Meals At Home© Maureen Fleury
Jun 15, 1999
With 5 people in my family, I am bound to find that not everybody likes everything. It is a real challenge to turn out a meal that will please everyone (or at least a majority). It gets worse when you are running low on groceries and have to put your culinary creativity to a test. Another challenge is getting something on the table in the least amount of time. Nothing is worse than having the kids rolling on the floor with hunger pains or trying to steal snacks to tide them over until supper!
Plan your meal the night before by taking any frozen meat out of the freezer and put in the fridge
Gather all your ingredients the night before to make sure you have everything. You may find out you have to run to the store at lunchtime or on the way home
If possible, make part of the supper the night before.
Spaghetti sauce is always better the 2nd time round! If you have leftover spaghetti sauce & noodles, put in a baking pan and top with mozzarella cheese. Bake in the oven and you now have baked spaghetti.
Casseroles can be prepared the night before and popped in the oven when you get home.
You may consider using the automatic start feature on your oven. I'm a little hesitant to use this with fresh food because it will be sitting in the oven for several hours before the oven turns on. It works well if you put frozen food in the automatic oven.
If you don't have a microwave or crockpot, consider buying one. If using a crockpot, put all the ingredients in the crock the night before, then store in the fridge overnight (I have a 2nd fridge in the basement). All you have to do is plug it in the next morning.
Have a "cooking spree" on your day off. Things that are easy to make ahead are casseroles, sauces, meatballs, hamburgers, stews, and lasagna. You can store the made-ahead dishes in the fridge for use within a couple of days or put in the freezer for longer storage.
When weather permits, use the barbecue. The food tastes great and there are less pots & pans to clean!
Make several vegetable side dishes with your main meal, this will take care of the varied tastes in your family. For example, most of my kids like salad so I make sure I have it on hand when they don't like some of the other vegetable(s) I'm serving. One of my kids is not fond of meat so I cook an extra vegetable or make sure I have some raw carrots on hand. If all else fails, have a jar of pickles available!
Go To Page:
1
2
The copyright of the article Meals At Home in Tips for Working Mothers is owned by Maureen Fleury. Permission to republish Meals At Home in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
|
