• Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Freebies
  • Gallery
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Bloglovin
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest

The Yellow Birdhouse

Helping you live your best crafty life

  • Crafts & DIYs
    • Felt Crafts
    • Sewing & Embroidery
    • Crochet
    • Everything Else
    • My Favourite Felt Tools
  • Mom Life
    • Fun Stuff for Kids
    • Parenting
    • Decor
    • Printables
    • Homemaking
    • Life
  • Holidays
    • Birthdays
    • Christmas
    • Valentine’s Day
    • Easter
    • Springtime/Mother’s Day
    • Halloween
    • Baby Showers
  • Creative Business
    • Etsy Tips
    • Pinterest Tips
    • Best Biz Tools
    • Work/Life Balance
  • Shop
    • Etsy Shop
    • Sewing Patterns
    • Flower Patterns
    • Ebooks

How I Eliminated Dinnertime Stress

September 15, 2017 by Laura 9 Comments

Last Updated on April 9, 2021

Since having kids, dinnertime has been a super stressful part of the day.  I don’t know what it is about the five o’clock hour that makes children a little bonkers, but I think it’s fairly common.  The kiddos are extra needy and demanding when I’m trying to prep dinner.  Compound that with the fact that I hate cooking and absolutely despise having to come up with meal ideas and you’ve got a recipe for a cranky monster of a mama.

Dinnertime used to be the hardest part of my day. But with this solution, my hungry dinner stress is gone!

“What’s the Hardest Part of your Day?”

I was chatting with a friend a few months ago about my daily struggles.  She’s a ‘let’s take action’ kind of mom which is just what I needed, she’s a good listener too but has no patience for excuses.  So she asked me a simple question: “What’s the hardest part of your day?” I thought for a sec and replied “Dinnertime.” Without a doubt.  Then she asked: “What can you do make dinnertime easier?”

And I didn’t really know how to respond!  There are so many aspects of motherhood and life in general that are hard, that I use up all my energy just to survive that I didn’t even consider that there might be an easier way.  I think I had resigned myself to the idea that dinnertime was hellish and always would be!

The Dinnertime Disaster Dance

Let me briefly explain what dinnertime used to look like in my house:

  • We’d get home from whatever activity had occupied our afternoon.
  • Everyone is tired and cranky and hungry.
  • I’m extra cranky because I have to come up with a brilliant dinner plan that no one but me is going to eat anyway. (I ask you, what’s the point?!)
  • The kids start fighting, and yelling and nagging at me.
  • Our kitchen is tiny so I trip over the kids and step on various small toys.  Now I’m starving and have transformed into a low-blood-sugar-vicious-momster.
  • I attempt to cook dinner while either referee-ing the kids or turning on the tv for them. (Cue the mom guilt)
  • My husband arrives home and everyone is upset/crying/fighting.  Sounds like fun, right?
  • Oh did I mention that I despise cooking?  So I’m resentful the whole time too in the face of a daily task that I hate and have to do every day for the rest of my life.  So very cranky.

The Answer

Short of hiring a housekeeper/chef/nanny combo I didn’t really know how to deal with my dinnertime nightmare.  I’ve done the meal planning thing, but I always end up with loads of leftover ingredients that go bad.  I’ve done the freezer meals thing, but I ended up with frozen dinners that were less than appetizing.  I’ve done the slow cooker thing, but everything comes out grey and mushy and still required for-thought.

Then I stumbled on Hello Fresh.  And all my prayers were answered!

The ultimate resource guide for busy moms. Over 74 apps, printables, subscriptions and podcasts to help mom life run a little smoother.

 

What is Hello Fresh?

Hello Fresh is a weekly meal delivery service.

Every Tuesday a big box gets delivered to my doorstep.  It contains ALL the ingredients, pre-measured and chopped, for 3 meals.  So all the meat, veggies, spices, bread and everything is included along with the recipe cards.  Every meal takes only 30 minutes to make.  And you can choose a box size based on the number of people in your house.

This subscription has revolutionized dinnertime.  I NEVER have to meal plan, I never get stressed out about what we’re going to eat.  Every meal comes with vegetables so we definitely eat healthier than we did before.

Major bonus:  Since everything is already measured and chopped (mostly) it’s super easy for my husband to take over dinner duties!  Plus if there’s an ingredient we don’t like (cilantro.. ewww) we can just leave it out of the meal.

The box the food comes in is insulated and will keep the food fresh for up to 24 hours.  So I don’t even need to be home when the delivery arrives!

Another major bonus: Now I always have a proper meal to serve to unexpected guests!  (Like jerk pork medallions, yum!)

Hello Fresh Makes my life easier with pre-measured and pre-chopped ingredients!

What’s in a Box?

Through your subscription account you can pick 3 of 4 recipe options.  One recipe is a vegetarian option.  The produce is fresh and sourced as locally as possible.  The meat is ethically raised and way better quality than we’ve ever gotten at our local grocery store.

We’ve tried so many new ingredients that normally we wouldn’t have.  That’s a bonus of the pre-measured quantities.  If I wanted to make a meal that required barley for example, I’d have to buy a whole bag at the store.  Then of course the recipe would turn out to be a dud and I’d be stuck with a nearly full bag of barley in my cupboard for all eternity.  With the smaller quantities of new foods in the boxes, if we don’t like something (which is rare because the recipes are delicious!) we don’t have wasted leftover ingredients!

We’ve had meals of carmelized onion burgers, mexican beef tacos, stuffed red peppers, honey-cajun chicken (that was a favourite!) and many other tasty delights.  I can’t recommend it enough!

Are you convinced yet?!  How about $40 off your first box?  Would that help?  ๐Ÿ™‚  Click here for a $40 discount!

I’m THAT Mom

Since starting the subscription, I’ve basically told everyone in my life about it.  Plus any strangers that stand still long enough for me to start blabbing.  I’m THAT in love with this system and yes, I’m THAT obnoxious!  Haha

I’m wayyy less stressed about dinner now and I think my kids can sense it. They still get a little extra crazy at that time of day but it’s more manageable.  I still get the hungry-crankiness but not the rage I used to feel. Everyone is happier and that is worth every penny we spend on the food boxes!

Hello Fresh has seriously been the solution I needed.  My days go so much more smoothly.  I would never recommend something this passionately if I didn’t believe in it 100%.

If you’d like to give it a try, use this link to score $40 off your first box.  Trust me mama, you won’t regret it!  Plus you can cancel your subscription at any time.  But you won’t.

The ultimate resource guide for busy moms. Over 74 apps, printables, subscriptions and podcasts to help mom life run a little smoother.

Filed Under: Homemaking, Life, Mom Life Tagged With: dinner solutions, hello fresh food, homemaking, mom life

Previous Post: « 52 Gift Ideas for Kids
Next Post: 9 Easy Ways For Busy Moms to Practice Self Care »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Melissa Javan says

    September 25, 2017 at 2:00 pm

    Hello Fresh sounds like a good idea

    Reply
    • Laura says

      September 25, 2017 at 10:28 pm

      It’s amazing! You would love it!

      Reply
  2. Rose Barnett (@mRoseBarnett) says

    September 19, 2017 at 2:12 am

    You are so cute! I know the mom guilt of tv so the kids don’t drive you nuts during meal prep O_O

    Reply
  3. Paula @ I'm busy being awesome says

    September 18, 2017 at 9:22 pm

    The title of your blog post drew me in instantly โ€“ the dinner time rush is my nemesis. I’ve seen hello fresh advertised so many times, but I’ve never taken a dive and given it a try, largely because I have to follow a gluten-free diet. Do you know if they have recipe options for dietary restrictions? You have certainly sold me on their product ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
    • Laura says

      September 19, 2017 at 1:03 am

      I’m don’t know if they accommodate specific dietary restrictions, but you can easily omit ingredients that bother you. THat’s one of the reasons I like it so much!

      Reply
  4. Kate | High Low Baby says

    September 18, 2017 at 6:17 pm

    It’s great to hear that Hello Fresh is working for your family! I’m curious about trying them. I’ve used another subscription meal box in the past, but Hello Fresh looks refreshingly uncomplicated.

    Reply
    • Laura says

      September 19, 2017 at 1:00 am

      Which subscription did you try before? I’m glad I could bring Hello Fresh to your attention!

      Reply
  5. Susannah says

    September 15, 2017 at 7:29 pm

    Ok, I definitely need to try out Hello Fresh!

    Reply
    • Laura says

      September 16, 2017 at 12:01 pm

      You won’t regret it!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Hey There!

I’m Laura, a busy work at home mama to two amazing boys. I help moms live their best crafty life, whether that’s with fun DIY projects or running an online shop. My passion is crafting with wool felt, but you’ll find a little bit of everything on the blog since I’m an unstoppable crafter and I love to share! Read More…

Recent Posts

  • 26 DIY Easter Basket Tutorials to Make or Sew
  • Free Easter Sewing Pattern – Felt Chick in an Egg
  • 16 Free Felt Fruit Patterns – Easy DIY Play Food

Felt Woodland Animal Patterns:

Connect with Us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Legal Stuff

POLICIES
PRIVACY
DISCLOSURES

Copyright © 2023 ยท The Yellow Birdhouse

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this if you continue to visit this site. If not, feel free to leave, no hard feelings!Accept Read More
https://theyellowbirdhouse.com/privacy/

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT