How Do Working Moms Handle Dinner Every Night? (All You Need to Know)
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Ever wondered how do working moms handle dinner every night? Well, the process is not easy, but it isn’t an impossible task either. You don’t have to be a stay-at-home mom or dad to cook meals for your children and yourselves. You can do so even with a job.
Developing efficient strategies is what you need the most at such times. Something that would make the struggle comparatively easier, right? So what is the “big” secret? It’s not a secret anymore. The cat’s out of the bag, so let’s find out what we have here!
How do working moms handle dinner every night: 9 useful tips
1. Avoid the weekly dinnertime scramble
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Preparing dinner after getting back home from work doesn’t sound like such a good idea now, does it? Imagine reaching home after a long, tiring day only to find your family waiting for you to cook a meal for them. At such times, it can get frustrating to organize even a single meal from your fridge.
So in the end, you either order for takeout or spruce up some scrambled eggs with toast. The best way to avoid this is to prepare well in advance. Planning goes a long way in making the after-work hours less taxing than when you’re at work.
2. Stock up on all essential ingredients
If you’ve decided to prepare easy dishes like wasabi, pasta, etc. then you need to make sure that you have all the ingredients in place. Keeping your pantry items, spices, and freezer staples available during the week is necessary if you want to avoid last minute hassles.
When you have things like frozen vegetables, brown rice, pasta, etc. at your disposal, it becomes easier to prepare a meal. You also don’t end up spending too much time in the kitchen.
Even little items such as taco seasoning, herbs, or Italian seasoning add tons of flavor to simple, quick recipes. You can incorporate them into your potatoes, fish, or chicken to make dinnertime more delicious. These are some easy dinners for working moms.
3. Master the art of planning
If you want to know how do working moms handle dinner every night, then you need to start planning. Figuring out what to cook at six in the evening on a workday is not an ideal option. Some parents spend over 2 hours on the commute. And they don’t like to get back home to spend another hour or two in the kitchen, right?
But when you plan everything over the weekend, you make life easier for yourself. Make a list of the dishes that you’re going to prepare all week. Then head to the grocery store to buy all the ingredients. And that’s about it!
4. Cook large batches
This involves weekly menus for busy moms. All you need to do is this. Cook a big batch of grains or proteins that you can mix and match all week long. Preparing large quantities of food is what most moms do over the weekend.
Foods such as rice, farrow, and quinoa have the ability to last for over three days. Even cooked beans can be stored in the freezer for a long time. And beans are something that you can savor with tacos, rice, and salads.
This applies to other food items as well that you can cook and freeze only to devour them throughout the week.
5. Make the most of the freezer
How do working moms handle dinner every night? They opt for frozen vegetables and fruits at the supermarket. Frozen foods like these offer incredible versatility. You can add them to salads or stir fry the veggies however you like.
There’s nothing better than pre-packaged mixes of vegetables to fix up a simple yet complete dinnertime meal. Plus, you also end up saving a lot of money when you buy frozen vegetables and fruits. So all the more reason to become best friends with your freezer!
6. Prepare one-pot dishes
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These include your favorite types of chili or beef stew. Cooking all-in-one meals also makes the cleaning process easier. Fewer pans and pots to wash means more time to enjoy the meal and relax, right?
And the best part about it is that you can freeze the dishes and have them the next day too.
7. Buy high-tech kitchen appliances
Whether it’s the herb grinder or sausage stuffer, a kitchen appliance goes a long way in making life more convenient. And that’s the whole point of these types of products. Any unit that allows you to cook ahead, cook hands-free, or shorten the cooking time is a lifesaver!
There are also appliances that you can plug in before leaving for work in the morning. And they do the job for you till you get back home in the evening. For example, the crockpot. You can place chicken breasts with salsa into the device before heading out for work. So as soon as you reach home, all you have to do is spruce up the chicken tacos or a salad.
8. Recycle ingredients
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Do you prefer cooking meals from scratch? If that’s your thing, then I have a solution for you too. Whatever it is that you’re planning on cooking, prepare two batches. One for tonight and the other you can use as an ingredient to create something else the next day. Makes sense, doesn’t it?
Stir-fry chicken is something that you can add to tacos the following day. Even chili constitutes as an excellent addition to any baked dish for another night that same week.
So you don’t need to feel bad about spending so much time in the kitchen to prepare a single meal. Foods like fajita chicken, meatballs, and even vegetables fit into this category.
9. Use breakfast recipes for dinner
Do you have fresh mushrooms, frozen spinach, cheese, and eggs at your disposal? If yes, then there’s no need to worry about how do working moms handle dinner every night. Eating delicious breakfast dishes for dinner is not illegal. So don’t think of it as a bad idea.
Feel free to throw in some bacon or anything else that you enjoy with scrambled eggs. And when it comes to breakfast meals, everybody in your family will enjoy dinnertime.
So now you know!
Time to give up wondering how do working moms handle dinner every night. These useful tips go a long way in making every parent’s life more convenient and less frustrating. The goal is to eat healthy while also spending less time in the kitchen.
So you can easily achieve something like this if you use your mind and money right. You should know that preparing meals will never seem like an effortless task. But you can make it easier and quicker by planning.
Did you go through all the nine tips? Which one was your favorite?
You can let me know by dropping in your feedback and comments in the section below. I hope the content was informative and interesting. And I hope that you come back for more such articles. I have plenty to offer.
Thank you for taking out time to read the whole article. Have a beautiful day!
About the author:
Barbara Davis, the founder of MomTrustedChoice, is one of those bloggers that create content based on their personal experiences. This helps in making the article more relatable. And she knows that parents look for such kind of information on the web. So her compassionate style of writing is what her readers love the most. Even her knowledge about all types of topics related to motherhood and pregnancy is quite vast. Thanks to the extensive research that has been a part of her life for many years.
Sources:
1. https://www.care.com/c/stories/5260/12-tips-for-working-mothers-by-working-mother/
2. http://www.rd.com/food/recipes-cooking/cooking-dinner-every-night/
3. https://www.homemademommy.net/2012/09/real-food-survival-guide-for-working-moms.html