Prepare in advance & bake later meals

[LowlLowl]

Looking for ideas to help us eat well despite being rushed off our feet days a week! I work and have a long commute, and DH has to collect DS from childminder on the days I work. He works from home, finishing at 5.15pm, leaving immediately to collect DS, returning just before 6pm - at which point DS (11 months) needs food-bath-bed in relatively short order. I turn up halfway through food on a good day.

So - we are looking for ideas of food that DH can prepare at lunchtime (or pull out of the freezer) and throw in the oven just before he leaves. Criteria being:

1. Must not incinerate/dry out in 45 minutes of baking
2. Must not need any attention whilst in the oven
3. Must contain some form of starch

We're getting a bit bored of pre-cooked and re-heated casserole with baked potatoes, frankly! But we can't be the only ones in this position. All ideas welcome! DH is a good cook so that's not a problem :-D

Cannelloni-did a nice one recently with Turkey mince and it made a nice change from lasagne.

Shepherds Pie
Fish Pie
Lasagna
Moussaka
Chorizo chicken veg bake
Pasta bake
Casseroles
Cheesy bacon jackets
Delia's oven baked risotto

This is mumsnet, so a food thread would be a food thread without some saying...

Have you tried a slow cooker? You or DH can put it on in the morning and dinner ready whenever you are. It's not just casseroles. If you're in need of inspiration check out the slow cooked wonders page on Facebook.

Chicken traybake - try chicken thighs, chorizo pieces, small new potatoes, red peppers, courgettes. Drizzle with olive oil, add salt and pepper.

I pop this in the oven in the morning on a timer so it's ready when I want it.

evertonmint do you mean you leave it raw in the oven, set to start cooking an hour so before you want to eat it ? Seems unlikely but I can't work out what else you mean . Interested though because I would love to be more organized about evening meals

I would definitely second a slow cooker. You can put virtually any meat based meal in at lunchtime and it will be ready to eat by teatime. It doesn't overcook and needs no attention.

You cook also precook things like mash the night before and then microwave to go with your main meal curry with rice, shep pie with mash, spag Bol, chicken breasts, casserole etc

Chicken enchiladas, my DCs favourite. Chicken cooked with peppers, onion, garlic, chopped chilli and spices. Add a tin of toms, a little bit of double cream (or alternative) and cheese. Let it cool then put into wraps, burrito style (ends tucked in) then fridge. They go into the microwave as and when everyone is home. Leftovers (I make shitloads as everyone wants loads) get frozen and DP takes one to work for his lunch.

Yes - I just put everything in a roasting dish and leave in the oven on timer! I suspect some people might think a few hours out of the fridge is unhygienic, but it's in a dark cold oven out of direct sunlight and we haven't been killed yet!

I often make it up the night before and keep in the fridge so I just need to put in the oven the next day.

Home made pizza, pop in fridge then can put in the oven for ten mins when you get home.
Or similarly a quiche or a pie eg Jamie Oliver's chicken pie.
Also if you chopped everything you can do a stir fry v quickly after arriving home.
Or prepare a pasta sauce for the fridge and just boil the pasta and heat the sauce when you need it.
Similarly you could do a curry for the fridge and reheat it to eat with microwave rice?

Ps does your oven not have a timer to avoid having to bake for 45 mins. I couldn't do without my v easy to use oven timer as I have to very specifically time meals for five around a plethora of randomly timed activities!

I just saw read your OP properly and saw that DH WFH which is what I do. I usually bung that chicken dish in at lunchtime, timed to be done when we're in from school/nursery stuff.

Another one: quarter tomatoes (even the tasteless salad ones work wellin this), peel a handful of garlic cloves. Throw in roasting tin with olive oil, herbs and seasoning. Add some slices of chorizo or salami and some black olives if you wish. Roast in the oven for about 30-40 mins until soft and mushy. Stir into pasta and grate lashings of Parmesan on top.

I often keep cooked pasta in the fridge and quickly reheat by running under boiling water and stirring into a hot sauce. Not the best pasta you'll ever have, but perfectly adequate for a busy midweek meal.

Aw, thanks guys! There are some great ideas here (I am especially excited by the enchiladas, thanks HellKitty!) I hadn't really thought of re-heating mash, pasta and rice. We were stuck because we had lots of ideas for the mat part of the meal but DH doesn't have time to cook the starch part when he gets in with DS. I have just had a google and apparently you can freeze cooked pasta spread out on a baking tray so it doesn't stick together!

We have thought about a slow cooker, I think I will investigate.

We do have an oven timer. I even know how it works! However, DH is (for some inexplicable reason) paranoid about using it, and won't. It took me the last month of my maternity leave to convince him that it would be OK to leave the oven on low while he went out to get DS...! Maybe I'll put up with another month of casserole and jacket potatoes until he's totally sick of it before introducing the idea of the oven timer :)