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How do you handle meal prep & the mess that comes with it? This is an ongoing issue between my husband and myself. I make healthy balanced meals & that typically equals a messy kitchen. If I give the kids calm activities to do at the table for 20 minutes while I'm cooking then they're too keyed up to sit for another 20 after the meal while I clean up. If I stack the dishes in the sink until naptime then my husband comes home to a mess which he hates. I honestly hate it too but don't know how to fix it. What's your method for keeping the kitchen orderly? Do you clean as you go & if so what do the kids do during that time? I try to incorporate their help, but mine are infant through 3 y.o. right now & that typically means more mess. What do your kids do while you cook? Thanks!
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You may need to explain to your husband that as a caregiver , your first job is supervising the children in your care . Cleaning comes later . -
The easiest ways I've prepared meals ( I also cook entire well-balanced meals for the daycare kids every day) is
1. Have the children nap before lunch so you can cook and clean up from cooking while they are asleep. Then, after they eat, you just have to rinse off their dishes and put them in the dishwasher and start it.
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2. Cook the meals a day in advance in the evening after work. Then you just have to warm up the food in the microwave and load the dishwasher after their meal.
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3. Cook their meals in the morning before they arrive. Then you just have to warm up their meals in the microwave and load the dishwasher after they eat.
I personally like either option 1 or 3. A couple of times when I cooked the daycare meals at night, my personal family members would eat it before I could feed it to the daycare kids the next day. I got to the point that any time a family member went in the kitchen, I had to 'protect the daycare meals I had pre-cooked' and keep my family from eating them.Comment
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And, yes, I'm sorry, but the husband would have to stop expecting me to be able to do everything at once. You are not a house wife, you are a daycare provider who has to tend to the children's needs first. Washing dishes comes after the children's needs. The fact that you do the dishes in the middle of the day at nap time shows that you are not lazy or not bothering to clean up from preparing their meals. It shows that you were busy with the children and, after the children have been fed and you are sure they are asleep, therefore know it's safe to focus on something else, THEN you wash the dishes. Your timing of washing the dishes shows that you are a good daycare provider who makes sure to actually watch the children.Comment
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Another nice thing about cooking the children's meals in the morning is that as the parents come in, they usually say something like, "Smells good, what are you cooking?" or "Ummm! What's for lunch?" That way, they see and have proof that you prepare healthy meals for their children. Often, they'll say something like, "My child eats better here than I do for lunch."
Parents really don't get to see much evidence of what their children do at daycare. So by them seeing or smelling you cook their lunch/dinners and discussing what they will be eating that day, it gives the parents a little insight to their child's day (at least to their meals). I know a lot of us post a weekly/monthly menu, but it's different when the parents actually see the meals being cooked.Comment
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Another idea is to make crock pot meals. That way there's not a bunch of pots and pans to clean up; just one crock pot and lid.
Or, if you don't have a crock pot, make one pot meals as if you were using a crock pot.Comment
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I do a lot of prep at nap. Cutting veggies, shredding cheese, stuff like that. I make enough dinner to have leftovers. I cook while the kids color, do puzzles, or they get to watch a tv show, then they wash up (in the kitchen with me) and go wait at the table. If they misbehave they sit on the wall in time out until I'm ready.Comment
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I'm mean. I assigned the chore to my kids. 13&16. Dishes are their responsibility. I do everything else in this house except taking trash buckets to the alley on trash night. It's not too much to require dishes done. I know it's my job. My daycare mess but it's just how our family has worked it out.Comment
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I cook while the kids play. I clean up while cooking and while they eat. I go fast because I have an infant to feed as well. Then I sweep and clean the table while the kids "read" books for a few minutes before nap.Comment
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I am a HUGE fan of planned overs. I use them for my trucker hubby and my daycare. I generally try to cook the same healthy meals for my family and daycare. So when hubby is headed home for his 34 hour break each week I ask "what do you want to take back out with you". He tells me or he doesn't and I go by the sales. I cook while he is home so he can heat most stuff in his microwave or use his crockpot. The last time he was home, I made his favorite honey glazed chicken. We had it for dinner, he took some on the road and the kids ate it for lunch the next day. I do that with several different meals. I may or may not prep veggies and such with it ahead of time depends what veggies I plan to serve. But it cuts out a ton of work for me and for hubby when he is in the truck in a hurry or tired at the end of the day. Last night, I made cheeseburger macaroni for my daughter and I, I made enough for leftovers that the daycare kiddos and my daughter ate when they came in from school for a snack. There was half a kids serving left after that, I ate it
. Really my theory is cook once, clean once, serve at least twice.
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Can you share a recipe for honey glazed chicken? That sounds delicious.Comment
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Thank you for the wonderful ideas
I use the crock pot a lot for dinner. I really like the idea of using it for lunch too! I know myself well enough to know that I won't get up early enough to cook a meal in the morning. I barely manage enough sleep now. But I could make enough dinner to serve leftovers for lunch. Yes, I've tried explaining childcare to my husband, but that's an entirely different story.
I know that caring for the kids is the most important thing so I guess that's all that matters. I'd just like to keep the peace in the process.
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I try to do a crock pot lunch a week - I also try to double it so I can freeze half and have it for another week. So each week I have one new crock pot meal and one from the freezer.Thank you for the wonderful ideas I use the crock pot a lot for dinner. I really like the idea of using it for lunch too! I know myself well enough to know that I won't get up early enough to cook a meal in the morning. I barely manage enough sleep now. But I could make enough dinner to serve leftovers for lunch. Yes, I've tried explaining childcare to my husband, but that's an entirely different story.I know that caring for the kids is the most important thing so I guess that's all that matters. I'd just like to keep the peace in the process.
My Dh and I have been struggling a bit with the I am not a SAHM, I work 50hrs a week AND do all the housework issue as well
Hope you sort it out
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I like everything suggestions I would definitely use some
I would do:
-Paper Plate
-Sippy cups with their name tag/ paper cups for the older one
-Food that can eat with their hands (pita/ veggies like broccoli/ cuts apple)
-For messy food like rice, I put those cheap table cover from the dollar store under the table/chairs. And after the meal I shake it off in the trash/outside (if is things the birds could eat hehe!)
When I know we will have a busy day, I use paper plates, it does save me about 40min of cleaning (over the whole day) and it feels great to do less while they are sleeping. I feel a little guilty but if Im less frustrated the kids have a better day
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I personally explain that most of my cleaning comes after kids leave for the day; I have littles under 2 years only and nobody sleeps on the same schedule, much less eat exactly at the same time (I can wish). Parents are told from the get go, my priority is the children , not cleaning. I soak everything in the sink and load the dishwasher after most kids are gone (if not all) - if they expect a totally clean home at all times, they aren't a good fit here. I explain to people, my priority is happy, safe care - not cleanliness... if they can't deal, it's not a good fit. BTW, I am a widow... I dated a few people that had issues with how I worked; I'm still single because it's my business, my rulesComment
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