To ask - what do you make your children for tea if you can't be bothered cooking?

[spik]

What's your go-to on the nights where you don't have the energy to do a big meal?

Marmite spaghetti, Chippy tea if it's a very busy night. High meat content quarter pound burger with lettuce and tomato in buns with oven chips

what a great idea Itwouldtakemuchmorethanthis!

My kids have found the recipe for "brownies" in a mug, I let the do that occasionally.

Beans and cheese on toast
Cheese toasties
Jacket potato with beans and salad
Eggs on toast
Throw a pasta salad together if I have a bit of energy
Sometimes just pizza

Basically carbs

I chuck some chicken griddlers in the oven, warm up some spaghetti hoops and a pack of steam veg in the microwave.

Either that or those pasta parcels that take one minute to boil and chuck some grated cheese on top.

Wraps, I usually have cooked chicken pieces in the freezer which defrost really quickly or ham or other cooked meats in the fridge, sliced pepper (My daughter's would live on raw peppers luckily) cherry tomatoes, lettuce, strips of cheese etc and grapes.

What we call “kid’s tea” - basically anything in the fridge that can be served with little to no prep. Little sandwiches, cheese cubes, cucumber and tomato, slices of ham rolled up so they look fancy, crackers, fruit, raisins, crisps...

It’s their actual favourite!

Crisp Sandwich!

DP and I don't even have kids and we make ourselves things like pesto pasta, omelettes and tinned mackerel with pasta and veg on a fairly regular basis. They're perfectly valid as proper dinners in our house

those pasta parcels that take one minute to boil and chuck some grated cheese on top.

Oh yes, those too. With some salad out of a bag if I've got any.

pasta with cheese and cucumber or wrap pizzas (wraps with tomato puree and cheese on).

When I were a lass we used to have "pots" if Mum CBA- basically a tower of sliced buttered bread and every jar or pot out of the fridge and cupboard that could conceivably be spread thereon.
The fact that I still remember it will tell you how much we liked it!

Baked potatoes cheese and beans
Scrambled eggs on toast
Pasta with a jar of sauce

Just made mine a ham salad wrap with some fruit and cucumber. they'll have some yoghurt after :)

I would not make something lighter and easier just because they had a school dinner. I work as a supply teacher and the portions I see dished out are tiny, in most cases not very appealing and the majority of children leave loads.

Boiled eggs and soldiers or a picnic plate (ham, cheese, carrots, crackers, yoghurt etc)

• instant mash, beans and a fried egg on top.
• ramen soup (much easier than iit sounds, dried noodles, stock cube, splash soy sauce and chili sauce. then bung in peas, sweetcorn, left over roast meat, spring onions if i'm fancy or grate a carrot. Whatever is to hand. Cover in boiling water. Plate on top. ready to eat 3-4 minutes later. sometime will put an egg on top.
• Cereal
• toast and bovril conveyer.

Noodles with a boiled egg, spring onion, broccoli, sliced chiclen and peas. Yum.

Beans and cheese on toast.

Both my dc love picky bits - cheese, oatcakes, apple, nuts/seeds, sliced ham etc.

Fish finger sandwiches.

French bread, taramasalata, cheese, grapes, cucumber, tomatoes,ham, boiled egg. ( sorry about the egg meaning something is cooked) cocktail sausages and a cold chicken leg.
My son's are in their 20's now and still ask for this meal.

oh! and gnochhi with pesto and cheese.

A phone call to the takeaway

If I’m truly knackered we go to a restaurant on the way home from nursery (live in a city center).

If I can still stand when I finish work it’s things like
Pasta & pesto with spinach/peas/broccoli
Homemade tomato soup (from freezer) with grilled cheese to dip
Sandwiches
Fruit, cheese, ham, breadsticks and hummus
Veg stir fry
Beans on toast
Sausage and veg
Steamed fish (takes 7 mins in the steamer) with salad or veggies
Takeaway

BettysLeftTesticle
That's my back up when I can't be arsed even making supernoodles.

Pasta, tin of tuna, grated cheese
Pasta, ham, cheese and tomato
Pasta, bacon with mozzarella
Toaties
Jacket potatoes
Noodles
Anything in the freezer

-Omelette with frozen peas/ mushrooms/ peppers or whatever’s in the fridge. Always have eggs in the house for this reason! We never waste veg that way
-Pasta with tuna mayo or passata with spaghetti

• Fish fingers
• Avocado on toast with chopped cherry tomatoes
• jacket potato done in the microwave (not as yummy but if you have time you can do an oven microwave combo) then grated carrot/ cucumber/ tuna mayo / beans