What do you serve for dinner when you are too burnt out to cook? - Page 4

[2mama]

Tacos

leftovers

PB and homemade J with banana's and carrots

cereal or oatmeal (made with milk) topped with berries or bananas and ground flax 

eggs and a toasted grain with lots of fresh fruit and veggies from the garden or fridge.

Frozen pizza with salad and fruit

Tomato, Pesto, mozzarella panini with fruit 

homemade egg or tuna salad on bread or back to nature crackers with fruit and raw veggies

[strongrad]

PBJ (I love them frozen)

Applesauce and granola

Tortilla roll ups with turkey, greens, avocado! or whatever

Greek yogurt with honey/maple syrup and maybe some frozen berries mixed in (dessert?)

Pitas with hummus and veggies

Bagel (I like the high protein cinnamon raisin ones) with cream cheese and sliced strawberries

Guacamole with tortilla chips and raw veggies 

Ham and cheddar cheese on sandwich rolls, warmed up

Salad with feta cheese, hard boiled eggs, croutons and sunflower seeds

Cold or warmed museli with vanilla almond milk and dried fruit 

If I had too cook I'd throw a roast in the crock pot with some baby carrots, new potatoes and pearl onions and have DH serve us when he got home :)

[BellaBub]

Pasta and a quick pink sauce.    Then some cucumbers and dip on the side. 

[fireweed]

Tonight we had bruschetta. Chopped up tomatoes, garlic and basil. Added olive oil and balsamic vinegar, s&p, put in on sliced bread and topped with grated parmesan.  That took 5 minutes max. Under the broiler for 3 min. Quick & delish.
 

[skreader]

I get some char siu or some roast duck at the wet-market or take-away and wash lettuce.

[Kaydove]

Ground turkey cooked with Siracha sauce and rice. If I'm feeling fancy, I mix in a little soy sauce with the ground turkey. My family loves.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

[Ragana]

I see what you all mean by the beans and cooking time now. Well, yup, we eat plain canned beans on top of plain rice & spice it up (and DD2's idea of spicing it up is putting sour cream on it!) with toppings (avocado, cheese, lettuce etc.) and sriracha/salsa.

As for procrastinating and then needing to get dinner done quickly - We don't have a microwave, so I have learned not to procrastinate. For instance, making something frozen always means defrosting a day or two ahead of time, making potatoes means an hour in the oven, etc. Otherwise I make sure I always have pasta and a jar of sauce on hand and make that as my fallback. If I am really tired/worn out/sick of cooking, we do get takeout.
 

[tinuviel_k]

I usually keep some yummy frozen Trader Joes entree stocked in the freezer for just such a purpose.

[erigeron]

Originally Posted by The4OfUs 

The baking and 15 minutes part launches it into the realm of cooking.      If it takes more than 5 minutes, it's cooking.

I've made nachos in the microwave. Takes just a few minutes. nak

[Thyme Mama]

Oftentimes what my challenge is, is that I have been doing WAPF stuff all day, but haven't made an actual dinner, and ALL my dishes are in the sink. The "burnt out" part for me is having not the energy to wash dishes AND make food. Slicing cheese, heating up frozen whatever or dishing out food is "making food" when I get to that point.

So I retreat to put up my feet and send the kids into the fridge to forage out a protein and some veggies/fruit. Or maybe to the pantry for some nuts and dried fruit. Whatever. I'm not doing any of it. I'm too burnt out.
 

[journeymom]

Oh golly, dinner can't get started because the previous mess hasn't been cleaned up-  that stinks.  This is one thing I'm actually making progress with.  Six days a week, it's my kids' job to unpack (before dinner) and pack the dishwasher and 'do' the dinner dishes, and they've gotten reasonably competent at it.  So if it's time to start dinner and there are dirty dishes cluttering the work space and there are clean dishes in the dishwasher, I can at least send one of them to unpack the dishwasher so I can get the dishes out of the sink and off the counter. And then I can start dinner. 

When they were too little or too slow to be truly helpful, on those nights when I was going to have to do a whole load of dishes just to get started on dinner-  well, frequently I just didn't bother.  We'd have take-out.  Or, I'd power through it anyway, doing dishes and then making a whole dinner, and we wouldn't sit down to eat till 7pm (not good on a school night) and I'd be exhausted and my feet would hurt. 

Now I just need to teach them how to cook a few dinners and I won't be the ONLY PERSON MAKING DINNER, AS I HAVE BEEN FOR THE LAST 16 YEARS.  Wow, I've never put that together before.

[CookiePie]

Some things that I have been known to do salad, yogurt & fruit, cut veggies & hummus, cheese & crackers & fruit,  smoothie & toast, tuna sandwiches grilled cheese & a carton of TJ's organic tomato soup....I try to plan crock pot meals when I know I'm going to have a hectic day & not want to cook.  But you cannot always plan for those days! 

[Ragana]

Originally Posted by erigeron 

I've made nachos in the microwave. Takes just a few minutes. nak

I make nachos in our built-in grill (we have a very old stove/oven - works in the oven, too) - super easy and fast. And tasty

[meemee]

now that my dd is 10, i feel i have the right to say - hey you're making dinner. i'm good with whatever you make....

when i feel burnt out. and yes i have done it.

we rarely do any processed and no money to eat out.

for me the part of cooking that is tiring is the chopping part.

or if i cook i go for white rice (usually we eat brown), throw it in the rice cooker (i swear i could NEVER live without one) and half way i add some veggies to it, like chopped squash or brocolli.

cheese sandwiches.

omlettes

breakfast foods.

or a big giant tossed salad.

last night dd made a pepper, cucumber, tomato salad with stir fried potatoes, corn, red bell peppers and endamame beans (the beans were frozen).

or a 15 min red lentil soup with quinoa and veggies soup.

when i am tired - its not that i dont have much time before dinner. it means i just dont have the energy in the initial assembly. 15 mins is all i have. so sometimes i'd chop up a bunch of veggies in 15 minutes, put them on a baking tray (cut the slow cooking very fine in my mandolin) and bake/broil them for 15 - 20 mins.

i am lucky that living in CA and having access to local fresh foods means i dont really have to cook and spice too much. the veggies taste real good on their own without much done to them.

we are mostly vegetarians and rarely eat meat.

[nstewart]

scrambled eggs with cut up peppers and cheese, and toast

grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup

Tuna melts with tomato

I also keep pre-prepared meals (homemade) in the freezer so I can just pull something out.  Soups are great for this, along with "buscuits from the freezer" (pop 'em in the oven frozen and bake) and we do left-overs alot because I just have no interest in cooking every night of the week!

[WittyNameHere]

I've become a pro at making Quaker Oats interesting when I have no desire to actually cook for me and my husband. Applesauce and cinnamon. Peanut butter and cocoa powder. Smooshed berries. Oatmeal has become my go-to dinner when I'm not in the mood to move.

[gonyere]

Pancakes when DH isn't home. Sometimes eggs & bacon when he is, but usually something slightly more elaborate like spaghetti or tacos or baked chicken, but which are still quite simple.

[jaam]

popcorn and smoothies. 

[jane-t-mommy]

My fav is:  open a bag of tortilla chips, warm up a can of refried beans, open a jar of salsa.  Dip until I can't dip no more.  This can get fancier with cheese, avocado, etc involved, but the basic 3 keep me pretty darned happy.

Popcorn and smoothies...great idea!

Pancakes

grilled cheese

cereal and toast with pb and banana and tea

[Sol_y_Paz]

In a huge rush with no time to cook and clean meals or just plain worn out meals are

Homemade popcorn

Can of tuna with pickle slices in tortilla

Eggs and toast

Eggs and spinach in a tortilla

Beans and cheese and any veggies easily available in a tortilla

Peanut butter and bread

Granola, yogurt, fruit