Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

I hardly cook for my husband lol. DD is 7 months, I work nights and usually eat at work. DH usually makes dinner for himself. I'm sure once DD is on table foods I'll cook more often but for now we eat simple meals. As long as your family is eating that's what is important. You can be more creative on weekends if you'd like or DH can pitch in with cooking meals.

if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

thanks for your responses. I am just frustrated at myself for not being more motivated. I really need to get a meal plan going to make it easier for myself. I need to start planning more.

Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

I know work part time from home and still don't find the time to cook. When I did work FT and the boys were in daycare I felt like each night was a wirlwind. It was crazy.

Now it's more under control b/c I'm home, but still nuts. My boys are 1.5 and 4.5. I find some days I can't even get out of the house between the boys, weather, work, etc.

I even run more errands on the weekends.

Don't stress it. Do what you can do to get done.

Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

Posted by MarisaK

Posted by maybeamommy

I have 3 kids (3 and under) and work FT.

I get home at 5 and DH gets home at 645, so I have the time in between to cook.

The biggest thing I do to help myself is to meal plan! I make a plan every Saturday, do the food shopping and then it's pretty easy from there.

I have a basic template that I follow... 2 nights chicken, 1 night pasta, 1 night pizza, 1 night "other" and 1 night appetizer night.

As far as chicken, we try to eat organic free range, so it can get expensive. I usually stick to thighs and drumsticks because they're cheaper. I roast with veggies, marinate & grill, bread and bake, etc. Switch up the sides and it's like a whole new meal! Pasta is easy and always quick! For pizza, I make the dough every other week and freeze half. While the pizza stone is heating up for 30 minutes, I make a quick sauce and top the pizza with veggies, cheese, pepperoni, whatever. Appetizer night is every Friday and that's simple, no-cook. We do some meat, cheese, crackers/baguette... simple! We eat in the living room and the kids love it. For "other" - it's usually something meatless. Could be cheese/veggie quesadillas, soup, sandwiches, fish...

We don't eat until 645 or 7, but that's just what works for us. For me, it's really important to me that I make healthy, homemade meals and that we all eat together as a family every night.

I'm personally not a big crock-pot lover, but you can definitely do something Satruday and Sunday and have leftovers for Monday/Tuesday (like roasting a whole chicken or pork shoulder).

Also, the kids all have leftovers for lunch the next day.

You make it sound so easy ..........WHY is this so damn difficult for me ???

Message edited 5/20/2013 3:44:06 PM.

Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

You are not alone. I am not quite sure how i do it...but both DH and I work late and are fortunate enough that the person who watches DD during the week feeds her so when we get home at like 8 pm its just feeding us and playing with her...

I stick to simple things that i can make in less than 30 minutes - some nights we eat hotdogs and peas and carrots.

Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

I couldn't do it all without my husband.

I don't cook. My husband does all the cooking. He's always gotten home from work before me, so dinner became his responsibility. He knows that if I had to cook for us, we'd be eating cereal at 8 p.m. I don't even pretend that it would be different.

It's just the way things worked out for us. I am still surprised that more husbands haven't picked up the slack and taken on this role though.

I'm not bragging. I'm just really grateful (and a little lucky) that my husband likes to cook.

Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

I dont cook. DH gets off work an hour before me. That means he picks up DS and heads home to cook. I usually get home while he is cooking and DS is snacking. We eat together (DS eats what we eat). DH takes DS straight to the tub for a bath and I clean the kitchen and dinner dishes.

There is no way on earth I would make myself responsible for all that while working a full time job but I am not traditional. My DH was raised in a very traditional home but thankfully that was easy to break. I only cook when I want to cook (which is usually if I get a wild hair on a Sunday).

My house is not as clean as it used to be before DS but we both pitch in on the weekends with laundry and house cleaning. I do more inside the house in the summer because he does so much in the yard.

Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

Posted by MarisaK

Posted by maybeamommy

I have 3 kids (3 and under) and work FT.

I get home at 5 and DH gets home at 645, so I have the time in between to cook.

The biggest thing I do to help myself is to meal plan! I make a plan every Saturday, do the food shopping and then it's pretty easy from there.

I have a basic template that I follow... 2 nights chicken, 1 night pasta, 1 night pizza, 1 night "other" and 1 night appetizer night.

As far as chicken, we try to eat organic free range, so it can get expensive. I usually stick to thighs and drumsticks because they're cheaper. I roast with veggies, marinate & grill, bread and bake, etc. Switch up the sides and it's like a whole new meal! Pasta is easy and always quick! For pizza, I make the dough every other week and freeze half. While the pizza stone is heating up for 30 minutes, I make a quick sauce and top the pizza with veggies, cheese, pepperoni, whatever. Appetizer night is every Friday and that's simple, no-cook. We do some meat, cheese, crackers/baguette... simple! We eat in the living room and the kids love it. For "other" - it's usually something meatless. Could be cheese/veggie quesadillas, soup, sandwiches, fish...

We don't eat until 645 or 7, but that's just what works for us. For me, it's really important to me that I make healthy, homemade meals and that we all eat together as a family every night.

I'm personally not a big crock-pot lover, but you can definitely do something Satruday and Sunday and have leftovers for Monday/Tuesday (like roasting a whole chicken or pork shoulder).

Also, the kids all have leftovers for lunch the next day.

You make it sound so easy ..........WHY is this so damn difficult for me ???

if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

you guys are making me feel so much better. I seriously thought that I was the only one making the same things over and over.

Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

I know this probably isn't helpful, but why don't you tell your DH to cook?! If he is complaining about someone else making food that he doesn't want to eat, let him step up and make something he does want to eat!

I work PT, but they are 3 long days and even when I get home at night I am still working. We barely make dinner but when we do it's usually something that we have prepped the night before to throw in the oven or something quick (eggs, soup, burgers on the grill when the weather gets nicer).

Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

Posted by MarisaK

Posted by maybeamommy

I have 3 kids (3 and under) and work FT.

I get home at 5 and DH gets home at 645, so I have the time in between to cook.

The biggest thing I do to help myself is to meal plan! I make a plan every Saturday, do the food shopping and then it's pretty easy from there.

I have a basic template that I follow... 2 nights chicken, 1 night pasta, 1 night pizza, 1 night "other" and 1 night appetizer night.

As far as chicken, we try to eat organic free range, so it can get expensive. I usually stick to thighs and drumsticks because they're cheaper. I roast with veggies, marinate & grill, bread and bake, etc. Switch up the sides and it's like a whole new meal! Pasta is easy and always quick! For pizza, I make the dough every other week and freeze half. While the pizza stone is heating up for 30 minutes, I make a quick sauce and top the pizza with veggies, cheese, pepperoni, whatever. Appetizer night is every Friday and that's simple, no-cook. We do some meat, cheese, crackers/baguette... simple! We eat in the living room and the kids love it. For "other" - it's usually something meatless. Could be cheese/veggie quesadillas, soup, sandwiches, fish...

We don't eat until 645 or 7, but that's just what works for us. For me, it's really important to me that I make healthy, homemade meals and that we all eat together as a family every night.

I'm personally not a big crock-pot lover, but you can definitely do something Satruday and Sunday and have leftovers for Monday/Tuesday (like roasting a whole chicken or pork shoulder).

Also, the kids all have leftovers for lunch the next day.

You make it sound so easy ..........WHY is this so damn difficult for me ???

Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

I have a 3.5 year old and a 2 year old. We do chicken two nights, pasta one night, steak one night. Friday nights my inlaws come over and we bring in. Weekends we either bring in or DH cooks something.

We still to simple meals for DH and I, kids are really picky so I just alternate between meatballs, chicken nuggets, and pasta for them.

Chicken breasts, I'll either grill, pan-broiled or bake in oven. Steaks on the grill now that it is nice out. Sides are either frozen fries, rice, couscous. DH likes spaghetti squash, he precooks it and has that as a side.

Kids watch TV and play with toys in living room while I cook.

Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

How do I do it? I cut myself some slack. I can't always have a perfect meal on the table, my house isn't always clean. And honestly I make sure we share the responsibility.

We work till the same time so I don't feel like it has to only be me to do the cooking.

My husband gets that. And if he is home first he will start dinner. If I am I do. We do try to make some things on Sundays that can be easily heated up or prepare things that can be chucked in a crock-pot. Crock pot is my BFF as it cooks all day and is like a home cooked meal when we get home. Just need to prepare everything the night before and dump in before work.

Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

So long as DD has a nice healthy meal we are on our own. I have eaten cheese and crackers more nights than I can to count but it is what it is. I don't even get home before 7pm and most nights closer to 8. Sandwhiches work. Hoping that BBQ season will help things along. Dh does cook here and there but he has to taek care of DD till I get home so if one of us does cook we eat at 10pm.

Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

When DH and DS ask whats for dinner i tell them "whatever i put on the table" lol. Most nites its quick meals that take no more than 30 mins to prep and cook. Its easier now since we bbq alot too. Its def not easy though. When im really tired i get pizza lol.

Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

Sunday morning breakfast is a meal planning session.

We discuss what is for dinner each day and go food shopping as a family after breakfast.

I prep whatever I can on Sunday (make a meatloaf, put in pan and put in fridge, make a casserole or eggplant parm, etc)

Dh gets home first and will cook (stick in oven) what I prepped and make sides (salad, veggie)

Planning is 95% of the battle for us. If we don't plan neither of us wants to cook and we end up ordering out.

One nigh is usually leftovers and one night is takeout

Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

My dh for the most part does the cooking. In the slow cooker sometimes ill make pot roast with cream of mushroom sauce n onion soup mix.. Potatoes n carrots in crock pot too
Marinated chicken on grill or chicken cutlets
Last night we had pasta with mixed veggies/sun dried tomatoes n parmesan cheese
Tomorrow is meatloaf
Another day may b eggs n sausage or pancakes
Pork chops another night n we get take out once on the weekend
I do love the frozen eggplant from bjs.. Sauce n cheese n u have eggplant parm.. Soo good
Turkey meatballs n pasta
Its definetly hard bc since im prego with dc 2 im exhausted n hardly help in the evenings bc i have nite sickness

Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

I get home early @ 3:15 so that helps A LOT but with a toddler at my feet I generally make easy things.

Meatloaf with veggies and baked potato--so easy.

Burgers--chicken/turkey/lean beef

grilled chicken over salad, in stir fry with veggies

sausage potato onion--brown sausage, cut potato and onion throw it in glass dish throw in oven for an hour.

tacos so easy

The key for me is shopping and planning ahead, weeks that I don't it is a PITA but if I have everything I need it is easy to whip up a meal in less than 30 minutes HTH

Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

You are not alone!! I pre cook stuff on the weekends. DH picks up DD from daycare so there are things he can start before I get home which helps. The pre cooking on weekends is key for me. Without it I am lost.

Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

complains cooks the same things...

I don't really cook, I use to... I use to make a baked dessert every family party, and then I was like scratch that, other people don't do that and they don't have kids, or SAH.... So I bake when I need to for the kids, I cook for parties....unless really large.

Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

LO will be 10months next month. I get home at 520pm. I pump for 15-20min then I need to walk out shih tzu. By the time I'm done with both it's close to 6pm. Depending on the meal I will start at 615pm-630pm. If I'm making rice and beans I will start that before I walk my shih tzu. They get home at around 645pm. We sit down at the table at 7pm for dinner. For me it's all about planning. I cook about 4 meals a week and rotate the leftovers.Today's Tuesday and I'm already thinking about what to make for next week I guess it helps that I love to cook. I love trying new meals. It also helps that my DD loves to be in the kitchen with me. I'll get back to you when I have 2 under 2

Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

During the winter I used the slow cooker alot. It was great b/c I threw things in there in the morning and by the evening it was all set. Now with the warmer weather, I try to grill. I let the kids play outside and i throw things on the grill. Otherwise, I try and make something fast - pasta with shrimp/chicken/or olive oil and garlic. My dcs are 3 and 5 so they can play without me hovering, but i am pregnant with #3 and i am nervous as to how this is going to work!

Re: if you are FTWM...how do you do it..

I prioritize. We make sure our DD always has what she needs and we don't worry too much about the rest. This usually means our house is a mess and our fridge is empty, but we're okay with that. DH and I can live on peanut butter, frozen pizza and take out. I make sure the laundry gets done and the sheets get changed, but I don't freak out if the house isn't perfect. I'm not a machine.