Okay... my son needs to learn...
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| Wed, 05-09-2007 - 2:11pm |
how to cook and what makes a healthy meal. His swim schedule is just crazy and we can't all sit down together on days he has practice anymore and I refuse to cook dinner twice. He starts at 5:45 or 6 and finishes about 7:15 or 7:30. That means by the time he showers and gets home it's 7:45 or 8:00. Dh doesn't get home until 6:30 or so (at least that's what it looks like - he hasn't been at the new job very long). Anyway, the kid refuses to eat leftovers or reheated food. He has sandwiches for lunch a few times/week so that's not his favorite choice either. I can only cook so many meals in the crockpot in one week - they stay hot on the "warm" setting.
He's pretty good with the microwave and can do pancakes, eggs, and burgers on the stove (when an adult is around obviously). Anyone know any good cookbooks, recipes or related web sites for resources? Anyone have any other ideas? I thought about keeping a stock of frozen dinners but I'm not thrilled with all the chemicals and sodium in most of them. Sports moms and moms with busy kids, how do handle dinner time?

What's his arguement with reheating his food? My husband works late nights and his meal is always on a plate in the microwave. Do you think he's just trying to weasel out of eating nutritious meals in favor of quick junk food? Maybe you should explain to him that with all of his sports that its in his best interest to eat what you carefully plan and prepare for him!
Denise
A cookbook that my DD likesto use is Cooking Rocks!
If he is willing to heat up frozen dinners, my solution would be to spend a weekend with him making a bunch of frozen but homemade dinners.
I am so glad you posted this, because my home is very busy after school as well. 12 yr old DS plays football or LAX (depending on the season) and has practice 3 nights a week for 2 hrs. 9 yr old DD has softball 2-3 times a week and our other DD has gymnsatics and scouts 2 nights a week. Poor baby DD (who is our 4th) who is stuck home with me! The way I solve it is I make dinner at 4:00 so we can all eat at 4:30. We starts with salad (which is pretty robust with pasta in it, nuts and meat sometimes) and them on to dinner. That way everyone has eaten early and we can go and watch each other at their respective sport. DH is the guy left out-he can come home by 4:30 usually, but sometimes he is the one with a plate in the oven at 5:30 when he comes home. My problem with this is at 6:00 the kids are hungry again. SO they get fruit or cold veggies. They are happy with this. If I have occassion where I don't get to make dinner at 4:00, DS usually eats - frozen chili heated up, tacos with meat that was frozen, a huge salad, soup and bread, homemade friend rice (which I have to saw is AWESOME heated up, and so easy to make!), he cooks some noodles and microwaves frozen homemade spaghetti sauce or his famous grilled cheese sandwiches. If the meal looks a little light to me I cut up apples for him, or have him add a banana with peanut butter. And then, in a pinch, he will throw in a frozen-from-the-box-hot pocket. It is hard to put together at first, but I've developed a schedule and make things in bulk and freeze in baggies. I am neurotic about my kids eating high sodium and pre packaged food as little as possible. Probably once a month they resort to that, but that's not a judgement call on anyone. My family has a long history of cancer and I do all I can to minimize prepared foods in general. It's the only way I can sleep at night!!
Hope this helps,
Joy
On Tae Kwon Do nights (2-3 nights a week) we don't get home until 7-7:30. If there are no leftovers we do a lot of quesadillas (you can put whatever you want in it). I usually cut up chicken when I get it and cook it with a little garlic. Then put it in the freezer and we can pull it out whenever we need it (quesadillas, english muffin pizzas, burritos). We also do eggs on occasion, sandwich wraps (ham, cucumber with a little cream cheese). Grilled cheese w/ tomato soup, and then there's always cereal. Or the occational hot dog. Whatever we can think of that's only going to take a few minutes to fix. HTH
Lynn
Well, my house is like this alot as we move from one sport season to the next. My kids do eat leftovers from the family meal, as they are not given a choice. I would suggest that you sit down with him prior to grocery shopping and let really plan out the menus-look at the practice, and meet schedule, and then let him have a big hand in deciding what he wants. Make sure that he plans an entree, veggie and/or fruit, and side dish-balance the meals instead of just letting him grab a single item. Veggies and Fruits tend to be easily forgotten.
You didn't mention his age( I don't think), but here are something my boys do:
microwave meals (or homemade frozen dinners), chicken strips, fishsticks, mac and cheese, single serve hamburger helper, soups, canned and/or frozen veggies, smoothies, pizzas, prepared ahead sloppy joe meat, earlier prepared meatballs, etc , have individual applesauces or fruit cups available.
Good Luck!!