It’s 6:30 p.m. on a Monday evening when you hear the dreaded question from your little one: “Mom, what’s for dinner?” What about 12:30 p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon when hunger strikes your teenager during a break from virtual school: “Dad, class starts again in 10 minutes! I need lunch now!”
If you’re a parent working from home, you know the never-ending struggle of meal-prepping for your family. Most of the time, it’s not just dinner you have to worry about either! Breakfast and lunch are just as difficult — sometimes even more so, especially as you juggle life’s other responsibilities, from work to errands to other obligations.
In theory, working from home should solve the challenge of planning and preparing meals for you and your loved ones. After all, you have easy access to your kitchen all day, right? But in reality, carving out time to cook fresh meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner can easily become a second job!
Check out these bite-size pieces of advice if you’re looking to eat home-cooked meals all week long without interfering with your work-from-home business.
Think Ahead
You have enough to think about on a daily basis — from your child’s schedule to your partner’s obligations. So the thought of adding another item to your to-do list — which, in this case, is actually three unique items every day — might seem impossible.
The secret? Meal prepping without the meals. Here’s how it works: You don’t have to cook an entire meal the night before and then commit to eating it the next day. Instead, you should aim to have many different types of foods prepared in your fridge that are readily available, such as chopped and rinsed fruits and vegetables, pre-cooked slices of grilled chicken or turkey, and fresh bread.
Want to throw together a quick fruit salad? No problem – you’ll have your sliced fruit ready to go! Need something heartier? Make a quick sandwich with the ingredients you have on hand. The small step of thinking ahead with various versatile foods will make meal-prepping easier, especially when you can’t commit a huge chunk of time to putting together meals for the kids in between your own work-from-home schedule.
Choose Wisely
If you’re up to your eyeballs with work and other obligations, the last thing you want to hear is “Mom, what’s for dinner?” or “Dad, I’m ready for breakfast. What should I have?” Take the initiative to research some healthy recipes to have available, and you won’t have to worry about what you’re going to feed your kids throughout the day. You’ll be able to put together wholesome, nutritious meals when you’re short on time by choosing recipes that are downright easy to make.
Make no mistake: Healthy meals don’t have to cost you hours in the kitchen. There are countless recipes that are scrumptious and simple to make. Try this Strawberry Fields Salad or this Asian-inspired Buddha Bowl. These two choices are great because you’re likely to already have most of the ingredients in your kitchen, and cooking time is under 20 minutes.
You might be surprised by how quickly you can whip together meals from ingredients you already have lying around your pantry. Here’s a list of over 50 easy lunch ideas that you can put together in a pinch.
The Exception, Not the Rule
Placing to-go orders from local restaurants or ordering from food delivery services might seem like the most convenient choice when you’re short on time. But one of the hallmarks of being a work-from-home business owner involves making strong financial decisions for yourself and your family. Although ordering food is the easy option, it’s not a sustainable solution to mealtime, especially if you’re trying to save money.
Using these services occasionally is fine, but the trick to mastering mealtime isn’t by seeking convenience and resorting to ordering food in — it’s learning the easy tips and tricks to cooking meals in no time with the groceries you already have in your pantry.
Mealtime Made Easy
Mealtime doesn’t need to be a hassle. You can put together a meal for you and your kids without devoting hours of your day to make it happen. Fulfilling mealtime and your other obligations while working from home with your kids is a reality — especially if you’re a Service Partner using the Arise® Platform.
The Arise® Platform connects small home-based businesses run by people (and parents!) like you to well-known brands who outsource their customer service to the virtual platform, making it a great choice for anyone who wants to stay at home with their kids, enjoy a flexible schedule, and earn extra money.
The platform empowers you to earn money from the convenience of your own home, determine your own work hours, and craft a schedule that fits everything that’s important to you, including your children, home responsibilities, other obligations, and meal prep!
The best part? Once you’ve registered to use the Arise® Platform, you have access to dozens of brands that are using the Arise® Platform to provide customer support to their customers.. Client opportunities include:
- Home Improvement Supplier
- Grocery Delivery Retailer
- Cable and Internet Provider
- Cruise Lines
- Roadside Assistance
- Major Theme Parks
- Healthcare
- Sporting Goods Provider
Sign up to use the Arise® Platform today.
