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Friday, May 28, 2010

Feeding Your Family Healthy Meals When You're Out of Energy

When I come home after being at work for 13 hours (sometimes longer), I generally do not have the energy to make a healthy balanced meal that my family is also interested in eating. Unfortunately when I get home from work is when my family is hungry and they've gotten to the point where they're impatient and irritable. If I don't act fast they'll have popsicles and popcorn for dinner, or worse, fast food. Here's some things that I do to prevent this, and I would really love to hear what everyone else does for those evenings when you're rushed.
  • Have a plan. I know that at least a few nights a week I'll be working or otherwise rushed, so I try to plan something when I do my grocery shopping.
  • Make a few freezer meals. You can just make a double batch of a family favorite and freeze half.
  • Breakfast for dinner. This is what we had last night. Waffles with fresh fruit. Another one I like to do is "omelets". Scrambled eggs with mushrooms, peppers, onions, cheese and chopped bits of whatever meat I have in the fridge. Quick, easy and relatively healthy.
  • Salads! (Of course my kids won't eat these.) Lettuce, cottage cheese, dressing, chopped cooked meat, a few chopped veggies, and croutons can make for a fairly quick and a very satisfying meal.
  • Have a few meals that you always have all of the ingredients for. For my family, it's Hawaiian Haystacks. I cook and freeze brown rice ahead of time so that dinner can be made in the time it takes me to open a few cans and make some chicken gravy from a mix. (Using food storage really can make your life easier.)
  • Soup and sandwiches
  • Burritos- Refried beans, cheese, tortillas and enchilada sauce (This one is pretty much a staple at my in-laws.)
  • Here are a few more recipes that I use that can be prepared double quick if you have all of the ingredients ready: Hippie Tacos, Spicy Pasta with Broccoli, Mac and Cheese with Cauliflower and Thai Chicken Spinach Wraps
  • Here's a few that I haven't tried, but look like they will make my life easier when I do: Strawberry Poppyseed Salad, Chipotle Chicken Salad Sandwich and Potato Leek soup
What do you do?

    3 comments:

    1. another great post...I'm laughing about the waffle photo, because that's what we had for dinner last night...and my son said, "but mom, that's not healthy!!!" Guilty as charged!

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    2. Eh, it's relatively healthy.:)Better that than fast food or something from a box. And it's fine every once in awhile.

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    3. Whole wheat waffles with fruit and a little fresh cream is totally passable as healthy...don't sell yourself short JC.

      Odd thing is, I do almost all of your suggestions when I am in a pinch so I cannot offer anything new. I DO love it when I know I will be short on time one evening and think ahead to the crock pot. There is something soooo satisfying about dinner being DONE when we come in the door from a busy day.

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