Meal prep shortcuts for mental sanity | Hold My Spoon

It’s 5:47pm. One child is asking for snacks every two minutes, another is arguing with the dog about who gets the couch, and you’re staring into the fridge like it’s hiding a secret passage to a better life. Dinner dread is real – and it doesn’t mean you’re lazy or unorganized. It just means you’re a parent, stretched thin and running on fumes.

As one of our busy mothers puts it: “By the time dinner rolls around, I’ve already made 1,000 tiny decisions. Whether or not we have carrots or peas shouldn’t be the one that breaks me.”

The truth? You don’t need perfect meal prep or color-coded containers. You need shortcuts that protect your sanity – little lifelines that make sure food gets on the table without draining your very last drop of energy.

Why shortcuts matter more than perfect dinners

When you’re juggling work, kids, and the constant background noise of life, dinner doesn’t need to win awards. It just needs to happen.

Shortcuts aren’t cheats. They’re sanity savers. They’re what turn “I give up, let’s just order pizza” nights into “Oh hey, I already have something ready” victories.

And the bonus? Your kids won’t remember if the broccoli came from the freezer. They’ll remember that you sat down with them.

Shortcut #1: The freezer is your best friend

Think of your freezer as your unpaid nanny. Double-batch a meal when you have the bandwidth (spaghetti sauce, soup, burrito mix) and freeze half. That way, future-you can grab dinner without lifting more than a spoon.

One of our dads admits, “We call it ‘emergency lasagna.’ The kids think it’s special. I know it’s last month’s win.”

Pro tip: Label the container clearly. Otherwise, welcome to “mystery orange mush” night ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Shortcut #2: Three-ingredient wonders

Not every meal needs twelve spices and six steps. Keep a rotation of three-ingredient classics that are always waiting in the wings:

• Gnocchi + jarred pesto + cherry tomatoes
• Rotisserie chicken + microwave rice + frozen broccoli
• Tortillas + cheese + beans (quesadilla night saves lives)

They’re not going to land you a cooking show contract. But they will keep everyone fed and your brain intact.

Shortcut #3: Cook once, eat twice (or thrice)

If you’re already roasting veggies or grilling chicken, make extra. Tomorrow’s lunches or wraps are sorted before you’ve even stacked the dishwasher. Bonus: fewer dishes on future nights.

Shortcut #4: One-pan magic

Fewer pans = fewer dishes = a calmer you. Toss chicken thighs, potatoes, and veggies on one tray, season, bake and done. Or try stir-fry in a single wok. Cleanup is practically non-existent.

Shortcut #5: Family-style platters

Sometimes plating meals for each person is what tips you over the edge. Throw everything on a board or platter, let everyone serve themselves, and suddenly dinner feels less like a chore and more like a picnic at your own table.

As one parent joked: “If I call it a ‘grazing board,’ my kids eat the same snacks they’d normally ignore.”

Don’t have the space on the table? Set up a ‘buffet’ area in the kitchen and you’re basically on a Caribbean cruise. 

Shortcut #6: Defaults beat decisions

Decision fatigue is real. Instead of reinventing the wheel each week, pick a handful of “default” meals your family actually eats. Taco night, pasta night, toasties-and-soup night. Predictability = peace. If decision fatigue hits harder because of ADHD, take a look at our brain-friendly prep strategies in our ADHD meal prep guide.

Where Hold My Spoon can help

Even with shortcuts, recipes themselves can still trip you up, too many steps, too much back-and-forth, too much time spent trying to navigate around the ads (why are there so many ads!). That’s where Hold My Spoon steps in as your calm kitchen sidekick. Upload any recipe and it comes back as:

• One clear task at a time
• Ingredients right where you need them
• Built-in breaks if life interrupts
• A smart shopping list that actually matches your recipe
• Zero ad interruptions and no one’s life story

Think of it as your brain’s backup system for nights when you’re running on fumes.

Perfection is not the goal

At the end of the day, your family doesn’t need a three-course dinner. They need a parent who hasn’t completely unravelled by 7pm.

So let’s drop the guilt, embrace the shortcuts, and save our sanity for the things that matter, like reading bedtime stories or finishing a cup of tea while it’s still hot. And if cooking feels especially heavy because of hormonal shifts and midlife fatigue, we’ve got a whole piece on meal prep for perimenopause with extra support.

With a few hacks – and Hold My Spoon in your corner – it can simply feel doable.

Try uploading your first recipe for free and see how much more organised you can be.