Quickest meals to get on the plate

[namechangedforthecraic]

I'm looking for the holy grail of family meals - plates of food (not necessarily recipes just combinations of things that go together) that are next to instant to make, fairly wholesome, kids will eat, can be scaled up to feed a horde! Looking for things that cook themselves in the oven or slow cooker with no need for chopping or prepping or standing over a pan. Or ready made things that throw together in a pleasing way!

Current meal plan since start of term still leaves me feeling like I'm spending too long in the kitchen - too many other demands in our busy house - and I feel run ragged by the time meal time is over!

I use tomato soup as pasta sauce. Add some drained tuna and grated cheese and it's tuna bake.

Fry chopped frozen onion, chopped chorizo lardons, add tin of chickpeas and teaspoon of paprika, tin of tomatoes. Simmer for 15 minutes, add spinach at the end, serve with crusty bread.

Stir fry
Omelette
Jacket Potato (you just have to take them out of the oven and put on a plate with grated cheese and salad).
Fish Finger Wraps

When you are unpacking your shopping separate meats into portions in ziplock bags and chuck marinade in with them then store in fridge or freezer depending on when they'll be eaten.

So big tray of chicken breasts/pork loin steaks for us it would be 3 per bag with one of:

• Lime juice and coriander
• Bbq sauce
• cherry tomatoes, basil and balsamic vinegar
• teriyaki sauce
• soy sauce, ginger and lime juice

If frozen just take them out and stick in the fridge first thing in the morning.

Then chuck on a baking tray, on another tray put a load of green beans, sugar snap peas, baby sweetcorn or tender stem broccoli. Drizzle with olive oil and salt.

30 mins gas 6, then eat.

In term of prep on the day, it's literally putting stuff on a tray and in the oven, no need to cut, dice, slice or anything else.

Our other very quick meal is fresh pasta (bought not made) 4 mins in boiling water then drain and use a stir in pasta sauce, sprinkle with cheese and serve.

Stuff on toast - cheese, beans, egg, spaghetti hoops, mushrooms, tinned tomatoes. Or any combination of several of these.

Mediterranean chicken bake. Chop onions and garlic and chuck in baking dish with chopped chorizo and olives. Swirl through olive oil. Place chicken thighs or breasts on top. Pour over carton of passata. Bake at 180 for an hour.

Packet ramen noodles. Add boiled eggs/meat/whatever fresh veg you want.

Frozen chopped veg is a game changer (onions, peppers etc) for not chopping stuff.

This ^

Plus the slowcooker.
Can bung so much in there with very little prep and no need to be following recipes - just use a bit of initiative and use whatever happens to be loitering in the fridge, freezer or store cupboard. A few hours in the slow cooker makes everything taste nice.

Now I am cooking for fewer mouths, I tend to still cook big and have lots of left over portions for a quick re-heat, which is also a massive time saver.

Eggs
Jacket potatoes
Pasta

are all stalwarts that can produce a meal with very little effort.

My go-to quick dish is pasta with salmon. Use fresh pasta - takes 3 mins to cook. While it’s in the pan chop up a pack of smoked salmon, open creme fraiche, chop up a lemon and when pasta is drained put it back in the pan, stir in the creme fraiche, add the salmon and squeeze in the lemon juice. Add loads of black pepper and voila- dinner! I often serve with spinach - just plonk the pasta on top and the residual heat wilts it or add asparagus/peas to the pasta.

Although this does mean you are stood at the oven it can be ready in 15 mins .
Put pasta on to boil

Fry chopped up bacon ( buy cooking packs in supermarket very cheap )

Chop up or use frozen peppers onions mushrooms , chuck in pan with bacon add tin of tomatoes and a good squirt tom puree.
Add what ever herbs / spices you fancy .

Once tom/veg/ bacon is cooked drain pasta and add them together give a good stir .
Any left over cooked meat can be used in place of the bacon so it's a good way to use them left over sausages/ chicken .it even works with fish but you need to be careful mixing it together at the and or the fish will disintegrate.

I add to the cries on behalf of the slow cooker. Absolute life saver for me. Chicken breasts in white wine, with grated ginger and chopped spring onion, or belly pork slices with half a can of cider. Leave as long as you like and serve with microwave noodles or instant mash.

Also cheats toad in the hole. Sausages, cooked in the oven for half an hour, stick in some frozen yorkshire puds for the last five minutes, serve with gravy and frozen veg.

Spaghetti hoops on toast. Egg optional.

WW beef stroganoff (make no promises to authenticity but is quick and tasty)
Thinly slice 1 steak.
Cook sliced mushrooms garlic and onions
Add steak slices, Cook on high heat
Add beef stock cube and 150ml water
(Put rice on to cook)
Add paprika
Store through half fat creme fraiche and serve up

Very quick salmon pesto:
Buy a whole or half side of salmon. Lay skin side down on baking parchment on a baking tray. Spread a thick layer of pesto on top of salmon and then top with cherry tomatoes cut in half and placed cut side down or sliced tomatoes. Cook in oven for about 20 minutes and serve with salad, green beans, baby new potatoes etc. Simple and tasty.

Chicken drumsticks with bbq sauce or sweet chili sauce always come out great in the slow cooker. We have them with jacket spuds or couscous or wedges and salad. I always do enough so we have left overs to have cold or make into wraps.

Speedy meals the kids enjoy:

Pasta with pesto and left over roast chicken - add peas and broccoli to cooking pasta for added nutrition.

Sausages with cous cous and batch cooked sauce from the freezer.

Stir fried rice with frozen veg and leftover chicken. Use last nights leftover rice, or a pouch for added speediness.

Stir fried noodles with pack of pre chopped veg and pack of pre cooked noodles.

Chicken cheese quesadilla - use pre cooked chicken. Add in pepper if you like.

My quickest healthy meals tend to rely on using leftovers or batch cooking and freezing! In the freezer I always have a tomato and veg sauce, curry sauce and a cheese sauce.

Garlic chicken pasta

Peel a whole garlic bulb and brown the cloves in oil.
Add diced chicken.
Once chicken cooked add mushrooms/and or spinach. Once wilted add one chicken stock cube in about 1/3 mug hot water. Then add a small/medium carton of double cream. Leave to bubble away. Add salt and paper.

Before serving, remove big cloves of garlic if you wish (we do). Serve with pasta and Parmesan.

What age are you cooking for? I make scrambled eggs, sweetcorn and baked beans for toddler DC here on Saturday night. Takes under 10 minutes. Wouldn't touch it with a bargepole myself but they eat it.

@Minimumstandard baby to OAP! There are a lot of mouths to feed in this house at the moment! I just need to aim to please the majority and anyone else can have a sandwich. I'm so over making loads of different options.

Chicken thighs or breasts in a little tin foil pastie to keep juices in with salt & pepper in the oven with carrots and potato cut into wedges with a drizzle of oil, salt, pepper and paprika - 40 minutes later done - if the chicken has skin take the tin foil off for the last 10 mins to go crispy!

Pasta and pesto, mix in leftover or ready to eat chicken with frozen peas added to the pasta for 5 mins at the end, add a spoon full of cream cheese if you're feeling fancy.

Stir fry
Strips of beef, chopped ginger, garlic and peppers, Chuck it all in sesame oil. Add black pepper and cook.

Some fantasttic ideas on this thread. We have a slow cooker but ive never really learnt to use it as I don't like the smell!

@samosamimosa

Stir fry Strips of beef, chopped ginger, garlic and peppers, Chuck it all in sesame oil. Add black pepper and cook.

And udon noodles too.

Slow cookers don’t work for me. Everything tastes the same. I’d rather chuck something in the oven and leave it or do a stir fry.

It’s the having to plate up I hate, if you’ve got 3 different pans going.

I generally just use the slow cooker to cook meat that I then add to something else or otherwise it does all taste the same.
All the washing up is a massive pain when big pans/dishes/mixing bowls have been involved.

I've decided that streamlining the menu is an act of self care!

chilli: frozen chopped onions, frozen chopped peppers, tin tomatoes, tin of water, half a cup of water, stir occaasionally. (at least once in the middle of 20 minutes cooking. )

stir fry: buy the packs or pack of frozen. add frozen edamame beans, or pack of meat chunks, serve with ready to wok noodles or those needles found next to the stirfry pack of the vegetables in the supermarket.

even easier: tinned curry with tinned peas and carrots. serve with warmed naan or pouches of microwavable rice.