Dinner madness

At my house, the hour before dinner goes something like this: I trip over toys while trying to dump pasta into boiling water while my screaming daughter clings to my leg and my son tries to jab her with a fondue fork.

If my husband gets home from work on time, he distracts the kids while I attempt to put food on the table. If he's late, more screaming ensues and I stuff bread into the kids' mouths to make it stop. Then, while I'm changing a poopy diaper and trying to keep my son from smearing my new lipstick on the bathroom carpet, I inevitably overcook the pasta and burn the main course.

Eventually we all get fed, but I wonder sometimes: What is it about the end of the day that makes kids just fall apart? Tiredness? Hunger? Wanting mama?

On the days I work, putting dinner together is even tougher, as I often don't get home until 5:30 and my kids wanted dinner a half hour ago.

Fortunately, I've found some shortcuts to help us survive. Month of Meals is one of my favorites -- for a reasonable price, I get 12 chef-prepared meals I can heat up in minutes at home. "MOM" uses all natural meats, and you can even buy side dishes and desserts. The portions are generous and the meals delicious. They even deliver.

Pioneer Organics also helps keep my family fed. I order fresh fruits and veggies, delivered weekly to my door. They even offer grocery staples such as milk, eggs, bread and much more -- a life saver for a working mama who never quite knows when she'll be able to make it to the store. Their Web site is easy to use, and I can customize my order, suspend deliveries if I'm going on vacation and leave feedback with ease.

For those times I just don't feel like cooking, I turn to Dinner Delivery Plus for a meal from one of my favorite local restaurants, from Italian to Indian to Thai.

Apparently I'm not the only one who "outsources" dinner -- there are a number of meal assembly kitchens in the Seattle area.

It's a small price to pay for a little sanity.