Aibu to ask for meal plan suggestions before I resort to giving my kids toast for every meal

[snowday01]

Looking for some help with meal planning for my annoyingly awkward family.
DC2 has multiple allergies - milk, oats, soy & egg
DC1 is super fussy and doesn't like to try anything new esp if it's in a sauce - will eat quiche, Irish stew, any oveny nugget fish finger / waffle type foods, loves spag Bol but no other pasta doesn't eat rice..
husband pretty easy going
I like most food but would like to lose a bit of weight so avoiding really high cal meals if possible.
Dinners are driving me mad - I'm making 2 or 3 different meals every night, it's costing me a fortune, I work full time and im wrecked after work so thinking of and making 3 different dinners is exhausting to say the least

Some things we can have as a family -
Roast dinner - different meat & veg combos

Spaghetti bolognaise
Irish stew
Wraps with salad and (breaded) chicken and wedges or chips

Please help me before I lose the will and buy 10 loaves and feed everyone toast & spaghetti hoops for the foreseeable

Well you've done out 5 dinners there already op!
For lunches make variations of your dinners by turning the ingredients into sandwiches, wraps and salads etc.

Will soup be eaten ? So many soups with nice bread go down well with some kids.

Spaghetti hoops and toast can be another evening meal like on a weekend. Thats 6 dinners there so far.

Baked potatoes with everyone's favourite toppings? So youre not making loads of meals just putting out some bits to add on potatoes, serve with some meat if not substantial enough.

What about fruit? Add those in as snacks/lunch too.

Trying to think of variations on the above that might be novel enough but also similar enough to pass muster!:

• Turkey meatballs with mash/polenta/pasta
• All-day breakfast
• Roast chicken with new potatoes, crusty bread and salad
• Mild fajitas
• Beef bourguignonne
• Lamb tagine with Irish stew type veg

Can you experiment with the Irish stew theme? Change up/ add one element at a time and gradually expand to encompass the whole stew arena? Similar with spaghetti bolognaise...add mushrooms, add aubergines, try it with a different kind of mince, then sausage or bacon. Start with little changes, and work your way up!

How about pies too? If they like a sunday roast, try some shepherds pies or even fish pie.

Experiment with stews and adding different things in ,not just irish stew.

If they like spaghetti bolognese would they eat pasta bake? The homepride jar ones are minimal effort for when you’re having a busy day.

Chicken kievs if they like nuggets? Or chicken burgers made with breaded chicken.

Would they eat sausages or meatballs?

Oh, and if they like Irish stew how about a lamb hotpot? Similar flavours/ingredients but you might feel like you’re getting more variety.

batch cook. ( or make an extra portion or two) freeze in portions. give the child who can not tolerate what you are cooking that day a portion of their safe food. ( I have two children, one with allergies, one with autism that limits their diet a bit though I am a full time carer for them so a bit easier. ) when they were little, and would accept beans on toast as tea it was a lot easier. (roast dinnerr can be heated uup a second day. )

I can highly recommend "the obesity code" on losing weight. To cut a long story short, intermittent fasting is much more effective than calory counting. It could make it much easier for you to not have to worry about that too much.

Youll probably think I’m a cow but if I’m working full time I’d be making one meal and if they don’t like it, tough. There’s always bread and cereal for those that don’t like dinner.
Make one meals that takes into account the allergies and everyone else can take it or leave it. You’re not a restaurant, your time and energy is precious.

Our LG was dairy free for months. So much is pasta based so maybe not ideal for you - could you swap to courgette spaghetti for Bolognese/use lettuce wraps to save carbs?
Some of our staples:
Fish pie (use flora/oat milk to make white sauce & flora for mash) - BBC good food has a toddler & family friendly version
Pasta bake (sauce is aubergine/courgette/pancetta/tinned toms) - separate vegan cheese
Mac n cheese (as above for white sauce & separate out vegan cheese portion for allergies - I use the Ella's kitchen purple book recipe still with peas/courgette and it's pretty solid rather than a runny sauce)
Ella's kitchen recipe (red book) for magic tomato sauce - 1 batch freezes into lots of individual portions so we can give this to her on nights our meal won't feed us all (perhaps start with spaghetti if that's safe?)
Cottage pie - less runny to avoid a sauce issue with separate gravy for those that want it?
Lasagne - Tesco do a dairy free white sauce & vegan cheese so use the same Bolognese with tweaks to make it work (might sell it to DC1 if it's Bolognese in disguise)
I'm watching with interest!

*sorry I missed oats but you could sub in their milk for oat

Bulk make a spag Bol and potion it up to freeze. You can do all sorts of variations while giving the kids the spag boll they like. Just defrost and split kids and adult potions, Chuck a load of seasonings in yours and swap out the spaghetti for rice and you've got a quick simple chillie... lots of other easy tweaks you can do for your portion

Pizza night? With you making one for the DC with allergies if you can't find a suitable safe one and the rest of you eat frozen.

Does everyone eat potatoes?

Lamb chops and boiled potatoes/mash.
Sausages and mash.
Sausages and chips.
Burgers and chips.
Fish and chips.
Steak and potatoes of some sort.
Meatloaf.

You have my utmost sympathy. Sometimes 2 or 3 different dinners here too though I try to have some shared elements.