What is your quickest and easiest family meal?

[Toowittoowoo]

One day a week DH needs to feed both DDs (1 year old and 4 year old) and himself within 30mins of coming through the door.

Although he is as good as me at both cooking and looking after the kids he is not very used to doing both at the same time with hardly any time and i can just imagine that the whole thing will become very stressful for everyone!

Unfortunately he needs to cook the 'main' meal of the day so I'd like it to involve some protein and be reasonably healthy. DH and DD1 are always very hungry so it needs to be quite substantial. All three are very slim (unlike me!) so it can be as calorific as they like!

I am already batch cooking for other days of the week and I'm just trying to avoid spending ALL weekend cooking food for the week.

All I can think of is fish fingers sandwiches with tomatoes and cucumber and tinned sweetcorn. Surely there is more quick family food out there?

(I have no room in the freezer for oven chips and DD1 will not eat omlete - annoyingly!!!)

What does everyone else do for quick quick meals?

Boil water
While waiting for it to boil, put sad veg from the fridge with a tin of Passata in the blender with herbs. Blend.
Throw pasta in water.
Heat sauce in saucepan.
Add cooked pasta.
Sprinkle with cheese.
Done

Would your DD eat scrambled eggs with ham/bacon in you could add chopped peppers, chives, mushrooms, sweetcorn or is it too omelette like?

Split some chicken breasts sideways, then open out flat.

Drizzle with oil and seasoning, and put in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

Remove from oven, top each one with a spoonful of ready-made salsa and some grated mozzarella. You can include some chopped ham, olives, sweetcorn etc. under the cheese if you like.

Then back into the oven until bubbling and starting to brown.

We sometimes do fried rice

Packet of microwave fried rice into hot pan
Add anything from fridge, chopped up ham, cooked chicken or even frankfurter sausage etc
Handful of frozen peas & or tinned sweetcorn
Once hot stir in an egg and fry till cooked

Prob not the most nutritious meal but goes down well in our house & is v quick

Salmon fillet - just cover with foil and chuck in oven for 20-25 mins with a bit of olive oil and some seasoning.

Couscous (1cup couscous in bowl, double the amount of boiling water, just leave until ready), stir in some paprika and chuck tin of chick peas if extra hungry and serve with tomato, rocket and red onion salad.

Fresh gnocchi is even faster than pasta.

Nothing wrong with beans on toast, or French toast, both of which are stand-bys here when DS has activities and needs to be out of the house quickly.

A frittata, with onion, chopped chorizo, cherry tomatoes, and sliced cooked New potatoes.

I see beans on toast has been mooted, I add scrambled egg on toast, ham and fried egg on toast, and toasties- cheese and grated carrot, cheese and onion, cheese and apple(sounds weird it's lovely), brie ham and cranberry at Christmas, all sorts of options.

On the healthier turn of the coin I offer soups, country veg, tomato, carrot and red lentil, minestrone, butter bean and kale, broccoli and Stilton, anything really beyond dried pulses, with chunky bread all take twenty to thirty minutes as long as you've a blender.

Baked risotto also takes about half an hour and is a revelation- chuck in the ingredients and shove in the oven, no stirring, just leave it. Great stuff.

Pastas- Pesto, tomato, Carbonara- quick easy and delicious.

I like the sound of Baked risotto! Do you have a recipe or particular types that work well?

Couscous takes 5 mins, poach salmon in water and serve with green beans and carrots or peas, Salmon takes 9mins, so quick and my children love it, or instead of salmon do lamb steaks. Pasta with tomatoe and mascarpone, I make a big batch using passata and then freeze in small pots. Take out of freezer in morinng, Takes 10 mins and just top with cheese. if when batch cooking make meatballs and they are really nice sliced onto a pizza base using the sauce as a topping and top with cheese.

Or you could cook a double quantity of whatever you have the day before (or couple of days), and just stick the leftovers in the microwave?

I follow BBC good food baked leek and bacon risotto, but I use lardons for ease.

PregnantPause that sounds delicious, thanks! Will give that a go next week.

Sardines on toast with cherry tomatoes on the side and steamed broccoli.

Fish 4 Ever sardines are delicious.

Pudding - Fruit and yoghurt.