Everybody’s gotta eat - especially teenage boys

One of the things I have to do 100% of the time now is manage meals. I didn’t cook much while I was in med school - in part bc I dislike cooking (I really dislike everything to do with food, but that’s another story). But now the buck stops here. So how do I manage to make meals and manage our schedules? Planning, routine and a LOT of shortcuts!

1. Frozen chicken tenderloins: I get mine at Trader Joe’s. The tenderloins are smaller than breasts so they cook faster, but they do cost a little bit more (worth it!). Many things I used to do with fresh chicken in a skillet, I now do with frozen chicken in the oven. I use pasta sauce, curry or masala sauces (also from TJs) over frozen chicken in the oven for 15-25 minutes (depending on whether I want to wait for it to be fully cooked or just thawed enough to cut and saute in a skillet with veggies).
2. Shredded carrots: This may sound like a silly thing but not having to cut vegetables has improved my quality of life significantly. I use shredded carrots in several dishes, they cook quickly and are easy to manage. And hard for the fussy one who says she dislikes cooked carrots to pick out!
3. Menu planning: We have a weekly whiteboard on the fridge that I populate with at least 7 ideas for meals for the week, then I pick from the list in any order as the week goes on. Right now I’m on an easier rotation so I’m making some more intricate and time consuming meals so that I can save the real time savers for when the Onc rotation starts in 10 days. 
4. Cooked chicken: also from TJs (I don’t get much there, but what I get is essential). This is a pound of cooked sliced chicken breast, only very mildly seasoned. I save sandwich bags of it in the freezer to use for quick meals: quesadillas, pasta, etc. Today I used it to make a pot pie
5. Frozen pizzas: my kids like the DiGiorno brand and I usually have 2 in the freezer at the beginning of any given week. When I’m doing something in the evening, I will leave the kids to their own devices and 10 times out of 10, they make themselves pizza. 
6. Cereal, yogurt, turkey slices, fruit, instant breakfasts: Duncan eats at least 2 more meals than Ainsley & I most days. He has recently decided to care about nutrition, which thrills me, but does mean he doesn’t fill up on chips & pretzels so I need to have more food that he will make himself easily.
7. Muffin tin: I make a pretty good ground turkey meatloaf but it takes a long time for a whole loaf to cook. Instead I have taken to making them in a muffin tin instead for the simple reason that it cuts the cooking time in half. And the leftovers are really easy! 
8. When that onc rotation starts up again, I’m going to ask the kids to each cook dinner one night and we’ll plan to have pizza on Fridays. That will leave me with 2 meals to drum up during a time when my workday will be starting at 5am and I’ll be spending a lot of it on my feet in the OR. Low effort meals will be key!