"30 Minute Meals" in 3 minutes?

The idea behind of celebrity chef Rachel Ray's "30 Minute Meals" concept is clear - quick, easy, tasteful meals. But what happens when you don't even have 30 minutes to feed the hungry mouths around the table? I need 3-minute meals!

One of the biggest challenges I have as a working mom is dinner time. I commute 34 miles each way to work. My daughter is in full-time day care near my office, so by the time I pick her up and head home, we're pushing dinner time. She is starving the minute we walk in the door, most often I am too. These days, it seems no matter how fast the meal seems to cook, it's never fast enough for my little toddler who is already tired from her long day and commute.

On our worst day, we pick up a pizza or fast food and shove it into our face on the drive home. On a good day, I've made something in the slow cooker. Yet, there are only so many roasts and chili you can eat and we definitely do not want to continue the eating out situation. Small snacks sometimes hold her over, but often fill her up and ruins her appetite for when dinner is finally ready.

Solution! Well, my new concept - I don't think its really "new" so I am not even going to claim to be inventive on this one - but Tonight's Dinner Tomorrow. Basically, make tomorrow's dinner the night before so all you have to do is re-heat. Dinner is ready in seconds when my family walks through the door each night.

For this to work, clearly you have to plan ahead. It also helps to be able to "re-purpose" meals. For example, take your left over pork roast from the night before and make pork sandwiches or tacos the next night. The key here is to re-heat, not cook. Think about this when you're grocery shopping. It's not only a time saver, but a money saver. Re-purposed left overs can really add up to some extra dough in the bank account by not throwing so much in the trash on expiration day.

So for all you mommy chefs on the go, try this concept out and let me know if you find any great recipes to share with us.