I saw someone else comment about this too, and I love all of your content, however we’re in a totally different stage of familyhood. I love reading your stories and saving ideas for later, but every now and then maybe you work in a throwback topic for mothering like transitions in expanding your family, postpartum, deciding to be a working mom, what you wish you would’ve done, what you’re glad you did, what different seasons have looked like in marriage, baby/toddler days. Better yet maybe you revisit the content you did post about when you were in those seasons and add your perspective from now!
A friend gave me this hack-buy a box of the crystal light packs of lemonade and bring those to restaurants instead of wasting money on a lemonade. I can usually split one packet among my 2 kids!
Long time NTK lurker, first time commenter. I love these substacks, Kate! I have followed you for a while (reset purchaser before even having kids) and adored your book. Anyways, I’ve been off IG for a while for my ~mental health~ but getting to have your voice in my email inbox is such a blessing. Commenting today because 1. Those bras are 10/10 especially for me who is in the IBTC. 2. Thank you for alleviating the dinner pressure. My husband is leaving for 6 weeks for a training and I love cooking big fancy dinners. The thought of cleaning and cooking while he is gone was stressing me out. But yes, why not sandwiches for dinner? Why not a cheese board? He leaves Sunday and while I’m still nervous to be solo this was so encouraging in the best way.
Hannah this is so very kind. i LOVE a lurker!! lol. Man...6 weeks. you will be on my mind bc that is a LONG time. one other idea during reall hecitc times: 7 meals repeated for all 6 weeks. like pasta monday (simple jar + sauce), cheese board tuesday, sandwich wednesday, breakfast for dinner Thursday, pizza friday...super easy and youve got the whole 6 weeks covered. hope this is helpful!!
Yes!!! I’m not on IG any more - 4 years strong! - and it’s been the best thing for mental health! I LOVE NTK to my email!! Thanks for reminding me of this!
I was actually coming to tell you, if you haven’t already read this - The Women was a great historical fiction. A little depressing? Yes. But so very good. But also stopped here because I am also off social media for lent and Kate you may be the only person I truly miss 😂😂 so yay for Substack and emails!!
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon is a fantastic historical fiction book - and perfect for winter (even though Charleston doesn't really dish out a deep winter!)
Brilliant breakdown on the family meal deals. The mental shift from 'dinner has to be special' to 'dinner just needs to happen' is underrated advice, especially coming from someone in the food space. Back in college I used to stress about every meal being this proper thing, but realzing that cheese and crackers can legitmately be dinner changed my whole relationship with cooking.
Would love to see a list compiled of older kids practice at 5:30 nobody has time for dinner hacks! I feel super guilty living off chick fil a during baseball season
So, on the days of the week when my kids have an early activity, I will make supper early. I will plan ahead do something really fast in the Crock-Pot or like a 15-minute one pot meal. And then I will have some sort of hearty, healthy-ish dessert prepared for afterward, think: custard, peanut butter cookies, a protein "milk shake" or something that has some fat and protein that feels like dessert, tastes like dessert, but also will top them off and keep them full through the night. It also helps when we're in a rush and my kids feel feel like they don't have time to eat as much as they might usually. They know there's something waiting for them when they get home.
The person who decided that kids should practice between 5:30-7 should be hanged LOL. We have one night where my daughter has to be at a practice at 4:45 and my son at 5:30 (fun times). Adding to the fun, they usually get home between 3:50-4. Ready set go! Anyway, even though I don't get home until 3:30, I started having dinner ready for him at 4 as soon as he gets home. When he leaves for practice about 5:20, he usually brings a granola bar with him (he's 6 in 1st grade). After 2 weeks of this, my daughters (7 and 3) decided they wanted to eat then too. I know a lot of people have dinner this early but I'd resisted b/c I really value sitting together as a family. Unfortunately, this one night just doesn't happen. Fortunately, they are always hungry and I can sit with them at least. I use this night for crockpot things or freezer meals I've prepped before. It might not work for you, but it's an alternative to eating out. With you in solidarity!
Love this and saw another IG influencer share a similar idea, and it worked so well for their family. Another idea is to make dinner early (or prep ahead on the weekends) and have it be something you can easily transport. Take it with you and have it ready for right after practice/games, and you and whoever else is with you can eat while watching the game. To Kate's concept, think easy and simple meals, as they do not have to be elaborate meals on those nights (sandwiches, roll-ups/wraps, bowls, salads, chicken tenders, and chips). I have a son in high school baseball, and I do this as often as I can, so I am not tempted by CFA every night of the season.
When my daughter has dance at 5:30 I feed her and her sister at about 4:45. It’s either Mac and cheese, chicken in the air fryer or an uncrustable. With fruit and a veg. Then my husband and I have leftovers for dinner and he picks her up and gets her something else because after 2 hours of dance she’s usually starving again.
Zaxbys has a meal deal with 20 tenders, 2 large crinkle fries and 8 pieces of half toast! It’s perfect for our family of 5 (3 younger kiddos)! Meals deals are perfect for us!
No way! I need to see if our local one does .99 kids meals! My kids love it so would be so worth it. The meal deal costs like $34 for us, which is way cheaper than if we order separately or CFA.
John Mark Comer is the best! Also loved his Sabbath sermon and totally changed how we do it as a family. He has a website called Practicing the Way and we’ve used it for small group a few times. All very good and practical! Also, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry is a book I always come back to.
Loving the power nap! For what it's worth, I think you are nailing a quick, light(-ish)-hearted read!! I'm always here for the practical advice, snippets of what's going on "in real life", and then the seemingly random and very interesting tidbits from Nate's corner.
I thoroughly enjoy it and appreciate the work that's put into making it such an easily digestable format! Thank you NTK team and commenters for helping the collective!!!
I absolutely LOVED The Rose Code!! I've watched multiple shows about Bletchly Park, and I find it interesting. It's great that they are so many books that we can all (hopefully!) find something that we love!!
For those local to SC Tropical Grille family meals are so well priced! Also, if you live near a Viva Chicken their family meals are also an amazing value. Growing up when my mom didn’t feel like cooking and wanted take out, she would call my dad to pick up a main on the way home (usually bojangles supremes) and she would just put fruit or some random side with it that we had in the fridge or pantry. A great way to use more “sidey” things and still save money/excitement of eating out.
Two of the Wendy’s Biggie Bags can feed my family of 4 (mom, dad, 4yo, 2yo). Each bag comes with a 4 piece nugget, burger or chicken sandwich, fries, and a drink. The kids take the nuggets and my husband and I each get a sandwich. If I’m feeling frisky I’ll upgrade the drinks to Frostys and very rarely have found the need to order an additional fry. It’s less than $15 for us!
Love your content (and my kids are in college)- we all learn so much from "friends" of any age/stage. While you have AppleTV- Slow Horses and Ted Lasso are also must-watches.
I saw someone else comment about this too, and I love all of your content, however we’re in a totally different stage of familyhood. I love reading your stories and saving ideas for later, but every now and then maybe you work in a throwback topic for mothering like transitions in expanding your family, postpartum, deciding to be a working mom, what you wish you would’ve done, what you’re glad you did, what different seasons have looked like in marriage, baby/toddler days. Better yet maybe you revisit the content you did post about when you were in those seasons and add your perspective from now!
I love this idea, Caroline! It's wild how quickly you forget...and these topics are super important.
A friend gave me this hack-buy a box of the crystal light packs of lemonade and bring those to restaurants instead of wasting money on a lemonade. I can usually split one packet among my 2 kids!
THIS IS GENIUS!!!!!!
That's a GREAT tip.
Long time NTK lurker, first time commenter. I love these substacks, Kate! I have followed you for a while (reset purchaser before even having kids) and adored your book. Anyways, I’ve been off IG for a while for my ~mental health~ but getting to have your voice in my email inbox is such a blessing. Commenting today because 1. Those bras are 10/10 especially for me who is in the IBTC. 2. Thank you for alleviating the dinner pressure. My husband is leaving for 6 weeks for a training and I love cooking big fancy dinners. The thought of cleaning and cooking while he is gone was stressing me out. But yes, why not sandwiches for dinner? Why not a cheese board? He leaves Sunday and while I’m still nervous to be solo this was so encouraging in the best way.
Hannah this is so very kind. i LOVE a lurker!! lol. Man...6 weeks. you will be on my mind bc that is a LONG time. one other idea during reall hecitc times: 7 meals repeated for all 6 weeks. like pasta monday (simple jar + sauce), cheese board tuesday, sandwich wednesday, breakfast for dinner Thursday, pizza friday...super easy and youve got the whole 6 weeks covered. hope this is helpful!!
Yes!!! I’m not on IG any more - 4 years strong! - and it’s been the best thing for mental health! I LOVE NTK to my email!! Thanks for reminding me of this!
i am so glad you can get these emails!! and trust me, i think being off IG is WISE
I was actually coming to tell you, if you haven’t already read this - The Women was a great historical fiction. A little depressing? Yes. But so very good. But also stopped here because I am also off social media for lent and Kate you may be the only person I truly miss 😂😂 so yay for Substack and emails!!
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon is a fantastic historical fiction book - and perfect for winter (even though Charleston doesn't really dish out a deep winter!)
Thank you so much!! I am adding it to my list now
Brilliant breakdown on the family meal deals. The mental shift from 'dinner has to be special' to 'dinner just needs to happen' is underrated advice, especially coming from someone in the food space. Back in college I used to stress about every meal being this proper thing, but realzing that cheese and crackers can legitmately be dinner changed my whole relationship with cooking.
Would love to see a list compiled of older kids practice at 5:30 nobody has time for dinner hacks! I feel super guilty living off chick fil a during baseball season
So, on the days of the week when my kids have an early activity, I will make supper early. I will plan ahead do something really fast in the Crock-Pot or like a 15-minute one pot meal. And then I will have some sort of hearty, healthy-ish dessert prepared for afterward, think: custard, peanut butter cookies, a protein "milk shake" or something that has some fat and protein that feels like dessert, tastes like dessert, but also will top them off and keep them full through the night. It also helps when we're in a rush and my kids feel feel like they don't have time to eat as much as they might usually. They know there's something waiting for them when they get home.
The person who decided that kids should practice between 5:30-7 should be hanged LOL. We have one night where my daughter has to be at a practice at 4:45 and my son at 5:30 (fun times). Adding to the fun, they usually get home between 3:50-4. Ready set go! Anyway, even though I don't get home until 3:30, I started having dinner ready for him at 4 as soon as he gets home. When he leaves for practice about 5:20, he usually brings a granola bar with him (he's 6 in 1st grade). After 2 weeks of this, my daughters (7 and 3) decided they wanted to eat then too. I know a lot of people have dinner this early but I'd resisted b/c I really value sitting together as a family. Unfortunately, this one night just doesn't happen. Fortunately, they are always hungry and I can sit with them at least. I use this night for crockpot things or freezer meals I've prepped before. It might not work for you, but it's an alternative to eating out. With you in solidarity!
Ericka i love this idea! i too have seen many doing early dinner and if you can make it work it seems like a great solution
Love this and saw another IG influencer share a similar idea, and it worked so well for their family. Another idea is to make dinner early (or prep ahead on the weekends) and have it be something you can easily transport. Take it with you and have it ready for right after practice/games, and you and whoever else is with you can eat while watching the game. To Kate's concept, think easy and simple meals, as they do not have to be elaborate meals on those nights (sandwiches, roll-ups/wraps, bowls, salads, chicken tenders, and chips). I have a son in high school baseball, and I do this as often as I can, so I am not tempted by CFA every night of the season.
i would be tempted by CFA nightly too!! and yes i love the idea of the transport meals. I am going to be thinking of ideas to share for that.
When my daughter has dance at 5:30 I feed her and her sister at about 4:45. It’s either Mac and cheese, chicken in the air fryer or an uncrustable. With fruit and a veg. Then my husband and I have leftovers for dinner and he picks her up and gets her something else because after 2 hours of dance she’s usually starving again.
Zaxbys has a meal deal with 20 tenders, 2 large crinkle fries and 8 pieces of half toast! It’s perfect for our family of 5 (3 younger kiddos)! Meals deals are perfect for us!
we did this once on a road trip and it was AWESOME! like blew me away. i need to remember this one!
Zaxbys also does $.99 kids meals on Wednesdays! 2 per adult entree which perfect for us with 2 adult and 4 kids. We can all eat for less $25
No way! I need to see if our local one does .99 kids meals! My kids love it so would be so worth it. The meal deal costs like $34 for us, which is way cheaper than if we order separately or CFA.
John Mark Comer is the best! Also loved his Sabbath sermon and totally changed how we do it as a family. He has a website called Practicing the Way and we’ve used it for small group a few times. All very good and practical! Also, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry is a book I always come back to.
He really has a way of framing things in a new and interesting way!
Home and Kind did a great series last summer on how she feeds her family of six at various restaurants. She shared specific app hacks and menu items from restaurants like CFA and Sonic. https://www.instagram.com/homeandkind?igsh=MWFnaWthaTJrMmd2bw==
Thank you so much!!
Thanks! I'm her latest follower :)
Loving the power nap! For what it's worth, I think you are nailing a quick, light(-ish)-hearted read!! I'm always here for the practical advice, snippets of what's going on "in real life", and then the seemingly random and very interesting tidbits from Nate's corner.
I thoroughly enjoy it and appreciate the work that's put into making it such an easily digestable format! Thank you NTK team and commenters for helping the collective!!!
Erin this is so kind! Thank you so much!! Means more than you know and I love the random tidbits from Nates corner...so true lol!
I absolutely LOVED The Rose Code!! I've watched multiple shows about Bletchly Park, and I find it interesting. It's great that they are so many books that we can all (hopefully!) find something that we love!!
Did you read Alice NetworK?! I read that one years ago (could likely read again I barely remember it) but really loved that one by Quinn!
No, but I just put it on my Goodreads list!! Too many books, too little time! And don't get me started on podcasts that I'd like to listen to!🤯
For those local to SC Tropical Grille family meals are so well priced! Also, if you live near a Viva Chicken their family meals are also an amazing value. Growing up when my mom didn’t feel like cooking and wanted take out, she would call my dad to pick up a main on the way home (usually bojangles supremes) and she would just put fruit or some random side with it that we had in the fridge or pantry. A great way to use more “sidey” things and still save money/excitement of eating out.
ok Caroline your mom is a rockstar. I love her "phoning a friend" for the main. give me that kind of energy!!!
Two of the Wendy’s Biggie Bags can feed my family of 4 (mom, dad, 4yo, 2yo). Each bag comes with a 4 piece nugget, burger or chicken sandwich, fries, and a drink. The kids take the nuggets and my husband and I each get a sandwich. If I’m feeling frisky I’ll upgrade the drinks to Frostys and very rarely have found the need to order an additional fry. It’s less than $15 for us!
ohhh this is good intel! also why arent more people singing the praises of the Frosty?! one of my biggest pregnancy cravings.
I can’t stop telling everyone to read The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon! Historical Fiction set in early America.
ohhh you are the second to rec this! it is now top of my list. Thank you so much!!
Love your content (and my kids are in college)- we all learn so much from "friends" of any age/stage. While you have AppleTV- Slow Horses and Ted Lasso are also must-watches.
ohhhhh, I loved TL, but I have not heard of Slow Horses! Adding to my list!
Book rec: The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel. Set in WW2. Based on a true story.
ohhh Thank you so much!! Just added to my list!