If I remember the story, all the wives are housewives. Dinner is ready just after the husbands get home from work. It's just practicality more than anything. My wife is on bed rest now. I can tell you I am tired of cooking. If I could take turns with the neighbors I would jump at the chance to only produce 1 dinner a week.
Why not put a bug in the ear of one of your neighbor friends, or someone at church, to see if someone will start a schedule of meals for your family? Even if it's only once or twice a week, that would give you a couple of days off, or could be two or three if there are leftovers.
We did this for a friend who was undergoing a bout of chemo for breast cancer. We brought meals at least twice a week to give her sister a break. My friend was divorced, and her sister moved in with her to help take care of her high school aged son and mentally impaired daughter. The sister worked full time, and it was just hard on her doing meals each night while taking care of Laurie and her kids. It helped her a lot just to have meals dropped off a couple of nights a week.