Meals for family of 4 - help!

[treefox3513]

Sorry posting here for traffic.

We have myself and DH, a 3.5 year old and a 13 month old.

We need either meals that I can put in the slow cooker at the start of the day or that can be prepped and cooked in under 30 mins.

I'm struggling because they need to be suitable for all of us. I don't have the time to cook separate meals. I don't mind taking a portion out and blending it a little however we mostly did baby led weaning so she manages.

Both DH and I work 4 days a week, with different days off to each other for childcare. On a Thursday and Friday both children are at nursery and they have tea there, so on those days we could have something a little more grown up.

I'm just totally lost and in a rut with it all, we do slow cooker chilli and curry, but it's losing its appeal fast as we have it every week. We love lasagne but again that actually takes quite a lot of time to cook, same with cottage pie etc.

Can you share your weekly menu? People with kids a similar age, what do you cook that you all can eat?

Macaroni cheese
Spag Bol
Chilli (veggie / meat)
Sloppy joes
Chicken & chorizo pasta
Sausage & mash

Can’t you make a lasagne or cottage pie on one of your days off so that you just heat it up next day ?
Also, freeze it and take it out before you go to work, then you heat it up when home.

Meal prep, on your days off batch cook, lasagna, mince and tatties, spaghetti Bol etc...

chicken dishes (Kiev, kebab, stuffed etc)

Frozen fish with pesto , rice dishes etc...

Frozen mash is your friend here, so make the mince in the slow cooker for Shepard’s pie, then whack on some frozen mash (microwave) when you get home, top the pie and put in the oven to bake for 20 mins or under the grill topped with cheese. Getting a slow cooker you can put in the oven etc helps so you can use one pot.

Lidl do good stir fry kits with fresh chicken, great with microwave rice, or noodles, not too spicy for LO.

Quiche with salad is a nice quick tea.

Slow cooker lasagna.
Fish pie.
Steak and ale (slow cooker).
Sausage casserole (slow cooker).
Chicken casserole (slow cooker).
Various curries (slow cooker).
Peanut butter chicken.
Teriyaki chicken, rice and stir fry veggies.
Fried rice with whatever odds and ends we have in.
Turkey Keema flatbreads.
Chorizo and lentil soup.
Harissa burgers / Asian turkey burgers / pork and apple burgers.
Beans on toast with an egg.
Chicken and salad using those Maggi parchment papers.
Tagine (slow cooker) we do a chicken one and a fish one.
Fajhitas.
Enchiladas.
Halloumi meatballs (2 chubby cubs recipe)
Sesame chicken (2 chubby cubs recipe)

I just want to point out that most puree weaned babies are eating normal family meals by 13 months, that has nothing to do with BLW. In fact both my puree weaned babies where eating normal family meals by 9 months. Pasta, spag bol, salads, stir fry, chicken mash and veg, salmon and rice etc etc all take less than 30 mins.

Pasta bake - jar of sauce then stir in chopped up bacon / cherry tomatoes / grated cheese / cream cheese / extra veg as required , cooks in under half an hour and can be served at the table from one dish.

We do slow cooker sausage casserole - bung in sausages / casserole packet mix / mixed beans/ tomatoes / seasoning/ carrots then serve it with packet mash which I fancy up a bit with cheese and butter.

Slow cooker stew - just cubed beef / onion / carrots / gravy / packet sauce then serve with frozen broccoli and packet mash

Chicken wraps - frozen chicken fillets Like SF chicken or just Goujons etc Then serve with whole meal wraps, mayo , lettuce , grated cheese, cream cheese , tomato etcjjst Let the kids pick at it. Younger kids just cut up goijons into pieces and wrap into strips etc.

Lasagne / cottage pie I cook beforehand and just have it warmed in the oven.

Spaghetti Bolognese is a staple in this house and cooks in under half an hour

Following. Some good ideas here!

Do bulk cooking mince in slow cooker, then portion into 4. Spag bol for 1, chilli 2, lasagne 3 with fresh lasagne sheets, tub of cheese sauce, ready made pastry for mince beef pie for the 4th.
Sausages and mash.
Southern fried chicken strips and oven chips.
Jacket potatoes, half cooked in microwave with cheese and beans, bacon and cheese, tuna, chilli or sausages.
Bulk cook potatoes for mash then freeze.
Fish fingers, fish cakes, chips and peas/beans.
Ready cooked chicken with salad.

Thank you some good ideas here. It's the things like putting mince in the slow cooker then when I get home using freezer mash to top it off..... I just don't think of things like that so thank you.
I have a slow cooker that goes on the job for browning, so I assume it can go in the oven? I'll check.

I think for however many long years I've been cooking a certain way, mainly from scratch, so I think if I don't have the time to do it properly, I'm not going to do it. I need to change that mindset and start using shortcuts, I just don't know which ones.

Have you checked out the ranges of frozen chopped veg and herbs to reduce prep and clean up time?
I’m mainly thinking:
Chopped onions
Chopped garlic
Chopped ginger
Sofrito mix (onion, carrot, celery)
And lastly (ducks for cover) frozen mashed potato
I can prep a cottage pie very quickly with a pack of sofrito mix, mince, stock etc and then layer on the frozen mash in its frozen pellet form and bung in the oven.

DSs are 4.5 and 8m, I don't have a slow cooker but make lots of quick meals.

Pasta bolognese
Pesto and Cream cheese pasta with added veg (I take DS2s portion out before adding the pesto)
Jacket potatoes with baked beans and cheese (low salt beans and no cheese for DS2)
Chicken thighs in a pan (shallow fry in half olive oil, half unsalted butter, add lemon juice and dried rosemary), homemade wedges, veg (can be done in half an hour but tricky cooking everything at once)
Homemade bean burgers and oven chips (cut the burger into strips for baby and no oven chips, I give the DSs pepper sticks with it)

We’ve recently enjoyed pork shoulder steaks in the slow cooker-they go incredibly tender so suitable for little ones and are cheap too. Lots of options for sauces and flavours to cook them in, I used a sachet of pulled pork barbecue mix the other day, didn’t have to brown the meat just bunged it all in the slow cooker, even my fussy 10 year old enjoyed it.

I really rate the what mummy makes cookbook. Almost all of the meals take less than 30mins to prep and cook and our whole family enjoys them. And once you get the basics of the sauces its quite easy to sub in different meat and veg.

You could cook a gammon in the slow cooker then eat with frozen mash/roasts/veg (peas/sweetcorn/green beans are fine from frozen) or with jacket potatoes (microwaved or precooked and frozen then microwaved), tinned pineapple and veg.

When I cook a roast I often cook the whole bag of potatoes so they are there in the freezer when we need them.

Spag bol (can be with frozen mince - the sort made so you can sprinke out as many pellets as you want and frozen chopped onion if you don't have fresh in) add mushrooms or a pepper if you have them in. Freeze any leftover bolognaise for a quick meal another day.

My kids love tuna (can of tuna maybe sweetcorn) pasta sauce and pasta. My eldest prefers it to bolognaise and asks to have this.

Salmon fillets cooked wrapped loosely in some foil in the oven with a little water (from frozen bag (about 4 for £4) with frozen mash/frozen jacket or new potatoes and frozen veg. Fresh carrots to boil we peel but leave whole or chop in big rough chunks to save chopping time.

Oven "chip shop style" frozen fish for adults and fish fingers for kids with frozen chips (oven or air fryer) and peas.

If you make a lasagne make a huge one and freeze portions.

Frozen ready chopped chicken stir fried with a jar of sweet and sour sauce and rice. If you are in a rush ready rice for the microwave is often less than 50p a bag at value supermarkets or value range. Perhaps one for the adult night.

Pizzas. Supermarket frozen pizzas £1 - £1.50 each Can also add own ready toppings when nearly cooked (or lightly while frozen) such as ham, pineapple, tuna, olives, sweetcorn etc. 3.5 yr old can add own toppings.

My kids love "skinny sausages" Richmond I think. Cut down the middle for little one as well as slice as choking hazard. Nice with mash and veg.

Kids love strawberries or a peeled apple for a healthy pud.

If we have a Korma or Tikka Masala (jar sauce and fry frozen ready chopped chicken) ready rice or pan of rice our 10 year old is happy our little one has the rice with ham/cheese/cucumber finger food.

Use wraps as pizza bases. Pesto/pasta or puree. Get the DC to throw on some toppings 5 mins in the oven.
Fresh stuffed pasta mix in pesto and add chopped up hotdogs, sweetcorn/peas.
On days off do a load if Jacket spuds so they can be reheated easily and add chilli/coleslaw/tuna
Omelettes.
Panninis... ham/bacon and cheese with salad and oven fries.
Homemade wedges (potato or sweet potato) chop and leave in water in the morning/night before. 5 min par boil and pop in oven drizzled with oil. Serve with easy things like a pie/quiche or chicken strips wrapped in bacon (add BBQ sauce at the end) or fish fillets. Frozen or timmed veg on the side.

Cottage pie doesn't have to take ages. Make the sauce by throwing all the ingredients in the slow cooker then put into dishes with mash on top and grill rather than bake.

Halloumi instead of neat for a change.
We like halloumi burgers in this house!!
Or
Chorizo and halloumi bake
Spanish chicken - chicken strips peppers and onions - Tossed in olive oil and seasoned then baked in the oven. Served with rice or new potatoes.

One tip is to prepare the night before. So for the Spanish chicken you could chop everything then put into tubs in the fridge. Make the meal so much quicker. I do this for slow cooker food too, all prepared so all I have to do in the morning is tip it in and turn it on!

Shortcuts:
Ready made pastry
Precooked meat for pasta bakes
Prechopped veg - fresh or frozen
Ready mashed potato.

Nosh for busy mums and dads is a favourite cook book of mine. There are also some more adult recipes - i tjink they call it date night. All measurements are done in mugs or markings on the butter packet.

recipes.getdrop.com/en-US/4908-sweet-potato-egg-curry is a lovely curry for the sc. Dd loves it.

You can also prep dump dinners and freeze so they are ready to go in the sc.

Meals we have regularly:

Once a week, I roast an extra large chicken. We eat it cold with jacket potatoes and salad. Practically no cooking beyond sticking it in the oven. Next few days sandwiches. Then cut the rest off for a Thai curry, using a paste from a jar.

Shepherds pie
Spaghetti Bol
Chili
Lasagne
Moussaka

All using a basic mince sauce, then add ingredients as appropriate. There are 3 adults here, so I cook for 4 and freeze 1 portion. I make my own sauces, but use jars when needs must.

Chinese beef with broccoli
Chicken with cashew nuts
Sweet and sour chicken/pork
Beef/pork/chicken stir fry
Beef/pork/chicken chow mein

I cook from scratch, as these dishes take less than 20 minutes, but cook in sauces are often ok. The meat may be left over from a roast.

Chicken fajitas
Lamb shish kebab in pitta with salad
Chicken tikka, rice and salad
Korean pork kebabs, rice and salad (Tesco’s recipe)

Kebabs cook very quickly, once they have been marinated.

DD likes chicken drumsticks, so I get a pack of them and a marinade to put over them (like BBQ flavour) - with rice/potatoes and veg

Sausage pasta bake
Sausages with onion gravy and mash
Sausages, baked beans and chips - DD has frozen oven chips, but I make my own oven chips. I have given up peeling potatoes except for mash (rare), so we usually have them with the skin on, cut up and cooked in the oven as either oven chips, potato wedges or dry roast.

Tray bakes apart from cutting the stuff up and putting it in the oven, minimal work cooking!

I only work part time, but put the slow cooker on before breakfast the days I work:

Stews
Casseroles
Chilli
Spaghetti Bol

I love coming home to dinner, already cooked, when we are cold and hungry!

I forgot Tesco’s do a pizza deal for £10 - two pizzas, a side and maybe a bottle of Coke. We have that maybe once a fortnight since lockdown to feel like going out, staying in!

These are my kids favs

Mine love pataks korma paste made into a chicken curry. You can even make it at the weekend and freeze it then whip it out during the week. Frozen rice is good too.

Quorn do a sausage casserole recipe that's a big hit with the family
www.quorn.co.uk/recipes/easy-quorn-sausage-casserole
I chuck some twirly pasta in to bulk it out.

Bolo again make in slow cooker or freeze. I chick in peppers, onions, mushrooms, courgette - then blend to hide the veggies.

Chilli - made with turkey mince, bit of a twist. I use the bolo as a base then chuck in some cocoa powder and spices and some black beans.

Fajitas - just use one of the kits and add bit less spice. Mine like bbq version

@Waveysnail that's a lot of chucking

Spaghetti with oil, chopped garlic, some parsley
delicious, easy to cook and makes you feel posh

You can still cook from scratch and use shortcuts/ batch cook.

I buy sacks of spuds and then whenever we peel some I do an extra pan of mash for the freezer. It gets mashed and bagged in ziplock bags, smoothed out so the bag is full but only 1.5-2cm thick. They stack well in the freezer and then I break off as much as required as needed. It gets butter or any addition after defrosting. It's quite satisfying to whack it on the worktop to crack it!
Likewise herbs and spices: freeze portions you can just throw into your recipes.

I make soup and Bolognese and chilli in my great big jam pan: it gets portioned and frozen. You can use the microwave to defrost it or leave it out in the daytime.
Jamie Oliver did a book of 30 minute family meals but it doesn't include a lot of the prep so they take me 45 mins at least: great ideas though!
Otherwise, my go-to 20 minute family dinner is carbonara. It takes as long as the spaghetti plus 3 minutes and everyone likes it.