How Long Does Dinner Take you?

[RealLifeMama]

How long do you take to prepare dinner?
I would say I make simple meals yet I never, ever get it done quickly! Before I know it, it has been 2 hours!
Like tonight, I just made roasted beets, turnips and potatoes, a salad, corn on the cob for the kids, some steamed green beans and some ground turkey burgers. I started about 6 an we sat down at 8.
If I make lasagne and salad, it takes 2 hours.
If I make pasta w/ sauce and salad and bread, it still takes 2 hours!
30 minute meals take 2 hours.

Sometimes I start preparing salads and getting veggies ready to cook throughout the day and it still seems like we don't dit down until 2 hours after I start.
:banghead
It should not take so long!
Granted, i have to play referee, safety patrol, and activities planner but :hissyfit!

[jghomeschooler]

we had biscuits, bacon, and eggs for dinner tonight. It took me about 1 1/2 hours, it seems to usually take at least 2 hours for other meals, even for just hamburger helper, lol. Don't know why. ONE time, I grilled burgers and from the time I lit the grill till the time we were DONE eating was 1 1/2 hours, it was NICE. I think my problem is just getting distracted and not paying attention to when I need to get certain things done, underestimating the prep time for certain things, and getting busy with other things when I am cooking. :shrug I really need some structure in our home, but I am just SO anti-structure, lol, it's hard to know where to start. I'm gonna start with bed time routines, then meal time routines I think. Of course, that'll all go out the window when baby comes, except I'm REALLY gonna keep working on the bed time routines for all of us. Anyway, enough about my problems, lol. Sounds like normal cooking times to me. Mom and I laugh and say that Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals are NEVER completely done, everything always looks rare, :sick2

[RealLifeMama]

Thanks! I am glad I am not the only one.

I am sure it is the distraction factor. I get easily distrated and have a hard time with structure too. It probably would get things done quicker if I had more structure. For instance, yesterday, DH was laughing at me becuase I was mowing the lawn and I started going in rows like a normal person but that just got too tedious so I was just mowing in all different directions and patterns. :P

I was reading the thread about kitchen clean up yesterday and I just can't stay in the kitchen after dinner to do all of that! I have been in the kitchen cooking, I have been doing the food thing, I am so ready to move onto something else!!!!

[greenemama]

FOR-EV-ER.

:hissyfit

[Mother of Sons]

Most meals take me at least an hour although when I was cooking only Chinese food, it was faster once I got the hang of it, it was half hour at the most.

[Mamaka]

Most meals take me at least an hour to get ready. I try to do dinner prep earlier in the day so when it gets down to the actual meal-time crunch, it goes faster (still seems to mostly take an hour though)

[DogwoodMama]

I do have some meals I can get on the table in 30 minutes or less but it's usuallu 30-60 minutes. I'm only distracted by GCM usually b/c dh plays with dd while I'm cooking. :)

[Sara]

I would say 30-60 minutes for meal preparation. When you factor in prep time, eating, and cleaning up, dinner takes up a good 2 hours at least. That is a pretty big chunk out of the evening, isn't it? Oh, well - at least I can pull the meat from the freezer and not wait for dh to go shoot some rabbits or other wild game. ;) (We're reading Little House on the Prairie and there are many modern conveniences I am thankful for!)

[Thia]

half an hour to 2 hours depending on what we are having and how many times dd interrupts me.

[lumpofclay]

Thank you. .. I feel so normal now! Dinner takes 1 1/2 - 2 hours (from beginning to end) around here. DH is great. He usually handwashes anything that can't be tossed in the DW (and yes, I'm one of those that throws it all in and runs the rinse! LOL). He can do that in 10-15 minutes, while DDs and I (while holding DS) clear the table and get everything else put away.

Right now, dinner is cooking. (WE're running a little late tonight b/c we got distracted playing!) WE're having pizza & breadsticks. I made the crusts/breadsticks completely from scratch, and it took about an hour to get that all together. So yep, by the time we eat and clean up, it will be a 2 hour ordeal!