Freezing up when over whelmed

Last week after school and extracurricular activities our family arrived home at 5pm. Everyone needed to eat and unwind. I literally could only take one or two steps into the kitchen before the children would start acting out. I.e. grabbing things from a sibling, the toddler and 6yr old started hitting, the older children were name calling, whining, all four were just totally acting out. I put cooking on pause to give corrections, focusing on one child at a time. While doing so the others would start acting out. It was 15-20min of what felt like complete chaos for our home. We have had all those behaviors before, but not with every child acting like this all once! I was trying to remember all the steps. I tried separating all four into different quiet spots in the living/kitchen area. No one was really in emotional or instructional control. I tried explaining we are hungry and need to rest, take a few minutes apart while I make dinner. Eating will put everyone in a better mood. It all officially ended once one child decided to make a choice that decreased his internal stress. Once he was calm all the siblings joined in.
Through all of the chaos I had remained calm. However, I was internalizing what had happened, how could I of handled it in a more TSG manner? What was I missing in the moment that could have helped calm everyone down faster!
E.g. preparing a crockpot meal before we left that morning. Dinner would have been to the table faster!
Maybe giving them a pre teach before exiting the car. Pre-directing everyone how they can help prepare dinner and set the table. Because they could have channeled their energy into getting our meal in place.
Upon personal assessment afterwards, I realized my brain had triggered the “freeze” response. How do I apply TSG principles when my brain goes into “freeze”? Especially when all four children choose to let go of skills and act on their emotions (of annoyances, frustration, irritation)?