Do you have a hard time getting a healthy meal, or any meal on the table for your family? I can relate. Many nights during the week I pick up my kids at 5:30pm and we are strolling in the door close to 6:00pm and still need to check homework, get baths, eat dinner, and spend some quality time together as a family.
Here are some tricks and strategies that I use to help me get dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes.
PLAN - The first tip is to plan on Sunday or before you head to the grocery what you are going to cook for the week. So basically I do a quick glance over the calendar to see what events we have planned and then plan at least 4 meals for that week.
This also helps you save money because you aren't impulse buying in the store and you know exactly how much you need.
PRE-COOK - On Sunday spend a little time to start prepping your meals for the rest of the week. What I mean by this is if you are planning on cooking a chicken in your crock pot for Monday night chop all of your veggies, clean your chicken season it and place everything in the pot ready to go so that the next morning all you need to do is pull it out of the fridge and plug it in. Another great time saver to make clean up a breeze, is to use crock pot liners... can you say awesome!
Another example of pre-cooking is to cook two meals at once. Say for example, you're roasting veggies and chicken, instead of cooking only enough for that night's dinner, cook enough extra so you can quickly reheat for another night's meal as well. For my family of four, I typically roast 6-8 chicken breasts at a time so that way I've got enough for another meal. Same thing with the veggies make twice as much so that you can use that later in the week and re-invent it.
Another favorite pre-cook meal is to make mini meatloaves using a muffin pan or mini loaf pan. I make as many as I can and freeze it for other quick dinners that I can re-invent it like chili, meat sauce, or tacos. It's so simple to thaw and toss in a pan with a different sauce to turn it into something completely different.
BREAKFAST FOR DINNER - At least once a week we do breakfast for dinner. My favorite is frittatas. Take left over roasted veggies, or pre-chopped veggies, some sliced ham or turkey and throw it in a skillet to re-heat. Then pour beaten eggs into the skillet, add cheese if desired and throw it into a 325 degree pre-heated oven and in 15- 20 minutes you've got a beautiful pie, and maybe even leftovers for the next morning! Other favorites of ours are fruit smoothies with scrambled eggs and whole grain toast or half of a bagel.
GET YOUR FAMILY INVOLVED. Our kids set the table every night and pour the drinks. They also really like getting in the kitchen and making their own dish from start to finish (although I'm not sure this always results in a quick dinner night!) The main point here is to ask and expect help from everyone since dinner is for the whole family and not just one person's responsibility. As a mom asking for help can be challenging, but I have to tell you once you do it is very freeing.
I hope these tips are helpful to you as they are just a few ideas that help me during the week. To be totally honest, while my intentions are to always get a healthy meal on the table for the family, there are nights where homemade bagel pizzas or hotdogs get served. In the end though, I think as long as we do the best that we can to give our kids good examples of healthy meals and have quality family time around the dinner table, we're doing pretty good!
Best of health to you and your family!
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