New nursing student mom

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Hello all!

So I start the nursing program the second week of Janurary and am working a list of meals to prepare. Any suggestions or tips for feeding the family while keeping some sanity with studying? I was already thinking about some crock pot meals and casserole dishes that may be quicker. And using one of the weekend mornings to prep all the ingredients that need it for the upcoming week. Obviously these are theoretical as I haven't practiced yet. So how did some of you mom's out there manage with the meals? Thank you all in advance for the advice!

Oh my ! Congratulations on graduating from an accelerated program! Thank you for your help. I'm h HOPING that doing some prepping on paper (a few weekly grocery lists with recipes) now will help while in the program. Your situation is similar as it is just my 5 yo, hubby and me. Problem for me is my hubby is in school for his masters and working full time also. So he is willing to help as much as he can but it sure will be a trying 2 years!!

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Sometimes I don't have enough time for a crock pot meal since (at some points) I'm gone all day. What I do is meal prep on sunday and sometimes we just slack and I'll cook a hamburger helper dinner. To be honest I will cook and study at the same time. My 8 year old even reads the front of the flash cards for me and I'll give him the answers. Kids can be a great study tool lol! I do look on pinterest and facebook, and even google for simple quick meals.

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I have an instant pot. Life saver. Takes crook pot recipes down to under 30 minutes.

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I'm not in a program yet but am brainstorming for the fall. Not sure if you have a Kroger nearby, but I'm trying their ClickList service today to see if that will be something we will use in the future. You basically create a shopping list online, submit your order and schedule your pickup time/day. Then you just pull your car up, press the button to let them know you are there, and they bring your order out to your car. I meal plan for a week so it makes it easy to just write down what we will eat, make the list on the website as I go, and know it will all be ready. I'm hoping that by cutting down on the extra time it takes to grocery shop it will free up a little time to actually cook once in a while:) Something to look into if they have it available in your area!

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I actually just read about that two days ago. There is one somewhere near me doing it but I will have to verify the address for how far away it is. I hope it works out well for you because I was curious about it too. :yes:

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As much as my husband hates those hamburger helper meals he may just have to put up with a few or some similar styles while in the program. Guess I should make sure to have a few on hand for those "just in case" moments. Thank you :cat:

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I just finished my first semester of nursing school, I'm also a mom of 2 and work 25 hours a week. I'm in an evening/weekend program so I have class 2-3 nights a week. What worked for us is that the month before school started I made a bunch of freezer meals, enough so that 2x a week we could eat something homemade from the freezer. I often did what someone else suggested, if I was making a meal that was freezer friendly, I would make 2-3 times the amount and freeze the extra meals. I did find that some of the recipes were better than others, but at least there was something to eat even if it wasn't a favorite. I use the website "Once a Month Meals" to find good recipes for the freezer. They have a paid subscription option but there is a lot that you can access for free. I also use the "Plan to Eat" website to meal plan. I made a 3 week rotation and then made it repeat throughout the semester. You can also make your grocery list on this website. I think its like $5 a month. Totally worth it to me. Some things I wish I had done and will be trying to do more of next semester: Utilize my local grocery store's online shopping with pick up or delivery... instead of spending 1 1/2 hours grocery shopping on the weekends I need to spend that time prepping food for dinners, lunches and snacks. If you have Stop and Shop or Giant grocery stores nearby, they have the PeaPod grocery service. I'm going to try and spend time on Sundays prepping food, maybe make it something that my kids can help with (its hard for me to let them help! haha).. like prepping carrot sticks into baggies for snacks, etc. etc. My kids and husband ate pretty well most of the time but I ate like CRAP, so I need to work on that too. Hmm what else... Make things that can be eaten twice, like shredded chicken for tacos one night and then the rest of the chicken in a soup or casserole. Keep "easy" stuff in the freezer as a back up plan. My kids love tortellini with broccoli so we'd always have some of that Bertolli tortellini in the freezer, as well as frozen pizza and other "quick stuff". Yes, its not the best choice for every night- but sometimes its either that or take out/cereal for dinner so at least you have the option. My kids actually loved it when sometimes I would do a "picnic" dinner and we'd have deli meat and cheese with crackers and cut veggies for dinner. Quick and still decently healthy. Planning ahead and getting the family on board is key! Good luck, you will be fine! :)

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CONGRATS! Soups and stews work really well. The other thing that works well for me is pot pies. I make a bunch of them and freeze them. Then when its time to eat I just pop em in the oven.

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I just finished my first semester and I can honestly say that we've been eating like crap for the most part. My program is full time and my SO works full time so by the end of the day we're both pretty tired and don't feel like cooking, plus I usually have to either study for a test or do homework of some sort. My kids are 3 and 5, so not old enough to cook for themselves. I'm looking into meal planning- hope it helps. Good luck!

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As a mom of 2 in nursing school with my daughter (yes, same program!) and approaching our last semester, my advice would be to have a strong support system at home. Without my husband and my son stepping up big time, I would have quit long ago. As we got into the "meat and potato's of the program, doing any of my domestic "duties" was impossible! For the past 3 years I had time only for school, clinical, study and work (overnight shifts 2x a week) sleep never really happened. I found the best balance when I woke up at 3 am to study before class. It will be tough but keep your eyes on the prize and you will do it!

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I actually just read about that two days ago. There is one somewhere near me doing it but I will have to verify the address for how far away it is. I hope it works out well for you because I was curious about it too. :yes:

Update: It was AMAZING! I was in an out of the parking lot in 5 minutes with everything I needed for the week!

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About your husband "helping," it's not "helping" when it's as much his family as yours. If he's working on a master's he's smart enough to read and follow a recipe. My husband makes a totally awesome crockpot meatloaf, and other things, for example.

This will also pay dividends when your child(ren) can start cooking. Oh yes, they can.

I'm also gonna give a shout-out to InstantPot, a pressure cooker. Raw meat and veggies to melt-in-your-mouth pot roast on the plate in half an hour, and enough leftovers to eat later in the week or freeze.

Last, invest in a 26-qt stock pot and a slew of plastic freezer boxes. It's not a lot more trouble to make 26 qts of spaghetti sauce or chili than it is four.

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