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3rd vote here for Crockpots! You can put the stuff in when everyone's still
asleep, or when you get a moment when they're playing, and not even have to
think about it till dishing out the plates!

Also, if your family doesn't mind leftovers, always prepare enough for 2
days. Takes same amount of time, but gives you every other day "off" from
cooking. We do this a lot with stuff like spaghetti, soup, beans and
chili,...really anything!

Nancy B.


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Melissa

We do a lot of crockpot stuff too...I usually start after everyone
has eaten lunch and is satiated for the time being. In a half hour, i
can usually do breakfast dishes, lunch dishes and chop up some stuff
for dinner.

Also, if you can take two hours on a weekend or something, you can
prepare a lot of meat or veggies or both (if you're an omnivore like
us!) put it in ziplock baggies with dates on it. That way you have it
prepared to just throw in. I can cook five pounds of scrambled beef,
two pounds of chicken breasts and a roast, and chop it up, divide it
into 1lb bags and have all the food we'd possibly want for a week.
Same for veggies, chop up a few onions, peppers, and just have it
divided into the snack size ziplocks.

Like Nancy said, prepare for leftovers! We like to have 'redo'
nights. So if we have spaghetti on Monday, we'll use the leftover
sauce to make pizza on Tuesday, maybe some baked rigatoni. Whatever.
Taco meat can turn into shepard's pie or mexican cassarole.
Melissa
Mom to Josh (11), Breanna (8), Emily (7), Rachel (6), Sam (4), Dan
(2), and Avari Rose