Working moms - what is your efficient approach to week night dinners? I WFH at 5p comes, laptop closes and I need to get dinner on the table in 30 minutes. What are some quick, healthy, tasty options?

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Honestly, the air fryer has been my salvation. I air fry pork chops, salmon, chicken thighs, and roast veggies in it as well. Then cook some rice or Mac and cheese on the side.. voila doesn’t take me longer than 30 mins.

Taco bowls - cook rice, stir fry chicken breast, or fry ground meat; seasoned with taco seasoning. While that cooks I chop some tomatoes, onions and cilantro. Heat up beans. Done.

Salads - air fry protein and just chop my veggies + avocado

Pasta with salmon - cook pasta. Fry salmon add some garlic, season it. Mix it with pasta. Add heavy cream and some parmesan. Let it soak in that goodness. That’s under 30 mins as well.

Add pesto over salmon, put it in the oven (depends on the size of the salmon for how long) chop veggies for a side salad in the mean time. Done.

likesmarthelpful

Thanks for sharing, very helpful

Will you and your family eat left overs? For a while I was making 3 meals at one time on Sundays for us to have for dinner Monday-Wednesday. One simple meal on the stove and 2 sheet pan style meals in the oven at the same time and just save them so those nights were super easy. I haven’t done that lately though. Recently I’ve done monthly meal planning. I’m in office 3 days a week so I try to have very simple meals those nights. Thursdays is something in the crock pot. Fridays we have some kind of Mexican food (tacos, sheet pan fajitas). Saturdays I make a new recipe usually. Sundays my husband grills. It has been working super well for us!

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Meal prep is key. I cook on the weekends so then we have things to reheat that last for about 4 days - Monday through Thursday. Friday is pizza or takeout night.

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Yes! I was very good about weekend meal prep in the cooler months, but hard to stay dedicated to this in the summer!

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Ready made everything. Also I used to live to cook and now I fucking hate dinner.

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I love home chief. I have grand plans to make a spreadsheet of the recipes but until then I let them do all the prep for me 🤣. They are easily replicated. prep them all on the weekend and then it’s generally 15 min prep, pop in the oven. Love it.

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Wait, I haven't heard of home chief - this is very interesting. Thanks!

Weekend meal prep. Dad takes kids out of the house for a minimum of 2 hours while I get things together for the week.

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Bain of my existence. I can’t meal prep bc I’m too busy making dinner every night 🥲🫠

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Pinterest has become my best friend. That and Hello Fresh. I have 3 kids under 6 and it gets hard taking everyone to the grocery store, so having prepped meals delivered really helps.

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I also have 3 under 6 and grocery pickup has been a god send. definitely cannot go into a store without total chaos 😂

We do a lot of instant pot or crock pot. Sometimes I cook dinner at 5am and keep it in the fridge because 5pm is chaossssssss

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Also have done this!

Ready made hamburger patties are my new fave. I’ve recently learned Honey Bakes Ham Company (if one is near you) has great ready made meals. Since it’s cooler, I’ll fix a hearty soup over the weekend to eat during the week. Having rice and frozen steamer veggies are a staple. Only have to add a quick protein.

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Not sure where you live but we use a meal delivery service called Feast and Fettle in Boston. The meals are ready to eat, just have to be heated in the oven for 7 mins. It has made life so much easier for us, and it’s really good (much better than anything I could cook).

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We used them too! Stopped for budget reasons but we miss it so much

Following!

I have a steamer that I put veggies in (and then give it a quick stir fry at the end to give it more flavor)

I do tend to rely on at least one frozen item from Trader Joe’s most days but I try to stick to fresh veggies and meat when possible.

I love a good sheet pan recipe. Here’s one:

Sausage or hot dogs, sliced into chunks
Potatoes or sweet potatoes, cubed
Any combo of other veggies: mushrooms, onions, zucchini, peppers, broccoli - cubed/in chunks
Oil + any seasoning (I like s+p and smoked paprika)

Season and roast potatoes on 425° for 10 mins. Then season and add other veggies and hot dogs and roast for another like 18 mins. You can drizzle pesto or a dressing on top

Another:

Sheet pan chicken and veggies

2 peppers
2 onions
2 portobello mushrooms
1 small eggplant (optional)
1 small zucchini (optional)
1 lb chicken breasts, cut into strips

Sauce:
2 TB balsamic vinegar
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder

Preheat oven to 400°. Slice veggies into strips (you can use any combination of veggies). Toss with sauce. Bake for 20 mins. Add chicken strips, toss to coat in sauce, and bake for another 20 mins.

Can serve with rice, over lettuce, or in wraps.

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