When do you cook dinner? At dinnertime or do you pre-cook?

J

Josephine of the Swamps

New member
My partner does the cooking in my house, and it's a good thing because I just don't know how I'd ever get the time! When I do cook, which is rarely, it's always late because I have to wait until our 10 month old's asleep. He has a fussy period in the afternoons from about 4:00 until his bedtime at 6:30, so he either wants to be held, but I usually play with him a bit, bath him, get him dressed for bed, give him solids, and then a milk feed, and then put him to bed... that usually takes 1 to 1.5hrs. So I only ever get dinner started at 6:30 at the earliest.... by which time my partner has be preparing and cooking the whole time... he likes to cook big, time-consuming meals.... and I just can't do that! I know he wants a break from cooking once in a while, but it's so hard for me to get organised early enough with a fussy afternoon baby. Any ideas? Do you cook dinner at dinnertime or during the day and reheat? If so, what are good reheated meals?
 
My crock pot was a lifesaver. Also, cooking and freezing stuff was great. Or there are some really good convenience foods.

I have also found that having a plan makes meal prep much easier. We plan a couple of weeks in advance, buy all the groceries, and then make that meal on the night. We kind of plan out who is cooking when, too. If your little one takes an earlier nap, you can do prep-work earlier in the day, and you (or your husband) can do the actual cooking in the evening.
 
Do you have a slow cooker/crockpot? That always works well if I know I can't cook that night. You can cook in the morning and just let it cook all day.
Good re-heat meals that I've found:
lasagna
cassoroles
soups
spaghetti sauce with meat (make pasta right before serving)
meatloaf


Do you have a carrier or back pack carrier? I got the Ergo carrier and that's a lifesaver when my son is in a need-to-be held mood. I can just put him on my back and carry on with dinner or whatever else I'm doing.
 
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