Well, David, first of all, try not to look at this as your settling into a rut. Look at it as a challenge and it will ease some of the pressure and anxiety you are currently experiencing. So take a deep breath! There are a LOT of things you can do. Here are some hints which I have used, to offer for you:
1. It's usually the cleaning and prep work that takes the most time for just about everything you want to make, so, if can have as much of your ingredients prepped, a lot of your cooking time will be saved.
2. If possible, have the kids help you with the prepping. This doesn't necessarily have to be for that night's meal. Have them help you prep things for meals to be had later in the week.
3. If everyone likes salad, this is a great "veggie" to have for your sides. You can clean, cut, prep all the lettuces, for several days. Wash lettuces, tear them by hand or use one of those plastic salad knives, which prevent the rusty color which appears on the lettuce. Dry the lettuce in a salad spinner or with paper towels and store, air tight, in either plastic zippy lock bags or tightly sealed in a plastic container. Do the same if you plan to have additional things in the salad, such as cukes, tomatoes, onions, etc., clean all that, slice it, etc., and have all of hose items ready to go, stored separately, as well.
4. Something our boys enjoyed is "Mexican/Spanish" night. I would have everything prepped for this dinner, cheese would be grated, tomatoes chopped, lettuce thinly sliced, even the ground beef. This would be browned, seasoned, etc., cooled, then placed into zippy plastic bags or containers, etc., and kept in the frig, or, frozen. At dinner time, just pull everything from the frig, zap the beef and refried beans, and in 5 minutes, dinner is on the table!
5. Another thing you can do here with the ground beef, before seasoning it, brown up several pounds. Divide into 3 portions ~~ 1 portion for the "Spanish" night, 1 portion pound to use, say....in a chili, and another portion to use in a plain tomato sauce for pasta. You can make your own sauce or purchase a jar of plain sauce, to which you would heat it, then add the ground beef to make a hearty meat sauce. Cook your pasta, and since you already have your salad ingredients ready, while the pasta is cooking you can put the salad together, set the table, etc.! Boiling the water and cooking the pasta can have a complete meal on the table within 10-12 minutes!
6. Make a roast, if it is in your buget, and make one somewhat larger than what you would need for a meal. With the left over meat, cube it and have it ready to make beef stew or make a beef stroganoff. I wouldn't make the "sauce" for the stroganoff, as that is very quick to whip up....it's the beef part which takes the time. The stroganoff can be done within 15 minutes, the stew a bit longer, but if you also cook additional carrots and potatoes with the roast, this will also lower the cook time for a hearty stew! Yum! You can freeze the cooked roast and veggies for the later put together of the stew. You can even make homemade "tv dinners", or homemade "pot pies", a hearty beef soup like beef barley. You can also make a beef stir fry of some sort.
7. Roast a chicken or two, or the specific parts if that is what your family eats, and do the same with it as in the suggestions in #6. You can also make a chicken parmesean with the sauce you made in #2 above, adding some pasta as a side and to stretch the meal out. (this is just a personal thing, but since pasta cooks up quite quickly, 4-10 minutes, depending on the shape and brand, I do not freeze it, nor rice, as both get quite sticky/pasty...IMHO!)
Then there are always the casseroles, but from what your post sounds like, you may be trying to avoid those???
And, there is never, ever, anything wrong with making breakfast for dinner!
Hope these few suggestions help you out!
Good luck and have fun with all the suggestions you receive from here!
