simple family meals, not too much pasta or rice

[NotADomesticCat]

What are you all feeding families atm?

I think I am what might have been referred to in the past as a "good plain cook" I cook every day, but nothing especially fancy.

Family of 5 - 2 adults, 2 teens, 1 9 year old.

I'm still working outside the home (healthcare, various long shifts). DH genuinely working from home (checking in computer code, booking time).

So not really in the "lovely opportunity to try new recipies" camp.

Ideas for quick and easy family meals atm?

Youngest point blank won't eat pasta or rice, never has - we're working on this but without success. He's not under weight and eats a good breakfast plus sandwiches and fruit for lunch every day so we don't cater specially for him and do still serve him the same as everyone else, but I don't serve either rice or pasta more than once per week because of this.

Last week we ate:

Monday - Sausages, boiled potatoes, carrots, peas gravey
Tuesday - chicken satay (homemade with peanut butter) with rice
Wednesday - jacket potatoes with tuna and sweetcorn (youngest only ate the potato)
Thursday - home made pizza
Friday - spaghetti Bolognese
Saturday - homemade quiche cooked by DD (youngest loves this)
Sunday - slow roast pork with roasted vegetables

Anyone got a weeks meals that might be eaten by a similar family?

Egg & chips (with ham if you like)
Tacos
Quesadillas
Stir fries
Jacket potatoes but scoop them out, mash with cheese, bacon & onion. Spoon back into shells and pop under grill until the cheese melts
Bolognese stuffed peppers

Jamie’s Chicken traybake
thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/hit-n-run-traybaked-chicken

Sausage casserole
Prawn noodle stir fry
Chicken fajitas
Fish and chips
Spicy curry flavour shepherds pie

Thanks iklboo - a lot of those will go down well!

Oven bake risotto. There are a few recipes. Sorry can't link from phone. We like the bacon and tomato one best.

Thanks MissyB - I do something similar to that chicken thigh tray bake sometimes but that's a good way to mix up what's with the chicken, I've a terrible tendency to use the same root vegetables all the time.

I make bolognaise filled wraps in a dish covered in cheese a little bit like enchiladas

How about Fishcakes and Salad?

Soup and baked spuds. Delegate an evening or two a week to the teens?

Stews, stir fries, shepherds pie, chilli. Things you can pack with extra veg to boost everyone’s immune system.

I find savoury crumbles go down well with my lot. Just run half fat into flour, add some cheese, herbs, whatever and use to top meat or vegetables in a sauce as you see fit.

Spanish omelette and salad
Chilli dogs with cheese
Chicken pie, potatoes, peas, carrots
Stovies
Home made soup, crusty bread
Spaghetti and meatballs
Mince and tatties
Bagles with scrambled egg and smoked salmon, salad
Veggie burgers, sliced avocado and tomatoes
Refried bean quesadillas
Cheese and ham toasties, chips, salad

DC1 actually does already cook at least once per week - when I do late shifts either she cooks or DH bungs freezer food in. She also bakes a couple of times per week. DC2 is 13 and so far is a reluctant cook although he makes good pancakes - he really moans if asked to cook though. Definitely need to work on this. He also bungs frozen stuff (frozen pizza or fish fingers and frozen chips if we have them) in the oven if not told explicitly exactly what to cook. DC3 still "helps" chop or make pizza, although he can make toasted sandwiches and cups of tea...

More creative stuff using wraps is a good idea - I do do wraps, but tend just to do put together your own wraps with everything out on the table and cook some chicken, put out grated cheese and salad and sauces.

I have one reliable carrot cream soup I make but tend to do that as lunch if I know I'm planning to cook a dinner the youngest won't eat. I did try some other soup recipes but they weren't especially well received...

Shepherds Pie
Fish Pie
Chicken Pie
Kebabs and Pitta Bread
Tortilla (the egg / potato kind)
Stew with dumplings
Savoury pancake
Toad in the Hole

Savoury crumble is an interesting idea - never tried that!

I should try omlettes again, only 3 out of 5 of us would eat them last time I made them, but I haven't made one on at least 18 months!

Fajitas? You can use whatever meat you like fry that with peppers & onions/any other veg you like in some smoked paprika. Jar off ready made salsa. Add jalapeños to the adults ones. Put in wraps (I find this works well with dc if you put it in bowls and let them choose the bits they want in the wraps)

Lamb kebabs? I put lamb mince in a bowl with cumin, basil, smoked paprika, chilli flakes , onion and garlic granules. Mix it all up with your hands, make it in to a square...wrap it in tin foil and oven cook at 200 for 25-30 minutes.
I serve it with either pitta bread/baby potatoes/ chips. Salad and coleslaw.

Good old omelette with ether chips or baked beans

Fish fillets (fresh or frozen) top with tikka curry paste and bake in the over, have with mash/cous cous and whatever veg you’ve got

Stir fry

Soup (you don’t have to home make it, buy fresh tubs of it at the shop) with part baked baguettes

Stir fry

Jamie Oliver's beef stew ministry of food is nice and you can skip the ale in it!
Gnocchi? Roasted or in a bake. I do one that's basically a pasta bake but replace the pasta with gnocchi. Quick and easy
Fajitas/enchiladas

Stews and chicken pie definitely things I can and should cook, which would be eaten thanks Calmer I do stews occasionally but haven't for a while.

Savoury pancakes are a good idea but I find making enough pancakes for 5 people, 4 of whom are adult size, takes so long, it's a very labour intensive meal which looks as though it's a quick meal, which is a bit annoying

Chicken fajitas
Pork stroganoff ( made with pork fillet)
Quiche, salad and new potatoes
Rich beef stew
Paella (you can buy a jar of paella paste from M&S or Waitrose)

I'll try gnocchi again thanks ClientQueen - youngest didn't used to eat that either but he does eat things he didn't used to slowly, so I'll try it again. Dc2 really likes gnocchi and ate it in restaurants on holiday. Perhaps it's something I can get him cooking.

Would he eat mild chilli con carne? You could do potato wedges nachos
Make and cook your wedges in the oven put the wedges in an oven dish then pour the chilli over the wedge ( I done bolognese as well) then add grated cheese or chopped up mozzarella on back in the oven until cooked

Monday - chilli with crusty bread
Tuesday - omelette with new potatoes, gherkins and red onion
Wednesday - chicken fajitas
Thursday - finishing off the chicken fajitas
Friday - probably bolognese as I've got a pack of mince left over

I made two days worth of everything except the omelette and froze the rest.

Next week we're having

1. chicken breast with sweet potato mash, red onions and peppers
2. Beef stir fry
3. Chicken wraps - like fajitas but in a chilli and honey sauce
4. Thai beef curry
5. Vegetarian chilli - fennel, chick peas, kidney beans etc

We're actually eating better than we were before because I'm making more of an effort to cook healthy meals.

We do eat a fair bit of rice and pasta, but a lot of other meals too.

This week, we've had:

Roast lamb with veg and potatoes
Leftover lamb (and leftover chicken in another pot) vadagam curry
Chicken fajitas/wraps
Chorizo potatoes (in tomato and chilli sauce, with bacon and chorizo pieces)
Big sausages, boiled carrots and mash
Chilli with baked potatoes
Seafood pasta
Leftover salmon and monkfish are going into a thai fish curry tonight
I plan lemon chicken (roasted thighs well seasoned with garlic and lemon juice before roasting) served with couscous
chicken wings with spicy sauce and sweet potato wedges
more sausages probably in tomato sauce with pasta
nasi goreng (a stir fried curried rice dish with tuna and tinned sweetcorn)
butternut squash risotto (we have 2 squash to use) and/or mushroom risotto (dried mushrooms once the fresh are gone)
something with mince beef - spag bol, chilli or cottage pie
feta chicken (thighs with feta and thyme under the skin before roasting) and roast potatoes
burgers and some potato/sweet potato wedges or oven chips
pizzas - we buy the bases and put the toppings on ourselves to use up bits and pieces
lamb chops, frozen peas and some boiled or mashed potatoes
Chinese stir fry using a tin of bamboo shoots and a tin of beansprouts with whatever veg bits are in the drawer and noodles
turkey schnitzel and some kind of potato
mac'n'cheese with bacon and frozen peas

I have a delivery coming so before I use up all that, I should have new thing to use, but there are various tins of beans and different kinds of fish (like octopus and clams) that I can use up somehow....

user1471478181 to be honest he won't eat mince either atm (spaghetti Bolognese is a totally untouched dish) but I don't want to be totally dictated to by his tastes because it's not fair for 5 people to be very restricted due to one person, and because his range of foods won't increase if I only cook the 5 or 6 meals he likes. I try to make sure we never have things he doesn't like two days in a row and always has enough lunch with fruit and carrots/ cucumber if I know he's highly unlikely to touch dinner. He finally started eating eggs at age 8 and really likes scrambled eggs and quiche now so his range does occasionally and slowly widen.

I made a mushroom and bacon tart with eggs baked on top yesterday which dc1 and DH loved - good job because they got dc2 and dc3's portions, neither would eat it.

I try to do mainly but not only things dc3 will eat. Dc2 isn't unusually fussy but annoyingly the main things he dislikes are eggs which dc3 will finally eat in a couple of forms...

We have schnitzel sometimes and everyone likes that.

Definitely some good ideas on here - some to revive or try again and some new ones.

I'm limited by trying to combine my weekly shopping trip with a journey to or from work which has meant only buying things I can leave in the car boot, so nothing already frozen or chilled, but need to restock the freezer.

Sausage casserole or sausage and mash

Beans on toast, with or without a fried egg on top

Chilli with tortilla chips

Curry with yoghurt & mint and mango chutney served with a naan

Homemade or shop bought soups of varying flavours served with nice bread

Burgers served with salad and onion rings

Enchiladas, quesadillas or fajitas