Fed up of cooking twice a day!

[Scienceisnotopinion]

Need some tips/ideas. All of us, Dh and kids, are home for lunch and dinner. Will often make soups that last for dinner too, but they eat a LOT and often there will not be enough left and will still have to cook some side dish or something.
Anyone more organised then me that can help? I try to have a balanced week, meat fish veggy dishes. Thanks!

I have a quick and easy recipe that can be done in bulk. It’s a cross between dhal and a curry.

Sauté a chopped onion and 3 cloves of garlic and an inch of fresh grated ginger in butter till soft. Add half a teaspoon of turmeric and a tablespoon of curry powder. When spices start to sizzle add a can of tomatoes, a can of coconut milk, 3 cups of water and a cup of re lentils (the split ones that cook in about 20 mins). Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer gently till whole lot thickens and lentils are soft. Add finely chopped coriander if everyone likes it. Serve with rice, naan/chapatis. It’s really easy, pretty cheap and freezes well. I double up the quantities and freeze it in portions.

I would do cold food. You can boil eggs the night before while preparing the evening meal, then just have cold cuts or tinned tuna/salmon/mackerel, bread/crackers, cherry tomatoes etc. In the UK you can buy cold bean salads etc in supermarkets which are nice. You might find sandwiches boring but they are easy and filling a couple of times a week - do your sons really not like them, or is it just you? You can have a huge variety of fillings and try different breads - pumpernickel, sourdough, wraps, naans, english muffins,

Couscous is extremely quick and easy to prepare, you just put it in a bowl& pour boiling water over & leave to stand. You could batch cook sauces to serve with it.

Red lentils that should be.

The cheek of you OP. All you've done is insult people.

See the lentils have made an appearance!

People offer advice and you sneer at them!

Not only do I have to make it healthy and interesting but I work to a budget .
So whilst the oven is cooking one meal I roast peppers or sweet potatoes for the lunch tomorrow. I find this takes some of the work out . If I cook fish say salmon fillets I will also cook say haddock for another dish say adding the sweet potatoes .
I do this to keep fresh ingredients that are meat or fish based from hanging around for too long.
I often see vegetables as carbs so whilst say new potatoes are boiling I will cook some chopped leeks . I will use them as the carb base and can add fish or lentils or feta cheese or whatever takes my fancy
I also shop by seasonal and offers and keep a larder of capers or sundried tomatoes or I roast tomatoes with cooking other dishes for the next meal etc

Sandwich one day. Hummus with pittas flat bread, pasta with pesto and salad, soups, falafels with flat bread and salads - tuna salad with an egg - pasta with cheese and salad jacket pots -
Are you giving them the same food at lunch and then for tea?
That would get boring!!!

You say sandwiches would bore you but are content to eat the same meal twice in one day? There would be an uproar in our house!

Make two pots of soup at the same time one day = 4 days of lunches. A slow cooker with Tuscan beans and freeze a portion - lovely with sourdough = 3 days. Toasted sandwiches with M&S piri piri chicken, rocket and cheese is quick. Couscous, roast vegetables and feta with pine nuts for another lunch?

Only cook dinner every few nights if you spend a day batch cooking to get you started.

We are WFH 4 days a week, we just buy those batchelor pasta packets (50p each in Asda) and do a full meal in the evening.

@Scienceisnotopinion

Dont have a slow cooker but i guess i could prepare dinner at lunch time, good idea

Chili, pasta, minced meat and veg, Curry's, loads Chinese dishes can be cooked in bigger portions and eaten twice in a day or frozen for another day

Don't let them see the double portions. Serve out half of it into a tupperware container before you call them to table and hide it (in a drawer, under a tea towel, in the boot of the car, in the garage)

Stews, mince, spag bol, risotto, ratatouille, curried anything, minestrone...

@Scienceisnotopinion

I am not asking for quicker alternatives, just for organisational ideas to avoid cooking at every mealtime if you read the thread

OP, this is how I typically cook. On a Sunday I do a roast dinner (today it was chicken), I buy a large chicken. Left over chicken I strip and put in appt, add mushrooms, onion, various Indian spice, tin of tomatoes and marinade over night, next day I heat it up whilst cooking rice. (Two meals in no time. I often make stew and portion that up for the freezer. Mexican bean chilli I make extra portions and freeze. Pasta, big portions and freeze. I tend to try and make enough frozen portions to feed the family once a week. In effect I'm cooking one week in a month, the rest of the month I'm hearing up pre cooked food

@Scienceisnotopinion

I am not asking for quicker alternatives, just for organisational ideas to avoid cooking at every mealtime if you read the thread

You really are a joyless soul, I think the kitchen may be the best place to keep you to avoid you sucking the joy from other's lives!

See the lentils have made an appearance. Sorry about that Susannah. I’m an MN cliche i know but I do get through a ridiculous amount lot of lentils.

If you don't like sandwiches , do your family like wraps?
A dozen wraps
Fillings eg chicken & pesto
Shredded duck
Mexican chicken abs black beans cheese and carrot
The list is endless , plus
Salad
Sauces
Everyone makes their own.

Wow who goes on a UK website, slags off the UK diet then complains when called out on it!?!

Increase the portions you are cooking?

Well, I've read a lot of this thread partly because I'm interested in the food suggestions to get out of my meal rut and partly for the sheer amusement of the ding-dong that has ensued between the OP and her less than obliging subjects! Tee hee.

I make a very large portion of quinoa at lunch. Serve a spoonful with a cut up avocado with a poached egg on top and some walnuts (sirachi sauce goes fab with this too)
Make sure you have enough quinoa left to serve with roasted veg and chickpeas (with a jar of Moroccan sauce stired through in the evening)

Make loads of spag bol sauce (I use plant mince or lentils) for evening meal.
Use the remainder the following day to make a kind of minestrone soup by adding 2 tins of tomatoes , garlic , water and extra beans (funnily enough tinned baked beans in sauce are perfect for this) plus extra pasta of course to bulk it out ) with fresh herbs.

Remember a normal person can easily eat 100grams of pasta..

Batch cook some sauces, and then you can use them in various meals
eg:
-tinned tomatoes+finely chopped carrots+onion, white wine etc, add basil then whizz -> great lasagne sauce / works with pasta/bake generally / crispy fried polenta / add some olives, capers and a bit of white fish and oven bake for 15-20 mins
-similar to above with jar of chargrilled peppers fried up with onion and garlic and Italian herbs (whizz)
-white sauce
Pasta is our friend over here! Also couscous, grains, rice work as sides too

• a popular and ridiculously easy dish that I did tonight on our return from hols is (my version of gigantes) cannelini beans with chopped toms, smoked paprika, herbs and olive oil in the oven for about 20 minutes - goes with decent bread, polenta, potatoes, anything really

First world problem right there 🙄

Can't be arsed more like.

@Scienceisnotopinion

Sandwiches get very boring very quickly, we only eat sandwiches at picnics or day outs. Hotdogs and supermarket pizza or ready foods are something we only tent to eat once in a while as we tend to avoid processed food when possible.

Well if you like making life hard work for yourself then crack on with it then.

Make a big pot of chilli (either beef mince, veggie mince, or mixed beans) and you can mix it up by serving with jacket potatoes or rice or as loaded wedges (regular or sweet potato, then pop in the oven for 5 minutes with cheese on top) or even nachos.
Make a double batch of bolognese sauce, serve half over spaghetti for one meal, then save the other half for a lasagna - you just need to make a quick white sauce and then bake.
I’m not a big fan of sandwiches either, but I do like bagels (eg smoked salmon and cream cheese) wraps (roasted veggie and hummus is good) or pittas (falafel, hummus, crudités, etc). Toasties are quick and easy.
Try following some food blogs / Instagram / looking on Pinterest.