Getting Dinner on the Table-best Method

I happen to like to cook, but I also know what a chore it can be when you're overwhelmed with other stuff. I think a very easy thing to do is an entirely oven roasted meal. I am not personally a fan of the kinds of things made in crockpots (too liquidy) and I think defrosting made ahead meals would get old. I find the easiest dinner is one that is entirely oven roasted. For example, I will put chicken and vegetables in the same pan. A lot of vegetables taste great roasted and you don't even need a recipe. Whatever temp you need for the meat, use it, throw in the veggies tossed with olive oil, and monitor. The hotter the oven the quicker they are done. Nothing wrong with buying precut veggies, either, or prepping them earlier. Another great thing, which I just got and love, is a rice maker (fuzzy logic style.) Throw it in and press a button, instant side dish!

I make my spaghetti sauce by the gallon. Then I freeze it in Quart size Zip Lock Freezer bags.

I cook 5 lb chubs of hamburger meat then divide it up into Quart size Zip Lock Freezer bags. I take one out and make taco meat by adding the seasoning and some water. Cover the pan then chop the meat apart, stirring often.

Some of it I might cook with chopped onions.

I make sloppy joes, tacos, HB pizza, casseroles that need cooked HB meat.

I buy the really inexpensive leg quarters from Walmart for $5 for 10lbs. Then I boil them in a large stock pot. I take the leg quarters out and skin and bone them. I return the bones and skin to the water and boil it some more. I let it cool for a while then pour the broth through some cheese cloth to get the bones and debris out. I cool the broth then skim the fat off the top. When it's very cool I put it in gallon size Zip Lock Freezer bags.

I chop the chicken up and freeze it too. I can pop the chicken out of the baggie into a microwave bowl to heat.

I make chicken fajita's, chicken and noodles, chicken and dumplings, chicken salad, chicken helper, and so forth.

My chicken and noodles creamy soup. If you want no Creamy then leave out the canned soup and add a small amount of chicken style seasonings.

I use 1 gallon of broth, 1 pint or quart size freezer bag of chicken, some noodles that "I" like for chicken and noodles, then at the end, after the noodles are completely cooked, I add a large can of Cream of Chicken Campbells soup, straight from the can.

I soooo feel your pain. I hate the whole "what's for dinner" thing! I also work full time and hate to shop :) I don't usually use a crock pot during the week as we have a hard time getting out the door on time as it is. I do use it on the weekends though.

A couple of things we have done.

1. We have an upright freezer that is chock full.
2. We have meat delivered twice a year.
3. We have veggies delivered once a week.
4. Our pantry is full of our go to non-perishables. We stock up when there are sales.
5. We always make enough to have leftovers for lunches and/or a second meal during the week.
6. I usually try to cook extra meat to use in another meal later in the week. Like extra chicken breast that can be used on a salad or in burritos, etc.
7. For some meals I'll make double (or more) batches and freeze the extra - enchiladas, burritos, lasagna, pot pies, meatloaf, soup, baked beans
8. I try to make brown rice on the weekends and keep in the refrigerator
9. I keep a supply of chicken dogs (no nitrates) and pre-made hamburg patties in the freezer for filler meals.
10. I keep our veggies prep simple - steamed in the microwave. When we make salads we make a large one that last several meals.

Thanks for this thread. I love to hear others ideas.

The trick is to find about 10 meals that your family enjoys and rotate them. You can make double batches and use them as left-overs for lunches the next day and even freeze them for future dinners. I am currently doing the fast metabolism diet and the recipes in the back of the book are fabulous! Even if you choose not to follow the diet. The author, Haylie Pomroy, gives great advice on preparing meals ahead of time and freezing them. I also liked a page on Facebook called 100 days of Real Food in which the author gives great tips for easy recipes, prepping and storing healthy foods. Here are some of our favorite meals I have collected over time for my family:
Dinners
1)Tuna/salmon patties (mix tuna or salmon, raw egg, bread crumbs or crushed crackers together, season with your favorite seasonings as desired, cook in oil- I use coconut oil) serve with rice or noodles, salad or other veggie side.

2)Tacos
3)Turkey or beef crockpot chili
4)Rotisserie chicken (our favorite brand is from Costco), mashed potatoes or macaroni, veggie or salad

5)hamburgers- I got this from a Paleo app on my phone. roll ground beef into a ball, dip in a mixture of raw egg, shredded cheese, minced garlic, salt and pepper. Take a piece of bacon or turkey bacon and wrap around the patty. Broil, grill or fry. They are so flavorful you don't even need a bun. We put it on a bed of lettuce and double up on fresh veggies. I sometimes bake some fries with it.

6) steak and spinach salad. Broil or grill steaks. Make spinach salad and add grape tomatoes, baby carrots, onion, mushrooms, celery, etc. I like to add real bacon crumbles, sunflower seeds, nuts and shredded cheese to spruce up our salads. I also saute some onion, green peppers and mushrooms to put on top of the steak. So yummy!

Hope that helps!
A.

I do a mixture of freezer cooking (I make soups,chicken pot pie, meatloaf, carnitas, Refried beans, black beans, lasagna, enchiladas, pasta sauces, etc) and fresh cooking. I will then also use my slow cooker every few weeks. I like to freeze the pieces of meals, so I make double batches of Mexican rice and freeze 4 dinner portions. I cook up pork shoulders that could feed an army and get 10 dinners from it. Last time I did meatballs, we did 10 lbs! We use the grill, simple clean up with throw out pans....

I then have fresh meals that take little time...grilled chicken with black beans. Pasta with red pepper cream sauce and shrimp, etc.

But I do double recipes like crazy and freeze another meal. This saves tons of time.

When my kids were young I use to do all my cooking on Sunday. That way I'd just have to make maybe a salad or veggies when I got home from work. As they got older I started to use my crock pot a couple times a week. I still do crock pot things a couple times a week but now I throw the meat in straight out of the freezer. It works out great.

I like to cook or precook for the entire week. The slow cooker is great for this.
However, I also do a lot of meals that are repurposed leftovers.
We make tacos and mini-pizzas from leftovers.
We have soup made from leftovers once a week. Initially that sounds unappetizing so I didn't advertise it to my kids that way. I called it "hodge podge soup" even thought that brought up unpleasant memories of my 3 purgatorial elementary school years eating the weekly hodge podge casserole (sometimes called tater tot casserole) served by the cafeteria ladies.
Breakfast for dinner is very fast.

One of the things I like to do is cook up a lot of boneless chicken breasts... they are often SO large that I cut them in half, so I get two 6 oz servings from each boneless half.

I will cook up 5-6 of these breasts, giving me 10-12 portions, and freeze most of them in a different container so that all I have to do is pull out 2 servings, put on some veggies, and maybe some couscous (cooks VERY fast, and I usually add some garlic and herbs to give it more flavor).

One of my favorites right now is a pineapple chicken....
Mix together:

2/3 c pineapple juice (I buy the 6 pack of canned juice... about 3/4 C in each can, and hide them in the pantry to use for this recipe.)
1 1/2 TBSP honey (maybe not a good idea if you have infants, so use brown sugar instead?)
1 1/2 TBSP soy sauce
3/4 tsp ground ginger
3 cloves (or more) garlic, minced

chicken breasts.

Place the chicken breasts in a pan (I cut them into 5-6 oz portions, or whatever is appropriate for your family. Most boneless chicken breasts are almost a pound these days, so I cut them in 2 or 3 pieces each). Pour the sauce over the chicken.

Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. When the chicken is cooked, pour the remaining sauce into a saucepan and boil for 5 minutes or so, to make it more syrupy. Spoon over the chicken to serve.

I usually serve this with brown rice or couscous.

If you are freezing this, just spoon over some of the leftover sauce and freeze that way. You get some of the sauce, anyway.

(This recipe is actually from the Reader's Digest diet cookbook... hubby loves this recipe!)

I also cook a couple of other "big batch" chicken recipes, with different seasonings... again, I cut the chicken breast into a serving size, and freeze plenty of it for later meals.

Check out Rachel Ray's Week in a Day for cooking on Sundays for the week. I love her Turkey Breast (she does 2). Butter and rosemary on top, yum! But too hot here now for the oven on that long! Then she uses the meat in many ways (just like chicken) throughout the week. You can chop your veggies for a stir fry later in the week.

It's best to cook your meat in big batches and then divide up.

I do hamburger meat two ways. I put Italian spices in one batch and Mexican spices in another. Freeze for a quick meal.

Rotisserie chicken can feed you for 3 days! Strip the meat off the bones and use it for sandwiches, enchiladas, casseroles, etc. I used the dark meat last night to mix with salsa and then fry a corn tortilla with cheese and the meat for a chicken taco. I made chicken subs the day before with bacon and cheese and a mayo concoction with lime and jalapeño.

Crockpots are great! I use mine to cook chicken on a bed of chopped onions and then use part of the meat for other things and part for soup from the broth it leaves with the onions. Put your favorite spices in the soup, i use cilantro and cumin, along with a can of tomatos and corn and drained black beans. Or make chicken chili.

You can use the hamburger you froze to make soups, also or chili. Prepare the ingredients for chili on Sunday. put it in the crockpot one morning along with the frozen cooked hamburger and it's done when you get home.

The meat is the key.
1.It either has to be done quickly, like on a grill or in a stir fry
2. precooked on a day and frozen
3. Done at the store, like a rotisserie chicken
4. Done in a crockpot.

Good luck!

I just go to Dream Dinners once a month. Two hours there assembling my dinners (they do all the prep work before I get there, hallelujah), and I'm done for the entire month. All my meals assembled, ready to go into my freezer. Once per week, I take out enough meals for that week and put them in the refrigerator to thaw. Then each night, I pull out one dinner, make it (usually takes about 2 seconds of prep and 20-30 minutes of cook time), and serve it. Easy as can be. At first I thought it was sort of expensive (around $25-30 for a 6-serving meal), but actually, I rarely go to the grocery store anymore, so our food bill has gone way down. And I spend a lot less time in the kitchen, or trying to think of what to make, and then making shopping lists and going to the grocery store, so it's a huge win for me.

So, if there's a Dream Dinners (or Dinner My Way or whatever) near you, it's worth giving that a try. It has 100% resolved my stress around cooking dinner and saves me a huge amount of time.

here is my weekly menu for this coming week
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cabbage-beef-soup/detail.aspx (use turkey instead of beef)
http://ellysaysopa.com/2013/08/14/chorizo-mushroom-potato... (tuesday)
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/ham-tetrazzini/detail.aspx (ham tetrazzini)
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/tarragon-turkey-soup/detail.... (thursday)
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/aida-mollenkamp/lemon-...

none of these take any time to make

-Always have a frozen Stouffer's lasagna in the freezer (but beware they
take an hour in the oven).
-Use your crockpot. Google "easy crockpot recipes". An easy one is
chicken, sm red potatoes, chopped carrots, rings of onions, water &
seasonings.
I make some standard easy things on a regular basis to make my life easy:
-tacos
-hamburgers (buy the premade patties in the frozen section)
-Rotisserie chicken hot & ready from the store w/coleslaw
-steaks on the grill, mashed potatoes
-bbq chicken breast on grill, salad, veggies

Sunday Troy smokes. Usually a large piece of beef, sometimes chicken, pork products.... Then we eat.

The beauty of this is you are not eating left overs all week. Shave some off, add Mexican spices, make tacos. You can do that with chicken, pork, whatever. Add some to tomatoes, spices, make a pasta.

My point is these weekly meals are amazing, they aren't leftovers and they take maybe 20 minutes to create, maybe up to 40.

Fish only take a few minutes to make so that is easy.