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!

@Scienceisnotopinion

I guess i was looking for ideas on things that can be cooked in big quantities other then soups...

Stew, thai curry, indian curry

Risotto, paella,

Chilli, bolognese, mince in gravy

Lasagne, shepherds/cottage pie, fish pie.

Trays of roasted veg (can add protein eg chicken thighs, pieces of fish, block of tofu or halloumi or feta) - include your starchy carb in the traybake or it's easy to mix into couscous or rice or pearl barley or quinoa. Easy to add drained tinned pulses. Zhuzz uo with fresh herbs.

Grilled chicken, tofu, halloumi, salmon, all easy to eat cold within a couple of days.

Thank you madroid thats the kind of ideas i am looking for

Thank you pavlavah

How can sandwiches, with many choices of bread type and filling, get boring but having the same soup for lunch and dinner isn’t?!

Also, why are you doing all the cooking? Does your husband have a disability?

Spaghetti bolognese, stew, lasagne, pasta bakes etc can all be cooked in large quantities but I wouldn't want any of those twice a day.

If you don't want to cook daily, freeze the extra from dinner and use on subsequent lunches, make soups for lunches and freeze the extras for other days, mix it up with some salad and meats on other days

You're making it harder than it needs to be and don't invest in tools to make it easier.

You're problem, is one of your own making and easily fixed.

milkbottleleg as said we are not sandwich people, no need to argue. Not everyone eats the same.

Do you live in the 1950s, OP?

We also don’t eat things like spaghetti hoops, beans on toast, sandwiches very rarely etc for lunch, tbh none of that will even start to fill me up. I apparently eat sumo wrestler portions compared to the rest of MN Instead I make double at dinner so leftovers for lunch tomorrow - often in a different format. So if homemade koftas with rice tonight, then tomorrow’s lunch will be koftas and hummus in wraps with salad. Or if leftover rice from a curry, I make it into a quick fried rice (fry some onion and veg with soy sauce and Korean chilli paste, then add rice, meanwhile fry an egg for on top).

On the occasion we don’t have enough for the next day, lunch is a jacket potato (frozen ones for quick options with either cheese/beans or tuna mayo), packet noodles (with added leftover chicken/frozen prawns and frozen veg) or a brunch so toast, eggs, sausages, beans, halloumi etc.

@DoNotGetADog

I don’t think you need to cook two hot meals a day.

However, you do seem to be suggesting that one thing you do is make soup for lunch and hope there’s enough left for dinner. I would say it’s debatable whether soup is enough for a proper dinner, but I can’t imagine many people would be keen to have for dinner the same soup they had for lunch.

Yeah, this sounds utterly joyless. Unless you're really broke and/or you all weigh 7 stone I can't see how this is a suitable lunch and dinner. Cook soup for lunch and something else for dinner. You can batch cook the soup and eat it 2 days or more in a row depending on how much you cook. Also, buy a slow cooker. You can make things like chilli, curry, risotto etc really easily with minimum effort.

So family members arrive home, sit down and eat instantly then rush out the door twice a day?

Why don't they take lunch with them?

JustFrustrated in what way. Processed food is not something i see as a tool.
For the rest I am here asking for ideas arent I

Beans on toast is my favourite food. Done and dusted in 3 minutes.

Life's too short to be fannying around cooking.

Sandwiches are boring I agree. I would never cook twice a day so sandwiches for lunch it is. If this upsets anyone else in the family sounds like they can cook.

I have and use a preassure cooker. Sometimes we buy piazza dough from the bakery.
I do freeze stuff sometimes even tho my freezer doesnt have that much space.
Soups are made with pulses and pasta etc so are quite filling, i just never seem to make enough, need to work in that

@timeisnotaline

Sandwiches are boring I agree. I would never cook twice a day so sandwiches for lunch it is. If this upsets anyone else in the family sounds like they can cook.

Exactly. Is food meant to be interesting every single time ? Surely it's just to refuel 🤷‍♂️

Uber Eats? Just Eat? Huel? Dust?

@Scienceisnotopinion

We really really dont do things like spaghetti hoops(bleurgh) or beans on toast

Proper home cooked food takes time. If you’re going to reject all of the quicker alternatives then you’re on your own really.

time, sandwiches every day would upset me 😂

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

@Buttetflybookkeeper

Uber Eats? Just Eat? Huel? Dust?

Yes great, ill just order take away every day then

You seem to be making things v complicated for yourself with your set up. In our house lunch is usually something like an omelette, salad with chicken / halloumi / ham. Homemade soup depending on time, homemade ramen noodles, scrambled egg & bacon on toast, avocado & poached egg on brown bread, smoked salmon & cream cheese on toasted bagels, antipasti - salami, cheese, olives , roast peppers, artichokes with ciabatta, prawn cocktail salad with avocado, roast chicken sandwiches etc etc.

However there are lots of things you could cook double quantities of to heat up portions the next day for lunch:
Bolognaise ragu sauce
Chilli
Chicken & broccoli gratin
Casserole
Stew
Fish pie
Goats cheese & red onion omelette
Quiche
Savoury tarts
Cottage pie
Lasagne

Lunches here are

• Pasta with sauce and cheese ( sometimes homemade frozen one or sometimes jar or pesto or something)
• sandwiches or wraps

-premade falafel heated in oven / hummus / salad / pita bread

• Shop bought quiche with salad or roasted veg

Salmon cooked 16 mins in foil in oven with salad / potato salad / whatever veg we have in Couscous with tapnade or pesto mixed in with veg ( sweetcorn,peas,peppers anything easy to do)

Shop bought pizza and veg on the side

See the theme quite a lot of processed foods. Not sure what to tell you. I don't want to cook twice a day either so we eat easy mostly quite processed foods for lunch

I wouldnt want to cook twice a day either ! However you say you are not keen on sandwiches as you eat them when out (fair enough) but also beans/hoops out as well! I like sandwiches when out ,but find them samey at home as well! Jacket potatoes /Noodles /wraps maybe ?

Sandwiches are only boring if you use boring sliced bread and one filling. How can sandwiches on delicious bread with several ingredients be boring??