Quick & Easy Dinner Ideas

[Timothy]

Hi guys. I need some quick and easy dinner ideas. The wife's schedule recently changed and now the new arrangement is for her to take care of breakfast and lunch in the mornings and for me to take care of dinner in the evenings. I'm good with grilling on the weekends but during the week, it needs to be as quick and easy as possible. I don't get off work until 5 and don't usually get home until about 5:30.

 

[BigPapa]

There are plenty of things you can do for dinner that are quick and easy. Spaghetti is quick and painless because you can just brown up some burger and toss in a jar of sauce. I make my own but the jar is faster. Then boil noodles and dinner is served. Also, think about using a crock pot. You can do pot roast, pork chops and a ton of other things in those and they cook while you are at work. Casseroles are wonderful too.

 

[jason]

Have you ever thought about pre-cooking your meals? There are some recipes out there just for pre-cooking, not sure how good they are though. I've known people who will do that and they seem happy with the results.

 

[Timothy]

Jason, not really sure what "pre-cooking" is, but I'll look into it. BigPapa, spaghetti is a good idea - my wife loves anything Italian! Crock Pot meals are another good idea I hadn't considered. I'll have to look some recipes up online.

 

[BigPapa]

Pre-cooked means freezer meals for the most part. I have found a couple of websites with recipes like this, but I haven't tried any of them. I do freeze leftovers to use later though and that works out just fine.

 

[jason]

Jason, not really sure what "pre-cooking" is, but I'll look into it. BigPapa, spaghetti is a good idea - my wife loves anything Italian! Crock Pot meals are another good idea I hadn't considered. I'll have to look some recipes up online.

Here is a decent article on pre-cooked meals, or freezer meals. Freezer Meals on the Cheap - A Turtle's Life for Me

This may help get the ideas flowing. It is not perfect but it does work. I did it mostly with BBQ/Grilling foods when I was single and working a lot of hours during the busy season at the job. Cooked on the weekends and just heated up the food during the week.

 

[Timothy]

Jason, thanks for the link. I'll definitely be bookmarking it for future reference. I have weekends off so this would be a great option for me.

I sure wish I could find some 93/7 ground beef somewhere for $1/lb, like the pics showed!!!

 

[stewy]

My kids would live on pasta and cheese if I allowed it. Now that we're separated, I often have my daughters on a weekend, and have to cook for them, however I find it easier to take them out to eat or have a pizza delivered.

 

[Timothy]

Stewy, that's my wife! I'm sure my son could do without his veggies at night, too... ha! We do take advantage of restaurants on the weekends, but during the week, we really try to eat at home to save money and stay healthy.