Busy Mom Seeking Easy and Healthy Dinner Ideas

I was also going to suggest Saving Dinner from Leanne over at flylady.net. Here's a link:

http://www.savingdinner.com/

If you sign up for their Menu Mailers you get recipes and a shopping list for each week. Her recipes are healthy and inexpensive, and she's got several different ones for specific needs, such as heart healthy, frugal, low carb/body clutter. She also includes vegetarian options with the general one. You can download a sample week to see what it's like and if it'll work for you.

She also has a cookbook that has a year's worth of weekly recipes (based on season so you're using fruits and veg when they're fresh!) and shopping lists.

Good luck!

HP

In Santa Cruz there is a place called Fresh Prep Kitchens. They sound exactly like dream dinners.

I make a big pot of spaghetti sauce at the beginning of the month, and then freeze bags of it. I'll thaw one out, and boil some pasta, toss with some cheese, and voila! Remember to sneak lots and lots of veggies into that sauce. I use at least 5 zucchinis, 2 onions, and 2 carrots per pot. This recipe is even more rib-sticking if you have time to pop it in the over for 30-45mins just before serving.

I always wished that I could make 6 friends, do a dinner co-op, and only be responsible for one giant dinner once a week. Wouldn't that be great? (Then I'd have to worry about how clean the house is, though...)

Hi, I often do something that might work well for you. On either Sunday or Monday I bbq a meat that will last at least two more nights that week for another recipe. For example grill boneless/skinless chicken thighs (just toss them in some italian dressing and bbq. I'll serve with some baked veggies (asparagus, zucchini, bell peppers, mushrooms are all great baked). Just cut up, season w/garlic salet and pepper and bake on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees for about 12-15 min. I bbq enough chicken for at least two more meals. I'll use the chicken to make chicken tacos (just heat up with taco seasoning), chicken salad (cut up the chicken and throw into a green salad with strawberries and candied walnuts), or mix with teryaki sauce and veggies for stir-fry. Since the meat is already cooked the meals go much faster. I do the same with a large tri-tip. I'll use leftover tri-tip for sandwiches on a while wheat roll or tri-tip quesadillas. I'm not a big leftovers fan but if you make an adjustment from the first meal it's not so bad and really saves time.

You've already got such great suggestions! I'll try to be brief. Here's the rule: Cook once, serve 4-6 times!!!

Here are my family's favorite menus. Each is served with pre-mixed salad from the grocery store (the kind that even includes the dressing), and some sort of bread. This stretches out the main course items so that each time you cook, you are not only cooking enough to freeze, but you are serving enough that night to have another full meal's leftovers, or, if you choose, at least 2 nice leftover lunches each for hubby and you.

Each dinner is designed to be made on a weekend (I work 11 hours a day m-f!!!) with the leftovers and freezables being your weekday meals.

Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Peas & Carrots: Mix your favorit meatloaf recipe, but do it in BULK. Bake enough that night for you and family to have 2 dinners from it. Freeze the rest of the pre-mixed, raw meat in likewise sized portions. (Note: baking the meatloaf on a cookie sheet, shaped into a loaf, rather than in a loaf pan allows the meat to cook much faster. Make it wider and thinner, rather than taller and thicker, and it will cook up pretty quick). Make a massive bowl of real mashed potatoes. Season,and be sure to soften with milk and butter/sour cream. Adding these items allows it to freeze well. Serve what you need for 2 dinners worth, and freeze the rest in likewise sized containers. Use the store brand frozen peas and carrots mix, serve with a ready-made salad (I love the pacific garden mix with poppy seed dressing), and slice some french bread to place on the table.

Enchiladas: Set your meat in the crockpot with a jar of enchilada sauce. Try the green enchilada sauce if you stay away from tomatoes. It's fabulous, and goes really well with chicken, but you can do it with beef or pork also. Let it go in the slow cooker, shred when done, let cool, add cheese and more sauce for right consistency, roll into enchiladas (flour tortillas go really well with the green sauce and chicken recipe also, makes a much lighter enchilada than the standard, heavy, red sauce and pork). Freeze prerolled extra enchildas in family sized portions. Keep an extra can of sauce on hand and some pregrated cheese. Serve with the Fiesta premixed salad, and if you're feeling really ambitios have hubby stop at your local mexican restaraunt on his way home and pick up some rice and beans (they're cheap!)

Roasted Chicken/Chicken ala King: Throw a whole chicken int he slow cooker with whatever seasonings you like, add a small amount of liquid, and let it go. That night, serve some as that night's dinner with whatever sides you have around (I usually serve mine with some penne pasta with just a little olive oil, garlic, herbs, and parmesian tossed in it and some sort of quick steamed veggie). Did you know that you can microwave sweet peas and they're delicious? Buy them fresh and toss them in the microwave for about 3 minutes in a covered dish with about an inch of water at the bottom. When you clean up the dinner that night, shred what's left of the chicken and freeze it. Pull it out when you need it for a quick chicken ala king (using the pre-frozen mashed potatoes to pour it over, and again with some sort of frozen or quick steam veggie, or ready made salad mix). You can google chicken ala king recipes. They're all basically sauted onion and celery, mix in your basic white sauce (flour/butter/milk/salt/pepper) add a shake of garlic, toss in the shredded chicken, and serve over the potatoes. Baby will love it. It's super mushy.

Roast Beef/Beef stroganoff: Put a roast in the slow cooker with a can of beef gravy and a couple shakes of the holy trinity (salt, pepper, garlic). Walk away. Serve with some quick steam veggie, premade salad, and the pre-frozen mashed potatoes. Dice up the leftover roast and freeze in corresponding portions for Beef Stroganoff dinners later in the week. (find any recipe on line, basically sauted onions and mushrooms, beef broth/boullion cube, a little liquid, and mix in sour cream at the end). Serve poured over egg noodles. Hint: When you boil any form of noodle, boil extra. rinse in cold, allow to drain thorough, and freeze. Pull these noodles out for quick side dishes by defrosting, tossing in olive oil, garlic powder, some italian seasoning, and shaker cheese.

Spaghetti type sauces: Self evident, but you said you stay clear of tomatoes so I won't go too far into recipes. find the pasta sauce that works for you, make lots, freeze, pour over defrosted pre-cooked noodles, serve with a ready mix salad and some french bread, you're done. Also, if you do pesto sauces and meatless pasta, you can add some meat in the salad instead. Check out the ready made salads at the Safeway deli counter. I love the "neptune" salad with imitation crab and real shrimp. Goes great with pasta, and the salad easily serves 3-4 as a side to pasta.

Fajitas are a quick, fresh meal. So is stir-fry. Both are the same cooking concept, one just has hispanic style seasonings and veggies while the other has asian style... serve with tortillas or rice.

Home made hamburgers and oven fries is another quickie.

Heck, you can even dress up the El Monterey brand frozen taquitos by serving them over a finely chopped salad with guacamole and salsa poured over them as a dressing, and calling them "flautas."

Boboli is good, pair it with a salad.

Every Saturday morning I look through the grocery store sales add, look at what I've got on hand, plan out my meals for the week, and then make my grocery list according to what I'll need.

I post the week's dinner menu on the fridge so everyone knows what's coming. I don't assign dates, just look up there when I get home from work and make a decision then as to whether I feel like making some hamburger patties or throwing together a boboli.

My hubby's a total carnavore, so all of our meals include meats.

With some of the ready made frozen stuff, I am able to leave hubby a note some mornings for the simple things (he's culinarily impaired) "please put meatloaf in oven at 4pm, 350 degrees" as he gets home before me. This makes it so that not only is there a dinner each night, but often times I get to come home to the smell of it already cooking! All I have to do is microwave the veggies and prefrozen potatoes, set the table, and enjoy my family.

I've found that dining on our patio during this period of nice weather keeps us at the table longer, and makes for much more enjoyable family evenings.

Good luck!!!

Hi! I am a working mom of 3, and whew - I know what you're going through! I go to Dream Dinners once a month, and it has been a lifesaver. You select meals from their monthly (changing) menu, then go to their store and assemble the meals. It takes me about 1 1/2 hours to put them together. They offer 3 and 6 serving meals. The 3-serving meals feed my family of 5 just fine (right now). And my kids (6, 4, and 2) like almost all of the meals. They are very kid-friendly recipes. I usually order/make 12 meals for the month, and it costs about $150. When you do the math, I think you save money - I couldn't buy all the ingredients for less than that! Most of the dinners take about 20-30 minutes to cook, but the prep time is only minutes, so you can get them cooking, and go do something else.

I also make out a weekly menu, which keeps me from having to think about meals thru the week.

After having my 3rd child, I was exactly where you are - cereal and ramen noodles for dinner! Finding Dream Dinners (and online grocery shopping) has saved my sanity!!

Good luck, D.

Hi A.,

I feel your pain! I was in the same boat. I work full time and my husband's (who usually did the cooking) schedule changed so he isn't getting home until 6:30 - 7 pm which is too late to start dinner. That meant I was stuck cooking dinner and I'm not a big fan of cooking and found I always made the same, not so healthy, meals. I finally decided to go on-line and found 2 GREAT websites that helped alot! The first one is "The Six O'clock Scramble (www.thescramble.com) and the other is Relish (www.relishrelish.com). They are fee based ($5-7/month) but well worth it! Most meals take ~30 min to make and the menus change weekly (they send you email to remind you). I've been using Scramble for about a year now but was looking for some new recipes and then found Relish. Both allow you to pick the recipes you want for the week and give you a shopping list for those ingredients. Relish allows you to put in how many you are cooking for and gives you a bigger choice of menus to choose from weekly and I'm beginning to find that the kids seem to like the things I make from that list better than those from Scramble. Also Relish gives you "make and freeze" options. However, there are things about Scramble that I like better (mostly how the website is organized and other 'techincal nicities') so I'm still in the decision phase. Bottom line - they have saved my sanity, made dinner easier and healthier and reduced the amount of money I spend on food and wastage. I believe both of them allow you a trial period. Give it a shot and good luck! K

Go to Dream Dinners. It's easy, it's delicious, and we discovered it actually saved us money on our grocery bill every month. Basically the idea is this: you pick out which dinners you'd like to make ahead of time. Then on your appointed day and time, you go to the Dream Dinners store. They have everything all prepped for you and laid out, ready to go. You assemble your dinners (allowing you to omit ingredients you don't want, or adjust seasonings to your own taste). Bring your dinners home, pop them in the freezer, and voila! Every morning before you go to work, simply take a dinner from the freezer to the fridge to thaw. When you get home, make your dinner according to the handy label, and there's your dinner! The Dream Dinners store that I go to even paired up with a local wine store to recommend wine pairings - that way if we invite someone over to dinner, we have wine that goes with the dinner we're preparing, and we look like culinary rock stars.

I've been going to Dream Dinners for a few years now, and I honestly wish I'd known about it 10 years before that. It's great, give it a try!

A.,
Get a crock pot/slow cooker. You really cannot go wrong or mess up the food, unless you leave it in too long. Crock pots/slowcookers are $30-40. Target has a nice selection. You simply throw in the food in the morning, and by late afternoon/evening, your hot meal is ready. You can cook meats, vegetables, soups, beans in the crockpot. You can cook meats along with vegetables in there. You can put a whole chicken in there and add carrots, celery, onions, garlic and you'll have a delicious hot meal with little effort and time in the kitchen. Plus, by using a crockpot, you are not heating up the entire kitchen by using the stove or oven. I will also recommend a crock pot cookbook. It's called "Fix It and Forget It" by Phyllis Pellman Good. She has several slow cooker cookbooks--one for diabetics, etertaining, light (lower calorie), etc. You can buy the book on Amazon.com, at Target, Borders, Barnes & Noble. My crockpot is my favorite cooking appliance. Good luck!!

Hi A.,

sometimes when all else fails and I have no meat taken out, I just do breakfast! pancakes and eggs and maybe brown and serve sausage warmed in the micro.

Another way to have meat thawed out when you get home is a salt bath. The salt will keep it "safely" thawing. In the morning before you leave fill a big bowl with very cold water and put a half cup of salt in it.mix it, and add your frozen meat (try to peel off any paper or trays).When you get home it will be ready to cook, and the salt will help it cook up tender and juicy. If you want to make teriaki, also add a 1/2 c sugar and a half cup soy sauce, throw in a splash of sesame oil , garlic powder.

Easy teriaki meatballs
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frozen meatballs from costco
canned delmonte pinapple chunks, drained
yoshida's sweet and savory sauce (costco)

Throw meatballs and pinneapple in a big pan/pot. pour in yoshidas just until meat is covered. Boil 5 minutes. You can add a T of cornstarch if you want to thicken the sauce.
Add a chopped seeded bell pepper or two and boil another 5-8 minutes. Serve over steamed rice.

battered fish or chicken
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make krusteaz pancake mix for pancakes. Thin just a tad. Add garlic powder and cajun seasoning. dip meat, or vegetables in the batter, then dip in instant potato flakes or panko japanese bread crumbs and drop in hot oil. Drain on paper towels. Serve with homemade tater sauce. To freeze for reheating later, cook the ones you will be freezing till only light brown.double wrap and freeze. to reheat, bake at 350-375 till sizzling hot.

Homemade tarter
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sweet pickle relish
mayo
mustard
sugar
finely chopped onion
cajun seasoning
splash lemon juice or malt vinegar

easy alfredo pasta
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6 oz (about 3 1/3 c dry) wide egg noodles, boiled and drained.

In a second pan start:

4 oz ham, canadian bacon, or bacon flavored spam, cubed and fried till brown
Add the following and cook 5 mins:
1/2 c fresh or dehydrated chopped onion
2 C fresh zuchini, chopped into bite size chunks(or frzn peas)
1 c mushrooms, chopped
1 stick butter

Then add a 16 oz jar of classico roasted garlic alfredo sauce,stiring, heat till hot. Serve this sauce over the noodles in bowls. sprinkle with parmegian if desired. Serves 5.

Potatoe pie /Serve with meat
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5 or 6 large potatoes, peeled then grated
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 tub sour cream
mix all above ingredients in lasagna pan. dot with butter. bake 350 for 35-40 minutes. top with corn flakes and cook another 15-20 minutes. (optional: add grated cheddar or real bacon/ham chunks)

Morning crock pot breakfast (cooks overnight)
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16 oz tater tots
1/2 lb diced ham
1 onion chopped
i green pepper chopped
1.5 c grated sharp tillamook cheddar

layer 1/3 of ingredients in order,then repeat 2 more times, ending in cheese.
combine 6 eggs and 1/2 c cream , half and half or milk. pour over rest of stuff. cover, cook low 6-8 hrs. 7 servings

2 nite dinner from one meat
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night 1 : mini meatloaves
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1 12 oz jar beef gravy divided
1 c water
2 lbs ground beef
1 pk 6.25 oz stove top chkn or beef flavor
2 beaten eggs

pour 1/4 c gravy in bowl, stir in water, add rest of ingredients.( refrigerate leftover gravy for tommorrow).
divide meat mixture in half. shape half of mix into 2 loaves on foil covered lipped sheet. shape remaining meat into 16 balls. place on another foil lined, lipped sheet.
bake together, 20 mins at 400. remove meatballs,keep for tommorrow. keep meatloaf in 10 more mins. slice and serve for tonight.

day 2 : swedish meatballs
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Mix leftover gravy and 1/2 c sour cream in large saucepan. Season with cajun seasoning or paprika, salt and pepper.add meatballs and heat through stirring occasionaly.serve over fetucini noodles. serves 4.

do a recipe search for 'crock pot ham' online. Make the potato pie to go with it. Make the pie the night before and bake it when you get home.

my easiest dessert/decadent fruit bars
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1 yellow cake mix
2 c rolled oats
3/4c - 1 c butter
Mix together.Press half of mixture in bottom of greased lasagna pan. top with a layer of rasperry or apricot jelly, then sprinkle remaining dough over top. Bake at 350 until lightly golden browned.(25 mins?)cool and cut into bars. dust w/powder sugar if desired.

I have a great recipe for easy artisian french bread. You mix up the dough (only 5 ingredients)in a large bowl, and put it in the fridge overnight. NO KNEADING, ROLLING, PUNCHING DOWN! For the next 5-6 days you pull out a ball of dough and make a loaf every night from this master mix...it takes only seconds to form a loaf and 20 minutes to bake. If youd like the recipie e mail me @ ____@____.com and I'll send you my recipe I have typed on word.

Remember that you don't always need a meat for protein. You can do beans or eggs sometimes, and that can be quick.
I don't know where you are located, but I've become a real fan of Trader Joe's. They have some tasty sauces, and some great ready-to-heat stuff in the frozen section. For example, frozen, they have bags of rice you can steam in the microwave (no pot to wash!), egg rolls, naan bread, fajita ingredients...
I also like adding frozen veggies to anything I've got--peas, corn, carrots can go into pasta.
I'm also fond of stews and soups which can be made on the weekend, and can be eaten during the week. I just toss different things into broth and cook it slowly, with a little spice and a bit of wine, it's always good.
The good news is: Quick and easy cooking has become more popular in recent years, which means cookbooks for busy people. I won't even bother with books that have recipes that fill more than half a page, because I know I don't have the time! Rachel Ray's cookbooks are full of short fast, tasty recipes--she's all about the "15 minute meal" and "30 minute meal". I also have a book called Young And Hungry by Dave Lieberman, who used to have a show (I never saw it, I just have the cookbook because they sold it at the grocery store!), and he's all about inexpensive, easy dishes. I don't use the books a lot, but I've been happy with what I've gotten from them so far, and it gives me new ideas--we all get "stuck" sometimes.

Hi A.-
What about casseroles? You can do a cream base to steer clear of the tomatoes and acidic stuff. It requires some prep work, maybe on sunday, but you can toss together an alfredo lasagna and just warm it up in the evening. ANother great idea is to make a huge bowl of salad on Sunday. It will last you for about a week, and if you grill or boil some chicken )or bake), you can pull out a few pieces, toss them on your salad with some dressing, and TA-DAH!
Another quick idea is a quesadilla or burritos. NOthing fancy- can of beans, tortilla, cheese.
One of my favorites is what I refer to as the turkey bacon wrap. On the weekend, cook up an entire package of turkey bacon. Put it in a plastic baggy in the fridge. Chop up some romaine lettuce and baggy it up as well. When you come home, you will need one can opener, tortilla of choice, a spoon, and your bags of lettuce and turkey bacon. Spread canned cranberry sauce on the tortilla, (you can nuke the bacon if you want), drop a few slices of bacon in the tortilla, add lettuce, roll and eat. 2 of those (depending on how fat you stuff them) fill me right up. The last thing I can think of is to make snack bags up on the weekends (or whatever day you have a few moments).
Snack bags of mixed veggies- carrots, broccoli, snap peas- you can get huge bags of these at costco for $5 something each and they make a ton of snack bags. Also, almonds or mixed nuts with dried cranberries- there is a serving size on the bag. Split the cranberries (or nuts) into that many even sized piles (just eyeball it) and then fill your snack bags. String cheese is good. Yo baby yogurt. Fresh fruit like apples, strawberries, and grapes. If you have these things premeasured out and ready to go in your fridge (like a whole apple and those little glad containers filled with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter), you can grab healthy food without a second thought. You will eat less garbage, feel better, and won't have to spend alot of time in the evenings when you get home. The key is pre-making your food. SInce we have refrigeration, there is no reason not too.
I hope this helps! Good luck!

I use AllRecipes.com and one of my favorites from there is this Taco Soup recipe. So yummy and ready in about 15 minutes! The whole family loves it!
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Taco-Soup-VI/Detail.aspx

A.,
check out recipezaar.com. Search by category - there're hundreds of "OAMC" (once a month cooking) recipes. Invite a few friends over once a month and have an oamc party so all of you can take home 10-20 meals to freeze! Added bonus - you get to hang with some friends.

Hi A.!
Bravo for you for eating healthy! First of all, don't put too much pressure on your self! The fact that you care so much about this puts you ahead.
I have 4 girls and I work part time. I try to do things that will save me time. I try to plan my meals, but I always have a couple of "back up" meals in the freezer and there is nothing wrong with soup or cereal when you are in a pinch. My biggest help is when I have the time I do a lot of prep work. For example, If I do a "big shop" or costco run, as soon as I come home I start prepping, as I am unloading. Maybe get a costco pizza and a salad that night, so dinner is ready. As I am unlaoding and cleaning up I will brown ground beef and put it right in freezer bags, or prep something for the next day. I will get a whole bunch of chicken breasts and grill the whole bunch of them at once. Then slice or dice and freeze. Then your chicken is ready for salads, stir fry or whatever. I find if the meat is cooked, it is a big timesaver. I can do this prep cooking while I am putting eveything else away and my girls are usually helping me unload too. If you are alone then maybe hubby can play with baby for one night every 2 weeks while you get some prep work done!
Another favorite time saver, Find one of our favorite meals, make a double batch, and have it 2 or 3 nights in a row. I do this with chicken pot pie or our favortie soups. If you are tired and hungry at the end of a work day, leftovers don't look so bad! And if you are tired of eating something after a couple days, freezeit and it will be ready for you when you are in a pinch!
Best of luck to you!

Since it's been so hot we've been grilling a lot outside to keep the house cool. I buy a "value pack" of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and put them in a gallon zip lock bag and marinate them a day or 2 ahead. We grill them all at once and then cut up the left over chicken to put on a chef type salad the next night or in burritos, etc. We do the same with tri-tip - the left over slices are yummy in a sandwich. Another quickie is an omelette with lots of veggies, left-over chicken or sausage and just enough cheese to stick together, I make 1 huge one ( 4-5 eggs) and we split it. I cook a few side dishes on the weekend like pasta, couscous or rice with veggies and cut up chicken. I toss a little grated cheese on top and re-heat for my son - it's the only way I can get him to eat a veggie without tears and yelling. Shhh... don't tell him the orange stuff is carrots! ;)
Oh, yeah - BTW I marinate a value pack of steak for a few hours and then cook 2 for us and freeze the rest. The steaks re-freeze very well - add a little beer to your fav. marinade and the ones that sat in the freezer are super tender and yummy when it's their turn on the grill.

This link is too a site called wildtree. Yes it is my site and yes I do sell it but I am sending you the info not for me but because I am a mom of 2 young boys and like you I am busy busy busy...My kids like the food and so does my husband. The company was founded by a mom of a boys with kawasaki disease and a daughter with diabeties. everything is natural and low in sodium etc....http://L.-arnold.mywildtree.com.
I hope it is helpful.
L.

Try Robin Miller's "Quick Fix Meals" on FoodTV. She also has a recipe book. Her recipes are healthier than Rachel Rey's as they are mostly from scratch and you can always use organic ingredients. Her idea is to dedicate a couple of hours on the weekend to prep dinners for the entire week. Can't say I like all her recipes but once you get the hang of her time-saving methods you can improvise. You can also try subscribing to the EATING WELL magazine. They have great recipes that can be prepared under 30 minutes. And their recipes are always healthy. You may also want to consider investing in a good rice cooker. That way your staple is taken care of in auto mode and you only have to worry about a green and a meat/protein.

Get yourself a slow cooker and a cookbook for it. It's fantastic. You do all the work in the a.m. when you have the energy. then when you get home, dinner is ready and all you have to do is eat. Clean-up is easy too.

If you can only cook on one or two days a week, try to cook enough for several meals every time you cook. I like to make big pots of mixed bean soups with ham shanks, or minestrone soup with beef shanks. It takes all day to cook, but it doesn't require much work at all, and one big pot will make dinner for tonight and frozen dinners for another couple of nights. Just add french bread.

If you make enchiladas, instead of making one pan, make several pans and freeze them (without the sauce). If you grill a batch of chicken breasts or thighs, you can have some hot the first night, and make a caesar salad with chicken the next night, or a Chinese chicken salad. If you make rice to go with a stir fry one night, you can make fried rice with the leftover rice, a few veggies, and just a handful of leftover meat.

Stir fries are not quick, but if you prepare enough of everything to make several stir fries, you have several meals ready for your upcoming week without having to marinate the meat and clean and chop all the veggies and the garlic and ginger every time.

When push comes to shove, and I haven't got anything ready for dinner, I sometimes make breakfast for dinner. When you work a 9-5, Monday to Friday type schedule, you never get to have a big sitdown breakfast. An omelette, or a scramble with veggies and sausage, toast and orange juice, is surprisingly quick and satisfying. As Jacques Pepin says, Happy Cooking!

Hi,

Check out Flylady's website. Go to Food for Thought, they have some wonderful recipes and suggestions. They have a book out called Saving Dinner and they have recipes for every week in each season. The beauty is that they have already made out your grocery list and the idea is you only shop once a week and buy everything you need for dinner for the entire week. Try it out, you may find it helps you get organized and save you time.

Good luck and happy dining !!

Hi A.,
I don't know if anyone suggested this. There are some great meal prep companies out there. Chef Danes, Dream Dinners (one of the bigger ones), etc. Sometimes you see them advertising in family/kid magazines like Family Works. Anyways, you can do one of two things. You can go to one of the stores and spend time putting the meals together yourself or you can pay a little extra and just pick them up. They are all for the freezer and when you take them out they require very little preparation. Sometimes just sticking them in the oven. I have found that the quality from store to store (including the exact same chain) can be different on the meats. The menus are pretty much the same as they are franchised and the change 'em up every month. It's actually really fun to go make the meals. At 1st it sounds expensive, but when you actually do the math, it's VERY reasonable. I am not sure why they haven't taken off more so. Good luck!

I found a great seasoning packet for the crockpot that makes seasoned pork that we use for sandwiches or burritos. I put it in the morning (takes about 3 minutes to mix ingred.) and then when I come home the meat is ready and we shred it up and serve it up. It makes the house smell delicious as well.

All the other suggestions are great! I would add one: on the weekend, brown 2-3 pounds of ground beef, chicken or turkey with some onions and maybe garlic, seasoned the way you like it. Drain off the liquid, let it cool, then spread it out evenly across cookie sheets so it is a single layer thick. Cover them with plastic wrap and put them in your freezer overnight. Next day you take them out and put the frozen, pre-cooked meat into Ziploc bags in single-meal amounts--this is perfect to pull out of the freezer for spaghetti, burritos or tacos, salads, casseroles, whatever. I have also boiled a whole chicken in a soup pot, shredding and freezing the meat in packages. If you take the package of meat out in the AM and leave it in your refrigerator, it means dinner is ready about 15 minutes for burritos or tacos! And much healthier than eating them out would be.

You can cook ahead and reheat for dinner or make it fresh. Only takes about 30 minutes.
Beef Stroganoff
Noodles
Start the water boiling for the noodles when you start the beef cooking.

Beef cut into cubes ( can be left over roast or steak)
1 can Cream of Mushrooom soup - 1 beef bullion cube - water.

Simmer meat in water with bullion cube for about 15 minutes longer for tougher cuts. Remove meat ( drop noodles into the boiling water) add cream of mushroom soup to the broth. Stir and heat until smooth. Add a little water to bring consistancy to the thickness of gravy. Return meat to gravy.
Serve over buttered noodles with a vegetable or salad of your choice.

Quick enchilada Casserole

3/4 to 1 Lb. ground beef
1 can sliced olives
1 can enchilada sauce . (I prefer to use Mexican stewed tomatoes pureed in my blender)
Grated cheddar cheese
corn tortillas

1 can refried beans

Spray oil

Brown ground beef, add sauce and olives.
Spray 8 x 11 pan with oil
lay a layer of tortillas in bottom. (Cut in half)
Spoon half the sauce over the tortillas. Add a layer of cheese.
Repeat the layers of tortillas, meat and cheese.
Everything is hot and cooked. Pop in the over for 15 min at 350 degrees just to melt the cheese. Heat a can of refried beans and vegetables, set table. Enjoy.

J.

There's been great suggestions already. I would add that planning really is the key. Writing out what you will have keeps you on track and in our house it keeps us from eating out since the food is already shopped for or defrosted. It's posted on the fridge so I can look ahead to be sure and either prep things or take something out to defrost. I'm a big believer in cooking/prepping in advance or taking some time on a weekend to cook up some meals or even on a weeknight making more than needed so there are leftovers. Another method that can work for some is that in the morning while you're getting ready, you're cooking or prepping dinner at the same time. Put water for pasta on to boil, then go jump in the shower. When you get out, put the pasta in, cover and turn the heat off. Most pasta just needs to sit in the hot water to cook for 10 minutes, then drain, cover and refrigerate.
There are lots of resources and services online for recipes and meal planning, you can look around to find what will match your needs and tastes best.

I always think it is a good idea to make a pot of something on the weekend so you can have some that night, freeze portions for future weeks and then have it for left-overs one night that week... 4 dinners in one. If you do spaghetti (meatsauce and a sausage pepper sause), chili, soups, then you always have something pretty decent to bring out of the freezer. That takes care of two nights. Have sandwiches one night. Throw something in the crock pot one day a week... pot roast, taco chili, a whole chicken iwth potatoes, carrots onions etc. You get the idea.
My fast favorites are pork chops with baked beans and a salad. (literaly 10 minutes) Cube steak with rice and cooked carrots or brocoli (set the rice cooker to cook in the morning) stir fry with shrimp (wash the vegies and cook ahead if you are a morning person, set the rice cooker)And don't forget BLT's. Yes, another sandwich but it is hot and yummy in the summer! And there is always an omelet... Or a baked potato with good toppings...

A different pasta sauce that my family loves:

sausauge pepper sauce

brown italian sausages in large dutch oven, remove, add diced onions, let soften, add thin slices of yellow and orange peppers 2-4 depending on how much you are cooking..., let soften, add 2 large cans of whole tomatoes, crush by hand, be careful they squirt all over! use an apron and a towel to cover pot, put sausages back in. let simmer for 20 -40 minutes until sausages are done. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve over spaghetti noodles. This is fabulous! And freezes well. My girls like the sausage cut which I do right before serving or they dry out.

Chicken with mushroom sauce

This has to cook for a while but is so easy!!! and good left over

in an shallow oven proof pan put chicken thighs, cover with cream of mushroom soup. Add some sour cream and stir it up a bit. Add mushrooms if you are feeling up to it. Let cook one hour. Serve over rice. It sounds so red neck but My whole family loves this! Even my Asian husband!

Linguini with Clams (This takes no time at all!!!!)

Two cans minced clams
garlic
milk
parm

Add oil to large skillet. add chopped up garlic. keep an eye on it, it will burn I promise.Let soften. Add juice only from cans. let cook a couple min. add the clams. Let cook a couple min. Add some milk and parm so that it melts, if feeling really gourmet add some chopped parley. serve on speghetti. add more parmesan if needed.

Good Luck!!! I think this is so much better for your waist line and your wallet than eating out too much. But, you can get into a rut and get tired of cooking...

I feel the same way you do! I have three kids who are all very involved in sports and summer school and I just don't get time to relax and the last thing I want to do is come home and make dinner. I bought a crock pot and the recipe book...Fix it and Forget it! (both at Walmart). I set the crock pot on in the morning if I'm working or early afternoon when I get home and have dinner ready. All I have to do is a little side dish. Good Luck!!!

A.,

I understand the dinner dilema. In light of the busy lifestyle my husband and I have, I decided to be pro-active and find an alternative to cooking meals that require a lot of preparation. I purcahse my food from Celebrity Foods. This company provides meals that are good for you, great tasting and some come pre-assembled, you just have to warm them up. Also, they deliver the food directly to your home and will place it in the freezer for you. The set up is you buy enough food for six motnhs and they bill you monthly for the total cost of food. It works out great for us. The meals are down stairs in our freezer, we go get the food, de frost it and place it in the oven. The food includes meals, and fresh, frozen vegetables. It works out well for us. Check them out on the web just google Celebrity Foods.
I hope this helps you.
- T.

YOIKES! Maybe it is because I am an older mom but I read some of these recipes and my arteries squeal! Believe it or not you can have simple, healthy meals in under half an hour! And I don't mean with thawed meat. For instance the other night I pulled out chicken tenderloins from the freezer, put them in the microwave for about 3 minutes, enough for them to thaw out and be slightly grey on the edges. I pulled them out and put them aside. I then took two potatoes, poked holes in them, put them in the microwave for 10 minutes. Meanwhile I pulled out some frozen veggies and put them in a bowl to wait their turn. At the 5 minute point I pulled the potatoes out, turned them and put them back in the microwave. At that point I put some butter spray in the bottom of a pan, put the chicken on to cook and sprinkled them with lemon pepper (no salt!). When the potatoes were done I stuck them with a fork to make sure they were done all the way through. I then put the veggies in for 3 minutes. Checked the chicken, turned them, waited for them to be grey all the way through.
In 30 minutes I had a healthy, GOOD tasting dinner!

Cooking doesn't have to be complicated, it is just about knowing how long to cook something and what to put together. My kids have even got into the swing of helping me! I have kept track, most dinners take me less than 45 minutes to make from start to finish...and no, we don't eat processed food at all. If you would like some suggestions I would be very happy to help.
H.

Crock pot recepies!!

What we like to do, is BBQ or bake a bunch of chicken breasts Sunday night to use throughout the week. Then when it's time to cook we can just reheat the chicken and pair it with a salad, pasta, rice, etc. We really enjoy making our own pizzas too. It's so fast and yummy too. Buy the pre made dough and preshredded cheese. We like chicken, artichoke hearts, tomato, garlic, pesto, etc. Or you can just do pepperoni and cheese. Super easy and kids love it. You could also make things like enchiladas or lasagna on Sunday night and freeeze them for the week. Good old spaghetti is always fast and easy too. Good luck!