All you working parents, how do you do this?

Question

I am looking for tips, pointers, and ideas from the single parent or the both parents work family, or the just plain busy parent.
I have also tried planning dinners for a week and still waisted food, too late to cook.
Best ways to plan? My daughter needs more structure and I am already giving all my time to every one else. I would spend all my time for her if I could, and was going to try and quit b/c I didn't have to work. Well, now I do, ahh. Probably not so bad a thing b/c I know other parents have a great family with both working. I just need to get this planned out better. I work from 9-6 m-f and my biggest problem right now is nights. By the time we do some type of dinner she is too tired for homework (5 and kindergarden). Then I just read her to sleep, then in the am she is a rock and hard to get up. I make sure she is in bed try for no later than 8:30 but we don't get home until 6:45 and ahh. I don't have availability to change my shedule right now. IDEA

Answer 1

Lots of people have given great suggestions... I agree with the crockpot solutions as well. I also do "30-day Gourmet"... basically you spend one day a month cooking and freezing. I found that it was worth it for several reasons:
1. I was planning healthier meals. Once I cut out those quick, drive-thru trips, my kids felt better eating tasty, homemade meals and I even lost a few pounds! My husband works nights so this was better for him too. He was always stuck with either sandwiches or microwave pizza. Some cities even have places where everything is "prepared" for you... you just have to throw it together (casseroles, pot pies, stews, etc.) take it home and freeze.
2. I was saving money by planning ahead! Previous to "30-day", everytime I went to the store to pick up one ingredient, it ended up as a quickie shopping spree.
3. Great timesaver! Pop dinner in the micro and do homework. By the time you finish HW, dinner is ready to go. (I would also emphasize to your afterschool caregiver to provide as much homework support as possible. You have the right to ask for this as a paying customer. It makes a difference when all we have to do is review what was done earlier in the afternoon.)
4. I hate this one... getting up earlier. I am not a morning person at all but I find if I can get a couple of chores done early, I'm not distracted by the kids and I actually feel more motivated during the day because I've already done more than most people... Yay me!

Don't be discouraged... It's all a juggling act. I would make sure that you get plenty of sleep at night and eat breakfast. (Go to bed an hour after your little one does! If you don't take care of yourself, it makes it more difficult to tend to other needs.)

Answer 2

I also had some trouble with planning meals ahead of time. It sounds like your problem is not planning, its time. If you don't get home until 6:45 you need to get something on the table quick. I have mastered making dinner in under 20 minutes. When I make dinner I make double. I freeze half & that will be dinner for another day during the week or next week. You will still need to plan out your dinners. Lets say you make chilli on saturday. You can have that again on thursday. Or you could change it up a little. Like I make chicken breast on Sunday & I cut up half & freeze. I use that for stir fry another day. The key is to experiment & also to make the really time consuming things on the weekend. Also your crock pot can be your best friend. You can make almost anything. There are a variety of recipes on flylady.com Just type in crock pot in the search bar.

Answer 3

I know how hard this is. I am there right now!!! For me the biggest thing is DINNER. I try to do alot of slow cooker things. Like BBQ chicken. I can throw it in and leave it until I get home. Then All I have to worry about are sides. You can get her to spend time with you by having her open and empty the cans of vegetables. There are all kinds of recipes on the net for 5 min. meals or slow cooker meals. It is not possible for all of us to be stay at home Moms. I used to be one (for 14 years) the past 2 years I have had no choice but to work. There are times when I wished I did not have to but in the end I am doing what is best for my family. Homework could be solved by your Husband cleaning up after dinner and you helping her. Also, do NOT be so hard on yourself. As long as you are spending good quality time with her, she will grow up and appreciate all you do for her. Good Luck.

Answer 4

Try slow cooker meals. This might help you with some of the cooking chores. You put the ingredients in a slow cooker and let them cook all day. As for homework, have her work on that while you are getting the food on the table and for awhile after supper while you clean up. Keep with planning your meals but get yourself a slow cooker cookbook and that will help you and maybe you won't waste so much food. If the place that she goes after school has a set up where she can work on her homework and then you can check it when you get home. Good luck.

Answer 5

My husband and I have the same problem - what to do about dinner. We only get a couple hours after work with our 6-month old son before he crashes around 8pm. So, we try to make the most of it - feeding him, playing with him, and going for a walk - which leaves very little time for dinner. I recently discovered two great "food-prep" companies - www.supersuppers.com and www.dreamdinners.com. They're both very similar and have franchises throughout the U.S. You get to make nutritious meals ahead of time and freeze them for a later date, and they do all the shopping, prep work, and cleaning. The menus change every month and cost $3-$5/serving. My supply is getting low, so I'm heading back to Dream Dinners next week.

Answer 6

Great a crockpot cookbook, use quick side dishes like pasta and instant potatoes. No meal should take more than 30 minutes to make anyway.

Prepare the food as much as possible in the morning and have it ready to pop in the skillet as soon as you get home.

Have your child do homework while you make dinner. You can get it done, check periodically between stirs to see how she's doing, and after dinner you two can just relax together!

Also, you can make ahead meals on the weekends and put them in the freezer. Then you just pop it in the microwave and in a few short minutes you have a nutritious meal!

Answer 7

Dinners: Quick meals, sandwiches with all the fixings, hot dogs with all the fixings, instant & microwaveable food, salads (bagged) add cheese, fahita meat & salad dressing. Quesadillas - tortillas & mexican cheese microwaved or grilled, a mexican form of grilled cheese sandwiches. I once made homeade biscuits from scratch but now they have the homeade style in the freezer section at Walmart or any other store. These are batter made biscuits. They also have the ready biscuits you can just heat up and bacon already made. If you can't afford this I suggest what someone above did, prepare meals ahead of time & reheat later.

As far as the time you spend with her. Be sure on your off days you plan to do something special with her, a special dinner, movie, even rental movie of her choice, etc.

All kids are hard to get up! They don't have stress like adults so they can continue to relax when it's time to get up.

Hope this is helpful.

Answer 8

Hey, kinda know you feel. I am a Sub-teacher and I don't see my baby girl from 8AM - 5PM M-F. My husband works from 10-10 M-F and around the same on S. After teaching all day all I can do when I get home is get her ready for bed, and we all go to bed around 7:30P - 8P and wake up at 6A. I am also going to college to finish my degree (online) and we are trying to move. If I manage to eat, it's left over I only make 3xs a week or TV dinners. I don't know how I am going to manage it when she needs to get fed real dinners. Crockpots are great or some daycares do provide dinner programs. A Kindergartners HMWK should only take 5-15 min each day, most of which can be done in the car. Try starting over breakfast then finishing in the car.

Answer 9

I don't go all out cooking meals like my mother and grandmother used to cook. I try to keep it simple and I try to cook meals that can be had as leftovers the following night.

Stews,
chili
casseroles

Or I simply buy the already made and frozen meals, like lassagna, enchiladas, etc.
Some may say this is lazy for me to do this, but when I have tried to go all out on the home made meals, my kids like the frozen meals better. They would rather have frozen taquitos, guacamole, and cheese dip than grilled chicken, side salad, and baked potatoes any night of the week.
Not to say that on my days off, and on weekends, I don't cook those homemade meals, but getting home between 6:00 and 6:30 at night, makes it hard to do an all out meal when you have kids to help with their homework, baths, and to get into bed by 8:30.

The less time that you spend having to cook a meal, the more time you can spend with your kids.

Answer 10

Who ever your daughters caregiver/daycare provider is, she should help your daughter with her homework so that is one less thing that you have to worry about. My mother did in home daycare for years and she always had the kids that she took care of do their homework after the afternoon snack, the parents really appreciated this and it was no big deal to my mother. Try to get your daughter to bed by 8 if she is not getting enough sleep. Try to prepare some foods on the weekend and freeze them, that will help free up time during the week by just having to heat them up. Good luck, it is not easy being a working mother