Cooking an Evening Meal When You're Exhausted

newlywed

My tips are:

1. meal plan - make sure there are a few really easy meals each week - even if it means batch cooking or cooking double and freezing.

2. don't sit down when you come in!!! If I sit down I don't want to get up and so dinner gets later and later. So the second I come in, I start dinner - already meal planned so no worries of what we have etc.

When I lived with my parents it was a case of if you're not home then you have to zap your dinner when you get in.


It does sound like a slow cooker may be a good move - today lamb stew was ready when I got home. Just dished up and ate. And you can keep it on low till all have eaten at various times. Mine is on for 10+ hours on low and is always ok.

Flat_Eric

I've taken out a chilli from the freezer for tomorrow as if previous weeks are anything to go by, I shall be very grumpy and tired when I get home tomorrow and won't feel like doing anything. All I will need to do is reheat the chilli and cook a jacket spud. I tend to cook something on a sunday (usually a curry or something similar) which does for dinner that evening, a portion for a meal in the week and stock for the freezer :j

oldtractor

Batch cook. Slow cooker. HM soup and crusty bread once a week. Pasta and a HM sauce once a week. Shop bought fish and chips once a week. Something on toast once a week. Left overs from the sunday joint fried up on a monday eg bubble and squeak.

valk_scot

You could always have a hot meal during the day if there's a canteen or similar and have a light supper or sandwich type meal in the evening. It's better not to have your biggest meal in the evening anyway.

Otherwise one hot course, one cold course? Soup can be the hot course, or something to go with custard can be heating up in the oven while you eat the first course.

If fussy people want specific meals, let them cook them and freeze them theirselves.

TBH though four adults in house means four cooks to me...have a look at the timetable and see who is in first on what night. Even my dad (who could not cook to save himself) could peel spuds and carrots and shove a pre-made pie in the oven for my mum on her late night home.

Otherwise use freezer and microwave. Ready made jars. Carry out (you all chip in.) Leftovers on Mondays. Streamline. There's no law that says you have to cook a full dinner from scratch every night after work, you know. And if anyone moans, give them the job.

Rowan9

I understand this too. Am only in 2nd week of full-time work after having had a wee gap when my OS stuff came along nicely!
Things that work for me - meal plans and batch cooking. Oh and frozen veg. I just buy the fresh veg that I know we'll use. Potatoes of a decent size for baking. our micro does things like bake/ mic a potato in faster time than conventional oven. This week's meals - tinned tomato soup (oh how OS!) and spag bol (taken out to defrost in morning)with salad; tinned tuna, baked pot, salad; cold chicken from Sunday, baked pot for DH, couscous for me, salad; hot chicken in gravy and veg, left over from Sunday. Tomorrow night is quorn chilli, rice, salad. We have biscuits/ crackers and cheese at some point most evenings. Have fruit with/ after meals. This week has been ok, was using up stuff from last batch cook. I roast or braise a chicken, sometimes 2, on a Sat or Sunday and then make it l a s t and aslso try to freeze some bits. We usually have more vegetarian meals thatn we've had this week (only one!) but I haven't got my head round that yet.
Another one who thinks others should be helping make the meal!
W

ladylouise62

A lot of good advice here that I don't need to repeat, but coming at it from a slightly different tack - you don't need to be so hungry when you get home (I know how difficult it is when you are tired AND starving). Try having a late afternoon snack of something that is low GI (slowly digested by the body keeping hunger pangs at bay, like nuts or berries).

babyshoes

I find I am using a lot of frozen mash because it is so quick and convenient, it goes with lots of meals and tastes pretty good too, as well as being relatively inexpensive.

A typical quick and easy meal for us is sausages or chops cooked under the grill, microwaved veg of some sort (sometimes frozen) and frozen mash, heated up in the micro with a dollop of mayo mixed in at the end. Minimal effort and fairly quick cooking time - managed it tonight even with a splitting headache after a long busy day at work, so easy enough to cope with after a normal long day at work. Luckily I know which days are the long ones, and at the moment both OH and I get home late on the same nights most weeks, so we plan meals like this a couple of times a week. I also do the bulk cook and freeze technique, especially bolognese and tomato & bacon pasta sauce, so some 'quick meal' days require only cooking pasta and warming up a sauce.

McFilly

Thanks everyone, I am doing some batch cooking this weekend and may yet invest in a slow cooker. My kitchen is not very big so the idea of everyone coming in and getting their own food is too chaotic for me but I will ask for more help with the clearing up side at least.

Valli

when my oven worked I would often put a casserole in alongside jacket spuds and set the timer to come on so I walked into a meal. Using this method you could do, say jacket spuds, chilli con cane and a veggie chilli. Freeze portions leftover.
You can have other stuff which cooks like this (shepherds pie; fish pie, lasgne etc)

sexki11en

I often feel the same but planning has really helped me.

I do a weekly meal plan, which I shop from so I have everything I need for the week (really helps budgeting too)

Every morning before work, we decide what we're going to eat that night and get the necessary out of the freezer to defrost. As soon as I get in (that's the key for me, not to sit down at all) I start cooking. By the time DH gets in from work (3/4 an hour after me), dinner is pretty much done. We're sat down eating maybe an hour after I got home.

Although there's only 2 of us, I always cook for 4 (sometimes 8 if it's something like a chilli/spag bol) so there's a portion or more for the freezer. Doesn't take any extra time and if you let it build up, there's a week where you don't have to cook (I love that week lol)

SK x