Now I know for a lot of parents, that means the fast-food shuffle begins. I get it, it's convenient and easy and your kids probably love it.... But there IS an easier alternative, and it takes less time than a drive thru (seriously!) - and it's a whole lot better for your kiddos.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-fast food by any means. My kids love it, obviously. But 4 nights a week would be way too much for me. So instead, a little plan-ahead meal prep and life is so much easier. :)
For starters, take just 1-2 hours and make up a bunch of pre-made/frozen meals for when you're REALLY in a hurry - think food items that can easily be eaten in a car. Chicken quesadillas, burritos, sandwiches, wraps - these are all so easy to make a batch of ahead of time, then wrap them in plastic wrap and freeze. You can either thaw it in the fridge the night/morning before practice, or just thaw it in the microwave before you head out. Easy peasy!
Otherwise, if you have the luxury of sitting down for a quick meal before heading out, all of these suggestions above take less than TEN minutes, start to finish, assuming you have your meat ready. (What?! No meat ready?! Have I taught you anything yet? :) It's so easy to cook up batches of ground beef (spaghetti sauces, taco sauces, etc) and chicken - once the cooking time is out of the way, separate and label in ziplock bags. You can literally do this on a non-sports practice night while you're cooking your regular meal - just cook extra meet and freeze. Then, when you need it you already have a pre-made pasta sauce, pre-made taco filling, etc - and you whole meal is literally no more effort than boiling some noodles or laying out some tortillas, etc. Frozen pastas will even save time on that (pre-made raviolis and tortellini boil pretty quick!)
PS, don't EVER be afraid to try something in a tortilla (those are words to live by, friends). Leftover pork? Throw it in a tortilla and it's a new meal your kids will gobble up. Leftover fish sticks? Those make for excellent fish tacos. Don't be afraid to "repurpose" food as I say to make it more portable for practice (I wouldn't trust my kids to eat a lot of dinners in a car, but once it's wrapped up tight in a tortilla? Game on!) and it also mixes up your weeknight foods by using the same ingredients just in a different way. As I've mentioned before, I typically only cook 2 meats a week - then I use those creatively to make different meals and it saves TONS of time (for example, I portion out some of the ground beef for enchiladas, then use the rest for a pasta meal, etc - same meat I already cooked, but 2 totally different meals so no one catches on that it's still practically the same food... Neat, right? That way you're really only cooking about HALF the meals you need for the week! (Although of course if you follow my freezer meal tips, you'll cook even less... :)
Okay, no more time to read - you have shin guards to go look for (yep, third time this week!) but here's a PDF version of the meal list if you want to print it out and make it your own - and of course to add your own quick favorites to! :)
snm.pdf |