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Daria Sockey is a freelance writer and veteran of the large family/homeschooling scene. She recently returned home from a three-year experiment in full time outside employment. (Hallelujah!) Daria authored several of the original Faith&Life Catechetical Series student texts (Ignatius Press), and is currently a Senior Writer for Faith&Family magazine. A latecomer …
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Posted by DariaSockey in Food on Wednesday, July 27, 2011 5:24 PM
I’m actually away from home as I write this, sharing a quick overnight visit with a friend. A rare treat for me, and probably a different sort of adventure for my family at home.
This time I did not have the foresight or organization to prepare a dinner for them ahead of time. No meatloaf or casserole was sitting in the fridge for them to warm up. Defrosting a package of hamburger was the extent of my efforts to help with their last night’s dinner.
If I’d been going away on a Friday night, they probably would have gotten by on a dinner of grilled cheese and canned tomato soup, which, simple as it sounds, is actually a favorite during Lent.
When you leave your family to fend for themselves, what do they typically eat? What are there favorite “survival rations”? Are there any decent prepared frozen dinners that they actually like? A favorite brand of frozen pizza, perhaps? Something easy that involved opening a few cans? Or even an easy from-scratch recipe that they can manage? Let us know!
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My husband and I both work evenings opposite each other. So we’re only home for one family dinner/week. When he’s at work, he gets free dinners there. When I’m at work and he’s home with the baby, he does fishsticks one night and hot dogs the other (with veggies). On Sundays I usually make a steak dinner. When I’m home with the baby at dinnertime, I just have a sandwich or something like that.
My husband is the big cook in our family. When he’s gone, which is most of the time, we pull out the leftovers and eat those first. Then, we do spagetti and meat sauce with a simple salad - Brown the ground beef, throw in a jar of sauce and boil pasta. We also like to do breakfast for dinner - pancakes or bagels, sausage links and eggs. Chicken nuggets and bags of microwaveable steamed veggies are also a staple in our house.
My husband, bless him, is an excellent cook. But since he likes to cook in bulk, that means dinner without me probably involves thawing a bag of his spaghetti sauce or “secret” recipe chili. And everybody is happy.
I cook big. I always make 3 or 4 batches of meals and freeze the extra, so I typically have at least 15 or 20 meals on the chest freezer in the basement to get me through busy weeknights and sports practices. that said, I haven’t been away from home in a long time (still have littles here), but if I were away, I am sure my husband would order a pizza.
My husband can cook exactly three things: eggs, grilled cheese, and hot dogs. So, when I go away for an evening or two and if I don’t leave anything for dinner, he’s going to take them to McDonald’s or some other fast food. He’ll have run through his repertoire of things he can cook at breakfast and lunch.
Sometimes it’s frustrating to be the only “real” cook in the family, and it’s frustrating to know that if I don’t leave a casserole or a crockpot ready to go, my kids will eat nothing but eggs, hot dogs, junk food, and fast food.
Sigh…
Danielle - I would love to know some of your recipes! I’m a few weeks away from having our fifth child and trying to figure out what meals I can make ahead and freeze. Please do share… :o)
I think this might be a great topic for next week’s culinary Wednesday, so stay tuned!
Monique - check out http://www.onceamonthmom.com I used that website to prepare meals for the freezer before my deliveries… The website gives you everything you could possibly need: recipes, shopping lists, freezing directions, even printable labels with reheating instructions. 
Good luck!
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