Make Halloween Dinner a Snap!

Halloween is one of the most exciting nights of the year for children. It can also be one of the most chaotic nights of the year, especially in cases of trying to get younger children out making the trick or treating rounds early enough to get them home, fed and settled into bed for the night. This is especially true when Halloween night falls on the weeknight and the following day is a school day.

In my case, I have an elementary school aged child who needs to get out collecting treats while it’s still somewhat light. My older children were able to go out later and stay out longer in large groups of friends, for safety, as they got old enough. So, here we have all these different schedules for everyone in the house, not to mention, the husband returning home from work in the midst of all this chaos.

I absolutely love Halloween, so I’ve tried to find ways to make the night as pleasant as possible for everyone involved, even with all of the demands of the evening. One way to eliminate a lot of stress on this night, is to plan ahead for your dinner arrangements. For me, this means making a large batch of homemade chili and cornbread, that is ready and waiting whenever anyone in my household is ready to eat that evening.

Since I am a stay-at-home mom, I can simply start dinner preparation in the late morning or early afternoon on Halloween. I brown my ground beef, chop my vegetables and get everything going in a large cooking pot so it has several hours to simmer to perfection. Obviously, leaving a pot on the stove, even on the lowest setting, is not a safe idea unless someone is going to be home to supervise and keep an eye on things. So, here is where a safe slow cooker such as crock pot comes in handy.If you are heading off to work, you might brown your meat in the morning before leaving, having chopped the vegetables the previous evening, and then throw everything together in the crock pot before you head out that morning.

After the chili has cooked thoroughly and simmered for a few hours, you can turn off the stove and cover the pot tightly when you leave to head out for trick or treating, re-warming , if needed, upon your return. If using a crock pot, perhaps keep it on the lowest setting.The corn muffins can be baked ahead or right before the meal is served, whenever you can manage to prepare them. They will easily warm up in a few seconds in the microwave.

If your family is not a huge fan of chili, think of a soup or stew they might enjoy, and prepare that instead.My children look forward to our “Halloween chili” every year. It’s a lot easier to enjoy your evening, knowing that you don’t have to rush through trick or treating with your little one(s), then go home and prepare dinner, then get everyone ready for bed. This way, everything is ready when you are, and the older kids can eat when they get back home, hubby will have dinner waiting upon his arrival, and everyone is fed and happy. To me, it just makes sense to be a little more organized on this particular night, since you will constantly be interrupted answering the door during the evening, or not even be home for a portion of the night.

Make it a little easier on yourself this year so you can enjoy Halloween by making dinner a snap!


People also view

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *