Friday, December 3, 2010

Cooking, Planning - HELP NEEDED!

TGIF!
Week one of hubby and I commuting together went well but it is totally a lifestyle change for us!

Brad used to work around the corner from our house so he would be home early and TCB(take care of business). That means he would - walk the dog, grocery shop, start dinner, hit the gym, and finish dinner just in time for me to get home from the gym.

Well, that's not happening anymore! Our commute is 40-minutes one way door to door.

Now we both get home around the same time and by the time we go to the gym and cook dinner it's 8o'clock!

So -- we've discussed this and I've decided to really start planning our weekly menu on the weekends.

Here's what I'm thinking:
* Prepare casseroles that can be frozen then popped into the oven for dinner.
* Crockpot dinners

* Prepare meats and what not the night before so they just have to be thrown on the grill or stove?

I need help blogging peeps! What is your routine? Any tips? Recipes! I need it all!!

8 comments:

I Do Declare said...

I will email you some stuff - I totally understand the cooking crisis a commute brings, and have a few tricks for quick weeknight cooking!

donatelli98 said...

I try but suck at this! My go to prepare ahead stuff:
Pasta - stuffed shells, lasagna, etc. can make on weekends and reheat during the week.

Pork Roast in the Crock Pot - slow cook for 8 to 10 hours (will basically shred itself) and either put BBQ sauce on it for pulled pork or fresh cilantro and taco seasoning for tacos, fajitas or taco salad.

We eat a lot of sandwiches! Lame but true and my kids love Boars Head deli meat!

Nikki said...

I use my crockpot Tuesdays and Thursdays when I go to yoga.

I'll throw together a few recipes to send. I'd marry that thing if it would put out.

Allyson and Dave said...

I hit the gym 3 days a week and work out at home 3 days week on my treadmill or with dvd's. We don't eat dinner until 7;30 or 8 every night. Dave works from home and he knows if he wants to eat dinner an earlier he needs to cook. He never does. We have grown accustomed to the late dinner. I try to do a lot of prep work on the weekends so my weekday meals never take more than 30 minutes to prepare. And we eat a frozen pizza once a week. That is my cheat night.

Sara said...

Definitely get this! I still struggle. We have good weeks and bad weeks.

I plan 4 meals a week and figure we'll eat out twice and get take out once. That's usually how it works in our house

I almost always have a casserole in the freezer to use in emergencies. Usually chicken spaghetti, lasagna or mexican casserole. All very easy and good!

I'll email you some recipes that are easy. Remember that stew recipe I posted last year - Jamie Olivers??? Y'all should do that for sure. It's delicious, easy and very fast. And there's 3 different versions - beef, chicken and pork.

The Lenzers said...

I am the wrong one to ask about this! I could live off of frozen dinners. Cindy's pork roast in the crock pot is great. But you can only eat so many crock pot meals in a row. Can you gym it a different time?

If the shoe FITZ said...

I remember these days and now that I am home I still struggle. Before baby...my commute was over and hour and I would literally walk in the door and start cooking so that we weren't eating at 10pm. I'll send you some links too. My main thing is to plan each Sunday..look at cookbooks, look online and then shop for everything I need for the week

starnes family said...

The only problem with the casserole commitment is that they're usually loaded with carbs and calories.

Maybe have all the ingredients for a couple of salads each week? Blake doesn't believe a meal is a meal without meat, so this wouldn't work for him, but maybe for normal people.

Crockpot recipes.....great idea.

Also, have ready to grill sausages, chicken breasts, pork chops, etc......then add easy veggies. The broccoli I posted about it super easy and you can use all sorts of substitutions.

I would be a nut in this scenario b/c I'm not good when things aren't in place and there's a ton to do. Good luck!