What are your easy, go-to, quick family recipes you use regularly?

[Goldenbrowntexturelikesun]

I’ve fallen into a bit of a dull routine with our meals, tbh I don’t enjoy cooking but try to cook from scratch as much as possible.

I’m finding I am doing the same boring meals for speed and because I don’t need to give it much thought, meals such as baked chicken, turkey steaks or sausages, steamed veg and mash. DH will eat anything but my 18 and 15 year old find these foods plain and boring.

If I do fajitas, lasagna or enchiladas etc they enjoy them more but on days that I work I just want something quick and easy.

Any suggestions for quick, tasty but simple recipes for week day family dinners?

I also recommend simply cook, I can provide a free referal code if anyone is looking. We tend to use one of these on a Wednesday to liven up the week - for us it’s usually the burrito bowls, spicy pork rice, jambalaya, quesadilla. Mondays is use up night - or pasta for the kids and salmon or omelette, salad for the adults. Tuesdays we have freezer food as Dp cooks. Thursdays at this time of the year is usually meat, mash and veg. Fridays is either fajitas or jacket spuds, Saturday is usually a treat meal of some sort, sunday a roast or toad in the hole. Gets repetitive but the options are as a result of what clubs are on and when shopping is delivered and by spring I’m desperate to mix it up!

This risotto is so easy and yet has so much flavour. You cook it in the oven so don’t even need to stand and stir it. Winner.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/ovenbakedrisottocarb68036/amp

Boursin bake. Tinned tomatoes, mixed herbs and boursin in a dish, pop in oven for ten mins while pasta cooks. Then mix cooked pasta through, top with grated cheese and bake for another 10-15 minutes. Can add any veg you like - we often do mushrooms and frozen spinach.

Halloumi stir fry - fry onions, peppers, garlic and halloumi, cook noodles, mix in sauce (soy sauce, lime, sesame oil, sweet chilli sauce, honey). Top with sesame seeds and coriander if feeling fancy!

Miso salmon - mix miso, soy sauce and maple syrup, spread on salmon fillets and bake for 20 mins. Serve with microwave rice and veg

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I'm just really into tray bakes at the moment. Grab some meat, random veg, pick some herbs and bung it in the oven. In the last couple of weeks I've had
Chicken, sweet potato, peppers, broccoli, cajun seasoning.
Salmon, new potatoes, leek, cherry tomatoes, fennel with lemon.
Sausage, potatoes, broccoli, carrots, peppers, onion, rosemary.

You can't go wrong really.

We are going to try every single one of these out and hopefully will have a few firm favourites that we can cook regularly.

Will most definitely get the kids involved.

Saving to read for later

I've got a 70% off Gousto if you fancy it - we are on our third week of 4 meals per week for 4 of us and I'm very impressed so far. We're all eating together, there's no waste, and the kids love helping to choose the meals. DD in particular is eating stuff she usually doesn't, such as fish. There are over 90 recipes to choose from each week.

I'll PM you the code if you like, comes out so cheap for the first box with the 70%. After that it's 20% off for maybe 4-6 weeks I think?

I tried Simply Cook and did like the recipes but prefer Gousto as they deliver all the food to you so you don't need to food shop for any evening meals. We will probably have a break after the 20% has finished but as we are given the recipe cards to keep, I am planning to remake our favourites.

This salmon recipe is very quick and easy:

carameltintedlife.com/tamarind-and-honey-glazed-salmon/

It's good because you can make the sauce in advance and leave it in the fridge, then just pour it over your cooked salmon and serve with rice/noodles and tenderstem broccoli. Whole thing takes about 10 mins!

I'm another fan of traybakes. To AhBiscuits lists I would also add a mug of rice and 2 mugs of stock, cover with foil and bake for about 40 minutes. Gives you a base dish of meat, veg and rice. This Jamie Oliver recipe is a good example, I've also done tomato risotto (arborio rice and tinned cherry tomatoes) and a Paella style with chicken, prawns, chorizo and veg.

https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/chicken-recipes/cajun-chicken-traybake/

That's what I do - use Gousto as a way to try new recipes, rather than as a regular way of shopping. Their recipes are great and a lot of our regular staples come from there.

I found Simply Cook a massive faff. Too much additional shopping and the recipes often called for things like half a pepper which leaves you trying to use up scraps.

nice thread, lots of good ideas!

For a really easy dinner if you kids like spice

cook chicken and add it to microwave pouches of spicy rice eg ted mex

Your 18 and 15 year old don't cook? They need to start.

Meatballs and pasta with homemade tomato sauce.

Chilli and rice bowls.

Chicken parmigiana.

Burritos- pork mince
Tacos - beef mince

We have both on our rotation, fairly quick to make but we get two portions from each cook and both freeze very well. We serve with salad/cheese/salsa. We do use small tortilla wraps for tacos rather than crispy shells as we prefer it, and they are cheaper.

Tray bakes are easy and take 20 - 30 mins. Use a mix of veg and for the meat - chicken thighs with a slice of lemon and black pepper, slices of salmon, chicken goujons.

Kebabs are quite easy.

I make a sort of chicken tandoori kebab. Marinade some chicken pieces in yoghurt and spices over night, thread on to skewers and bake in the oven, serve with rice and salad.

I agree with getting the kids cooking too.

Have you got a raclette? Get everyone cooking their own food then.

You can cook things like a whole chicken, joint of meat or baked potatoes in a slow cooker.

Thank you - I've given it a go! Do they send through the dry herbs and spices and then we buy the fresh ingredients separately?

I did a simply cook recipe last night (thanks to whoever provided the code). It was incredibly easy and tasted really nice. The card has some variation suggestions on it, and I added more veg.

I make an 'Asian' broth. Basically boiling water with a cube of frozen garlic and a cube of frozen ginger and a veg stock cube.

Then you can add what you want, more spices, bok choy, broccoli, chicken, soy sauce, noodles, beef, sweet corn, peas - whatever is in the freezer / cupboard.

I sometimes do pork with it, belly pork slices, baked in the oven until the fat is crispy and then cut into cubes.

You can have it as an all in one meal or serve with a bowl of rice and something like gyoza.

I don't normally photograph my dinner, but this is the broth with broccoli, rice and pork belly.

How often do your children cook? They're old enough to be choosing meals and cooking for the family themselves at least once a week. Which includes either shopping or telling you early enough to get ingredients. If they want something more exciting there are plenty of easy "student" cookbooks. And they can do "SimplyCook" themselves (I've been tempted though I hate dealing with the packaging)

Ooh - I might have misunderstood how SimplyCook works, sorry! I was thinking about HelloFresh.

My best quick recipe is simple pizza. Instructions as follows.

1. Go to freezer.
2. Pick out pizza
3. Take pizza out of packaging (very important)
4. Put in hot oven on oven shelf
5. Get out after 15-20 minutes depending on packet instructions
6. Cut into pieces with pair of scissors.
7. Tell the dc to put their own plate in the dishwasher.

Works every time.