11 SECRETS OF SINGLE MOMS WHO MANAGE TO COOK DINNER EVERY NIGHT

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Cooking dinner every single night as a single mom, juggling a whole host of things, is something that might be the last thing you want to do when you get home. Yet, you still want a warm, home-cooked meal on the table, not only for your kids but for yourself too.

And to be frank, it's not just about the food, but it's about creating a space where your kids feel loved and safe and connected. After all, dinner is the time when you and your kids can reconnect after being away from each other the whole day.

I know there have been many nights when I myself have resorted to takeout, but I still want my kid to eat healthy. I also want him to have fond memories of me preparing and having dinner together.

The thing is, there are single moms out there who manage to get a home-cooked dinner done night after night. How do they pull it off every single night? It's all about finding simple systems, sticking to smart habits, and making your life easier, not harder.

11 Ways Single Moms Can Manage Cooking Dinner Every Night

If we're completely honest, cooking dinner every night, especially when you're a single mom, can feel exhausting, and having takeout most nights is not pocket-friendly and not as healthy as you'd like it to be.

But truthfully, it doesn't have to be a daily battle if you go about it with some planning and a few smart strategies. You can make dinner happen every night without losing your mind. Here are some ways you can make it easier on yourself and still enjoy meals at home.

1 - Keep a Well-Stocked Kitchen

Having a well-stocked kitchen makes cooking dinner so much easier. You need basics like rice, pasta, canned tomatoes, beans, broth, and spices on hand. Keep frozen vegetables and proteins like chicken breast or ground beef in your freezer. When you've got these, you can whip up a meal even on your busiest days.

Have a weekly check on your pantry to make sure that you're always stocked up. You can also keep a running inventory list on your phone to keep track of what you're out of or running low on.

Having your kitchen stocked means fewer last-minute trips to the store—and fewer excuses to skip cooking dinner.

Related. 10 Productivity Apps to Help Single Moms Conquer Chaos

2 - Plan Your Meals

If you're not meal planning, you're literally missing out on that one thing that can change your life for the better! I swear by this wholeheartedly. It has made things so much easier for me. It's one of those "high-maintenance things to do to be low maintenance". You just sit down once a week and plan your dinners based on what you have in your kitchen and your schedule. Those 10-15 minutes to spend doing this once will save you hours of stress during the week.

Pick meals you know your kids will eat, rotate a few favourites, sprinkle in something new if you're feeling adventurous, and don't forget to factor in leftovers. Having roast chicken on Monday can mean chicken tacos or chicken soup on Tuesday. Your meals don't have to be fancy. It just needs to be realistic. Tell your kids your meal plan for the week so they know what to expect, or keep a meal planning list on the fridge so they can check it.

When you know exactly what you're cooking each night, you're not standing in the kitchen at 6 pm staring into the fridge, wondering what to make. It'll save you a lot of stress!

Related. If you're looking to meal plan and organizing your daily activities, try our Digital Weekly Productivity Planner that will help you to do just that.

3 - Do a Little Meal Prep

Meal prepping over the weekend might seem like a big ask, but you don't have to spend your entire Sunday chopping veggies. Just focus on the little tasks that you know will save you time when you're actually cooking dinner. Spend an hour chopping onions, some veggies, and marinating meats. You can also batch cook rice or pasta if you have that extra time.

When the time comes around to cooking dinner on weeknights, you'll thank yourself for that extra time you spent during the weekend. You can also get your kids to help you with the meal prep. That way, you're still spending time with them whilst teaching them a few kitchen skills and being productive.

4 - Batch Cook When You Can

Batch cooking can serve (no pun intended!) as your secret weapon. Whenever you can, cook double portions of dishes like chilli, casseroles, or soups that last you a few meals. Freezer half for another night. Just heat it up next time you're serving it. Dinner in no time!

You can also make a big pot of pasta sauce every other week to be used in multiple dishes, especially if you know your kids love their pasta sauce. One portion goes on pasta, another becomes a base for pizza, or a base for lasagne or sloppy joes. That's four dinners from that one batch of pasta sauce.

5 - Make One-Pot Meals Your BFF

One-pot meals = less time cooking = less time cleaning up!

Think about soups, stews, stir-fries, casseroles, and sheet pan dinners. It feels like a weight off your shoulders when you can just throw everything in one pot or pan and you have a whole meal ready without the maintain of dishes waiting for you afterward. The beauty of one-pot meals is that they are flexible and versatile. You don't really need a rigid recipe. They're forgiving, so even if you're low on ingredients, you can still pull together a delicious meal.

Find three or four one-pot meals that your family loves and put them on your meal planning list. They're not only quick but they're budget-friendly too!

6 - Make Homemade Freezer Staples

Having homemade freezer staples ready for your next dinner is a time-saver.

Make your own frozen meals like meatballs, chicken nuggets, lasagna, soups, and pizza (dough). When you have your own freezer staples, getting dinner ready becomes a lot faster and healthier than store-bought versions. You can control what you put in them, so you know that your kids are eating healthy.

On crazy nights, you can just pop them in the oven or on the stove, and dinner's ready! Spend a weekend making a few staples, and your choices for dinner will be endless.

Related. 12 Homemade Freezer Staples for Quick and Easy Weekday Meals

7 - Keep Your Recipes Simple

Dinner doesn't have to look like a magazine cover, and you don't need fancy recipes to cook dinner every night.

Stick to simple dishes with only a few ingredients. Grilled chicken with roasted veggies, or pasta with marinara or cheesy quesadilla with a side of salad. Just remember that simple doesn't mean boring. You just need to focus on your flavors that are tried and tested.

The goal is to feed your family and not to impress anyone. Lowering your standards about what you have for dinner can take so much pressure off the whole process.

8 - Repurpose Your Leftovers

Leftovers are gold! Turn leftover roasted veggies into soup, rice into fried rice, and roast chicken into chicken soup. The options are endless. You just need to be creative with it.

Factoring your leftovers into your whole meal plan cuts your prep time and cooking time in half. You can intentionally cook extra protein so you can have leftovers for a chicken salad, chicken sandwiches, or beef wraps that you can have for later in the week. Don't worry, your kids won't even notice they're having 'leftovers'!

9 - Create Theme Nights

I know for me, having theme nights was a blessing. We knew exactly 'what's for dinner?'.

You can choose one or two nights as theme nights and get your kids to help you come up with ideas, like the infamous Taco Tuesdays or Pizza Fridays. They can build they're own tacos or create their own pizza toppings. It's something they'll look forward to.

When you have a rough structure, you don't have to reinvent the wheel every night. It's also a fun thing that your kids can look forward to.

10 - Use Time-Saving Appliances and Gadgets

I recently got gifted an air-fryer and I cannot believe how I lived without one for so long!! It's so easy to use and cuts my cooking time in no time at all. I've roasted chicken, air-fried the life out of everything, and even made desserts in it. The great thing is you cut cooking time in half, use so little oil, and you don't have to hover over a stove. I love my air fryer!

Similar goes for slowcookers and instant pots. A slow cooker lets you dump all your ingredients in the morning, and you'll have a one-pot ready meal by the time you get home, whilst Instant Pots cut cooking time for things like stew.

Having time-saving kitchen tools and appliances will help you out a lot without having to spend hours in the kitchen. They're definitely worth the investment.

Related. 11 Kitchen Gadgets in 2025 That Will Save You Time

11- Give Yourself Grace

There will be when all you want to do is melt into the couch and not worry about dinner. And that's okay. It doesn't mean you've failed or that you're less than anything. Even if you end up ordering pizza every now and again, so what? You're still doing an amazing job!

Give yourself the same kindness and grace you would show someone in your place. You're doing more than enough!

Cooking dinner every night isn't about getting things perfect. It's all about wanting what's best for your kids and yourself and finding ways to make it easier, using what you have and giving yourself permission to do things differently when you need to.

You don't need gourmet meals or fancy recipes. Simple dinners, shared at the kitchen table ( or even on the couch), are what your kids will most likely remember, and a mom who's not too stressed out every time dinner rolls around.

Try one or two of these tips this week, and see if they fit into your routine. Tweak it where you need to.

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, if you purchase something using my links, I may earn an affiliate commission at no cost to you.

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