I have two boys, a four year old, a ten year old, and I am eight months pregnant with our THIRD boy, and of course my spouse Mark rounds off my very hungry mostly male household.

Surrounded by all these busy active growing boys & 1 man, I find the whole mealtime ordeal to be somewhat of a tiresome chore as far as coming up with new ideas and getting those meals ready in a reasonable amount of time. Blah.

For the summer I have found that a great local company called organics@home delivers our organic produce, dairy, cereals & many other types of household and mealtime nessesities right to our patio steps once a week for the same price I would pay for most of those items in the grocery store. With the organics deliveries I save time I would have spent shopping and can spend that time out enjoying the summer with my boys.

In the cooler times of the evenings when I am feeling especially motivated, usually on Mondays, the day our order is delivered, I will take all the fresh peppers and fruits and other produce that was delivered and have a washing & slicing party in the kitchen.
We put on music and spend and hour or more washing, chopping and storing those items in tupperware containers in the fridge for the coming week. We buy whole grain tortillia wraps by the bags full and keep those ready in the fridge as well as a large tupperware container full of grated cheese.

And dont forget the washing, peeling & chopping of fruits to have fresh fruit salad at the ready to sprinkle on cereals or for desert or snacks! :)

We also pre-cook chicken breast or turkey and slice it and store it into tupperware, then throughout the coming week, for either lunch or dinner, picnic snacks/meals on the fly we can pull out those containers and grill hot wraps for us and the kids at a moments notice, or have cold fresh wraps if we feel really lazy!

Its a great way to spend time together as a family prepping those foods, as well as a fast, fun, nutritious way to make sure we are eating the right things without a whole lot of effort when mealtimes come around.

I hope you may find our ideas helpful. :)

Sincerely,

Krystal Paracy
Busy Mom - North Vancouver

I used to find myself at 5:30 in the kitchen, crying baby in hand, fighting back my own tears as I tried to figure out what we were going to eat. As a childless couple, it worked just fine for my husband and I to figure something out at 6:00. After all, we could always jump in the car and go out for dinner. Not so with kids!

There are four things that have helped me combat the "witching hour", that pre-dinner time of meltdowns and chaos.

1. Plan a menu

I resisted this one for so long as I like to be spontaneous. What works for me is to plan five or six meals I want to cook, and then to let myself be flexible on what meal I cook on which night. Why only five or six meals? Other nights often end up being left overs or occasionally eating out. I know other moms who find it works to have a pre-set Monday is soup night, Tuesday is fish night, Wednesday is vegetarian etc. to help with their planning. The key here is to choose to do the meal planning task when you are not stressed, so at 4:30 when kids are starting to loose it, you don't have to think! There is no time difference between planning on Saturday while the kids nap or on Monday at 4:30, but doing the former has a significant difference on my stress levels and our home happiness levels.

2. Do a weekly shop

If I lived off Commercial Drive, I don't know if I would need this. But as someone in the burbs of Richmond, realizing at 4:30 I don't have any chicken for that dish I was going to make is not a good thing! I am blessed with a great walking distance fruit shop, so I can pick up fresh veggies during the week. But I make a list when I plan my weekly meals, and then get the ingredients I need into the house.

3. Pre-cook

This was especially critical when my sons were younger. Now at 3 and 5 they can play in the backyard while I cook. Even so, it is lovely to be out there having a game of soccer and know the casserole I made the night before is happily cooking itself for our dinner. On days I work try to cook on the weekends or the night before so we have something healthy and ready to go. My husband has soy and tomato food sensitivities so we can't eat most pre-packaged foods that make for an easy meal, but with some pre-cooking this is not such a problem. Cooking after the kids are in bed while I listen to an audio book is actually quite fun!

4. Do a dinner date with mom friends.

I have several friends who also have husbands who work long hours or have trips out of town, so we sometimes get together for dinner. It is amazing how with two adults meal preparation becomes fun again. The children go and play, we can chat as we cook, and there are two pairs of hands to help children and stir the spaghetti sauce. We take turns providing the food, and the visiting mom brings pj's. After the meal, one of us cleans up while the other bathes the kids and we part happy with kids already for bed.

Sitting down to eat at a set table to eat with my boys is much more pleasurable when I take the time to do a little planning. We have weeks and nights where we get off track, but the stress quickly prompts me to get back on track!

Hi,
I often make tortilla wraps: just melt cheese between two tortillas, cut into wedges, serve with salsa sauce, make some guacamole, add some refried beans (from a can), chop up some vegetables, and voila! I also keep lots of veggies, fruit, and trail mix on hand for snacks. Salad with grilled fish or chicken is also quick and easy. Add some cheese and nuts as well and it's even better.

thanks!
Bethan