Supper is the hardest part for me

amother

Tue, Jan 07 2025, 8:25 am

Maybe it sounds crazy for some people but making supper is the hardest aspect of running the home. More than the other housekeeping.
What should I do? We need it every day!

It literally is what puts me over the edge and ruins my whole day. I hate cooking and am lazy and have low energy. I don't even work full time and still can't seem to manage it.
Probably a huge part of it is my ADHD inattentive. I can never decide what I should cook and then when I do decide, it's too late to take chicken/meat out of the freezer, or I don't have all of the ingredients for any dish I want to make.
Also, my toddler and 4yo don't really let me be busy in the kitchen. Either they want to help me (grrr! we all know what "help" means) or they are busy doing destructive things around the house so I have to keep stopping and go to them.
I am not organized enough to do things like cook for the week on sunday or cook the night before (I am always way too tired to even stand after doing bedtime).
I wish I could have supper magically prepared for my kids that they will like. But don't have the $$ for that.
Oh, and I can't do grilled cheese kind of meals because I have big kids who need real food. That worked great when I had only young kids who were fine with that.
I always wonder how do women who work FT do supper? I am embarrassed to say how few hours I work. I would love to hear if it's something that can help me be more motivated.

Any advice?
Anyone relate or only me?

amother

Leaf

Tue, Jan 07 2025, 8:32 am

So a really good system for me is to have DH watch my toddlers for a couple hours on a Sunday afternoon and then spend time in the kitchen cooking. I make a few different types of meals and freeze them in portioned containers so that I can just take out one container that’s enough for that night’s dinner. I make a few different things and keep my freezer stocked so that I can just easily pull something out for dinner without too much work and then I keep my fridge stocked with easy side dishes like vegetables I can roast or salad

amother

Antiquewhite

Tue, Jan 07 2025, 8:37 am

Never thought I was ADHD or anything like that, but I relate 100%. And honestly, I don't even think you need to be apologetic or excuse yourself or anything like that. It would take a King Solomon to figure out a supper that everyone likes, that is easy to prepare, that doesn't cost too much, that is relatively healthy, that has no allergens or anyone's food aversions, etc. etc. Supper is just hard. It just is.

amother

Caramel

Tue, Jan 07 2025, 8:42 am

BH j do work FT out out the home and am very organized re: dinners. I’m one of those cook on Sunday for the week because I see the direct benefit of playing offense rather than defense. More time with my kids during the week when they need me most. More relaxed during the week. No scrambling. I also think that working full time forces a higher level or organization and structure . Less time but that forces more efficiency

amother

Blushpink

Tue, Jan 07 2025, 8:45 am

I work full time and get home the same time as my kids and supper is a real challenge.
I try to have specific shopping days like
Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday.
On each of those days I buy supper for that night and the next night.
I'll also do specific proteins for each day of the week and rotate dishes.
For example we do ground beef on Mondays so I will switch off between burgers, meatballs or shepherd's pie.
Having a plan in the beginning of the week makes such a difference!
I'm not always so organized but when I stick to this plan we have a much calmer week and I'm not worrying about it all day.

amother

Impatiens

Tue, Jan 07 2025, 8:48 am

Having a big freezer helps.

Cooking for the whole week on Sunday wouldn't save time. But cooking in bulk, just multiplying the recipe every time you cook, and stocking up your freezer with multiple days worth of each supper you cook, that does save time and energy, because multiplying a recipe doesn't multiply the difficulty.

amother

NeonBlue

Tue, Jan 07 2025, 9:08 am

amother OP wrote:

Same , op.

amother

Tealblue ↓

Tue, Jan 07 2025, 9:18 am

So I basically cook a lot for shabbos and we eat leftovers at least 2/3 suppers. Then one night is pizza. And one night is crockpot dinner I put up in the morning. I also do a lot of frozen stuff like barekas and breaded flounder that just pull out and pop in the oven.

amother

Orange

Tue, Jan 07 2025, 10:33 am

I usually make one big main dish on Sunday and serve it every night. For example, this week was schnitzel, last week was meatballs etc. I serve one night with rice and cauliflower, one night with roasted potatoes and greenbeans, stuff it into a pita with whatever. If you're bored of it eat cereal for dinner, np. The kids who do that usually come snacking on my main before bed.

amother

Calendula ↓

Tue, Jan 07 2025, 10:51 am

I think rather than beating yourself up, you need to accept who you are and figure out what would work for you.

What kind of meals would you like on your table?
How long do you want to spend on prep?
What types of food do you enjoy making?
When do you see yourself cooking (practically, when/how will you actually get to it?)

amother

↑ Calendula

Tue, Jan 07 2025, 10:58 am

amother Impatiens wrote:

I would think.. but I don't think it's true with everything.
For eg. A triple recipe of cake makes sense, cookies would take forever to shape so many
Meatballs would take forever, and then I also run into pot size difficulty. Meatsauce would work.
Can you post things you make lots of that multiplies amount of food, but not time investment?

amother

↑ Tealblue

Tue, Jan 07 2025, 11:10 am

amother Calendula wrote:

I bread lots of shnitzel and freeze so its ready to just fry (or bake) once you’re doing it gathering all the ingredients etc it just takes a little longer to do more. Meatloaf would be something I would double. I make sloppy joes always double and freeze. I sometimes prep chicken/ marinade double and freeze a batch this is easy to then stick in crock pot. I double soups.

amother

Tan

Tue, Jan 07 2025, 3:18 pm

Same , same OP.
To feel like I have some order I recently started making chicken/meat suppers Sunday-Tuesday so I always need to make sure I have chicken or meat defrosted those days. That helped me a lot to have a plan somewhat. Wednesday I will many times pick up bagels or bake baguettes from the freezer and Thursday is pizza from the freezer.
For the most part it’s working but it’s not simple.
Picky eaters and dh has a restrictive diet to add to the mix.

mammamia0527

Tue, Jan 07 2025, 3:29 pm

When I have an occasional quiet day I will cook a big pot of chicken soup or beef stew for dinner and freeze leftovers. I also started marinating meat or prepping it in a 9x13 and freezing it the same day we get groceries. It takes ten minutes to season 2 kinds of chicken thighs in 2 pans or 5 minutes to smash garlic and pour olive oil, spices into a freezer bag. Then I can ask whomever gets home first to put pan in oven and when I get home make rice and frozen broccoli or open a bag of salad. The night before my work week starts I make a big dinner with leftovers and prep the crockpot for next day to leave on low for 9 hours in the morning. Frozen food one or 2 nights.

mfb

Tue, Jan 07 2025, 3:40 pm

Make a monthly menu of easy suppers your kids like so you can know in advance what to take out.
Also you can base the menu on example Sunday chicken bottoms, Monday chicken nuggets Tuesday ground meat/meat cubes, Wednesday dairy/parve Thursday cutlets.
Or whatever works for you.