Speedy after school/ club healthy staples

[Judyandherdreamofhorses]

I resorted to pasta, cheese sauce and peas AGAIN last night, after appointments after school, rain and whiny children. They'd already had two nights of pizza.

It's homemade, contains at least one vegetable, and they'll always eat it. They're fussy (1 and 4), don't like potatoes in any form, like familiarity. DH and I eat much later in the evening.

Any guilt free ideas? Fish fingers are also popular, of course...

Muffin 'pizzas' with pesto and toppings of choice
Wraps with fillings of choice
Both served with crunchy veg sticks

Beans on toast
Soup
Stir fry with noodles takes 5-10 mins

Mini chicken fillets pan fried with chopped up veg and cooked new potatoes pan fried in a little butter (I cook the whole bag in advance and leave in the fridge). This meal is super quick to prepare, on Wednesdays and Thursdays we have to be fed and out again within 30 minutes and this works.
Tuna pasta - boil bow shaped pasta, mix a tin of tuna with some mayonnaise and a tin of sweet corn. Also great in a flask for those days, like tonight, she they'll be eating in the car!
Jacket potatoes, not quick to cook but you can put them in the oven before you go to pick them up, they can stay in the oven for as long as needed without too much trouble. Serve with beans and grated cheese.

Poached salmon fillet , packet of instant cous cous or plain boiled rice and broccoli was a good standby when mine were that age. (As long as I had remembered to get the salmon out of the freezer! )

Now they are older and a bit less fussy I can swap the poached salmon for smoked mackerel fillets.

Sorry just realised you said no potatoes!!
Some noodles - seconds to cook plunge in boiling water

French toast and beans on toast are our stand-bys for activity nights, easy and quick.

You can also batch cook different pasta combos and they'll freeze well and reheat straight from the freezer (if you have a microwave). Tuna and tomato sauce, spag bol (except we'd probably not use spag), pasta with other veg - dinner on the table in 5 mins.

This sounds like a hassle, but really ISN'T. Salmon or chicken teriyaki. Stay with me here…. All you do is equal amounts of soy sauce, mirin and sake (all available from decent supermarkets). Plus a smidge of sugar (I use xylitol to be really healthy). So like a tablespoon of first 3 and a teaspoon of sugar/sweetener. Heat in pan until sugar dissolves. Set aside. Then just cook the salmon or chicken in veg oil (not olive oil - really clashes with Japanese flavours) and chuck over sauce at the end and let it bubble down. Serve with Japanese rice (again - sold at mainstream supermarkets) and veg of choice. REALLY easy and a winner every time.

While we're on the subject of healthy eating, am ALWAYS after ideas for snacks to put in school bags. No chocolate, no nuts, no 'babyish' branded goodie bars etc. Left with…. er… not a lot. Other than jam sandwiches on brown bread, dried fruit etc. Can anyone improve on that? Apples and bananas get squashed in bag.

A bit pricy but I buy graze boxes for dd (12). She's a dancer & the boarders at her school get them posted to the boarding house.

Quesdillas
make a batch of soup at weekend and have with crusty bread