Feeding the Family When It's Time to Go Back to Work

Going Back to Work with a New Baby at Home?
Here are some tips from Baby Bites to help you put good food on the table-fast!

In most families, even though moms put in
the same number of work hours as dads,
they still wear the chef’s hat (not to mention
many other domestic hats) at home.

The first few weeks may find you struggling to do
it all. Here are some tips to help you and
your family continue to eat healthfully.

• Call in favors: Remember all those friends
who said, “If you need anything, just
call…”? Now’s the time. Ask each of
them for a home-cooked meal the week
you go back to work.
• Recruit your partner: If possible, put your
partner in charge of as many meals as
possible. If you make a weekly menu and
plan easy-to-cook meals, even the most
hopeless kitchen klutz should be able to
manage this job.
• Give yourself a break: Plan to eat takeout
meals or have pizza delivered once
or twice a week.
• Use a Crock-Pot: Prep the food in the
evening, turn on the Crock-Pot the next
morning, and—voilà!—supper’s ready
when you get home from work. Plus, it’s
easy to make big batches in a Crock-
Pot. Freeze the extra food for later.
• Start a dinner co-op: Enlist one or two
friends who live close by. When you
cook, you make double or triple and
they pick their dinner up from you. In
return you get one or two great meals
with no cooking.
• Cook on weekends: Cook several meals
on the weekend. Double each recipe,
store the food in freezer containers, and
label each container with the contents
and date. In no time, you’ll have a
freezer full of meals.
• Shop with convenience in mind: Following
are just a few easy-to-cook meals
you can find at most grocery stores.
- Ready-made salads: Spinach is healthiest.
- Cooked, sliced chicken: This is a
versatile ingredient for many quick
meals.
- Frozen, cooked shrimp: It thaws quickly
for a shrimp cocktail, a main dish
salad, or prepared vegetable or minestrone
soup.
- Family-size deli meals: Many grocery
delis sell heat-and-serve lasagna
and other dishes. Or try family-size
frozen entrées.
- Dinner in a bag: Usually all you have to
add is meat.
- Veggie burgers: Enjoy a burger with all
your favorite fixings—and no guilt!

Copyright 2007. Baby Bites by Bridget Swinney MS, RD. Meadowbrook Press