Busy family schedule? Make dinner easier!

Ever feel like there are just not enough hours in the day? Spring time can be a very busy season for many of us. Between work, school, kids activities like baseball and spring soccer, increased outside chores like mowing and gardening, life can be crazy. When do you cook?

Thankfully, we are heading into a season of many more local and fresh fruits and veggies. This can make our menu planning much easier. Another great time saver is using your crock pot. Sometimes I think we forget about this wonderful time saving tool once the days of soups and stews that speak winter comfort are behind us and we are ready to move on.

One of my family's favorite crock pot meals is pulled pork tacos. I will often cook more than one pork roast or one really large one to save some of the meat for another meal. You can either plan your menu around this later in the week, or freeze the leftover meat. Add it to chili, pork fried rice, BBQ pork sandwiches or any of your family's favorites. Its a huge time saver.

Another great time saver is to cook whole chickens in your crock pot. I will often cook two at a time. Why not? My crock pot is big enough and if I'm cooking one it takes very little effort to cook two. I'll then take the meat off the bone and then use the meat in chicken salad, chicken enchiladas, chicken chili, chicken soft tacos, and many more ideas. I freeze the extra meat in containers to make dishes with later and often cook the bones for stock in my crock pot to use later. I have been able to get several meals out of one chicken, a huge time and money saver.

Are you finding yourself at the ball field or sports complex at dinner time? Most likely there is little to nothing there that is safe for you to eat in the concession stand. What to do? Eating ahead of time is not always possible, I know, we've been there. Getting a bit creative and planning ahead will make for a much easier time for you and your family.

Some fun ideas for packable dinners are taco salad, bean and cheese burritos, potato salad and burgers or chicken. How about a baked potato bar? Yes, you can! Bake your potatoes, once they are finished cooking wrap them in foil and put all of your potato toppers in different containers to assemble once you are at the ball field. Some prep work before you head out the door will make for a much more fun and low stress time at your child's sporting event.

How do you keep these items hot? Simple, heat them just before you head out the door, then wrap the container, burrito, burger, or whatever in foil. Keeping a separate "cooler" for hot items helps too. Have a small lunch sized one for the hot dishes and another one for cold dishes. If your hot items are hot when you put them into the "cooler" they will stay hot for a while as long as you pack them in with out a lot of "free air" around the food. Even if you have to add dish towels around things to take up empty space. Works beautifully!

Your family will not only have a fun and nutritious meal, but they won't feel left out when everyone else is eating "ball park" foods. A huge bonus will be the money you will save. I know when my kids played baseball, we would spend a small fortune at the concession stand on food that was less than good for us and often left everyone feeling not so wonderfully afterwords. Now we know why. Live and learn, I guess.

Even if you are busy and away from home until dinner time and plan to eat at home, a meal can be waiting for you. Use your crock pot, make a double batch of different items when you are cooking and freeze them (just remember to pull it out of the freezer before you leave so it's ready to heat up when you get home). So many time savers and stress relievers if you just use a bit of planning.

Our schedules seem to really start to ramp up between now and summer. Don't get caught off guard when it comes to dinner time. I know for me, dinner is often the last thing on my mind in the midst of a busy schedule. When I take some time to plan I am always better prepared and my family eats better because of it. A home cooked family meal is not something that has to be a high stress in an already stressful and busy life. Like anything, it takes a bit of planning.