It will be a very busy week, yet again, in our household. Knowing this, I’m headed to the grocery store in a few minutes and plan on spending about an hour this afternoon getting items prepped for my family’s meals for the week. I average 2 daily trips to the grocery store for work and do NOT want to make an additional daily trip for my family. With each of my family member’s palates in mind, I have chosen meals that will come together quickly, are relatively healthy, allow me to sneak in some veggies and will have us sitting down to dinner after our busy days. So what are we eating this week?
Monday is a very long work day for me, so I plan on putting ingredients in the crockpot in the morning and coming home to a ready-to-eat dinner of Chicken and Corn Chili.
Tuesday is also a busy client cooking day for me and I’ll be employing the crockpot again to cook tender beef for French Dip Sandwiches. I can quickly parboil potatoes and have homemade baked potato chips ready in 30 minutes while I put together a side salad.
Wednesday we’re going Italian with a spicy Chicken Sausage, Broccolini and Arugula Pasta Toss. My kids love pasta and I find it very easy to get them to eat their greens when they are balanced with a bite of pasta and protein.
My oldest son and I are the only ones who will eat seafood, so Thursday I’ll make a Picatta sauce to top halibut for the two of us and quick-cooking pork for the remaining family members. I can divide the proteins into two pans to cook and have everyone happy in the same amount of cooking time. 
Family dinner is important to me. It is often the only time of the day we are all together, without any electronic devices, catching up on each other’s activities. As a personal chef I am able to give the families I cook for this time together after their busy days. Since I’m not willing to give up our family dining time, a little advance thought and prep time are required on my part.