5-Minute Prep Meals for Single Moms

Making dinner night after night is exhausting. And more so when it’s always you and only you doing all of the planning, list making, shopping, buying, prepping, cooking and cleaning up.

This one’s for you moms. When you gotta walk in the door or look up from homework and get dinner on the table oh, NOW.

Also, to be clear, this is not just a post for single moms or dads.

You might also need these recipes if:

• You have a partner who travels frequently or works odd hours
• You have a two-earner family with professional jobs outside the home
• You have a long commute after a long day
• You have babies or toddlers who are clingy and will only allow you 5 minutes to pull a meal together
• You have afternoons that are full of activities and running from one thing to the next
• You are injured, suffer chronic pain or have mobility or health issues that make cooking difficult
• You are human and sometimes tired at the end of the day

Pretty much, we all have these nights at some point, right? So let’s get to it.

What makes a 5-minute prep meal?

I must admit, I laughed and laughed at recipes that claimed to be 5 minutes of prep or that showed up in searches or collections of 5 minute prep meals.

None of that nonsense here. These recipes, which have been personally vetted by me, a real human mom:

• Require about 5 minutes or less of hands-off active prep time before you start cooking. (You may need to be efficient to hit that mark with some. But recipes that require you to have chopped 5 different things before the actual ‘prep’ clock starts were not included.) After that, you’re either just stirring or sticking something in the oven or turning on the crock pot.
• Little concentration or hands-on time needed after that first 5 minutes.
• Kid friendly: The single mom part implies there are kids eating too so we are sticking to simple, familiar flavors.
• Dump and go meals: Some of these recipes are make ahead. They are the types of casserole or slow cooker recipes where you literally just put all of the ingredients together and put it in the oven or turn on the crock pot. The food needs to cook still and perhaps for a half hour or more, but 5 minutes is all you’ll spend getting it ready.

The standards are high here, folks, and so the pickings became pretty slim.

Other nights, maybe you don’t need a recipe. You just need a combination of things you can throw together and call it a day. Been there. Below the recipe cards, at the bottom of the page, I’ve included some of our favorite go-to combination dinners.

5 Minute Prep Meals

Scroll through the collection below. Click on the title or photo to be taken to the original recipe website for ingredients and instructions.

And come back often because we are always updating this and adding new recipes that fit.

Quick Combination Dinners

Here are a few of our go-tos to throw together for a last minute dinner on a busy night. Nothing wrong with some store-bought help.

Tip: It helps to keep a few of these things on hand – in the pantry, fridge or freezer, as applicable – for those nights when you need a back-up plan.

For more ideas, check out this round-up of easy dinners using store-bought foods.

Please leave a comment below if you have other favorite recipes or ideas to share with us all! And pin this 👇 to share this post and save it for later.