Quick Dinner Ideas for 5 Kids and 2 Adults in Lynnwood, Wa.

I think planning in advance makes all the difference. It should be easy for you to find a crock pot cook book to work from, and then you can plan one or two meals a week that are 'pasta and sauce', or 'vegetables and chicken pieces' that are super quick and easy. Right now i'm also fond of making a big vat of a healthy soup (black bean, or vegetable noodle) that can actually work for two dinners, or dinner and a couple of lunches. The key for me is to know these basic ideas, and then to sit down over the weekend, plan for the week, shop for the week, and be ready to go come the working days.

Check out some of the bagged meals at Trader Joe's. We always have a few in the freezer for those nights that cooking just isn't going to happen. They are well priced and most of them are pretty healthy, a lot healthier then fast food and easy to make.

I have 4 children and our lives are extremely busy, too. I discovered TheScramble.com, which was developed by a busy mom who discovered that most moms are scrambling at 6pm to make dinner. They send 5 healthy, kid-friendly recipes each Wednesday (via e-mail) so you can plan & shop for dinner the following week. I am not a great cook, but I love the recipes and choose about 3 recipes to cook each week. If there is a recipe you don't like, you can swap it for another. You can customize your recipes to accommodate allergies, etc. There is a fee (I think its $29 for 6 months), but it saves you money big time! We are eating healthier dinners that are well planned and thoroughly enjoyed by my family.

Crock pots/slow cookers are great! Some ideas are spaghetti, chili, pot roast, stew, chicken and rice or dumplings, soup (ie potatoe, clam chowder), corn beef. If you're lucky enough to have left overs great for freezing for another time.

T. H

I agree: planning meals will really help. Quesedillas are a great fast meal. Make sure you always have tortillas, shredded cheese and canned refried beans in the house. You can add cooked chicken, beef or rice also. The kids can help assemble. If you make them in different ways you can serve this at least 2 days a week. Also, in the Mexican vein, I make a "nacho pie". Spread tortilla chips in a baking pan. Put spoonfuls of refried beans (or whole beans) randomly all around the chips. Add other stuff you like, olives, diced tomatoes, mild chilis. Cover with shredded cheese. Bake until cheese melts in about 400 degree oven. Don't forget the sour cream and guacamole!
Pasta, of course, is the best fast meal. Cook and toss with olive oil, top with parmesean, open a bag of salad...for a special treat buy a garlic bread and bake it while the pasta is cooking. For a healthier alternative get whole grain or part whole-wheat pasta. Same with pasta and jar of tomato sauce or container of store-bought pesto.
Stock up on frozen veggies, as suggested. Melt cheese on the brocolli or cauliflower to help make it more palatable. Have the kids help!! (Did I say that?) Lots of baby carrots and sliced apples on the table. We consider apples a "vegetable" at our house.
Finally, also suggested already: Breakfast for dinner! Scrambled eggs, toaster waffles, bacon and fruit.

I have a few ideas that I hope will help. First, find a slow cooker cookbook. There are lots of different things you can cook in one, and it can make dinner time a lot easier when you can cook at a less stressful time of the day.

Second, precook some meat, or buy some precooked. I find that it's a lot easier to be willing to cook a quick dinner if I can pull some already cooked ground beef or chicken out of the freezer. It takes 2o minutes out of the cooking process so dinner feels a little easier. My kids love to eat spaghetti, chili macaroni, taco soup - all which take 25 minutes or less if you already have the meat cooked. We also sometimes make chicken quesadillas with just chicken and cheese and sometimes green chilis or olives. It is easy to cater this to what each child likes.

One last suggestion that has helped me, when I actually do it, which is not consistently. If I plan out meals a week in advance and then do the shopping for them, dinner is much easier. Somehow taking the decision making process out of the cooking makes the whole task seem more manageable. If you look through some cookbooks or search online, you can probably find some recipes that don't take much more time than it takes to get in the car and drive for fast food.

I just have a minute, but wanted to respond quickly. My husband and I were having a similar experience. We have found that it makes an amazing difference to plan our meals for the entire week on Saturday or Sunday and do all the shopping for the week. Then you don't end up every day at 3:00 (or 6:00!) wondering what you are going to have and running for fast food. It has saved us literally hundreds on our grocery bill and dining out budget and makes us soooo much less stressed during the week. Try it for a few weeks. It takes a little time during the weekend but it is so worth it.

Some quick ideas:
French dips
Marinate chicken and grill with a box of rice and some vegetables (canned or frozen are always quick, fresh is best)
Stir fry veggies and chicken
Spaghetti or tortellini (buy jars of spaghetti sauce and add some sausage, ground beef, ground turkey, chicken sausage)
Tuna melts
Soup
BLTs

My other suggestion that helps us a lot is to double recipes and then put a batch in the freezer. Then when in a pinch, we can pull one out. And when I make things that call for a 9x13 pan, I make 2 8x8 pans instead - one goes in the freezer. We never eat everything in a 9x13 so it goes to waste.

Good luck!
C.

Hi S.,
I have this problem and I only have 2 kids to feed. What I did was brainstorm with my husband as to what meals are tasty, but easy to cook, with no recipe... i.e. meals I can make in my sleep. We came up with several. Here's my list just so you can have an idea of where to start...with all of these meals I also serve a fruit on the side.
chicken breast filets sauteed in a skillet with a side of frozen vegetable (whatever the kids will eat)...
heuvos rancheros (you could make it with scrambled eggs since you have so many too cook for)
turkey burgers - i like the jennie-o burgers from the freezer with sweet potato fries
salmon cakes - real easy to make with canned wild salmon bumble bee brand - you can get it on sale at Fred Meyer regularly - serve with broccoli and black beans
Chili with corn bread

Just think about what you can make in your sleep - find 6 or 7 things that you can cook this way. Make a list and serve one each night. It's not gourmet, but my kids don't like gourmet food anyway.

Good luck,
T.

i also like those bagged meals at trader joe's- usually between 5 and 10 mins in a non stick pan- super easy. you will need to buy multiple bags tho!
my mom got me a cookbook for 5 ingredient crock pot meals. so far they've been pretty good, nothing fancy, but healthier than grabbing takeout/drivethru and the house smells good :)