Make Ahead Meals

6:30 pm is late indeed, especially when you want to spend some time with Adi.
Look, here are some good suggestions in what to buy and how to prepare

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipes/article/0,28747,1602670,00.html

Things like cassole (sp and too lazy to check) dishes tend to work well. I'd do something like a broccoli zita chicken. Everything is cooked ahead of time - put in a cassorole dish in the fridge. When you get home pop into the oven to heat through.

Spend Sunday afternoon making a bunch of things. crockpot stew, chili, homemade soups, a small turkey and or whole chicken, saute and put vegetables in containers for later use, cut up veggies and put in zip lock bags, curried lentils, brown rice, etc.

All these things and many more will be fine for a week in the refrigerator.

Get a crock pot.

Might I add, get a crockpot from Goodwill.

The thing gets hot, cooks food slowly, very simple principle. No need to buy a brand new one.

(same thing for a clothes iron - wow, look at this piece of metal get hot and take the wrinkles out! nowadays I use an iron about 3 x's a year, but even when I used one almost every day, I couldn't see spending more than a couple of dollars on one)

I know, I know - this is off topic - but, I am one that spends alot on a good quality iron.

If you regularly iron - you need a top of the line iron (not necessarily all the bells and whistles, but the quality ones) - it makes a huge difference and they don't spit and ruin your clothes! To save money, I iron shirts instead of a $1 plus at the cleaners. You need a good quality iron to iron shirts they way they should be.

If you don't iron much, then I can see going for the cheapo ones.

off topic!

yay

You know what I do to take wrinkles out?

I throw whatever I need de-wrinkled into the dryer, along with some dry stuff that doesn't have lint, like hankerchiefs, old cotton underwear....I run a little water over one on the hankies or panties, and run the dryer for a few minutes while I take a shower.

What are you ironing? Mens dress shrits or something?

Yep - men and women's dress shirts.

My husband is a former Marine, the dryer trick won't work with him - we use starch too.

aren't your girls old enough to iron?

7 and 11? Not sure maybe the 11 year old. But I don't think she would manage a Marine's expectations to iron. By the way, hubby does most of the ironing - including the girls' school uniforms most mornings. They look like little Marines going to school - all neat and stiff.