Recipe 30 Minute Meals

lol yeah. best thing you can do is just sit nicely in the lounge or family room and let me get a move on in the kitchen.

I do a large shopping once a week, with only the occasional milk or bread run ever being needed in the middle of the week.
I do every possible bit of prep work on the day I do the big shopping, as things are put away - any washing, peeling, chopping, dicing, pre-browning, saute'ing etc that CAN be done ahead, is. then everything portioned out and refridgerated or frozen, so that any meal can be a "30 minute meal" if need be, or, things pulled out and tossed into a crock pot and turned on as I'm walking out the door. by the time dinner is on the table saturday night, any sauces/soups are on the stove simmering, or done cooking and cooling so they can be portioned out and put away, any pies are made, any bread dough has been mixed, salad components washed, dried, portioned out and put away, meat has all been seared off, browned, or is bagged in marinade and put away... makes saturday miserable, but all week long, anyone old enough to use the stove can assemble something healthy, tasty, and any meal can easily be added onto if people drop by unexpectedly. there are of course the things you can do any real prepwork ahead on - or that are just easier to whip up on the fly - like alfredo... but ive always found that a very well stocked pantry, fridge and freezer, coupled with smashing every bit of prepwork that can be done, into one big time of it - is WAY less stressful, way less mess across the week, and makes the daily meal assembly way more "30 minute meal-like.

 

I am always looking for quick dinners that are calorie/carb conscious...so, no rice/pasta, and low sodium....someone mentioned 800 mg...that seems a lot to me....we don't mind the prep work I do that and P does the actual "putting it together and firing" it...suggestions...a web site?

 

800 mg per serving isn't good, but it about right for amny prepackaged foods, which my wife & I usually avoid.

I wish that I could recommend a site, but we have so many cookbooks we rarely hit the net unless we're looking for something very specific. A general search for heart healthy low sodium quick recipes will probably bring up more than enough sites.

 

I like "follow my orders exactly." Gotta have order in a small kitchen.

We don't exactly order each other around, but I've learned that making sure we have plenty of counterspace for prep work helps immensely.

 

Seriously??

 

I need some meal ideas for picky kids. Got any of those?

 

It's a struggle to say the least.

 

We have adult friends who are picky eaters. In a restaurant I don't care how picky they are (unless they're so picky it becomes embarrassing), but not at my house. The bad thing is their kids learn to be picky eaters. One of my SILs is a serious whiner, and her youngest daughter is even worse.
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I guess that "Eat it, or go hungry" isn't an option .

 

I couldn't agree more! I have twin girls, one is like me; eats and enjoys food. The other is like the wife; picky and eats like a bird.
"Eat it or go hungry" was surely how I was raised. The wife, if she didn't like it they would make other things she did. Sets bad examples for sure!

 

Yes ma'am. And take a guess who is always first to get a cold, etc