Easy family dinners that can be prepped for weeknights?

A 14 hour day seriously??

Couple of suggestions: While crockpot cooking can be good, you should put it into the sink-Just in case something goes wrong while you are out.

Probably your best bet is Casseroles. They can be frozen whole of in individual portions for later consumption. A Casserole is pretty much an open book online-there are thousands.

Also, a quick stir fry is also good. Takes 15 minutes to prepare and 5 minutes to cook. Serve it over rice (the instant stuff takes 10 minutes in boiling water).

it's fine to cook the night before if you do curry of some sort as it gets better with keeping, daal is also a good dish to keep in the fridge several days, as are green lentils. home made hummus freezes well, as does cooked pearl barley to use as couscous.

Fry up some hamburger, and package it in plastic bags, and put it into the freezer. Grab one when inspiration hits, like some cheeseburger Helper, it does not need much un-thawing, and what you cook is fresh.

Fix things ahead that actually improve with storage, like chili and meatloaf. Both are easy to reheat. chili can be used a second day, with hot dogs and buns for a chili dog.

Do things that you can slam into the oven, walk off, and come back when it is done. I love baked potatoes, and there are so many things you can put on them that are fast and easy. Cheese, green onions sour cream, done.

Tuna casserole takes 15 minutes to boil the noodles, and two to open cans, dump it in together, and put it in the oven. Top it with crushed potato chips when it is done, may add frozen peas to your pasta water and put them in with the casserole.

Baked chicken is so easy,m stir up some Stove top stuffing, open a can of veggies, open a can of gravy, and you have it.

Jello can make a great salad or dessert. Make some the day before.

I love peas salad. It is easy, make it ahead. Has bacon, frozen peas, green onions, cheese, and ranch dressing. allrecipes.com

The starting point is to write a menu for the week, and look at what items you cook can be re-served in a different form. Chicken can become chicken croquettes, baked or mashed potato potato/onion patties or hashed browns, salmon fillet served as a salmon salad.

Break down your meals into Protein, veggies, salad, and desserts. The veggies are the easiest, because you can grab a frozen bag of seasoned or buttered veggies from the freezer, and/or throw some washed sweet or white potatoes into the wave and cook them. Salads come in bags, as does cheese topping or you can make up a batch of sliced cucumber/sliced sweet onion salad with sweet vinegar dressing on the weekend. Desserts aren't that tough either. My wife buys and freezes outdate cheesecake, and thaws a few slices, served with blueberry or other topping as needed. Walmart also sells tiny pies that are great heated with a scoop of ice cream. So that leaves the protein.

During one day on the weekend, you can cook five pounds of chicken breasts in mustard BBQ sauce, a chunked up chuck roast in chili sauce, make five pounds of meat balls in the oven, pound out and bread enough chicken-fried round steak for your family and poach and refrigerate a big salmon fillet.

Make freeze and heat casseroles and have bags of salad ready to go. Soups and things with lots of liquid won't burn in the crock pot (actually, most things won't burn if you have enough liquid), you could pre make burger patties so you can just heat and eat along with a veggie. Tacos are usually pretty quick if you don't go crazy. We actually do plate free tacos. we put down newspaper and have everything at the table, Then we just dig in and toss the new paper when we're done.

Pasta bake, Shepherds pie, Chicken pot pie, Enchilladas, mashed potato topped fish pie, Chilli.

A 14 hour day seriously??

I'm living alone now as my wife was committed to a memory unit. So I've learned to cook large portions so that I have lots of leftovers for meals on following day. No freezing require, just refrigeration to keep it cool. Here's what works:

Stews, cooked rapidly in a pressure cooker.

Soups, ditto.

By using the pressure cooker, you can cook when you get home. Prepare the dish the night before by mixing in the meat and veggies, and keeping that over night in the fridge. You can add a box of chicken broth that evening when you start to cook.

Use the same technique for both stews and soups. The only difference between the two is that stews are more hearty with more meat and chunkier veggies. Use prepared chicken broth rather than water when steaming the mixture.

I'm also cooking for a low carb diet, which is working by the way. But you can add potatoes to the pressure pot to thicken the stew or soup. Or you can add noodles or spaghetti after the meat etc. are done to the pot open to the air so it simmers the pastas rather than pressure cooks them. Mushrooms also absorb the juices and are yummy.

when we were working schedules like that, I stacked and froze casseroles. Then who ever got home first stuck it in the oven and started a salad to go with it. The kids knew they could not refuse either the casserole or the salad. They have continued to cook this way now in their busy lives. Rice, broccoli, cheese with pork chops or chicken; Green enchilada with ground beef; individual meatloaves; kielbasa with saurkraut; mac n cheese with ham; scalloped potatoes with ham; grilled cheese with tomato or mushroom soup; lasagna; baked spaghetti and meat balls; All these and more can be put together in a casserole dish lined with cling wrap or foil, frozen and removed from dish. Be sure to label with name of dish, cooking time and temp, and day made!! Put in fridge unwrapped in its baking dish before you go to work and it will be ready to go in oven in evening.