Hi moms. What is you go-to quick dinner menu when you are just exhausted at the end of the day? Besides take-out :)

Cereal....!

Omelette or scrambled eggs

Plate of small things (seriously whatever you have, one cheese stick, ten Cheerios, three carrots)

Quesadilla! I usually have all of the ingredients

I’m a big fan of ‘dump it all in’ slow cooker meals. Here are some good ones to google: 1) Mississippi slow cooker pot roast; 2) throw in 1-2 lbs of boneless pork loin with half a sliced yellow onion, 2 large sweet potatoes peeled and cut into chunks, and a can of apple pie filling. Slow cook low 5-6 hrs

I love to cook and i love home made meals but i just don’t have the energy with work and kid to meal plan and cook during the week. My husband and I get Freshly meals delivered - we tried a bunch of meal delivery services and this one was the best tasting, straight to microwave option that we are still using 1 year later. We try to have healthy things in the fridge for easy to grab snacks and meal supplements (for both us and the one year old) from a once a week grocery trip. Eg microwave in bag broccoli florets for easy veg for us, sliced ham and cheese and frozen cut up veggies for the kid. I also always have a few Trader Joe’s frozen meals in the freezer, and some prepared meal type things (pre-made meatloaf, sausages) in the fridge that really just need to be heated up.

Breakfast for dinner, grilled cheese paninis and tomato soup, quesadillas, finger food - cheese, crackers, veggies, fruit.

Steamfresh veggie packs + hard boiled eggs

Scrambled eggs with spinach and cheese
Quesadillas
Frozen cauliflower crust pizza (we stock up on the ones from Costco)
Amy’s Mac and cheese and I add grated whatever veggie is in the fridge, my toddler will eat veggies if it’s hidden in cheese, meatballs or eggs
Canned soup and grilled cheese
Frozen dumplings
Pretty much any other relatively healthy frozen meals. We have an extra freezer I got to store breastmilk and now it stores dinners when I’m too lazy to cook.

Chicken soup - buy a rotisserie chicken and chicken bone broth from the store and make either chicken noodle or a modified pho. Or chicken enchiladas - also quick.

We find that prepping in advance and all at once over the weekend is the easiest: roasted veggies, potatoes, rice, sous vide (any anumal protein) and just grill at the last minute and takes waaay less time than take out. Economies of scale for prep will take 1-2 hours pretty much irregardless of the amount we make, then 2min to serve.
Otherwise quesadillas, open faced sandwiches (all sorts of cold cuts, spreads, cheeses).

When I was first learning to cook, we ate a lot of paninis - grilling it and calling it a “panini” vs “hot sandwich” made it sound worthy of dinner.

Tacos (and there are so many ways to do slightly different tacos).
I also love to pick up a takeaway roast chicken and do ina garten’s roasted chicken and arugula salad with a baguette and some cheese. Ina wants you to roast your own chicken but just buy one :)

Rice and scrambled eggs mixed together

Breakfast at dinner. Basically pancakes or waffles with some protein and peas or corn.

Quiche! Easy and delicious! I get the crusted pie from the store and in 5 min it’s all done!

Pita pizzas are a good one. Pita bread, spaghetti sauce, cheese. Other toppings if you have them. Top the pitas as desired, bake at 400-425 for 6-8 minutes or until cheese is melty.

Worked out great when I was a single parent with a picky eater. She could “decorate” her own personal pizza & I could have something with more flavor.

Leftovers!!!!

Rotisserie chicken and some roasted veggies
Chicken nugget Parmesan- take those freezer chicken nuggets, bake them, top with marinara and shredded mozzarella then put under the broiler until the cheese tops are golden brown. Serve with angel hair pasta (cook pasta while chicken nuggets are cooking)

This is an easy weekend meal: coat a rack of St. Louis ribs with your favorite rub. Place in slow cooker standing upright, curled against the wall. Dump a cup of your favorite bbq sauce over the ribs. Slow cook high for 4 hrs. Transfer to cookie sheet and broil til a little crispy. Serve with a bag of ready made salad