After a long day of work, school pick ups and drop offs, extracurricular activities, and other obligations, putting dinner on the table can feel like an extra chore. Deciding on a meal, gathering ingredients, and cooking while hungry kids beg for snacks requires mental bandwidth many parents lack by evening.
However, having a plan and approach for tackling weekday dinners makes getting food on the table far less painful. With a small time investment over the weekends to shop and prep, you can simplify weeknight cooking. Here are ideas to reduce stress for the nightly dinner grind.
Embrace Batch Cooking
Rather than preparing a single meal every evening, double recipes on less hectic nights to stock up on ready-to-heat entrees. Casseroles, stews, roasted vegetables, grains like quinoa or rice, and proteins like chicken or tofu all keep well refrigerated for several days.
Having batches of cooked ingredients on hand cuts weeknight prep time significantly. Simply pair with a fresh veggie or salad and dinner is served. Getting into the habit of freeze-ahead batch cooking monthly is also a huge time saver.
Take Advantage of Slow Cookers
Pop ingredients into a slow cooker in the morning and return home to a just-ready meal. Hearty stews, chilis, pulled meats, and more all turn out fall-apart tender and full of flavor after slowly braising all day. Clean up is easier too since dishes are contained and there’s less watching pans.
Double Up On Recipes
When baking chicken breasts, roasting vegetables, or cooking grains like rice or quinoa, purposefully make extra. Refrigerate or freeze half to pull out later in the week for quick tacos, stir fries, casseroles, or bowl meals.
Having batch cooked components in the fridge cuts dinner decision fatigue and makes assembling meals fast. Get creative recombining proteins, veggies, grains etc. so meals feel varied.
Take Advantage of Shortcuts
While homemade is great, don’t be afraid to use pre-prepped ingredients to accelerate cooking. Quality store-bought sauces, jarred pasta, rinsed beans, bagged salads, and pre-chopped veggies help speed the process.
Get Strategic With the Instant Pot
The multi-functional Instant Pot pressure cooks ingredients in a fraction of conventional cook times. Use it to quickly prepare beans, grains, soups, entrees, and more that can be repurposed throughout the week.
Simplify Sides
Pre-washed bagged lettuce and veggies eliminate labor-intensive chopping and cleaning. Dinner rolls, garlic bread, or breadsticks ask to simply be tossed in the oven. Healthy steam-in-bag grains provide fiber and whole grains with zero work.
Embrace One Pot Meals
From skillet dinners to sheet pan meals to foil packets, choose recipes with minimal components and cleanup. Soups, stir fries, fajitas, and casseroles conveniently contain preparation and cooking to a single vessel.
Take Things Outdoors
Tap into summertime weather with grill-ready favorites like burgers, hot dogs, kebabs, or chicken wings. Letting the grill or barbecue do most of the heavy lifting keeps indoor kitchen time minimal.
Get the Family Involved
Engage kids’ help with tasks like washing veggies, tossing salads, and assembling sides in small prep bowls. Older kids can take on mixing, measuring, chopping, or following recipes under supervision. This turns dinnertime into a chance for togetherness rather than solo scramble.
The key to maintaining sanity amidst the dinner rush is accepting that not every meal will be Instagram-worthy. However, with a few go-to recipes, batch cooking, handy appliances, and strategic shortcuts, feeding your family nutritious meals doesn’t have to devour your evenings.
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