How to Cook More Healthy Meals at Home Even with a Crazy Busy Schedule

If you have gotten into the habit of not cooking many meals at home, your number one reason is probably lack of time. While having a crazy busy schedule can definitely get in the way of cooking every meal from scratch, that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to eat more homemade meals.

Our family is super busy with three teenagers in the house doing school, sports, jobs, and both my husband Pat and I working full-time (he’s a fire chief and I work at our local credit union), plus trying to keep up with the garden and homesteading projects, trust me, I know what busy is!

And I’ll be honest, when I got this full time job a few years ago, I struggled a lot with cooking at home. To go from being a stay at home mom and cooking meals from scratch almost every day to working and getting home at dinner time, I struggled hard and many times would pick up take out or pre-made packaged things. The problem with that, at least for me, is threefold.

The food just wasn’t as nutritious,
The food just didn’t taste nearly as good as mom’s home cooking
I missed one of my own creative outputs because most of the time I love to cook and bake. I should also add a bonus reason, and that is we weren’t utilizing our homegrown food from our little homestead nearly as much.

Anyways, I am still not perfect nor do I make everything from scratch for every meal but I have come up with a few ways that are a happy medium.

Cook More Healthy Meals at Home Even with a Busy Schedule

Cook Enough for Leftovers

To start cooking more at home, try to cook enough for leftovers. Even if right now you only have 1-2 nights a week with enough spare time to cook a meal, just double the recipe or make a recipe you know will have enough for leftovers. This might be a casserole, slow cooker meal, soup or chili, where you always have enough leftover.

That way, you are eating more homecooked meals, but don’t spend as much time doing the cooking. It is a great way to either have more meals for lunches and dinners throughout the week, or to start stocking up on freezer meals for those nights where you just don’t have the time to cook.

Have Designated Cooking Days

Another easy way to cook when you have a busy schedule is choose a few designated cooking days. This might be an entire day like over the weekend when you have more time, or 2-3 nights when your schedule has a little room for moving things around. Don’t worry about the other days, and just focus on cooking these days when you know you have a bit more time.

Make it Easier for Yourself

Make cooking as easy as possible before you even begin. Start doing some prep and planning before the cooking day arrives. Plan everything when you go grocery shopping, and try to shop just once a week. Do any prep you can before cooking, like rinsing and chopping vegetables, pre-measuring ingredients, thawing meat, and anything else that needs to be done. That way, even with a busy schedule, you have already cut your cooking time in half.

Get Help in the Kitchen

Let your kids help! When they keep coming in to the kitchen to ask if dinner is ready not, why not put them to work? Depending on their ages, they might be able to prepare a salad, chop vegetables, stir soups or gravies, or just set the table. Every little task that you can get help with by other household members is one less thing you need to find time for yourself.

I hope these tips help you get more home cooked meals on your family table even through crazy busy times in your life. And feel free to share any tips YOU have in the comments below!

How to Cook More Healthy Meals at Home Even with a Crazy Busy Schedule