Five Easy Dinners I Make When Everyone Is Tired

Can we all agree that deciding what’s for dinner is somehow the hardest part of parenting?

Some days I have energy to cook. Other days it’s 5:15, someone is crying, someone else can’t find their favorite cup, and everyone is suddenly starving.

These are the dinners I come back to over and over because they’re easy, everyone eats them (or at least parts of them), and I don’t need a culinary degree to make them happen.

1. Rotisserie Chicken Tacos

Grab a rotisserie chicken on the way home.

Shred it, warm up some tortillas, and put toppings in little bowls.

Done.

We usually add:

• Cheese
• Lettuce
• Sour cream
• Salsa
• Avocado

2. Frozen Ravioli Night

Boil the ravioli.

Heat up a jar of pasta sauce.

Add garlic bread and a bagged salad if you’re feeling ambitious.

Nobody in my house complains about ravioli.

3. Breakfast for Dinner

This one is always a hit.

Pancakes.

Scrambled eggs.

Bacon or sausage.

Fruit.

Sometimes the easiest dinners become the family favorites.

4. Crockpot BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Throw chicken breasts in the crockpot with your favorite BBQ sauce.

Cook all day.

Shred.

Serve on buns with chips and fruit.

Minimal effort. Maximum payoff.

5. Sheet Pan Sausage and Veggies

Slice smoked sausage.

Add potatoes and vegetables.

Season.

Bake.

One pan to wash.

That’s my kind of dinner.

My Favorite Kitchen Helpers

I’m all about anything that makes cooking faster.

A few things I actually use every week:

• Meat chopper – this thing looks silly but works so well.Almost 20,000 other people on amazon agree!
• Vegetable chopper – I love that the bottom portion of this is a pull out drawer style. It also will slice things, mandoline style.
• Slow cooker – I think this slow cooker really cements my millennial status.I mean, just look at that sage green…
• Sheet pans – Same here with the beautiful champagne color of these sheet pans. They also bake evenly and are pretty non-stick.
• Food storage containers – These are glass, which was a big seller for me. They come in a variety of sizes and will (hopefully) be a long time resident in my kitchen.

If you’re in the season where dinner feels like one more impossible task on your list, you’re definitely not alone.

Remember that feeding your family doesn’t have to be fancy to be enough.