It’s 5:30 p.m. You are rushing home to pick up your middle child so you can turn around and get out the door in time to get him to basketball practice across town by 6 p.m. You also have to pick up your oldest from play practice at 8 p.m., and in between your youngest needs to get to and from her piano lesson.
Before you know it, it’s 8:15 p.m., no one has eaten dinner, and you are just now on your way home. The last thing you have the time or energy to do is to whip up a chicken casserole. The familiar shiny lights of the drive-thru beckon you off the road and you succumb to the fast-food dinner in a sack.
We’ve all been there. It’s quick and easy, and it makes the kids happy. But a few hours after gorging on the “McMeal,” you end up with a pit of regret sitting like a rock in your stomach reminding you why fast food isn’t the most nutritious family meal.
Let’s be honest. Sometimes the drive-thru is the best option to maintain a mom’s sanity, but the red flags should come up if that option seems to happen more and more often. I don’t have to recount the reasons why a diet of fast food and frozen pizza isn’t good for our bodies. But what’s a mom to do if there simply isn’t time in an evening to actually make a meal?
The answer: plan ahead and get creative! Here are a few of my dinner-in-a-pinch options for a family of five.
Freeze Please
Instead of letting a factory provide you with frozen food full of preservatives and who-knows-what, freeze it yourself! An easy option is tacos. This weekend, cook up a bunch of taco meat.
My tip: Instead of adding water like the back of the spice envelope suggests, add tomato sauce – it helps avoid ice crystals when frozen. Let the meat cool, put it in freezer bags and throw in the freezer. When you need a quick meal, thaw and warm up the meat in the crockpot, stovetop or microwave. As long as you have some taco shells, chips or tortillas and shredded cheese on hand, you have an entree.
Another freezer favorite in our house is hot ham-n-cheese (or roast beef, turkey, etc.) sandwiches. It’s a perfect grab-and-go meal. Using buns, meat and cheese, make a bunch of sandwiches and wrap each in foil. These can be frozen for use later or kept in the fridge. When you are ready, throw as many as you need in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes.
Soups like chili and chicken noodle are also good for freezing. Just thaw them in the fridge during the day and then heat up what you need in the microwave when you get home.
Slow Cookin’
Every busy mom loves the slow cooker (better known as a crockpot for those of us over 40). The beauty of the slow cooker is that you don’t have to remember to thaw meat in advance. Just throw frozen chicken breasts and BBQ sauce in a crockpot in the morning, and let it cook on low all day. When you get home, dinner is ready! Swap out the BBQ sauce for salsa and taco seasoning and you have a whole new menu.
My friend, Stacy, has a similar variation. She uses frozen chicken topped with a mixture of cream of mushroom soup and a cup of sour cream. Start it in the morning and it’s done by suppertime. (It’s good with rice, too.)
All of these options take less than 10 minutes of prep time, which can be quicker than standing in a fast-food line. There are thousands of slow cooker recipes out there – and many are much more elaborate and require more prep time and ingredients. For more ideas than you know what to do with, search Pinterest.
The Incredible Edible Egg
Don’t forget about the humble egg. Why is it a breakfast staple? Because it cooks so fast! Seriously, you can make scrambled eggs in less than five minutes. And they are a great source of protein as well as inexpensive. Add a little cheese and make a burrito or breakfast sandwich or just eat them as is!
The key to avoiding dinner in a sack with spilled fries in the van is thinking ahead. Make a plan before you go to the grocery store and make a plan before you start your busy week. These are just a few ideas to get you thinking. Bon appétit!
Anne Blankenbiller
K-12 & Teens
Most of my mornings, afternoons, and evenings are spent driving the kids here and there—and then back to here again. Every child is a gift on loan from God. As parents, our job is to raise that child to be an independent adult who can contribute to the world using the gifts and talents he or she was given. It is hands-down the most important job on earth!
