Cooking, Groceries, Kids... I NEED HELP!!!

I have 2 kids, 6 & 5. My mom cooked us amazing dinners every night growing up. I have fallen into the habit of just eating out or grabbing fast food because it's quick and with working a full-time job outside the home I would much rather spend my time at home with my kids than cooking, etc. I'm learning to fix fast things though and include them when I can because they like to help out.

Some easy things we do are tacos, corn dogs, spaghetti, lots of meals in the crock pot, hot dogs, chicken (there are so many things you can do with chicken that require very little effort).

There are lots of options in the freezer sections at the grocery store that are quick and similar to what you are eating when you eat out.

Hope this helps!

When I was younger and newly married I learned to not like cooking because my wife felt it was her job as a wife to do all the cooking.

I started cooking again when she asked for help in the kitchen. Cooking is like playing the piano or putting together a puzzle. Once you understand what you have to do it becomes much easier. Once you get reasonably good at cooking, and the praise comes in, cooking will be much more enjoyable.

As far a learning to cook, go garage sailing to estate sales. When you see they have cook books for sale look through the cook books for smudged and dirty pages. Those are the recipes that family liked the best. Try those.

You probably have friends that cook. Ask them for advice and help. I found a groupon to a cooking school. They teach you how to cook a recipe and them you sit down and eat it. You have a professional chef teaching the class.

I also use allrecipes.com. They have all kinds of recipes and all kinds of videos to show you how to do a recipe. You can ask for kids' favorites or man's favorites or easy crock pot recipes. All recipes has a paid and a free service. I found the free service works fine for me.

If you really want to save money on your grocery bill. Cook from scratch. Example: Kraft mac & cheese is real good. But there are a lot of mac and cheese recipes that don't come in a box that are fantastic that don't cost near as much as the name brand mac and cheese.

Good luck to you and yours.

Here are some of my family's recipes.
I've won several chili cook offs with this recipe.
B.'s Smoked Chicken Chili

1 28 ounce of enchilada sauce (I used hot, red sauce)
1 15 oz can of refried beans
4 15 oz cans of chili flavored beans
4 pounds of chicken leg 1/4's (leg 1/4's work better than breasts)
2 tablespoons of chili powder
1 heaping teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1/4 lb of fresh jalapenos. (canned won't work as well)

I used a 6 qt crock pot turned on high.
Smoke the chicken leg 1/4's. Place them in a pan, with 1/4" of water, on a BBQ grill with mesquite wood for smoke. Cook them over very low heat, until done. Put the chicken leg 1/4's and the water in a container in the frig over night. I put Canadian Chicken Seasoning on my chicken in the grill.

Put all the ingredients in the crock pot, including the water in the pan the chicken cooked in, except the jalapenos, and stir. 5 hours later, remove the leg 1/4's and place on a plate to cool. After the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the bones and place the meat back in the crock pot, then stir. Stirring breaks up the chunks of meat and makes it go through out the chili.

Cut the tops off the jalapenos. Cut them in half length wise. Use the round end of a spoon to scoop out the seeds and white part that holds the seeds. (The seeds and white membrane makes Jalapenos HOT.) Do the scraping under the water or with a fan blowing the fumes away from you. Dice the pods and add them to the chili 15 to 30 minutes before serving. Enjoy!! (For thicker chili, remove 2 cups of sauce only from the pot when you remove the chicken to debone it.)

I sipped/drank the sauce I removed to make my chili thicker. It was HOT, but delicious.

Here is my wife's butterhorn recipe that has been in the family for at least 4 generations. (Its that good)
Butterhorns
3 1/4 cups flour 1 package dry yeast (1 TBSP)
3/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup warm water
1 1/8 cups sugar
3 beaten eggs
1 cup scalded milk
1/2 cup butter 2 Tablespoons melted butter

In a cup add yeast to water. In a pot scald milk; add 1/2 cup butter. In a bowl blend eggs with sugar gradually. Add milk and butter mixture. Add dissolved yeast and flour. Blend in salt. Place dough on a floured board. Knead for 5 minutes until smooth. Shape dough into a ball. Place in a greased bowl. Cover with a cheesecloth. Let stand until twice its size. Remove and knead. Divide dough evenly. Roll each piece into a 3/4 inch thick circle. Cut into pie slices. Brush each piece with melted butter. Roll up from widest end. Place on a greased baking pan 2 to 3 inches apart. Let stand until risen. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Use a toothpick to test for doneness. Remove pan Carefully remove rolls from pan with a metal spatula.
Yields 20-25 rolls.

Ok, here's one that helped me a lot.

Think of every recipe you can that has ground beef browned with garlic and chopped onions. Get the right amount of beef, onion, and garlic browning. While that's happening, set up gallon-size ziplock bags with all the other ingredients in them. When the beef is ready, scoop 1 lb of it into each bag with the other ingredients. Mush them around, squeeze out the air, and put them in the freezer. You have a whole bunch of ready-made meals - thaw in the fridge overnight, and when you get home simmer for 10 min and serve.

I do this for sloppy joes, tacos, and chili. I do 6 lbs of meat at one time in my biggest skillet, and then I have 2 of each of these meals in the freezer, just heat and serve.

A trick for chicken: take chicken breasts (however many you need for a typical dinner) and put them in a gallon ziplock with a marinade. Squeeze out the air, and put them in the freezer. When you want it for dinner, let it thaw in the fridge overnight, and at dinner time, either bake or grill.

My favorite is a few chicken breasts with a cup of salsa - that's all the ingredients. Bake the chicken with the salsa for 40 min at 350, serve. But any marinade will work, and they flavor the chicken while they thaw together in the fridge.

I do not like to cook either, but this works for me because I would rather spend 2 hours on Sunday making a whole bunch of meals than having daily "what to make" torture. Good luck.

I've discovered my daughter likes the meals best that take the least cooking. Here are some of our 5-10 min dinners:

A plate of ham/turkey, cheese, cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, a tortilla or bread, add a dab of mayo or french dressing for dipping.

Quesadillas - either just cheese, or refried beans and cheese, fried up quick in a flour tortilla in a pan, again add a veggie or fruit, salsa if they like it.

Tacos - keep taco seasoning handy and fry up a bit of chicken, steak cut up small, or tilapia, or just black beans out of the can with the seasoning in oil. Put in flour tortillas with cheese, tomatoes, whatever toppings they like.

Keep pasta toppings in your cupboard - tomato sauce, alfredo, etc. We like turkey sausage with pasta. Add a veggie steamed.

I like (my daughter not so much) to do stir-frys with a bit of meat, a couple of frozen or fresh veggies, and one or two types of bottled sauces thrown in. Experiment to see what they like - pineapple, peanuts/cashews are a couple of my favorite things to add. Cooked brown rice comes in frozen microwavable packets!

And then, pick a weekend day and cook a couple of big pans of something or a big pot of soup (if your kids like soup, mine doesn't). Enchiladas - bean/cheese, or chicken/cheese - are well-liked here.

The crock-pot comes in handy, too. I like a beef roast in with a jar of pepperoncini peppers cooked for 6-8 hours - fabulous for hot sandwiches and nachos. Or, a pork butt roast with a bottle of root beer cooked for 6-8 hours and then topped with BBQ sauce. There are lots of really easy recipes for the crock pot.

Snacks are so easy...fresh fruit, string cheese or your favorite cheese cubed, fresh veggies w/ ranch or hummus, canned mandarin oranges, yogurt, grahm crackers and milk, hard boiled eggs w/salt, toast w/peanut butter, applesauce w/cinnamon, heck even a baggie w/their favorite cereal...

Not sure what your family will eat as far as diner meals goes but some super easy meals are:
Chicken & cheese quesadillias w/soup
Spaghetti, salad & garlic bread
Apricot glazed pork chops, wild rice & green beans (takes 20 mins)
Baked chicken, mashed potatoes & gravy & corn (easy, throw chicken in oven and potatoes to boil)
Swedish meatballs and a veggie (buy frozen meatballs and seasoning packet and boil egg noodles)
grilled cheese and soup
Tacos/Burritos
Nachos

*I throw 2 bowls on the table with every meal...one with a cut up fresh fruit and one with a fresh veggie...it is amazing how much the kiddos will munch 'finger foods' like this!!

I think a lot of women really start cooking when they have kids out of necessity (at least I did). My kids are teenagers now so we're even more on the go than when they were young. I have a weekly calendar on the fridge that has activities and dinners. I try to plan dinner based on who activites. My daughter had a game out of town and I knew it would be after 10:00 when she got home so I made a roast that I could heat up for her. Both of my kids can cook, but until volleyball is over its chaos. They love make your own sandwich night.

These are some of the things we've had the last few weeks:
Lemon Chicken with potatoes and broccoli
Chili
Beef roast with veggies
Sloppy Joes
Leftover lemon sauce with shrimp
Pork chops with stuffing and apple pie filling (easy one dish)
Hamburger hotdish
Chicken enchiladas
French bread pizzas
Cheese ravioli with spinach and chicken in alfredo sauce

Keep it simple. Make what you know they will eat.
Keep staples on hand. Have ready made meals in the kitchen.

DINNER
-Stouffer's Frozen Meat Lasagna
-froz hamburger patties (cook in pan or grill)
-spaghetti w/meat sauce, garlic bread
-tacos (grd beef. use taco use taco seasoning but use less than pkg
says to use or they will come out too spicy for some kids.
-bag of mixed greens for salad (be sure to rinse b4 using)
-Rotisserie chicken (p/u from store). Serve w/mashed potatoes & cole
slaw
-grilled chicken breast, salad, canned grean beans
-corn on the cob (summer)
-grilled steaks, corn, mashed potatoes (easy)
-salad w/grilled chicken on top & lots of veggies added (diced tomatoes,
cheese, corn, sliced blk olives, shredded carrots, kidney beans)
-taco salad (cooked grd beef, kidney beans, corn, bag of iceberg lettuce,
Thousand island dressing, crushed Dorito chips)

LUNCH:
-chicken nuggets
-sliced salami, sliced cheese, crackers
-turkey or ham sandwiches

Keep it simple.
Roast a couple of chickens (or buy the already cooked ones) shred the meat and use it throughout the week to make things like tacos/quesadillas, chicken soup or a simple pasta/chicken/broccoli alfredo.
Sandwiches make a perfectly good and easy dinner. Buy good rolls and toast them in the oven if you want something warm (my kids love this with turkey and provolone or swiss cheese and honey mustard--just like Subway!) You can serve a cup of soup on the side, Campbell's Tomato is our favorite ready made soup.
Breakfast for dinner once a week is fun, easy and different, and a simple frittata is a great way to use up leftover bits of meat, veges and cheese.
Tacos and spaghetti take very little time to make and are always a hit.
And do NOT stress about making something everyone likes every night, that's nearly impossible. Around here if you don't like what's being served for dinner then you can have leftovers from the night before, OR you can make yourself a sandwich or a bowl of (healthy) cereal, piece of fruit, cheese stick, etc.
And keep this in mind: going through the drive through, or stopping to pick up take out takes TIME. If you have a well stocked fridge/pantry at home just about all of the meals I mentioned above can be made in 20-30 minutes. And having your kids involved in making dinner teaches them good eating habits as well. SO worth it!

1. Make a menu. It should have an entree, veggie, starch/bread, and fruit (optional....we do canned fruit in low sugar syrup with dinner). Plan for 3-4 LARGE meals (see #2 for why). Planning means that you don't have to figure it out when you get home. You already know and will have pulled those pork chops out of the freezer to thaw before you leave for work. ;-)

2. You don't have to cook every night. Cook 3-4 nights, but cook enough so that there are leftovers for the other nights. PLAN on leftover nights. Cooking 2 nights in a row gives "leftover variety." :-)

3. Shop USING YOUR MENU at Aldi, Save-A-Lot or a similar low-priced store. We stopped shopping at Walmart except for toiletries...because the prices at Aldi are SOOOOOO much better.

4. Cook ahead. When you make a meatloaf (use this recipe: http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/easy-pleasing-meatloa... ), double it up and cut the second loaf into portion sizes and freeze it. Brown twice the beef when you make tacos and freeze it. It microwaves beautifully.

5. Befriend your crock pot. There are amazing, EASY crockpot recipes out there. Here's an easy start: http://www.food.com/recipe/Crock-Pot-Rotisserie-Chicken-1... You can also buy crock pot liners to make clean-up a snap!

6. Grill. Grilling is so easy. Sprinkle on some Montreal Steak or Chicken Seasoning and put a cut of meat on a medium-hot grill. Wrap some veggies/potatoes/whatever in foil with a pat of butter and some pepper and throw it on there too. Done in 20 minutes, no pots and pans to wash.

7. Get on Pinterest.com and allrecipes.com. Both of these sites have LOTS of great ideas and recipes.

Good luck!

Do you have a gas grill outside. I grill a ton. When I find a sale on Beef fajitas, I buy a bunch, grill it and freeze a lot of it.

Chicken legs, purchase those giant packs when they are on sale. , salt and pepper grilled all of them.. Freeze them once cooled. . Kids will eat them plain with salt and pepper or with BBQ sauce.

Grill chicken breast. Garlic Salt and pepper.. they can be sliced for faijtas. They can be served with rice, noodles, veggies, on salads. Pour spaghetti sauce on them with some Italian cheese, bake them and serve them with pasta..

Sausages.. For sausage wraps. again purchase a large package, grill all of them and freeze them.

Corn and flour tortillas can be kept in the freezer.

Ground beef.. Make into burger patties, or meatballs.. they freeze great.

I cook my meatloaf in the oven and pour a can of Rotel tomatoes on top..

I always have shredded cheese in the fridge.
Jar of Hot sauce
Freeze dried refried beans
Canned soups
Rice can be made in the microwave. Follow the instructions on the long grain rice.

Keep pasta Noodles. Shell, elbow, spaghetti.

Jar Pasta sauce

Microwave potatoes

Steam zucchini or yellow squash.. they are good with pasta sauce on them.. Or cook them with onions tomatoes garlic and then when cooked, [ut shredded cheese on top and let melt..

raw carrot sticks
Raw celery
Cherry tomatoes
Bags of salad
Radishes

Fresh fruit
you can make a fruit salad. eat it as dessert.

Look for crockpot recipes, they are pretty easy after the first time you make them. Also look for easy casseroles. We make alot of dishes that have left overs to take for lunches or freeze.

Lots of good suggestions so far! I do feel like making a plan of what I plan on making each night helps a lot! I don't necessarily plan all the side dishes, but I do plan on the main course and go from there. It helps with shopping and with time because then you don't have to stand in front of the freezer trying to figure out what you need to do.

Frozen veggies are really very good. They can be fast and easy and are nutritious. Canned veggies are not as good. Also stock your pantry with easy rices and cous cous stuff so that you can plan on that sometimes too. My kids love cous cous. Near East brand is delish and they have varieties that cook in 5 minutes. I also like Uncle Bens rices too. They sometimes take longer, but there are some fast ones too.

Good websites are allrecipes.com and kraftfoods.com. I find good, easy recipes on both of those. Read the reviews, they help a lot!

As far as cooking what the kids will like, don't stress too much about it. My goal is to have at least one thing they will eat. My kids eat pretty much all the main meats, pork, chicken, beef. They didn't start out this way it's just been a long time of preparing stuff and putting it in front of them.

As far as snacks and lunch it's okay if they eat basically the same lunch every day, don't feel like you have to reinvent the wheel every day! We eat a lot of lunch meat and PBJ. They also like cream cheese and crackers, mini bagels, raw veggies, fruits, yogurt, cereal.

Breakfast can be cereal, frozen waffles, oatmeal, bagels, toast, fruit, yogurt, cottage cheese.

During the weeks I am extremely busy....Love...love my crockpot. Allrecipes.com is great for those..otherwise I fall back on my easy meals

Grilled burgers/baked fries and veggies
Tacos/Taco Salad
Chili
Spaghetti
Gilled Chicken/Frozen veggie/tossed salad

Snacks
100 cal nut packs cinnamon roasted almonds yummy
mini pack welches fruit snack
Goldfish crackers
apple slices w/peanut butter
raisin snack packs
individual apple sauces
Go Gogurts
Smoothies - 1 cup milk/ 1/2 cup yogurt and a frozen fruit.

What do your kids eat when you eat out? Start with those dishes. I can't really give specific meal ideas since I don't know what your kids do like. Pasta and tacos are two very easy, cheap meals.

Write a menu for the week. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner for 7 days. It's ok o repeat dishes, and include ones that your kids love to eat a restaurant. Most of the dishes are fairly easy to cook at home. Google for the recipes(I generally google with the name of dish and choose one based on ease of preparation , time and reviews. If the dish has amazing reviews and rating of 4 stars and more, those dishes generally turn out good.I would suggest reading the reviews because you get a lot of tips from people who have tried the dish , which can help you improvise the dish)
Since you are not cooking regularly and also working full time, don't plan on making breakfast. Let it be just cereal, oatmeal , PB sandwiches etc I would suggest making a good dinner every night and packing the leftovers for lunch.
You can buy a crockpot if you hate spending too much time in the kitchen. Some extra work in the morning for 10-15 mins (or depending on the dish you could do the prep work the night before and refrigerate)and dinner will be ready when you get home.
When you succesfully cook for a week, plan the next weeks menu. preparing a menu helps you a lot because you can get all the groceries ahead of time and also need not wonder what to cook. Once you have menu for 3-4 weeks and cook consistently, you will realize you have indeed learnt a lot of new dishes and then can pick and choose what you want to make everyday. Oh , don't forget to save all the recipes that work for you so you don;t have to hunt for them again.
And one more advise - call your mom for recipes. if she is am amazing cook, you want to learn from her. Write down what she tells and try them out:)

Never forget breakfast for dinner and I don't mean cold cereals. French toast, pancakes, waffles, eggs (baked fried eggs are done in minutes in the oven with almost no mess; scrambled, omelets, quiche), toast, hash browns, roast potato wedges, oatmeal, cream of wheat, yogurt parfaits, fruits... It sounds like there is no variety but I have found a great deal of variety exists if I think creatively. For instance one night I might make everyone scrambled eggs with toast, bacon and a side of fruit. I can go routine (cheddar cheese with salt and pepper) or be more interesting (cheeses - feta, cream cheese, etc.; unusual spices (rosemary, thyme, spicy/chili powder/Mexican/Southwest, etc.; veggies (bell pepper, onion, mushrooms, green onions, etc.). Our toddler isn't picky but it's not hard to make two batches of scrambled eggs at once with distinct flavors. Overall, what I do or don't add does make a difference in the taste of the whole meal. I might do regular wheat toast or I might pick up a really nice loaf of something special from the bakery. That nice loaf can make killer grilled cheese sandwiches or regular deli sandwiches for another meal too. When I do breakfast night, I typically have dinner on the table within 20-25 minutes and clean up tends to be easy (one skillet usually with plates/utensils).

For me I try to create a menu for the week which uses an ingredient multiple times which helps with shopping and budgeting. That nice loaf of bread can be used for sandwiches or soups for lunch and dinner. If I buy eggs, I think about making a quick make ahead quiche (start to finish done in 45 minutes and easy to make in advance/reheat), breakfast dinners and egg salad for lunch. I also rely on pasta with sauce (tons of variety there too by mixing pasta types with sauce types, not just plain ol' spaghetti), salads, soups and sandwiches. Once a week I might do a bag of frozen dinner/soup/pasta too. That really helps on the nights I know in advance we are going to be pressed for time. Cooking every night is a habit. Start easy and simple and stick to it. I think you'll find yourself developing the habit as part of the routine. I will never be Martha Stewart during the week but I make a credible effort to be Rachel Ray at the very least. Remember it doesn't have to elaborate to fill bellies and make the family happy. Good luck.

Easy things to make:
Reuben sandwiches, corned beef, swiss cheese, thousand island dressing and sauerkraut, grill in a pan like a grilled cheese and serve with oven fries and cut up fruit
Make a roast chicken, just buy a whole chicken, salt and pepper it, put in the oven for about 2 hrs at 375 and let cool. We eat it for dinner and I cube up the rest and mix with celery and mayo for chicken salad sandwiches the rest of the week. The first night I make a box of instant stuffing and warm up some frozen or canned green beans with it.
Spagetti - cook a tube of Italian sausage, mix with a jar of sauce, cook pasta and top with parmesan cheese and serve with oven garlic bread and bag salad
Tuna or hambuger helper
Deconstructed pot pie- cook some cubed chicken or use leftover roasted chicken, add some butter and flour, cook a few minutes, add cream and milk, add in some frozen mixed vegetables. bake off some frozen pie crust, put chicken veggie mix in a bowl and top with pie crust
Make a big pot of chili, cook up some jiffy mix cornbread, or you can even just get canned chili and heat up
Chili dogs, hot dogs, cheese, top with canned chili and coleslaw or cheese and ketchup, serve with chips and a fruit salad

check out semi-homade meals on food network, there are tons of good ideas, or racheal ray, all her stuff is super easy. Hopefully that helped with some ideas :)

I'm like you. I do simple and fast most of the time, unless I get a wild hair to do manacotti.

So...if you or your DH have time to do something more elaborate on a weekend, do so. Freeze or refrigerate the leftovers.

During the week, dinner can be as quick as burgers, salad and a side or as elaborate as you want. Burgers, tacos, fajitas, soup and grilled cheese....breakfast for dinner....

Once in a while, get a roasted chicken. Warm in microwave. Steam some veggies. Add whole grain bread. Quick meal.

Or get to know your crock pot. Just the other day I fed 7 people with a pork roast that I stuffed into our crock pot. I put the hard veggies on the bottom (carrots, potatoes) and the softer ones on top, put spices on both sides of the meat and forgot about it for a few hours. When our dinner guests ran late, I just turned it to "keep warm" and it was ready to go. Salad and some nice bread for sopping up the juice. Yum.

We try to think ahead for the week and buy things that go together. Rice and fish. Cornbread and chili fixins. Baked or sweet potato and roasted chicken. Pineapple and ham and cheesy potatoes. So think about what your family likes to eat together when you are shopping. If you see a meat on sale, double back for a veg they'll enjoy.

We also always have staples - potatoes, rice, beans, pasta, cornbread, salad - that we can throw in to make a meal.

Once a week we look in the fridge and the kids can make any meal they want as long as it's reasonably healthy. The kids really like picking.

For lunches, I use all sorts of things. Usually DD gets milk or juice and then cheese of some nature (shredded can be fun), and then some protein and a grain. So she might get a slice of ham in a baggie and Cheerios and a small bunch of grapes. Or a waffle and a sliced up pear and yogurt. Whatever. She's 4 and she eats it. Have your 5 yr old help you pack lunch so it's his/her choice and not a mystery. Buy snacks the kid will eat - craisins, raisins, nuts (if allowed), fruit, yogurt....

Since you said you are on the go alot try crockpot meals that you can throw together in the morning and have a meal ready when you get home. There are great recipes out there. As simple as throwing some ckn with potatoes w/just some chicken broth in there to lasagna in the crockpot. Look up Allrecipes online and just put the ingredients you want to use or crock pot ideas.

I didn't start cooking till a few years ago. And don't do much of it now that my oldest is 13 he does a lot of it. We do spaghetti, manwitch, tacos, chilli stuff that is easily reheated. Most of that is stuff you can cook up when you have time and reheat when needed. We are on the go a lot too so we try to plan the quick meals for nights we wont be home long. For lunches you can do sandwiches and fruit. Maybe some chicken nuggets from the oven. I know kids those ages can be picky. My kids when they were that age liked cheese tortellini and would eat it without any sauce. You can make little bread pizzas. get some sause and cheese and put in on bread and stick it in the oven. Your oldest would probably even enjoy helping make those. I know mine did.

Good luck and God Bless!

I understand your dilemma. I love to cook and I still find it really difficult to get everything done, but really try to only get take out one night a week. For some great recipes try this website: weelicious.com She has lots of ideas, many of which freeze well so you can do a double batch and freeze half. She's also on facebook if you want to follow her she posts a picture of her son's lunch each day, so there are lots of ideas to go around. For me ideas aren't the problem, it's the time!

You may be interested in hiring a personal chef, just for a few meals per week. There are a number of services providers in our area. I know it sounds crazy, and it sounds fancy, but it's really not! But it could be very helpful. If you can afford to eat out periodically, you can definitely afford this. She/he can come one day each week and prepare two or three days worth of meals for your family and that will relieve you of 1)your dislike for cooking and 2)your time and stress trying to figure out and prepare dinner. Just a thought.....let it marinate for a while :)

you can google quick simple meals theres a whole site for that I tend to make hamburger helpers,chicken helpers and tuna helpers with a can of vegetables quick simple and my kids eat em up

I am in the same boat as you are. I do not like to cook, it is a chore for me, and I rarely have the time.
This summer (after getting REALLY tired of eating out/take out food) I started making freezer meals. I do the version where you take an hour or two on a Weekend day, chop everything up raw and freeze it uncooked.

The only think you have to pre-cook is ground meat, which needs to be browned before it is frozen.I buy the ground meat in bulk at Costco and brown the entire batch, freeze separately in appropriate portions. This I either add to veggie the frozen veggie bags or use for things like tacos, plop in tomato sauce for spaghetti...

When you want to serve your premade meals just plop in the slow cooker in the morning - some meals will also work fine to just thaw and heat at night (e.g. tacos). I also have a pressure cooker, so in a pinch I will throw them in there, which works as well.

I also bake batches of breakfast and snack foods. I do like baking better than cooking and it helps to visualize the savings when you make your own snacks as opposed to buying them premade (plus it is much healthier). So about once a week or every two weeks DD and I will bake together: healthy versions of oatmeal cookies, banana-, zucchini or applesauce bread and even carrot cupcakes make excellent breakfast or snack choices. I usually do them in muffin tins, freeze the muffins and then zap in the microwave to thaw.
Other great quick snacks are: boiled eegs (make a couple at a time and keep them in the fridge), cheese quesadillas (30 sec in the microwave), cut fruit and veggies (serve with ranch dip if needed).

I found this website very helpful to start:http://www.ringaroundtherosies.net/2012/02/freezer-cookin...
though now I do a lot of my own recipes (well, ones that I find around the web).
Good luck!

Tatortot Hotdish
Hashbrown Casserole
Burritos
Tacos
Spaghetti
Burgers
Mac & Cheese
Hotdogs
Biscuits and Gravy
Scrambled Eggs
Cold Sandwiches
Stuffed Buns