Dinner ideas for husband and toddler?

[ceeveg]

Could you help me with some meal ideas for my husband to fix for himself and for our toddler? Recently, I had to go back to work, and the 10 hour days and the long commute mean that I'm often not home until well after dinner time. Then it's as many hugs, kisses, and books we can manage before bedtime, and then I start my grad classes. I'd rather spend the time when I get home with my daughter, than worrying about cooking and putting a meal together.

So far, we've done things like sandwiches, quesadillas, burritos, and spaghetti.

Thank you so much.

[cparkly]

You do have a busy schedule!

If I know that my DH will be having to do some cooking, I try to prep things and create the meal plans for him so that it is simple and he doesn't have to try to get creative after a long day at work while juggling a toddler. One of the areas that he finds most challenging is incorporating vegetables in an appealing way.

Roasting a chicken is very simple. That can be one meal with mashed potatoes and a warm steamed veggie. Then the chicken can be used in other meals throughout the week; chicken burritos, chicken pizza (from a ball of whole wheat dough in the freezer), chicken and polenta, chicken soup, etc.

I soak beans, bring them to a boil, and then into the crock pot. Then they can be served with rice and sauteed kale, then rolled into other meals; chili, refried beans on tortillas, etc.

I make a big pot of 7 vegetable tomato sauce that I place in small freezer containers. They can be taken out, thawed and used as the base for pasta sauce, chili, "enchilada" sauce, soup, etc.

I put the meal plan onto our google calendar that we have shared access to. That way, if he has any questions about it, he can ask me ahead of time. I also place all of the ingredients together on one shelf of the fridge, so that he doesn't have to search. I can also ensure that we have everything that will be needed that way as DH is very literal and is not comfortable making last minute substitutions.

Good luck!

[ceeveg]

Thank you so much! I have no idea why it didn't occur to me to prep things! I was only thinking in terms of him cooking from scratch. I think my brain is a little fried after all these changes

[columbusmomma]

I'm busy too
Sometimes I throw together a meatloaf in the evening when the kids are in bed and then bake it the next day. Same with a lasagna and bean and cheese burritos. I like to do soup in the crockpot and serve it with bread and salad. Homemade calzones are a big hit with us too and super easy! Ditto for tacos!

[ceeveg]

I should use our crockpot more!