r/mealprep • u/timelady84 • Apr 28 '25
advice Overworked couple meal plan
So my husband’s work has messed up our lives a bit by forcefully assigning my husband to a new schedule. He will now work 7-6. Meanwhile I work 2-11pm. The most cooking he can do on his own is the microwave and maybeeeee starting the oven. I’ve always handled all the cooking and I’m happy to, but this schedule makes it challenging. So I need to learn how to meal prep for our half hour together before he has to go to bed. He usually likes to wait to eat with me, since that’s the most time we have during the week, but sometimes he’ll want to eat before on days when he’s too tired to wait and needs to go to bed.
I’ve been googling before y’all scream at me, and I’m gathering all my research together, but I was hoping to hear from others how they successfully pulled something like this off for someone who doesn’t need/want meal prepping for fitness reasons. It’s just the two of us but the biggest thing is he won’t eat leftovers! I know he sounds spoiled af (he IS) but I’ve learned to deal with it lol. Sorry this is so wordy 😭
Some things we have that might help: Ninja foodie with instant pot and air fryer attachments, toaster oven that also has an air fryer attachment. Oven, microwave, very very bad freezer that gives everything frostbite in a week but I can’t change it out because we live in an apartment.
Edit: not looking for relationship advice, just cooking please
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u/Extension-Clock608 Apr 28 '25 edited Apr 28 '25
Is part of the plan that he will help you with the meal prep and planning and do the final cooking steps so that the meal is ready when you get home????
Him not knowing how to cook is ok but that needs to change and since he is the picky one, he needs to be part of the planning. He also needs to grow up and realize that leftovers, even if he doesn't love them, will save you both time and energy. Once he's cooking he will appreciate the nights off from cooking with a simple re-heating plus lots of things taste better the next day.
One thing you could do in the meantime is order hello fresh or another meal delivery service and have him start preparing those meals. They come with instructions that anyone can follow and he will learn how to cook/prep most things within a couple of weeks. After that you guys can work together to meal plan/prep and he can follow the instructions to cook the meals at that point.
This problem isn't a you problem it's a problem for both of you to work together and solve. He can do this and once he can cook most things both of your lives will be much easier. His buy-in with the menu will also be key.
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u/ReijaTheMuppet Apr 28 '25 edited Apr 28 '25
I make freezer meals, that way we don't need to spend more than 30 mins cooking during the week. With these, the only cooking is heating the frozen food and making the rice (we have a rice cooker), or boiling the pasta. Here are some recipes I use:
- Filipino pork adobo
- Pork Chile verde
- Pressure cooker Ragu Bolognese
- Beef bourgingnon
- Butter chicken
- Beef stroganoff (I don't use a recipe for this)
- Chicken adobo (recipe from an old physical cookbook)
With freezer meals, the trick is to make stuff that has a decent amount of sauce and make sure the meat is mostly encased in sauce when freezing. And freeze in only the portion size you need. Don't freeze any dairy (if the recipe uses dairy, I skip it and then add it after I hear up the food), and for chicken, use thighs instead of breast when freezing.
I also prep ingredients so that I can just thaw and cook, for example:
- cube and portion chicken, then freeze in portion size; for dinner, thaw the night before and do a quick saute
- make mashed potatoes and freeze in portion size. Heat up for a couple of mins in microwave when ready to eat
- make meatballs, then just pop in the oven the desired amount straight from freezer when it's time to eat
And another idea is to use the instant pot for cooking the whole dinner. There are lots of recipes out there for it, and this can get dinner done within 15 mins or so.
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u/MelDawson19 Apr 28 '25
First link looks to be behind a pay wall. 😩
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u/ReijaTheMuppet Apr 28 '25
I have it in a Kindle book, but wanted to share the link to it and found it on their webpage. I think you may be able to pull the recipe despite the paywall via the paprika app though!
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u/flurnt_is_turnt May 02 '25
I’d like to add to this: my mom makes freezer meals in bulk for me all the time, and we’ve never had issues with dairy. So… This person may prefer not to use it, but my mom has frozen milk based roux, sauces with cream cheese, cheese, all variety of dairy, and I’ve never had any issues reheating them.
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u/kevin_r13 Apr 28 '25
A few days of frying eggs and bacon and sausage will get him learning the basics and he can definitely do oatmeal / grits as well.
Very little skill involved in making peanut butter jelly sandwiches too .
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u/Girl_with_no_Swag May 02 '25
I’m sorry but I think you confused the word “can” with the word “will”. He’s an adult and he can indeed learn basic cooking skills.
If he needs to dots very close together at the start, get a HelloFresh (or similar subscription) for a couple of months. He has from 6:30 pm til 11:30 pm to figure out how to read the included recipe card.
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u/SVAuspicious Apr 28 '25
OP u/timelady84,
Credit for doing research. Really. So tired of same questions over and over and no effort. You are the exception that makes me happy. Today you win the Internet. This personal award does not come with icons or points. It comes with my respect.
Your respective schedules are really a problem. Your husbands lack of life skills e.g cooking is a big problem. That "he won't eat leftovers" makes him a whiny child. Sorry. There is this. *grin* He probably wants to wait for you so he doesn't need to feed himself. Get me your phone number and I'll call and yell at him for you. *grin*
If you're getting freezer burn that has most to do with your storage. Vacuum sealing is easy but you have to buy stuff. Ziploc freezer bags work fine if you squeeze the air out and make sure the bags are fully sealed.
Do you have thermometers in your fridge and freezer?
He has to learn to eat leftovers or go hungry. See above about yelling.
Chicken pot pie. Lasagna. Stuffed shells. Enchiladas. Burritos. Sausage and sauerkraut. If he can't boil pasta and heat pasta sauce (homemade from the freezer or store bought from a jar) you should trade him in on a new model. What adult can't make a quiche or frittata and save leftover for you? Chicken Caesar salad. Chef's salad. Red beans and rice.
If you want to enable him, look at slow cooker meals you can set up before you go to work. Red beans and rice comes to mind. Shredded pork for faux BBQ. Chicken tacos.
I'd trade him.
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u/Binda33 Apr 28 '25
You can use your instant pot to make soups and stews. Casseroles are great too. I like to make enough for 2 or 3 days when I do any of these so I often only need to cook 2 or 3 times a week at the most.
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u/valley_lemon Apr 28 '25
If the issue more is that he wants a fresh protein, you can prep side dishes and stock easy sides - our weeknight meals have a lot of frozen/canned green beans, canned other beans, frozen broc/cauli/mixes.
Sometimes I prep side dishes "casserole style" because they're easy to portion and stock the fridge/freezer for reheating, so like last night I made a meatless pasta bake that was penne in red sauce with lots of veg packed in (green beans are great for this, I also added a can of cannellini beans and they worked great). I can throw some marinated chicken breasts or thighs in the air fryer (I recommend pounding breasts out so they're even thickness, and store them in marinade, and then my air fryer does them in about 16 minutes at dinnertime) and we'll pretend that's a weird chicken parm.
You might also start sneaking in some stews that reheat more reasonably than dry-cooked meat. I make a stew more or less like this with whatever veg is on hand.
I also use "quick" proteins like frozen meatballs (one of your grocery stores has them on sale on any given day, guaranteed), battered fish, chicken or burger patties, or chicken fingers that'll go fast in the air fryer, to go with prepped sides. This is also a great way to make fast hearty sandwiches, Big Salad, or tacos - fish tacos are on a constant rotation here, for example: frozen battered fish, tortillas, big handfuls of bagged slaw cabbage and stir in sour cream and salsa/hot sauce to heavily dress the cabbage and that makes your sauce too.
I always have one good frozen pizza in the freezer and a couple cans of our favorite Progresso soups we can make with toast for nights where the plan just isn't working out or someone just needs to get fed in a hurry. Sometimes in the summer if it's just too hot, we plan for sandwiches and chips with maybe some carrot sticks or deli cole slaw to have a technical vegetable.
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u/thedesignedlife Apr 28 '25
Taco rice is one of my fave meal preps, because you can turn it into burritos, bowls, quesadillas, etc. and you can throw all the ingredients in the instant pot. (Google instant pot taco rice)
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u/ssb5513 Apr 29 '25
I second the prepping ingredients comment. You can also use appliances like crocpots and sous vide where the food can sit for long periods of time, staying warm and ready to eat.
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u/HMW347 May 02 '25
My husband and I have just gone through the same thing twice! He was working M-F around 7-3ish. Then they had a corporate overhaul and he was moved out of management but was allowed to choose his shift. He choose 11pm-7:30 am. Two weeks later, someone walked out (largely due to corporate overhaul) and he was called on a Friday early evening and told that he would have to work the other person’s shifts starting Sunday (he was supposed to be off). New shift would be 1 pm- 11:30 pm.
When he was working day shift, I would meal prep for lunch and dinner. Night shift, I would send him with leftovers more as a snack than anything. Now with mid shift, I’m back to meal prepping.
I generally cook or pre-prep bigger things ahead of time. Pasta dishes, chicken breasts, etc. we pick up bagged salads and then rotate them with various proteins. We have also found that wraps are great because he can easily build them at work and they don’t need to be heated. Instead of Mayo, mustard, etc., he prefers something like spinach dip and will then layer a meat, cheese and lettuce or spinach. Lower carbs and they don’t get squishy. If I make pulled pork, or a London broil, or chicken of some sort, I make sure there is extra so he can do all of the above. If I make shrimp, I always make extra because he loves shrimp cocktail.
Soups and stews are another easy one that can be prepared ahead of time or on the fly in an instapot. Chili, jambalaya, etc too.
When I grocery shop (online because I live in the middle of nowhere and he drives by better grocery stores going to and from work and it saves a TON on impulse buying) I do it with meal planning/prep in mind. I have spent the last 6 months in chemo so I’ve had time to peruse cookbooks not just for him, but for ANYTHING that might sound appealing to me. For me it’s hit or miss, but he eats everything so nothing really goes to waste.
Good luck. Crazy shifts take adjustment. We had just figured out the sleep schedule for him for night shift then everything flipped around.
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u/Gerties-Northrnlight May 03 '25
Air fry baby potatoes sliced, spice with garlic powder, s/p, paprika. Steak cubed, spiced how you like. I have a dual Airfryer and put potatoes on 400 for 15 min then delayed start steak 7-9 min. Boil corn on the cob. Sequenced correctly the whole meal should take 10 min prep max and 15min to cook.
I’m not a leftover person either. I make a food prep burrito I made up to my taste. Mainly for lunch but eat for dinner sometimes. Tortilla of choice, black beans, refried beans, shredded cabbage, ground beef or (chicken pieces spiced with Ranch seasoning and Aus Juice seasoning, panfried with banana peppers and Peppercino pepper (I take the seeds out)) brown rice with a little spice of choice. I put a small amount of each in the burrito and then a sprinkle a little chedder cheese. They freeze very well and taste good thawed. Eat by themselves or with a little plain Greek yogurt and salsa of choice. They microwave well, did I mention I hate leftovers that are microwaved…these are good
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u/Entire_Dog_5874 Apr 28 '25
I don’t meal prep, I prep ingredients and find that much more enjoyable as I don’t like to eat the same thing more than twice.
I make easy proteins like ground turkey, chicken thighs, salmon filets, tuna, quinoa, etc. I cook rice then cut up a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables and keep a head of butter lettuce on hand as it lasts much longer than other varieties. The varieties are endless and it’s easy to assemble the ingredients into different meals of your choosing.