How can I make my exhausting and hectic evening dinner routine pleasant?!

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My husband and I both have hour long commutes and I am also attending school. In order to prevent us from eating at 9 p.m.every night, I began preparing dinners a week or two at a time. It is a modified version of once a month cooking. For example, this week we will be having:

Sunday - pasta and meatballs
Monday - chicken lettuce wraps
Tuesday - onion soup and turkey paninis
Wednesday - spanish rice with chicken
Thursday - vegetable lasagna
Friday - homemade BBQ chicken pizza
Saturday - crock pot chili with macaroni & corn bread

So, today I cooked the meatballs, browned my ground chicken for Monday, made my soup for Tuesday, cooked a chicken, shredded it, and put into two freezer bags for use on Wed & Friday. I also assembled my lasagna in a 8 x 8 baking dish and put it in the freezer, and made my pizza dough. I put half in the freezer for another day and stored what I need for this week in the refrigerator as it is fine for up to a week.

I created a simple three column form (would be happy to share, just email me). I have the days of the week down the left hand side of the page and then a column for the menu and another for reminders. We use the reminders column to indicate things that need to be done last minute (such as assembling a salad just before dinner) or as a reminder to take something out of the freezer the day before (as in the vegetable lasagna).

It seems to work for us. Hope it helps to make your life easier, too. You might also find some additional ideas and helpful hints by checking out the variety of once a month cooking websites. Some of my favorites are: onceamonthcook.com & onceamonthmom.com

Here is the book that started me on the journey:
http://www.amazon.com/Once-Month-Cooking… I have the original 1980's version but this one is even better.

Do most of the work over the weekend, then heat it up. The oven is your best friend. Ten minutes of prep and the rest of the time you can hang out and relax. I would choose two big meat cuts to make each weekend and perhaps some side dishes that you can stretch as well.

Example:
Buy a big pork shoulder, throw it in a pot with a 28oz can of enchilada sauce, diced tomatoes, taco sauce or whatever tomato product you want. For acidity you can put a little lime juice, orange juice, or red wine vinegar. Cover the pot and put it in at 250 on a day off (or before work), should take 5-6 hours. Then pull the pork and put in containers to freeze. So many meals can be made from this - tacos, enchiladas, pasta, quesadillas, sandwiches.

definately make food and put them in the freezer, prepared.....so at night u take something out and put in fridge to defrost for the day, when u get home just shove it in the oven*to heat through.

Make chilli, make lasagna, make homemade chicken veggy soup...
also, you should Trust your crockpot and leave it on in the day like it's supposed to be....i use mine often and love it*
peel and chop all veggies at night.....in the morning put the onions, carrots, celery and potatoes at bottom of crockpot and put your chicken, roast beef, porkchops...whatever it is you want to make...add some bbq sauce into a cup,...add water and stir......no more than 1 cup of water......pour into crockpot put lid on turn to low and walk away for 8-10hrs*. When you get home your dinner will be done* if you dont want to add potatoes, u can make 5min rice........Its so yummy and so handy* I know what you're saying leaving an appliance on all day ...but that's what they're for* to be able to cook while you're away* So start using your crockpot* its' worth it..when you get home tired* You can spend time wtih the twins and all eat when your hubby gets home*

or like i said earlier, make big batch of Chilli on the weekend......freeze till ready to use.
make homemade chicken veggy soup and freeze it...when get home just heat in pot
make stew and freeze
make spaghetti sauce and freeze.

Just remember to take it out the night before in teh fridge to defrost then reheat for supper time*
toss a salad together and slice up an italian / french loaf of bread* ENJOY

Wow! You just poured your heart out there. I have 3 suggestions for you to try:
1) Use your slow-cooker, fill with veggies the night before, add meat in the morning.
Don't worry about leaving it on all day. They don't get that hot & have a safety cutoff.
When you get home, add the small veggies or canned beans or pasta.
2) Get a pressure cooker, stock with veggies & meats when you get home.
Play with the twins while it does it's magic in less than an hour.
You can also buy a rice cooker, if you like, which runs automatically.
3) Make several casseroles on the weekend, cook a few at once.
Cut into meal size portions & freeze in air-tight containers.
Then microwave when you get home, perhaps make up a salad.

Rather than buy frozen vegetables, buy fresh in bulk when in season, prep & freeze.
These will save you time when stocking the slow-cooker or pressure-cooker.

Grandma made preserves & used a Dutch oven or soup kettle a lot.

First, let me say---- "Girl, I hear ya!"

That being said, I don't know if this is going to be a huge help, but sometimes I cook big meals on the weekends and put the leftovers into portioned tupperware. So once you get enough frozen tupperware/tv dinners collected in the freezer, it should be a breeze. It helps if you have a deep freezer in the basement or something like that. All of the meals aren't going to fit in a side by side fridge/freezer. But, you could probably fit a cpl days worth in there... Those meals added with a fresh salad, and you have a wonderful meal that will suit even the pickiest child or husband! Some of my favs for freezing are turkey and stuffing w/potatoes, or chicken and stuffing with potatoes, chicken fingers and mexi-corn. Virtually any meal that you prepare can be used, depending on how it handles being frozen...I also freeze my soups. Chicken tortilla soup, chili, and chicken noodle soup are my frozen favs. You just do the noodles the day of or it will be mush in your soup.

I hope this helps a little. I know it sure helped me! My mom got me into doing this when I first moved out of the house. Now I'm a high school teacher as well, and I know what it's like to come home after a long day and not want to make dinner for two toddlers and their daddy! Good Luck!

my own experience