another time management Q...

[tinkbaby]

I don't have any problem keeping the house in order... figured that out years ago when I was a shift worker (active duty)... but I feel like I'm cooking ALL. DAY. LONG. (apparently I live in a house full of foragers that can't go more than 3hrs without food :glare: )

 

Breakfast.

math & writing

Snack.

history & reading

Lunch.

nap/quiet time

Snack.

history & science projects

Dinner.

clean up & baths

Snack.

stories & bed

 

I've looked into the once-a-month-cooking but honestly, I can't even get once-a-week cooking down. How do you all handle the menu?

[Jean in Newcastle]

breakfast - I make dh's the night before and he heats it up before he leaves because he leaves very early. Every one else makes their own.

 

snack - we have snack shelf. Get your own.

 

Lunch - often make your own.

 

Dinner - this I cook!

[fairfarmhand]

I'm with Jean on this.

 

Simplify. One choice at all meals/snacks. The rare occaisions that I allow the kids to choose individual foods, I feel I spend ages preparing food.

 

Pick snacks that don't need prep. Cheese sticks, yogurt cups, apples, carrots, pudding cups...

 

Lunch is soup or sandwiches. Breakfast is cereal, oatmeal, toast, etc.

 

Supper I cook.

[Mallory]

I think we eat about every three hours, but it is only 4x a day ;)

 

Breakfast about 9:00

Lunch about 12:00

Dinner about 4:00

Snack about 7:00

 

But even then, most days, only dinner is a newly cooked meal. AND I expect the kids to do much of the meal work.

 

Breakfast- you're on your own. Usually eggs, oatmeal, or cereal.

Lunch- sandwiches or last nights leftovers.

Dinner- A fresh cooked meal, usually I am in charge (sometimes dsis15), but I make others help

Snack- something that is easy to grab. Usually fresh fruits and veggies, maybe sandwiches or popcorn.

 

I am also pretty firm about those being the times we eat. If I let my kids wander in and eat all day, then I'd be cleaning up all day (or really yelling at them to get in and clean up ;)). We serve food every 3 or 4 hours. No one here is starving :D.

Edited January 16, 2011 by Mallory

[regentrude]

breakfast: family meal. we all sit together. coffee/milk; bread and jam, or cereal

lunch: if I cook, I do not cook for dinner

dinner: if I did not cook lunch, I will cook. If I did, sandwiches, leftovers, salad

 

snacks: everybody gets his own when they need one

[Jen in PA]

I keep things simple by doing one day of "heavy cooking" and the rest of the week is very low-key, mostly reheating things or simple meals. It took a while to fine tune my way because I want simplicity but we all want lots of choices. So yesterday I baked cookies and made pumpkin bread, and last night I had both of my crockpots going, one with a breakfast dish, the other with black beans. Today they have been going all day with ropa vieja in one and curried lentils in the other. I baked two chicken dishes, one with curry, the other with Mexican spices. Rice is steaming right now, and I tossed together a big salad. Now I have great stuff ready for all three meals of the day through at least Wednesday. Thursday will likely be leftovers or some soup from the freezer, and Friday I will do baked potatoes and glazed salmon. The most complicated thing I have left to do all week is make another big salad. Snacks are low prep -- fresh fruits, nuts, pretzels, or cheese. Cereal and toast are always breakfast options. I make homemade pizza on Saturdays for our family movie night, and it is usually the most labor intensive thing I make, but it makes enough for Sunday lunch, so even that is helpful. Even though it means a few hours of concentrated work in the kitchen, the best part of cooking this way is that I only have one day with a big mess to clean.

[Peela]

breakfast - I make dh's the night before and he heats it up before he leaves because he leaves very early. Every one else makes their own.

 

snack - we have snack shelf. Get your own.

 

Lunch - often make your own.

 

Dinner - this I cook!

 

This is me too.

I don't cook- I make one main meal a day. Sometimes if I was feeling like it I would make the kids lunch but often as not, they would make their own. Sometimes we would have our main meal at lunchtime, especially if I was cooking meat (since dh is vegetarian) and then a light meal in the evening, or get your own dinner.

 

For get your own meals, they would make nachos, toasted sandwiches, sandwiches, leftovers, microwaved pies, chips, salad....not always the most healthy meal but worth it to me for the independence factor.

 

For snacks we mostly have fruit.

[2squared]

How old are your dc? That makes a big difference. If you have littles, like me, then having them fend for themselves or not snack doesn't work as well. I serve a hot breakfast; leftovers or sandwiches for lunch; and a bigger, hot dinner.

 

I stole an idea I saw on this forum, and it has helped a ton with the constant eating. I am putting out snack trays for the kids. Now they aren't constantly asking for food, and the kitchen isn't in constant use. My plan is to have fruit with peanut butter or cheese in the morning, veggies and/or crackers with dip in the afternoon, and popcorn after dinner.

 

ETA: My freezer is my best friend. I try to prep extra ingredients so I can grab-and-go. I have cut-up onions in there, cooked and shredded chicken, ground beef shaped in patties (dh hates pre-cooked, frozen ground beef), shredded pork, sliced peppers, shredded cheese, etc. Often I can easily grab my ingredients and throw something together for a quick meal. I also try to keep my evening meals rather simple. A cut of meat with a simple veggie and homemade bread is a pretty standard meal for us.

Edited January 17, 2011 by 2squared

[MomOfOneFunOne]

Well, on the once/month cooking, I was a sad failure at that myself. For years I would make a weekly menu, buy all the stuff for that menu, then just have that in the pantry. I recently decided to put a stop to that for a lot of reasons and stock the pantry with as much as it would hold, keep it stocked, and cook from the pantry instead of weekly menu planning.

 

Now, I should only go to the store for some fresh produce/dairy, something special we decide we want on the spur of the moment, or as we run out of an item in the pantry. I have my husband go on Wednesdays after work to pick up the WF sales flier and get any fresh items we need that week.

 

As for fixing breakfast, lunch, and dinner . . . Boring as it may sound, and sometimes is, for breakfast we alternate b/t oatmeal, egg in a nest, and french toast. That's it. Sometimes I'll have toast instead of one of those but generally, that's it.

 

Lunch is sometimes fend for oneself sometimes left overs sometimes a sandwich (though my daughter really doesn't care for sandwiches much) or quesadillas. Simple stuff.

 

Supper is more complicated but year around I love soups and we have lots of different ones and we have them often. I make plenty to have as lunches, too. We're not casserole ppl but I do like making something for the oven and putting it in and setting the timer so it's cooked just as we get home from an activity or something.

[Chris in VA]

I agree it does depend on the ages of your children.

Around here, I occasionally make a hot breakfast, but we don't all eat it at the same time--the olders can warm it up if they need to, or eat something else.

Snacks consist of fruit from the fruit bowl on the table, or something they can make, like cheese and crackers.

I cook dinner.

Lunch is usually on their own--when they were littler, I'd make soups or sandwiches, or mac & cheese. Very easy, little clean up.

 

LOVE the snack tray idea.

 

I have a friend who, with 2 teen boys in her house, kept things like fajita fixings in her fridge for them to snack on when they came home from school--so more like mini-meals. Her rule was, you want to eat? Then clean up after yourself. Works with teens, not so much with preschoolers! (Tho everyone is trained to take their own plate out after eating, starting at 2yo or so.)

[brehon]

How old are your dc? That makes a big difference. If you have littles, like me, then having them fend for themselves or not snack doesn't work as well. I serve a hot breakfast; leftovers or sandwiches for lunch; and a bigger, hot dinner.

 

I stole an idea I saw on this forum, and it has helped a ton with the constant eating. I am putting out snack trays for the kids. Now they aren't constantly asking for food, and the kitchen isn't in constant use. My plan is to have fruit with peanut butter or cheese in the morning, veggies and/or crackers with dip in the afternoon, and popcorn after dinner.

 

ETA: My freezer is my best friend. I try to prep extra ingredients so I can grab-and-go. I have cut-up onions in there, cooked and shredded chicken, ground beef shaped in patties (dh hates pre-cooked, frozen ground beef), shredded pork, sliced peppers, shredded cheese, etc. Often I can easily grab my ingredients and throw something together for a quick meal. I also try to keep my evening meals rather simple. A cut of meat with a simple veggie and homemade bread is a pretty standard meal for us.

 

:iagree: My eldest kids are just beginning to help with meal prep in the kitchen (they're 9 & 7). I know other kids could probably help out earlier; but, in our house, it's just been easier to gradually have them help. Our general meal schedule is usually:

 

Hot breakfast -- 7:30ish (whenever dh gets moving :D -- he's the cook)

Lunch -- Leftovers; sandwiches, soup

Snack -- Usually fruit; sometimes (when I'm feeling adventurous) nut

butter/crackers; popcorn; smoothies

Dinner -- Family meal. We aim for 6:00. We alternate between a crock

pot meal begun in the morning and dh making dinner.

 

Our local grocery store (HEB, for you CenTex gals) carries 5# bags of organic apples very reasonably priced, usually cheaper/pound than the bag yourself apples. They're also smaller which means that my kids won't waste half an apple. Precut veggies also go over very well for snacks.

 

We too make abundant use of our freezer. Soups, sauces, portioned meats, breads. I try to have a baking day once every couple of weeks for sandwich breads, rolls, etc and once a month dh and I make several huge batches of soups and freeze them. These are easy meals on busy days/nights.

 

I don't allow wandering in the kitchen whinging about "I'm hungry" as usually this means "I'm bored". Everyone is allowed to grab fruit/veg if hungry or water if thirsty. The "I'm boreds" get to wipe down baseboards, scrub toilets, etc. Good Luck!

[fairytalemama]

My kids are on the same plan. I think they would eat every second of the day if they could. One tip that I learned from another mom but I have yet to implement (it was also mentioned by someone else in this thread) is to have a snack tray made in advance for them. She loads hers up with cut up fruit, crackers, bagels with butter, and baby carrots and puts it on the kitchen table right after breakfast. If the kids are hungry, she points them to the snack tray. She reloads it after lunch. In our house in the morning and afternoon, I offer two choices for snack---usually cut up fruit or veggies, occasionally yogurt or applesauce.

 

As far as meals go here, typical breakfast is either oatmeal, toast, or scrambled eggs. About once a week, I'll cook a big breakfast with pancakes, etc.

 

Lunch is either leftovers, hummus and pita, or sandwiches supplemented with cut up fruit and veggies.

 

I plan dinners a week in advance and pick off the list what I feel like cooking that night based on how much time I have and what evening activities are scheduled.

[Tarreymere]

I plan the lunches and snacks, just like dinners. I figure on two snacks a day, breakfast, lunch, dinner and a dessert, all planned. I don't always follow my plan religiously but I have it to fall back on. And I shop for it so I have the stuff on hand. On the plan I have (taped to the frig) I picked out meals, snacks, and lunches that are pretty quick and easy to make and don't translate into a ton of effort on my part. That said, I like to cook and bake so my plan isn't as easy as I make it sound, just easy for someone who is pretty comfortable in the kitchen.

 

For example, I have a large electric griddle. I use it to make eggs in a hole in the morning and that goes really quickly. Same with pancakes. I have a 'prepared the night before' egg casserole and french toast casserole that I can just throw in the oven in the morning. And a coffee pot with a timer. I went to visit my SIL once and she decided to make breakfast for all of us, and was standing at the stove making pancakes one at a time in a skillet.....took her forever, poor thing.

 

Lunch is ramen noodles with cream of chicken soup and mixed vegs, or baked potato with canned pork and bean and shredded cheese topping, or boxed mac and cheese with diced tomato or tuna, or eggs in a hole topped with sliced cheese, or grilled cheese with sliced tomato, all quick, cheap, and easy and hot. A PBJ or leftovers are the only alternative offered.

 

Snacks are whatever fruit is on hand, a PBJ, or the planned snacks which are things like oatmeal muffins, oatmeal peanut butter bars, fruit (canned pie filling like apple, blueberry, ect) muffins, baked apples, cheese and apples, peanut butter and apples, banana bread, flavored breadsticks and breadsticks with cheese, that kind of thing, all made up pretty quickly at home and filling enough. I did cave and get a bread machine, so making bread and dough is a lot less time intensive now. I want a nice Kitchen Aid stand mixer so that making the batter for things will go faster too....so if you see my DH you can whisper that in his ear (in case he accidentally deleted the Amazon wish list I emailed to him). If someone complains or wants something completely different, then I just say 'oh, poor thing, you are going to starve!'.

 

For dinner I just look at the meals that are popular and pick those that I don't mind making (nothing that makes me groan when I see it on the menu, no matter how much the rest of the crew liked it) and that are not expensive. I have just whittled that group down to 28 perennial favorites (for a four week rotation) and revised my menus again. I know that in the hot weather I will switch that around again because I really really hate cooking in hot weather (no ac, and can't afford the electric to run one) and refuse to bake then, too. (Note to self, really look into solar cooking and outdoor propane camp stove this year.....or just plan to live on frozen watermelon until fall, eaten while in a bath tub filled with ice cubes)

 

All of this really depends on your family and your tastes, just sit and analyze what they like vs. what you can afford and what is easiest for you. Honestly, if I didn't like cooking and baking I would have come up with some different plans that didn't rely so much on me being at the stove. Don't fall into the habit of being a short order cook, tell them to eat what you make or starve (haven't ever heard of a kid who actually starved when told this but I do know a few who went without eating a couple meals with no ill effects).