Good Weeknight Family Fare in 30 minutes or Less

[smilingal]

impressive - micromanaging the freezer!

[Jaymes]

When I have multiple zips of this or that, I slide them together into a larger zip which makes them easier to find and/or into a plastic container which holds them neatly together upright, as you suggest, like cd's or books. That way I can keep soups together, sauces, etc, and no longer have to duck the missiles raining from the freezer.

I do that, too! With the plastic containers! They do look like mini file-boxes and they're so easy to flip through with the planks standing on end like that. In fact, I make up a LOT of these things for my 90-yr-old dad, who lives alone and won't cook anymore, and put the frozen zip planks into the plastic boxes that I've labeled for him into his freezer. The zips hold enough of everything for two servings. That way, if he's particularly hungry, it fills him up. And if not, he's happy to have leftovers, but only once.

One box says "Veggies" (I just wrote right on the plastic box in large black letters with a permanent marker so they're easy for Dad to read). One "Soups/Stews." One "Mains." "Mains" have things like meatloaf slices, grilled chicken breasts and pork chops, hamburger patties that I've cooked out on the barbie for that smoked flavor, etc.

When I go up to visit him, I spend the whole week cooking, including firing up the backyard grill, something that he never does anymore. Those hamburger patties, grilled chicken breasts, chops, etc., from the smoker taste much better than the ones you just fry in a skillet. I used to wrap the stuff in foil and stick into the freezer willy-nilly, but it seemed to be too difficult or confusing or something, even though I labeled them well. I don't know for sure, but until I came up with this latest "filed planks" method, most of the prepared food went unused. I think much of it is the difference between just seeing something and being able to pull it out without disturbing other items, vs having things underneath and behind other things.

This way, though, all he has to do is to pull out something from the appropriate boxes, put them onto a plate, and heat a bit in the microwave. It cheers me up immensely to look into the freezer and see that the file boxes of frozen zips are increasingly emptying, and to know that I've made a difference for him.

______________________

Edited October 26, 2010 by Jaymes (log)

[Rover]

It's evident that one of the most important elements of getting a home-cooked meal on the table each night is organization and being as prepared as possible. Back in the day, I used to plan the week's menus on a Saturday morning surrounded by a stack of cookbooks and ideas. I wanted to keep track of the results, so I prepared a table in Word with each dish/recipe title, its source, page number, etc. and had a column for reviews. The printout was pinned up in the kitchen ready for remarks and input, including innovations and changes. I also generated a shopping list.

It was rather interesting to look back over the weekly menu lists with comments and reviews; they became a source of ideas and inspiration. Knowing ahead of time what was on the menu for the week, made it easy to do basic prep in advance, e.g. chopping all those carrots, etc., in the food processor. I often used to weigh and measure ingredients like all the spices for Indian cooking, the night before or a couple of days in advance. If there was a lot of peeling, chopping, grinding and measuring to greet me when I got home from work, it was sometimes a deterrent to prepare labour-heavy dishes, unless really in the mood to do so.

Advance partial prep is also a nice short cut. Sauteing the onions, mushrooms, crushing the tomatoes, shredding the cheese, browning the meat or poultry, zesting the citrus.

And, if upon arriving home, that evening's menu didn't appeal - I switched it for one of the others.

I haven't really planned and tracked the weekly menus like this for years. These day, I note in my online journal what the week's meals were, including pictures and links to recipes together with what I thought of them, maybe I'll look at doing a combination of both.

[Mjx]

Given the discussion going on over at 'The data on cooking more, less, differently, etc.' post, it seemed like it might be a good time to bump this post.

If I'm pressed for time, I go for either a one-pot deal, based on pasta, or rice, or a pared down version of 'meat-starch-veg'.

Shopping is key: I make a point of having quickly prepped vegetables, quickly cooked cuts of meat, rice, pasta, tinned tomatoes, and chicken broth on hand. Anchovies and fish sauce come in handy, as do tomato paste, soy sauce, dried mushrooms, and some port and whiskey you don't mind sacrificing to the cooking pot.

Oh, and jars of single-ingredient baby food can be really useful (e.g. pureed squash added to rice and beans with tomato give the dish a lot of extra depth).

The one-pot deals start with pasta or rice; while that's cooking (in these cases, I use broth as a cooking liquid) I rummage through the kitchen for whatever I have on hand that looks tasty, and can easily be added in (beans, the baby shrimp that are moving towards their bin date, shredded leftover chicken, etc.).

The condensed meat-starch-veg. protocol goes something like this:

Start heating skillet, and water for rice or pasta (an electric kettle means the water is good to go in about two minutes). If it's rice, I may use broth.

Cutlets or filets come out of the fridge, are blotted, salted, and rubbed with oil on both sides (this makes a lot less mess to clean off the glass stovetop, afterwards; pepper and herbs get added at the end, since I don't love the flavour of incinerated seasonings)

Start rice or pasta. If it's rice, I may toss in a thread or two of saffron.

When the amount of time left on the rice or pasta is that which it will take to cook the meat, the meat goes into the now-heated skillet.

Prep fresh vegetable: this means slicing some tomatoes or peppers, washing some carrots, or removing some baby greens (prewashed) from their bag. Alternatively, I may quickly blanch some peas or the like, which then get a small dab of butter, some fresh herbs, a little pepper.

Flip meat.

Rice off heat, fluff/drain pasta.

Meat off heat; quickly deglaze pan, if the cooking temperature did not incinerate the juices.

Spend a minute or two seasoning; I have some fresh herbs in pots on the window sill, and usually snip in one of those, and some tomato product may be involved.

Plate.

Serve.

Sometimes, though, when time is really tight, and everyone is tired and snarly, the best bet is to just make some really good, substantial sandwiches, accompanied by some carrots or sliced peppers, rather than try to cook something, when you've just got nothing left to give.

[Jaymes]

If you've got a grocery store with a good salad bar, that's a great place to pick up prepped veggies - onions, carrots, celery, peppers, etc. - to take home and toss into the skillet for a quick frittata, or into the wok for a stir-fry.

[Darienne]

If you've got a grocery store with a good salad bar, that's a great place to pick up prepped veggies - onions, carrots, celery, peppers, etc. - to take home and toss into the skillet for a quick frittata, or into the wok for a stir-fry.

That is brilliant!!!!

[Jaymes]

If you've got a grocery store with a good salad bar, that's a great place to pick up prepped veggies - onions, carrots, celery, peppers, etc. - to take home and toss into the skillet for a quick frittata, or into the wok for a stir-fry.

That is brilliant!!!!

Golly, thanks.

I was very lucky in that I had a grocery store with a great salad bar on my way home from work. A quick stop at that store for a package of chicken breasts and a zip through that salad bar and I was all set.

[Kouign Aman]

Sometimes, we have nachos for dinner. Grate cheese, melt onto chips, heat beans, slice veg.

But we cant do that every night.

[JAZ]

I just read about this new book by James Peterson, Kitchen Simple, the subtitle of which is "essential recipes for everyday cooking." He starts the introduction saying that most of the recipes can be made in a half hour, although in some cases that's for the prep, and there's additional cooking time. He also includes a list for stocking a pantry, which might not be something that most of us need, but it's great for a cook who's just starting out.

In general, I've found Peterson's books to be solid, so I imagine this is no exception.

[gfweb]

If you've got a grocery store with a good salad bar, that's a great place to pick up prepped veggies - onions, carrots, celery, peppers, etc. - to take home and toss into the skillet for a quick frittata, or into the wok for a stir-fry.

That is brilliant!!!!

You can go into a grocery store and buy stuff faster than you can chop a carrot or two?

[Jaymes]

If you've got a grocery store with a good salad bar, that's a great place to pick up prepped veggies - onions, carrots, celery, peppers, etc. - to take home and toss into the skillet for a quick frittata, or into the wok for a stir-fry.

That is brilliant!!!!

You can go into a grocery store and buy stuff faster than you can chop a carrot or two?

Um, no. But if I have to stop by the store anyway on my way home from work, and I'm making a stir-fry or frittata or something else that requires considerably more than one "carrot or two," it's much quicker to pick up sliced carrots, peppers, onions, broccoli, mushrooms, tomatoes, celery, etc. at the salad bar. Then I can run into the house and start cooking right away and dinner is ready in no time flat.

An added bonus is that for several years, I lived alone. When I picked up already prepped veggies at the salad bar, enough for just one or two meals, I found I had a lot less spoilage in my fridge vegetable drawers than I did when I picked up a bag of carrots, whole bunches of celery, and/or broccoli, bell peppers, and other perishables.

But hey, to each his own, gfweb. If it's not a good technique for you and your particular situation, eschew it.

Edited August 24, 2011 by Jaymes (log)

[ckamom]

I know that there are many kid-family cooking threads, however have found myself in an interesting situation.   I have three kids, 16 to 9.  All three play at least one sport, one instrument, and are academically competitive. for example, on a Monday night I have one in gymnastics from 4-7:30 one getting home at 6:60 from track and the other with basaeball practice until 9;00.  Dinner is kind of a nightmare.  I usually make something that can be served from 6:00-9:00 keeping warm in a crockpot.  My kids are pretty picky about quality, don't eat fish, and do not eat fast food.

What do you guys do to feed your busy families?

[AlaMoi]

I fed 'em a schedule.

 

baseball practice until 9 pm?  some re-ordering of priorities might be appropriate.

 

either that or have the school district reduce the baseball coach's seven figure salary to five figures so the coach is not so apt to run practices to 9 pm.

[Franci]

I find that life gets much easier when I have my staples around.

To make it possible, I need to have always some stock around. At the moment I have beef and chicken stock in the fridge. I also have always some tomato sauce and bolognese ragu' in the freezer. Also home made buns and often I have a crepes in the fridge.

My children like soups, especially clear soups and if I have a good beef stock ready, it takes only minutes to put together (broken angel hair pasta, cooked 2 minutes in water, or rice noodles). Or I often make minestrone (without pasta or rice, that I add to it only to the quantity we are eating, don't like overcooked pasta or rice). My children don't like veloute soups and it's a pity.

I try to cook a roast (or a stew) that is served as it is for one or two meals at most and then becomes croquettes. I often make more risotto than we would eat, so I add one egg and with the ice cream scoop I make rice cakes pan fry and those reheat quite well. Often I buy pork loin (we don't eat a lot of chicken) and do breaded cutlets in the morning and I keep in the fridge to cook as needed.

Always have some vegetables washed and ready to cook. They usually  takes minutes with the wok or pressure cooker.

 

This thinking is useful also for me to recap my strategies.

Soups ready with just pasta/rice to add

Roast or stew ready

Meat/vegetable croquettes, rice cakes ready in the fridge just to saute'

Boiled eggs in the fridge

Vegetables: crudites ready to eat or vegetables already washed and cut. Pickled vegetable with rice and sugar, Asian style

My home make buns for hot dog for when I'm stressed. Or whole foods naans for a cheat quick pizza.

[Darienne]

We are just two old 'crocks' with our kids totally grown up, but I am very keen on watching this site.  Food which can sit for a few hours without spoiling sounds interesting.  What do YOU serve?

[pbear]

Rather than things which hold in a crockpot, consider doing stuff that reheats easily, either in the oven or in the microwave.  Soup would be an obvious example of the latter, most casseroles an obvious example of the former.  In fact, there are lots of dishes that reheat well, e.g., curry over rice, which may or may not be on your radar screen.  Reheating works best, I find, if the portions are set up in single serving dishes immediately after cooking then chilled.  (I'm not dealing with your situation, but I do cook almost all my meals ahead.)  One neat thing about this strategy is that not everyone has to eat the same things on the same days, though of course there are limits to how much choice you can accommodate at any given time.  Hope that helps.

[ckamom]

I fed 'em a schedule.

 

baseball practice until 9 pm?  some re-ordering of priorities might be appropriate.

 

either that or have the school district reduce the baseball coach's seven figure salary to five figures so the coach is not so apt to run practices to 9 pm.

I wish.  That's kinda the way it is.  At least he can do homework and practice his instruments before practice.  He plays lacrosse as well so this is just a sample of one night.  My youngest trains for gymnastics at17+ hours a week and my oldest trains daily starting at 5 a.m.  Don't want to get off topic to discuss the absolute crazy of raising kids these days. 

[ckamom]

I find that life gets much easier when I have my staples around.

To make it possible, I need to have always some stock around. At the moment I have beef and chicken stock in the fridge. I also have always some tomato sauce and bolognese ragu' in the freezer. Also home made buns and often I have a crepes in the fridge.

My children like soups, especially clear soups and if I have a good beef stock ready, it takes only minutes to put together (broken angel hair pasta, cooked 2 minutes in water, or rice noodles). Or I often make minestrone (without pasta or rice, that I add to it only to the quantity we are eating, don't like overcooked pasta or rice). My children don't like veloute soups and it's a pity.

I try to cook a roast (or a stew) that is served as it is for one or two meals at most and then becomes croquettes. I often make more risotto than we would eat, so I add one egg and with the ice cream scoop I make rice cakes pan fry and those reheat quite well. Often I buy pork loin (we don't eat a lot of chicken) and do breaded cutlets in the morning and I keep in the fridge to cook as needed.

Always have some vegetables washed and ready to cook. They usually  takes minutes with the wok or pressure cooker.

 

This thinking is useful also for me to recap my strategies.

Soups ready with just pasta/rice to add

Roast or stew ready

Meat/vegetable croquettes, rice cakes ready in the fridge just to saute'

Boiled eggs in the fridge

Vegetables: crudites ready to eat or vegetables already washed and cut. Pickled vegetable with rice and sugar, Asian style

My home make buns for hot dog for when I'm stressed. Or whole foods naans for a cheat quick pizza.

I make soup like crazy.  Currently I will have dinner ready before picking up the youngest from school.  I them portion into tuperware for kids and hubby to heat up as hey need.  Also make chili and curries that can stay on warm in my cooker.  honestly just bored with our current stuff. 

[monavano]

Anything in a slow cooker will keep heated for hours, but I also like making casseroles that can be portioned and heated in the microwave.

If you can make a couple casseroles, they can be stored in the fridge until needed.

 

I'd also like to mention par cooking vegetables. Blanching and shocking will leave them ready to be added to the plate when reheating dinner.

I blanch greens and store them covered in the refrigerator all week, and crap portions as needed.

[Dave W]

My kids are much younger but it would seem that modular dinners with hot and cold elements would work well.

A taco or sandwich bar could stay covered with ingredients at room temperature for hours. Warm meats or cheese sauce or whatever could hold in a crock pot or microwave per serving. Various food preferences can be served in this fashion too.

Otherwise id say your best investment in getting meals cranked out quickly is a pressure Cooker.

Edited November 20, 2014 by Dave W (log)

[Jenny@SnP]

Why not try pre-make meals? You can cook a big batch of soup over the weekend, and freeze it for weekday dinner. When we were in college and mom and dad's at work, we used to have broccoli-cheese chowder or shrimp fried rice for dinner. Everybody's tired anyway and that's the easiest food that mom can cook for us. 

[Deryn]

I guess I was lucky when my daughter was young and I was working full time - because a) I only had 1 child and 1 husband (and myself) to deal with at the time and that was hectic enough with everyone having very different schedules and b) because I had a jenn-air stove. We often didn't get home to eat till 7 p.m.

I gave up trying to make casseroles and soups, etc. on weekday nights, and would just marinate plain meat (chicken breast, steak, pork chop, or fish) for a few minutes in a different quick concoction (of whatever I had around - no jarred stuff) every day during the week (balsamic or lemon with fresh herbs were favorites) or coat it with mustard and herbs, and toss it on the grill with a few vegetables. It was fast, healthy, colourful and non-stressful. If someone wasn't there, I would cook theirs anyway (usually slightly undercook) and put a plate in the fridge which could be quickly reheated in the microwave.

If you don't have a jenn-air (and most people don't, I know), a frying or grill pan would work just fine.

Edited November 21, 2014 by Deryn (log)

[Simon Lewinson]

Been there, done that. In winter I go for curries with rice or Asian style soups like laksa where the broth is ready and the best of the ingredients take but a few minutes of prep. Summer brings a DIY salad bar with ingredients, dressing and cold meats in the fridge.

Simon

[CatPoet]

Home made hot pockets or pasties  to reheat.    It just a meal in bread and  they are easily reheated and can be served with a salad and it not that unhealthy since you can put anything in and use a normal bread dough.

[Dave W]

That's a great idea catpoet.