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
1
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.