Surely I cannot be the first nurse who's also a mama with you kids, and who also has husband that needs hand-holding. Figured this was a fabulous place to come for help...
I work 3 12's. Rotatng days. My commute is 15 minutes, but I often dron't leave until 7:30p or later. Hubby has a 45 mile/1-2hr commute. He drops off & picks up kiddos on the days that I work. Since they have to get up at 5:15am, they go to bed by 8:30. That gives about 2 hrs after day care to feed.
My hubby cannot just look in a pantry and throw food together. I think tonight was the 3rd night in a row that they went to Wendys. No, actually last night was Little Cesears. Ugh. Soo... Please help me.
Teach me *your* routine.. how do you nurse mom's make it all work and have 12 hr day shifts. Do you cook ahead of time? Menu plan and your husband just knows what to fix?? Do you just not start dinner until you get home?
What are your easy-go-to-favorite recipes??
Like I said, I know I can't be alone. We are on week 4 of having both mom & dad working and we are truly struggling...
Help me before my kids become addicted to fast-food and I sink even further into depression because I feel like such a bad mom!!
Google "once a month cooking"...you'll find a wealth of recipes that can be frozen. I really need to get back into the habit of doing this...my hubby is a SAHD, and he can cook, but it can be a pain to juggle when he's the only adult in the house. When I was doing freeze ahead meals (I'd try to do 2 weeks at a time since I don't have a deep freeze), I would put the instructions right on the foil with a Sharpie.
Our menus currently consist of spaghetti, complete meals, hamburger helper, etc. I'm desperate to get back into the cooking swing of things but can never seem to find the time.
If you PM me your e-mail addy, I'll see if I can hunt down some of my recipes and send them to you. It'll give me motivation to find them and go through them again at least...maybe then I'll be able to get back into it.
I missed your last post in the thread somehow...tell you what...I'll spend a few days finding my recipes, coming up with a menu & grocery list for it, and can send it to you in the next week or so when I get a chance to use a real computer instead of my phone for internet. That way you'l see how easy it can actually be, and I'll have no excuse to not follow through myself. :)
The secret to cooking food in the crockpot for long times is to use a cut of frozen meat. I've got a couple of days per week when I'm gone for 13+ hours, and this method works great.
For example, buy a whole chicken, and as soon as you get home prep it like you would for your favorite roast chicken recipe (rinse it, add spices, etc.) Then, stick it in a ziploc and put it in the freezer at least overnight. Wake up in the morning, stick it in the crockpot, and you can cook it on low for 10-12 hours, no problem. Try that with a non-frozen chicken, and you'll just end up with a pot full of chicken goo. :)
Also good: put a frozen beef roast in the crockpot with a jar of salsa for 10-12 hours. Presto -- taco meat to feed an army!
I would put together a little booklet of easy recipes that he can make. And when I say booklet I mean just staple together some pieces of paper and keep it in the kitchen. Then he can come home and just pick one out of your little pile (obviously you will want to keep the kitchen well-stocked). Hopefully he chooses one that gives you lots of left overs so you're covered for two nights! And also, be easier on yourself with the whole fast-food thing. Working full time and being a mommy is tough. Heck just doing one or the other is tough. Good luck!!
I've been reading thru all these responses, and I remembered what a friend of mine said after she had twins. Her hubby tried to say well I work full time, and don't have time to pick kids up from child care (when they got older), cook meals, go shopping, whatever. Well my friend was studying nursing (in her 2nd year at the time), and she just told her hubby They're YOUR children too! She worked part-time because she had to to pay the mortgage and bills. Seemed like he was trying to shirk all responsibility for HIS kids from what she said. So she started leaving dishes, washing, etc so he HAD to do it and he learned the hard way.
Men are not babies, so don't treat them like one! I have seen women run around after men and MAKE them dependent. They have to step up and be a man, and that means looking after their kids, doing washing (laundry), dishes, cooking, whatever. Cooking is not THAT hard after all. The more you do for a person, the more they will whine when you try to make them independent. One of my other gf's treats her hubby like this because she never used to 'work' (his words not mine - ie: do a paid job) and he used to make her feel guilty. He never even used to pick up his coffee cup after he'd finished and take it to the sink. I've never seen him do dishes either and I've known them for over 25 years! Unbelievable.
Some good ideas on here for all shiftworkers with or without kids.
Any other tips, that maybe isn't even cooking related?? Like I said, this is the first time that we've both worked. I already lay the kid's clothes out for the entire week. But he really only takes them on the 2-3 week days that I work. (By the way, our kids are 2 & 4)
Transition = stress. Take some time out for yourselves, and relax. Don't be too rushed to talk and see what's working and what can be improved.
As for the food situation... There's a few things you can try looking into. See what he wants/likes to cook and go grocery shopping for that. If he's into grilling, try that. Also, does his mom have any recipes that he really loves? Maybe he'll enjoy cooking his favorite childhood meals for his children, and enjoy what he's eating too. Also worth thinking about- is he stressed out, or doesn't want to do the cleaning up afterwards? Maybe he needs a plan, some people just can't make a meal from scratch off the top of their head.
I have a recipe you can try that's really easy, yummy, quick, and only uses one skillet.
Knorr Brand Pasta. It's bags of dried pasta you can find at the grocery store for usually only a dollar. Love it because it already has the sauce mixed in with the noodles. So just add milk and simmer for a few minutes. To make it more of an entree than just a side dish, add whatever vegetables, meat, or seafood your family likes.
For example, try the spinach alfredo and cook it up with a bag of frozen spinach mixed in there. Then top it off with parmesan cheese and chicken. You could buy the packaged pre-cooked chicken that's found over by the lunch meats section. Or you can grill some chicken, or even make some fried parmesan-crusted chicken breasts (dip in a bowl of egg, then cover in a parmesan/flour/bread crumb mixture).
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
My children are 11 months apart and I worked straight nights. When they were little I tried to only work weekends so I could see them during the week and I could be there on week nights for dinner and then later as they grew, homework. Once they were in school I would work during the week because I could sleep while they were at school. My husband and I just passed the kids back and forth as we passed in the doorway......but it worked for us and we saved on childcare.
First by a seal a meal bag maker thingy and get a crock pot with a timer. Freezing the meat allows you to cook it longer.
Make up big batches of spaghetti sauce(garlic clove, grated onion,grated celery,grated carrot salt,pepper,bay leaf, 1 palm full italian seasoning, 1-2 Large cans crushed tomatoes, 1can diced tomatoes)make some with meat, chili (texas style seasoning from grocery store)with beans, sloppy joes (ground meat, heinz chili sauce, canned diced tomatoes and sugar to taste, one bay leaf,salt pepper,garlic) and stews for the freezer. Make lasagna or other casserole type dishes and freeze those too.
I have always grated carrots into alot of my cooking to get veggies easily into their diets when I wasn't there.. My cooking day at home on my day off was the day we ordered out for dinner. I only made up enough for about a week and a half to two weeks so it did go to waste. Add a salad and some bread and they have a meal. There are also alot of prepared frozen dinners but I only had them on hand when desperate.
I also told my husband if he wanted the paycheck from me working he better learn pretty quick how to boil water and turn on the micro wave!!!!!
Put your crock pot on a timer, like for lamps when you go on vacation. That way the food doesn't turn to mush! I try to use frozen stuff too, so it takes longer to cook. Works pretty good!! I leave, the guys get home and dinner is ready. :-)
He can cook - when I tell him exactly what to fix. I was frustrated tonight.. come ON! You can't look into the fridge, see meat and think of soft tacos? or see the noodles and cheese and think goolash?
What are some good things to make ahead and freeze? Besides Lasagana? I've always cooked fresh - never had a schedule like this before.
Fix, Freeze, Feast is a GREAT book for this kind of situation. It's based on cooking with warehouse store portions of things (6 lb burger, for instance). You put the individual meals in freezer bags then just cook 'em when you need to. Most are dump recipes (make a sauce, dump it on the meat in the bag, freeze), so literally all you have to do is take it out of the bag and cook it. I did a huge batch of stuff before school started and it's worked out really well. I also did 8 batches of pancakes, so we can have dinner breakfast if we want, with little to no mess. Also, How to Cook Everything is a great cookbook that might be worth getting.
Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals is an awesome cook book. The food is fantastic and EASY. Also crock pot is a good idea. I like to buy Bertoli bag's( that italian frozen food) and frozen lasagna with salad for the nights I am working. You can make a big batch of soup(like minestrone/chicken noodle) and keep it in the fridge for a week or so. Don't feel bad about it, you are working hard to support your family, but I know how you feel.
Oh, I love fast but healthy recipes (who doesn't).
I buy meat, and while it is not frozen yet, I cut it with meat scissors to long, thin slices, freeze it in two portion amounts, so that they can be just thrown in a wok with a bit of water and some stir fry sauce, or pan with tiny bit of oil and any sauce (but close it so that releases juices).
I use microwave for most of the stuff that goes with meat.
Rice, buckwheat, bulgur, barley, quinwa are very easy to make. Just put it in the microwave dish (not plastic though), add water so that it will cover the grain + about 0.3 of an inch, put some soup cube, close the cover and 10 minutes on maximum, stirr, then 20 minutes on half power. Take it out, add margarine and you are done. You can also add saute onion and mushrooms to that, or any saute veggies.
You can put a piece of frozen salmon, or any fish on a plate, put some spice mix on it, and also put it in the microwave 2minutes on each side.
I buy frozen vegetables, put them in cold water on maximum temperatuer and when water boils they are ready. Just ads salad dressing.
Another easy one is any meat with onion, mushrooms, bell pepper or apple slices, add spices, cover it, and put into oven for 1.5hr on 350F
mama_d, BSN, RN
1,187 Posts
Google "once a month cooking"...you'll find a wealth of recipes that can be frozen. I really need to get back into the habit of doing this...my hubby is a SAHD, and he can cook, but it can be a pain to juggle when he's the only adult in the house. When I was doing freeze ahead meals (I'd try to do 2 weeks at a time since I don't have a deep freeze), I would put the instructions right on the foil with a Sharpie.
Our menus currently consist of spaghetti, complete meals, hamburger helper, etc. I'm desperate to get back into the cooking swing of things but can never seem to find the time.
If you PM me your e-mail addy, I'll see if I can hunt down some of my recipes and send them to you. It'll give me motivation to find them and go through them again at least...maybe then I'll be able to get back into it.