How to Make Weeknight Dinners Easier During the School Year

Back-to-school season is exciting, but it can also mean busy afternoons, homework, activities, and evenings that seem to disappear before you know it.

And after a long day, there is still one question waiting to be answered:

What's for dinner?

When your family's schedule gets busy, dinner doesn't have to become another source of stress. A little planning—and having easy meals ready to go—can make school-night dinners much simpler.

Here are some ways to make weeknight dinners easier during the school year.

1. Plan Around Your Family's Schedule

Not every school night looks the same.

One evening might be relatively quiet, while another might include sports, activities, appointments, or other commitments. Instead of expecting yourself to prepare the same kind of dinner every night, plan your meals around your schedule.

Save your easiest meals for the nights when you know you'll have the least amount of time.

A slow cooker meal can be especially helpful when you know your afternoon and evening will be packed.

2. Keep Easy Meals in the Freezer

One of the simplest ways to make dinner easier is to have meals waiting in your freezer.

What a Crock Meals offers ready-to-cook, frozen slow cooker meals that can be kept in the freezer until you're ready to use them.

The meals are prepared so you can skip much of the chopping, slicing, and preparation that normally goes into making a slow cooker meal.

That makes them an especially convenient option for busy school nights.

3. Let the Slow Cooker Do the Work

The beauty of a slow cooker is that you can get dinner started before the busiest part of your day begins.

What a Crock's meals are designed to make this process simple. According to the website, you can take the frozen meal, place it in your slow cooker, and let it cook.

By the time the family is ready for dinner, your meal can be ready too.

It's a simple way to work dinner into a busy school-day schedule without spending your evening in the kitchen.

4. Keep a Few Different Meals on Hand

Having several different meals in the freezer gives you flexibility when you're planning your week.

What a Crock offers a variety of meals, including options such as:

• Beef dishes
• Chicken dishes
• Pork dishes
• Soups
• Vegetarian meals
• Vegan options
• Gluten-free options
• Low-carb options

With different choices available, you can keep several meals on hand and choose what works best for your family on any given night.

5. Don't Forget About Meals for Two

Back-to-school schedules aren't just busy for families with young children.

If you're cooking for two, you may not want to prepare a large meal that leaves you with days of leftovers.

What a Crock offers meals in portions intended for different appetites, making it possible to choose meals that better fit your household.

That can make slow cooker dinners practical even when you're not cooking for a large family.

6. Make Dinner One Less Decision

During the school year, there are already plenty of decisions to make.

What needs to go in the backpack? Who needs a ride? When is practice? Is the homework finished?

Adding “What should I make for dinner?” to the list every afternoon can become exhausting.

Having a few meals already planned—and already in the freezer—can remove one of those daily decisions.

Instead of figuring everything out at the last minute, you can look at what you have available and choose a meal that fits your schedule.

7. Have a Backup Plan for Your Busiest Nights

Even the best-planned week can change.

An activity runs late. A meeting takes longer than expected. Homework takes an extra hour. Suddenly, the dinner you planned no longer sounds realistic.

That's when having a meal in the freezer can make a difference.

What a Crock's frozen meals are designed to be stored until you're ready to cook them, making them an option to keep available for those especially busy evenings.

8. Don't Try to Make Every Dinner Complicated

There is no rule that says a good family dinner has to involve hours of preparation.

During the school year, convenience matters.

Finding meals that require less preparation can give you more time to spend with your family, help with homework, or simply take a few minutes to relax at the end of the day.

That's the idea behind What a Crock: making it easier to enjoy a home-style meal without all of the work that traditionally goes into preparing one.

Make School-Night Dinner Easier

Back-to-school season brings enough activity into your family's schedule. Dinner doesn't need to add to the chaos.

Planning ahead, keeping meals in the freezer, and using your slow cooker can help make busy weeknights more manageable.

With What a Crock Meals, you can keep ready-to-cook frozen meals on hand for the nights when you need dinner to be simple.

Because sometimes making dinner easier isn't about doing more.

It's about having a good meal without having to do as much.