Dinner ideas for children please

[TangoFruit]

I've found myself getting increasingly lazier when it comes to my DC dinners. One thing I hated growing up was that we didn't have a home cooked meal and lived on cold foods so I'm breaking out of this habit, giving myself a kick that I need and sorting a meal plan.

Please can you throw some ideas at me, my DC are thankfully not fussy so any ideas would be appreciated. Thank you.

How old are they?

Sorry I should have mentioned they are 8 and 11.

Pretty much the same as us most days…

Roast dinners
Spag Bol
Lasagne
Pies & veg
Chilli & rice
Stir fry
Chinese chicken noodles
Burgers
Pasta dishes
Mince & potatoes
Cottage pie
Sausage & mash
Sausage/chicken tray bake
Paella
Baked potatoes & fillings
Curries

Chilli meat or veggie bean - great because you can make a big batch and then use it to fill up enchiladas or fajitas or tacos. Or just serve with rice.

Bolognese sauce - can use to make lasagne

Curries - meat or veggie. My two like the sweet potato satay one on BBc good food.

Souvlaki skewers - marinate a big batch of chicken souvlaki and thread onto wooden skewers. Make a big batch and freeze some raw and then just defrost and grill when needed. Serve with flatbread, salad, hummus/tzatsiki.

Chicken satay skewers - same idea as above. BBC good food has a foolproof satay chicken recipe.

Sausage mash and peas

Spaghetti bolognese - you can mix this up by using different kinds of pasta (e.g rigatoni bolognese) and have garlic bread and/or salad on the side.

Fajitas - if you have a dining table, you can just cook the chicken, warm the fajita bread and give them an assortment of fillings/sauces to add themselves.

Homemade fish and chips

Shepards pie

Homemade burgers and chips

Most supermarkets also have those free magazines with lots of different recipes for dishes and, of course, all the ingredients will be in store.

I wouldn't usually recommend stuff like this but I bought The Batch Lady's Healthy Family Favourites book as was just getting into a bit of an uninspired rut with cooking and it's great. It's really easy to follow and fill the freezer with homemade stuff too. I just do it as I go along rather than having a big batch day as I find it fits better with the time I have available, but this has definitely helped me think a bit smarter about cooking.

We all eat the same food so we don't have 'kids meals' as such. I'm lucky like you in that mine aren't fussy, although they don't like anything too spicy. Some of our regular favourites:

Spaghetti and meatballs/spaghetti bolognese
Sausage and lentil stew
Fajitas
Jacket potatoes with various toppings
Chicken curry (Jamie Oliver one, I think it's called "Jools' Favourite Chicken Curry")
Pasta bake
Baked fish with veg
Roast dinners
Lasagne
Mediterranean roasted veg and chicken
Sausage and cabbage stew (slightly spicy)

I second the J.O. "Jools favourite chicken curry"
Enchiladas
Prawn stir fry with black bean or sweet chilli sauce
Five spice salmon stir fry (Mary Berry)
Pesto pasta with bacon and cherry tomatoes

Can they not eat what you are eating?

There are some great suggestions in above posts, for everyone.

There is a great book I heard recommended on MN years ago and I've used it loads, it's called How To Feed Your Whole Family, even when you have a tiny kitchen, no money and hardly any time (or something like that!)

It has loads of simple recipes that kids like and are easy to follow.

I also like the "roasting tin" cookbooks - love a dish you can just shove in the oven and it makes itself!

Also use slow cooker and rice cooker regularly.

I don't make anything that requires more than 20 mins standing in the kitchen on a weeknight. I'm a big fan of things like jar sauces simply to reduce effort and time, but will make some things (like bolognese) from scratch.

We most commonly have:

Pasta with jar sauce + sausage
Spaghetti bolognese
Lasagne (ready made normally) + garlic bread
Chilli + rice
Frozen pizza / home made pizza (ready made dough + sauce)
Rice with chicken (fried up with some onions/peppers/mushrooms) - I stick some onion/sweetcorn/chicken stock/herbs in with the rice.
Curry (jar sauce)
Sausage, egg and chipd
Fish fingers/chicken nuggets and chips or veg
Noodle stir fry with chicken/pork (stir fry veg mix bag)
Tray bake with chicken/salmon/sausage, potatoes and veg
Sweet and sour chicken (jar sauce) with rice
Slow cooker stew
Jacket potato with leftovers / tuna / beans & cheese

Meatballs are a favourite here. Fry with a chopped up onion then add a can of chopped tomatoes. Serve with garlic bread or pasta

Meatballs are a face here too, I grate in carrot and onion with the fine bit of the grater and breadcrumbs and egg they are lovely, hungry now.
Sausage Casserole and dumplings is another face
And roast chicken too
Am now very hungry after reading all these

Biggest hits here.

Meatballs
Bolognese
Chilli
Bangers and mash
Pie and mash
Fish chips and beans.

Then
Paella
Fajita /enchiladas etc.
English breakfast

I agree that they should just be eating what you have, especially if they aren’t fussy!!!

What do you eat?

Quick meals for a lazy/busy day:-

Marmite pasta
Pesto pasta with mushrooms, courgette and broccoli
Tacos with salad
Risotto (I do it in an Instant Pot)
Seafood pasta

When I have more time:-

Beef stew or cobbler (slow cooked for 4 hours)
Spag bog (again the sauce is slow cooked for 3-4 hours)
Roast (doesn't have to be on a Sunday and the kids eat the most veg in this meal)
Curry - I make some lovely ones using Simply Cook boxes
Cottage pie
BBQ ribs with chips or jacket potato

Actually top of my kids list is roast gammon, chicken or beef. Not as fussed on pork etc.
They prefer a veg dinner, then pasta dish then rice before they'd touch chips (well except the teen he'd prefer the junk)

@BiscuitsNoMore

Actually top of my kids list is roast gammon, chicken or beef. Not as fussed on pork etc. They prefer a veg dinner, then pasta dish then rice before they'd touch chips (well except the teen he'd prefer the junk)

Yes my kids love roast gammon (with a honey and mustard glaze). Leftovers are then used for lunch sandwiches - so much nicer than supermarket ham .

DS2 loves sweet and sour chicken with egg fried rice, DD2 loves fish pie.

If they will happily eat anything, I'd suggest the Morrisons 5 meals for 4 people box. 35 quid inc delivery, comes with more than enough food for all 5 evening meals, all serving 4 each. Also has recipe cards.

We all eat the same food

Spanish omelette with sweet potato instead of white potato and I grate red peppers and carrots in it as well.

Pasta with my own sauce ( roast peppers, carrots, tomatoes, anchovies, courgette and red onions )

Brown lentil cooked in pressure cooker with garlic, onion, tomato, ghee and chicken stock. Steamed spinach and cauliflower. Fried eggs cooked in tomato, onions and garlic. Eaten with chappati

Rice cooked in a sauce of tomatoes, red peppers and onions. Steamed spinach and carrots.

Chicken curry with rice. Air fried sweet potatoes. Pan fried aubergine and courgette.

Yellow lentil, rice, lady fingers, spinach and carrots

I have a sausage maker so make my own sausages which we have with sweet corn, cucumber and air fried sweet potato chips

We usually have the same things

We have different vegs with every meal. Mushrooms, spinach, carrots, gourd, courgette, lady fingers, aubergine, anything goes! Very quick pan fried or steamed

A fast meal for children is in a big pot of boiling water, add pasta, peas, an egg in its shell and cook the lot and drain.

Peel the egg, grate into the pasta a peas, add a larhe dollop of mayonnaise and some grated cheese.

12 minutes on the table, simple yet substantial and the ingredients are always in the house.

Great lunch dish too.

Homemade veg soup with boiled eggs and soldiers were a easy favourite here too.

Homemade soup and a big packed yummy toasted sandwich is a fine easy meal.

My grandchildren loved what ended up being called "Grandma's Special."

Very simple. Brown some ground meat (beef, chicken, turkey all work) with some chopped onion. When brown add uncooked macaroni and canned diced tomatoes. Season. I add Worcestershire sauce, oregano, and some chili powder. Cook until macaroni is al dente (if necessary add a bit of water if there is not enough liquid from the tomatoes ) then stir in some grated cheese. Serve.

You can sneak in some vegetables finely grated also.

I don't know why, but all my grandchildren request it.

What do you eat? We’ve always eaten the same meals at the same time since eldest was about 1.5 (they’re 3 & 8 now). Totally depends on the week but this week we’ve had/are having:

a BBQ - sausages, potato salad, coleslaw, sweet corn on cob
Spaghetti bolognese
Pasta bake with leftover bolognese and fresh mozzarella (this and above pasta with steamed french beans)
Lentil stew with mushrooms and kale with baguettes and butter (this is literally their favourite meal so we have it a lot! I make enough for 2 nights plus, recipe is from a blog called the First Mess)

We also often have:

Pancakes with maple syrup, bacon and fried eggs
Chicken with Middle Eastern spices (or sometimes chickpeas with the same spice mix) with wraps or pita, hummus, yogurt and salad
Chicken fajitas with salad things, guacamole and yogurt