The Work It, Mom! Blog
with Nataly
Hi, I am Nataly and I am the co-founder of Work It, Mom!
I write the daily Work It, Mom! Blog where I talk about issues affecting working moms, goings on in our Work It, Mom! community, new site features, updates,and contests. I also share my own juggle between work and family and love to see members jump in with comments. Come and visit often!
Nataly's profile on Work It, Mom!
I live in somewhat constant weeknight dinner angst. It involves trying to figure out some new and healthy things to cook for our family, finding a way to eat together more than we do, figuring out how to cook dinner the same day we eat it instead of at night, which is what I usually do, or the combination of all of the above.
I realize that this is a little nutty because hey, I’m a busy working mom and I manage to cook healthy, inexpensive, and tasty meals for us most of the time. That should be accomplishment enough, right? But I am constantly finding things to stress about — like not eating dinner together as a family (especially after reading comments about how many of you actually manage to eat dinner together as a family).
So I have two purposes for this post — to share some small helpful tidbits about dealing with dinner-time stress and to hear about your dinner angst so I don’t feel like such a loser dolt goof.
Here are some things that have helped me bring down dinner-time stress:
Do a bit of menu planning for the week. I truly believe that if I could get in a regular routine of meal planning life would get easier. And I absolutely plan to get better about menu planning. For now, what I do is figure out 2-3 dinners I will make for the week and make sure that the ingredients are on our shopping list. I also actually write in my little planner when I am going to make what — just seeing that I have a plan makes me feel less stressed. (Here are some great tips to help you simplify menu planning, by the way.)
Have one or two nights either be take-out, cheap meal out, or random no-cook food at home. Before the economy collapsed, we’d go out for a meal on Saturday or Sunday night. It’s hard to justify this expense but it’s such a life-saver that we’ve just toned it down — we might go and just grab some pizza instead of going to a restaurant. Not having to cook or even think about cooking one or two nights a week is a big stress reliever.
Have several go-to, trusted recipe sources. I don’t have time to really look for recipes. But I have a few favorite resources that I trust and when I need something new, I just go to them. They are:
-anything by Barefoot Contessa
-our very own Ordering Disorder blog, where Chris manages to serve up really tasty recipes that don’t require my inner Martha to come out
-Cooking Light — either browsing through the magazine while at the checkout line at the store or searching online
OK, it’s now your turn to share your dinner stress-reducing tips and dinner-time angst in the comments.
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We plan out the week’s meals on Sunday, and I also write each night’s meals in my day planner.
I do a big shop on Monday and then a smaller on on Thursday for the rest of the week. Friday nights are nacho nights, and nights I go to the gym my hubby makes easy meals like mac and cheese or grilled cheese.
Angella | February 27th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Nataly,
LOVE this post — such an important topic. I recently posted a video about the menu planning. It really can change your life. We do this every week and I’ve been hearing from more and more women who are implementing this with GREAT results.
http://nicola-bestofbothworlds.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-time-saving-tip-for-working-moms.html
or try…
http://tinyurl.com/dkbl9z
Nicola
The Executive Moms Coach
Nicola Ries Taggart | February 27th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
I love Cooking Light. I signed up for their newsletter and they send me awesome recipes every week by email, I bookmark the ones I like and use them when I plan our menu.
I also try to cook in advance on Sunday, at the very least I’ll cook a big roast or chicken so I have cooked meat ready to go in the fridge for meals.
Kaycee | February 27th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
I’m a fan of http://www.savingdinner.com, which we used for about six months — it does the meal planning for you, providing 6 recipies and a shopping list each week.
I’m an even bigger fan of my husband, for taking cooking off my plate and on to his! (He enjoys cooking, I don’t.)
SoftwareMom | February 27th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
I’ve been on a soup and chili kick. I make the chicken stock (easy version-browned skinless chix thighs,onion,garlic,celery,bay leaf,carrots) Sunday and then add whatever I want- usually some kind of beans, leaf veggie, rice or pasta and spice it anyway I crave Monday or Tuesday. We might have one - two full dinners per week -just basic fish/chic/beef,veggie/salad,starch, then mix and match leftovers, burritos, sandwiches the other days. My H. works a couple of evenings or had b-ball and those days , occasional supplement of chic tenders/fries from the freezer for the child are in order. In the summer it’s grill ,grill, grill… I know what you mean though- I get really bored and then try out some cool recipes on the weekends. PS- it’s hard to get everyone to eat all together with older kids especially so don’t fret! If it were me alone I’d be eating cereal several nights per week!
starrlife | February 28th, 2009 at 8:51 am
I’ve never been too interested in food or cooking, plus I prefer that we eat little meat, so I opt for simple, partly-prepared foods that I can put on the table in a half hour or less. I shop at an organic food store so it’s all good stuff, but it can be pricey. Most nights, we have mixed frozen veggies, boxed dry pasta or canned meals, and either fresh or frozen fruit or apple-berry sauce. I don’t do a lot of planning other than to make sure the cupboards are stocked with the basics; but I have done a lot of research up-front to make sure I hit all the nutritional bases and then some.
I know canned and boxed meals have a bad rep, but they are not all created equal. If you look closely, you can find many really healthy and interesting meals in that format. You can also alter them in simple ways to make them more healthy / balanced.
We do go out to dinner weekly, so my kids do get to experience variety and such, but I don’t really prioritize it at home. We have maybe 15 weekday dinners that we eat over and over.
SKL | February 28th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Nataly, I will preface this by saying that my kids are 7 and 10, so we have all of the afterschool/evening sports activities to deal with…but some of our coping strategies might work for others.
First, I let go of the idea that dinner must be at 6:00 or soon after. When we are home in the evenings, my kids want to play outside with their friends, and even now (Feb in San Antonio) it doesn’t get dark until nearly 7:00. So I let them play until it gets dark and then we eat…that gives them time to play, and me time to cook. They have good, healthy snacks after school and later if needed.
On nights when we have sports practices or games (usually three nights a week, gasp!) I rely on our after school Nanny to help me. He gets the boys a good snack after school and a “pseudo-meal” right before he takes them to practice. My husband or I meet them at practice, and the other one goes home to fix dinner. Usually once a week I put something in the crock pot in the morning, for dinner on sports nights.
And frankly some nights we eat hamburgers at the sports fields. They are good, and the money goes to support their sports activities. And occasionally we stop and eat on the way home…we spend our time in the car talking just like we would at the dinner table.
Karla E | March 1st, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Oh, and quit comparing yourself to everyone else. Do what works for you and your family. Every family is a little bit different…no need to stress about dinner things…just enjoy your family…whatever and where ever you are eating.
Karla E | March 1st, 2009 at 10:59 pm