If your dcs have hot dinners at school

[IsThatTrue]

What do you do for dinner?

So far we have:

Beans on toast
Egg on toast (scrambled or dry fried)
Dippy egg and soldiers
Wraps with chicken/ham/cheese and salad
'Pitta pockets' with the same fillings as wraps
Sometimes they have fish fingers/chicken goujons with oven chips/mash with steamed veg

I'm bored though, what else can I make that's quick and easy? Oh and dd really doesn't like rice or pasta which helps

Hot dinners at school?

Well they are more likely to be lukewarm and small portions. So If mine have them is do a normal evening meal

Stew and casserole are my lots fave ATM ... With dumplings

I never think of school dinners as the main meal. I always cook a proper evening meal.

The same dinner as the rest of us.

So tonight it is shepherds pie, peas and green beans
Yesterday was meatballs, pasta and salad
Tomorrow will be fish and chips.

The school lunch doesn't mean they do not need a dinner, well not my DCs anyway. They are always hungry and I can't imagine beans on toast being enough.

Mind you, they are older. And the school lunch is the same size whether you are reception or year 6

I give them sandwiches, yoghurt and fruit for dinner, so what they normally have in their packed lunch!
Or pasta with pesto, sweetcorn and tuna.
Or a toastie with fruit.
Or veg soup

But my two are in reception and year 1 so don't have massive plates of food.

Our school dinners are as big as I would feed them for dinner and they're really nice so they don't need another main meal.

I guess one of us is cooking dinner for the family anyway, so it seems a bit odd that the DC that has school dinners would eat something else.

Won't they have a small portion of whatever you are eating OP?

They are 9+7 and me and DH eat later together.

I cook a normal evening meal too. My dcs do have big appetites though and don't snack much.

Oh, fair enough then.

My youngest is 9, we all eat together but it is usually quite late by the time we are all home from work, usually we eat around 7-7:30.

My youngest has never been full after a school lunch, I don't think they get a lot of food tbh, because he will always eat a dinner with us.

For eg. Today they had 2 pitta breads filled with lettuce, cucumber, carrot, a couple of slices of ham and a bit of cheese. Normally they would only have 1 but they walked to the library and back after school (2mile round trip) and didn't have a snack so were really hungry.

On days I work DS has something like a toasty and fruit at after school club, then maybe a couple or crumpets and Philly and a yoghurt when we get home. Dd has a " on toast" type meal in the late afternoon at nursery.

On days I am not a work, the dc have whatever dh and I are having later, but at 5 pm. They are 5 and nearly 2, and can' t really wait until dh gets in at 6.30 or so.

Me and DH eat about 8, but dcs are in bed by 7 (reading until 7.30 and 8) so they eat around half 5, it's nice that ds2 has somebody eating with him. Although he eats cereal for dinner as its his worst meal (he's 9mo) and he has scrambled egg, ham, crackers for brekkie, soup/cooked meal for lunch.

I think my kids diets are all a bit topsy turvy!

Oo I'd forgotten about toasties! Thanks bikerunski

And whoever mentioned shepards pie that is a good idea too! Thanks

Mine love

soup and a roll
Carrot, cucumber, pitta and humous to dip
Pizza (homemade using proper bread dough, muffins, flat breads etc)
A tin of beans (not baked) mash with a fork and topped tomato sauce and grated cheese - 20 mins in the oven, tortilla chips or baked pitta to dip
Quesadillas - any veggies, cheese etc in a folded flatbread - flashed in a dry frying pan
H/m veggie burgers, hotdogs, veggie sausage in roll
Slice of quiche

As long as they are eating, it doesn't matter if they eat breakfast for dinner and lunch for breakfast

I think my DS just has a huge appetite, he'd eat that for a snack!
You wouldn't think it to look at him though.

I don't have time to cook for them, one of the reasons they have hot lunches.

Two nights a week it's packed tea on the way to swimming or tennis, otherwise scrambled egg on toast, so sandwiches, sometimes I do hot dinner if we're back early enough.

Thanks bacon and onion, we do make pizzas sometimes, I refuse to buy them for the prices they ask in shops. Some other great ideas though thanks

Soup and bread is what my DS is currently eating.

I do the same as you with similar options. He has a hot lunch and then a sandwich type supper. DH doesn't get home until at least 7 normally but it can be very variable so I can't keep my boys up waiting.

Little one has a hot lunch and a packed tea as he can't wait until we get home yet (3.5).

But they are at an independent school and can have seconds at lunch and DS reports that the food is great, 'much better than my last school' in his own words, and at that price, they should be!

Mine are 4 and 9 and both have hot dinners (today was roast). Their school dinners are yummy and not small. I do them sandwiches, eggs, pasta, sausages, nuggets, cheese on toast, beans on toast, pitta, homemade pizza (make the bases top with tomato sauce and freeze), spag bol etc

missbeehiving I can freeze homemade pizza bases? how did I not realise that?

I make a huge pot of tomato sauce at the beginning of the week as it is the base for so many dishes.

We have soup with crusty bread; minestrone, butternut squash or vegetable. Maybe with some cheese. Jacket potatoes they love macaroni cheese.

Jacket potatoes! Another I'd forgotten about!

Basically anything I can ignored for the last 1/2 hrs