Double Dinner: Our Easy Weeknight Dinners Routine Explained

You know that saying, about kids eating you of house and home?

While the wording is a tad confounding (because is your house not also your home?), the true sentiment is easy enough to grasp by anyone who has ever owned a growing child.

My grocery bill is currently more than many people pay for rent, and that’s with just one teenager in the house. It’s insane how much food, especially the good kind, costs to purchase. But, not quite as insane as the amount of food an active teen Dude can put away without also gaining hundreds of pounds (what I wouldn’t give for his metabolism!).

But it’s not just about the budget. Once you’ve got your mind wrapped around that aspect, you still have to work out the logistics of the thing. I’d venture to say that at this point in my life, I spend more time thinking about, prepping, serving, and consuming food than I do sleeping. This probably explains a lot about my current exhausted state of overweight living, but what’s to be done?

At any given time in my day I am about to cook, cooking, or just finishing up with cooking my children something to eat because they are constantly on the hunt for food in their quest to stay full. And, when such sustenance is found, they consume it in large, almost unfathomable quantities that they still require me to prepare. And by prepare I also mean eat because, yeah.

My goal at every meal is to make one thing they will all eat without meltdowns (this is not a restaurant), provide a filling meal that will fuel their active lifestyle (they run and run and run and run), not be riddled with guilt because of my choices (staying out of the McDonald’s drive thru is a win here people), while also not breaking the bank (I love my house and my home and I would like to keep them).

As we get into spring sport season *insert ominous horror movie music** in order to meet the demand on their schedules and also keep them from starving to death (their words, pretty much every day as soon as they get off of the school bus), I am bringing back a practice I like to refer to as Double Dinner.

It’s my solution to the we-have-practice-every-single-night-of-the-week-and-can’t-possibly-all-be-at-dinner-at-a-regular-dinner-hour conundrum.

I serve First Dinner right after school when they are starrrrrrving and need to power up before they hit the field. And then second dinner comes when DudeDad is home, after they’ve burned through all of their pre-practice fuel.

I find that it’s the only thing that keeps me sane and them full.

This is a standard first dinner: Horizon Organic Mac, fresh fruit, raw veggies (they prefer these over steamed or roasted), and Horizon Organic Grahams for dessert…

It’s a heavy rotation menu because it is one of the only meals that meets all of my previously referred to requirements: it’s no whine, no hunger, no guilt, no homeless shelter approved.

Second dinner usually has more of a grown up flair. And comes from the crock pot. Or the pizza delivery man.

What? I really can’t commit to Double Dinner every night of life. I’m not a machine.

Looking for some quick and easy weeknight dinners to fuel your active children? Here are some of The Dudes’ faves…

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Horizon Organics. The opinions and text are all mine.