Real-world meal strategies from Family First reader Chani Klein

Job: Project Manager at a marketing firm

Lives: Florida

Family: 9 kids, ages 15 and under

I love cooking, and I like to spend the time to ensure that we have a good, hearty, healthy meal that everyone likes, every night. But balancing that goal with the realities of a large family and a demanding job (at least I work from home!) means facing reality from time to time, and my suppers have shifted over the years. My grocery shopping and meal planning are pretty budget-minded.

What and when we eat:

I don’t know about your kids, but mine come home starving. I serve supper at 5:30, and then eat again when my husband comes home at 6:30. (Yeah, sometimes that means I eat three times. It happens.)

My favorite supper hack:

Soup. I add a generous handful (or two) of red lentils to all my soups. They add a protein/starch, have an extremely mild (like none at all) taste, and they disintegrate so no one can tell they’re in there. I try to  always have a soup option because Hashem has blessed me that even my pickiest eaters love soup.

When I’m too tired to cook:

I serve pita and tuna with Israeli salad. It’s a protein, starch, and veggies. Healthier than pizza. I have no idea why it gets a bad rap.

My favorite spice:

I add turmeric to anything that’s already orange since it’s healthy.

If someone’s hungry after supper, they can eat:

Cookies. It’s the only thing I ever want to eat. Who am I kidding when I say, “Take an apple?”

Sunday

Soup with clouds

Ever since I saw a recipe for nokerlach in Family Table (#714), I’ve added it to my supper routine. My kids love soup, and adding what is basically a pancake in a pot makes this a complete one-bowl meal (no sides!). It’s very easy, and I love how my kids dubbed the dumplings “clouds.” I often make them with a meaty whole-pea soup, but I decided to make this on a whim and I hadn’t soaked the peas, so I just took every vegetable in the house and threw into a pot with a meat bone. Couldn’t be easier.

Monday

Shabbos leftovers

Macaroni and cheese

Leftovers day! Of course I have those kids who won’t touch leftovers. But my meal philosophy has changed over the years. When I had three kids, I wouldn’t serve anything that one wouldn’t eat. I’m not sure if it’s that my family’s grown or if I’ve just mellowed, but I’ve come to realize that not everything is going to work for everyone, and they’ll just deal with it. Whoever refuses to eat supper is welcome to have macaroni.

Tuesday

Homemade pizza

We have pizza pretty regularly (my pizza’s cheaper and yummier than the store’s!), so I have my routine down: put up the dough at 3, let it rise for 2 hours, and stick it in the oven at 5 so that it’s piping hot at 5:30. It’s an all-around hit.

Wednesday

Schnitzel, rice, and green beans

Soup with lokshen

I had a (really annoying) meeting scheduled, so I wanted to get a head start on supper (which actually got started the night before, when I sent my husband downstairs at midnight to take the schnitzel out of the freezer). I cut up the schnitzel in the morning — I don’t have the fridge space to lay out the schnitzel once it’s breaded, but every minute saved helps.

I was pretty much on schedule, but I forgot to defrost the green beans. Then my four-year-old looked at the counter and said, “I hate schnitzel!” I was feeling generous so I defrosted some leftover soup with lokshen.

Thursday

Fish sticks and french fries

I never make myself crazy about supper on Thursday night, and tonight I have a wedding, so fish sticks and French fries it is! Another way I’ve mellowed over the years: a calorie is a calorie. Yeah, I’d love for everything my kids eat to be homemade, preservative-free, and nutrient-dense, but I’ve also realized that some nights, as long as they’ve eaten, it’s a win.

Life hack:

I always make a real supper on Sunday, and save the leftovers to get
me through Monday, when my workday is packed.

Tip:

I make pizza in my Betty Crocker, not my big milchig oven. Somehow, it’s so much less overwhelming than a pizza stone. Plus, it’s easy to rewarm, which helps when the kids come at staggered times.

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 916)