cut up) or whatever.
One of my favorite winter fast meals was chili over rice. I used canned beans, pre-packaged chili sauce powder and added tomato sauce or paste, served over cooked rice in soup bowls with grated cheese, chopped lettuce and chopped tomatos on top. The kids (and I) loved it. I usually made enough chili for two meals and had it again a couple of days later. Another fast meal we liked was to cook thinly sliced sweet italian sausage in Progresso Lentil Soup (simmer about 20-30 minutes, until the sausage is cooked through)- with hot rolls (Bisquick biscuits or heat&serve) or garlic bread and a salad it makes a filling meal, good for winter.
Just wanted to add that I do not freeze any meat. I cook chicken (or whatever) on the grill and put it in the fridge in seperate bags for the weeks meals. If I know that I am going to prepare a certain meal, I may prepare the chicken ahead (example slicing it into strips). I also will chop up vegetables and other add-ons during the weekend. It is similar to the make-ahead frozen meals concept but I do not freeze anything. I basically get all the prep work done so I can have meals in minutes during a busy week.
We've done the same thing Yvonne has done, with chicken breasts and sirloin steak. Refrigerate the leftovers and make fajitas or grilled chicken salads, etc. with it. Actually, in warmer weather, we prefer a lot of salad type meals. If you've got your chicken/meat already cooked, you can stir-fry vegies and add the meat to it.
Also, you can do a pasta bake - not a meal totally from scratch, but I've done that before too. I use spaghetti sauce in the jar, add onions, garlic and peppers to it, and fresh grated parmesan.
You ladies ROCK! It's so nice to get so many helpful answers!
I printed out Dawn's sweet and sour crock pot chicken recipe. I have the fix it and forget it book. There are a lot of recipes in there that i have not tried....well i have not tried most of them because a few things didn't come out well so i sort of gave up.
And i printed out the 52 meal ideas too
We have had several grilled cheese sandwiches, bacon and eggs, pb&J's, and other things that are just not Good for you meals.
I really need to get into the swing of things here. Tomorrow I plan on cooking a bunch of chicken just so the chicken is ready for whatever meal i want to use it for.
I will also make chicken tetrazzini and will make enough for a leftover meal for next week.
Next week starts school, so we will even be more busy than we are now!
I'm not worried about a meal totally froms scratch. I just want something other than grilled cheese, etc. If we have a meat, and a veggies on the plate I will be happy LOL!
Soup is a little more work, but for us, it lasts several nights. What I have done in the past is make a whole chicken, on the weekend, cut the meat off the chicken, THAT night, and start the broth right after supper. I strain and it put it in the fridge before I go to bed. Then then next night, I can skim off the fat, and start making soup.
Or chili is the same way, but doesn't take as long. You could start some of it the night before, like cooking the ground beef, celery and onions. Then just throw everything else in, when you get home from work. (Can you hear me giving myself the pep talk?) Wow, with Sarah gone, food is going to go farther, isn't it? •••.
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