Two different meals but cook once

[stressedteachersos]

I am short of time two nights a week and want to cook something in the slow cooker on one day then use the same base for a different meal the following day. My kids don’t like eating the same meal twice in a row.

So far I have got:
bolognaise then cottage pie
Chilli and rice then chilli and wedges

does anyone else do this? Any suggestions would be great. Thank you.

Fajita chicken? One night in wraps, another night with chips or pasta

We do this too sometimes!!

bolegnese/chilli/stuffed peppers
fajitas/fajita salad bowls/fajita pasta. Same goes for tacos and burgers
stir fry then one night with noodles one night with rice
same with chicken katsu

Beef bolognaise -
spaghetti bolognaise
tacos
lasagne
enchiladas

If you've got a bit of time one week, could you get into a freezer cycle where you cook once per week and intersperse with a defrosted portion of something else.

E.g.
Week 1
Tuesday - make double chicken curry and freeze half
Wednesday - make double bolognaise and freeze half

Week 2
Tuesday - have chicken curry from last week
We'd - make chilli and freeze half

Week 3
Tuesday - have frozen bolognaise
Wed - make double fajitas

I do this with basic mince - mine is semi veggie, with red lentils, finely chopped onions, carrots and celery, and mushrooms, if I have any. A chicken and a beef stock cube.

I then add

1. plenty of tomato purée and Italian herbs - Bolognese sauce.

2. Tomato puree, chilli powder and paprika, plus a tin of kidney beans = chilli, which we usually have in wraps with salad, or with rice.

Option 3 is what we call School Dinner Mince or a shepherds pie base - one of dh’s favourites, with some baked beans added, lots of mash +grated cheese on top.

I'd be doing stew but it's about 400'C and too hot to eat stew.

I would cook double then freeze/fridge half. Once you’ve done it a couple of times you’re ahead of yourself. Serve it with different veg.

Chicken casserole?? Then make a pie or cobbler next time?

I do this!

eg chicken tray bake with onions, cherry tomatoes peppers, courgette and sweet potato cubes, herbs eg rosemary or thyme, serve with green salad/crunchy bread

next day: take the leftovers and stir in some cream or crème fraiche, squirt of tomato purée, pinch of chilli flakes and small cup of veg stock and serve it with penne pasta.

minced beef base can also be a curried mince with rice

Bolognaise becomes chilli with a bit of spice. Chilli can become pasta arrabata
I’ve made tomato sauce before served it first night at soup, second night as pasta sauce and third night as curry

Bolognaise and moussaka, make with courgettes if aubergine too dear.

Chicken stroganoff makes a good pie filling second time around https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chicken-stroganoff

With chilli you could also make a "pie" or "lasagne" out if it - layer it with tortillas/wraps and cheese etc and bake. Or folded up in wraps and turned into burritos. Or mixed with rice and stuffed into any or all of peppers, beef tomatoes, large courgettes.

A chicken casserole or beef stew could be turned into a pie for a second meal. Beef stew could be done with dumplings too.

A savoury mince could be a cottage pie, a regular pie, served with mash or new potatoes, or stuffed into jacket skins and topped with mash for "jacket cottage pies".

A curry could be served with naan breads and things one day, then layered up with rice and baked for a more "biryani" style dish. Mix up bhajis, samosas, panoramic etc to vary the sides.

Chicken fajitas could be put in wraps, topped with tomato sauce and cheese and baked as enchiladas for a second meal.

Bolognese could be a lasagne a couple of days later - similar but serve with green veg and garlic bread to feel a bit more different. Bolognese would also stuff into peppers etc.

Nadia did a show on BBC called cook once eat twice!

Oh and a tomato/veggie pasta sauce could be a sauce to go over baked chicken and serve with potatoes and veg on a second night.

If you did a chicken and tomato/veggie sauce you could do with potatoes and veg on night and then spice up a bit and do with pasta or rice a second night (or as an enchilada/burrito).

Slow cooked pork roast and then pulled pork rolls with bbq sauce?
Lentil Bolognese with pasta and then cheesy lentil bake with crusty bread

Chicken curry and rice
Egg fried rice

Love these ideas! Thanks

I’ve got a great cookery book called Economy Gastronomy from an old tv series. The whole idea is you make one basic dish then they show different ways to use that and add to it for other meals.

I'd be tempted to cook some good old versatile chicken (either whole, or breasts or thighs) and use that as my base. Then have it for a few nights in a row in different disguises.

Add to pesto or tomato based pasta.
Add to curry sauce.
Have it with chips and a fried egg.
Have it with rice and salad.

Etc etc!

I've got that book too, the shoulder of lamb followed by shepherd's pie, followed by 'leftover shepherd's pie baked in bread rolls' happens regularly here!