Super fast meal ideas to avoid buying a takeaway

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We seem to be running out of time to cook at the moment with small hungry children and getting delayed with after school clubs/unexpected traffic etc and have ended up with both McDonald's and chip shop in one week! I need some ideas for nights when this happens to avoid takeaway. The only super fast meal I can think of is Greek salad which is no good as the kids hate it and a frozen pizza which is no good as the kids both have cows milk intolerance. Any ideas anyone?

Toast, hummus, salad sticks.

I always keep a few tins of mackerel in tomato sauce in the cupboard for a quick meal. My kids love it tipped over pasta, rice or (if there's more time) baked potato.

We are now mercifully through the manic scouts, football, ballet etc circus, but when we were in the thick of it, we would often have a 'feast' which was like the PP, a picnic of ham, chees, bread, etc ( bread in the breadmaker dead easy to set up in advance ( a packet + water!) and have lovely warm bread timed for when you get in.

You just have to cut meat very thin to get it to stir fry quickly.

I stick everything in a google calendar and so sit and plan the week's meals the weekend before. I have a list of quick stuff and a list of stuff which takes longer for other days. But as a rule anything that takes over 30 minutes is banned from weeknights.

List of quick stuff:

• Sweet and sour chicken (jar) (15m)
• Ramen noodle soup - that's instant noodles from World Food section, "cooked" in the bowl with kettle, add whatever you have around - froz. peas, sweetcorn, sliced cold meats, sliced hard boiled egg, small pieces of onion or pepper. (5m)
• "Lunch dinner" which is sliced meats from packet, chopped cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, piece of fruit, plus some crackers or rice cakes. DS sometimes has a sandwich or a slice of cheese or yoghurt too if you have alternatives to these. (5m)
• Toasties - if no cheese can do with beans or marmite for sticking together (10m)
• Egg fried rice - add loads of egg to make it more filling. (15m)
• Stir fry as mentioned (15m)
• Beans on toast (10m)
• Home made pizza IF you use a kit (15m)
• Pasta with jar sauce or easy tinned tomato sauce (15m)

List of stuff which can be pre-cooked and heated up later (slow cooker or literally just in a pan and cooled, or saved as leftovers from the day or a few days before):

• Chilli con carne
• Spag bol
• Curries (lots of types)
• Meatballs + sauce for them
• Chinese sticky chicken (slow cooker - this one is delicious)
• Stew

I don't eat cheese so a lot of these are dairy free.

I haven't RTFT so sorry for any duplicates, here are my quick and easy dinners:

• smoked mackerel straight from the packet, noodles with a dash of soy (3 mins to boil) and sweetcorn from the tin (served cold, kids don't care!).

• salmon cooked for 2 mins in the microwave (honestly tastes fine) with micro rice and frozen peas

• scrambled eggs on toast

• spag Bol pre-made and frozen, re-heated with pasta

• cottage pie pre-made and frozen then re-heated

If you don't have time in the mornings or at lunchtime to cook for later reheating, you can always cook a massive batch of stuff at the weekend and freeze it all.

Have not read all the replies but wanted to say, you need a slow cooker. Put it in in the morning, meal when you get home. They are amazing. There are so. Many recipes, chilli, curry, chops, pretty much anything. One of my rellies likes a slow cooing group in Facebook and what they do totally pushes the boundaries. You'll be eating like kings! All you need are some pittas/ nachos and rice ( even basmati takes 10 mins so no need to get the no nutrition and salty micro stuff) I'll nip on FB and find the group for you

have a cooked chicken in the fridge
have some pre cooked pasta in a tub

put steamer in saucepan - warm pasta through, add some cooked chicken and tinned sweetcorn. serve raw carrots, red peppers & apples if you feel the need.
3 mins. done.

I always double cook now. Making chilli/spaghetti bol do double portion and freeze what is left in different size portions. Then on a busy night take out what u need depending on numbers. I also do this with cottage pie and fish pie. Doesn't take much longer to make 2. Just a bit more peeling and chopping.
For a quick meal I do salmon under grill with baked potato in microwave.
Beans on toast.
Fresh pasta with bought sauce and anything else to throw in from cupboard. Eg sweetcorn ham, cucumber, tomatoes, cheese.

cooked pasta in the fridge really is my lifesaver!
similarly new potatoes, cooked. just cut in half and saute in a bit of butter.
a salmon fillet can be cooked in the over in less than 15 mins.
mini chicken fillets can be pan fried really quickly.

Pesto pasta? Pasta cooked and then pesto and cherry tomatos.

Mainly just posting to save the thread if I'm honest.

Slow cooker kitchen on facebook

Homemade burgers with salad. You can make a batch and freeze then take then out to defrost as needed.

Stirfry, can alternate meats, veg and sauce to keep it interesting
Pesto pasta
Quick tuna pasta
Omelette
Jacket pots with beans and salad
Chicken Kiev
Frittata
Grilled chicken pittas
Quiche and salad
Ham, egg, chips

Slow cookers and batch-cooking things like casserole, spag bol, curry etc will help you loads.

I usually have the slow cooker on with pre prepared food (curry, chilli, spag Bol, chicken or lamb casserole etc) or I make food at weekend and set oven on timer to heat up (cottage pie, lasagne). Or I do quick items in oven like salmon (12-13mins) with couscous or noodles. Or pasta (carbonara or pesto with broccoli).

The other day I made chicken teriyaki noodles in 10 mins flat. (Simmer noodles for 4 mins whilst lightly frying onion, carrot matchsticks, chopped mangetout and cooked chicken shreds. Then add noodles and a spoon of teriyaki sauce. The kids loved it.)

When we were at this stage, kids liked proper jacket potatoes: washed & lightly oiled & sprinkled with salt. Prick & put in oven on timer so that are baked ready for when you get in. Even if you are a bit late, will keep warm in the oven. Top with whatever you like. Leftover chilli con carne, chicken, sweetcorn, prawns, peppers, bourse, beans, bolognaise etc.

I'd do extra potatoes and scoop out middles, mix with cheese and
Iightly fried onions, peppers, mushrooms, sweetcorn and garlic. Stuff back into skins and keep in fridge for another day. You could probably freeze too.

I also used to put frozen cottage pie, lasagne or similar in oven in morning with oven timed to come on in time to heat through ready for evening.
Was ok to leave out as frozen & defrosted during day.

Worked well for except a couple of times when I forgot to turn the oven on! ☺️

Do you have a steamer?

Boil water in bottom pot. Use kettle for a head start. Throw in bag of baby potatoes. Set timer for 10 mins.

At 10 mins, put next layer on the top with fat slices of salmon (fillets?) on the bottom. Reset timer for 5 mins.

At 5 mins throw green veg on top, broccoli beans or whatever.

When timer goes off the lot is ready.

While veg is steaming you can quickly fry some chopped chilli and garlic in oil and soy sauce. Serve to anyone over the salmon who likes spice. Those of more conservative palate can have a slice of lemon or garlic mayo out of a jar 😉

It's not madly exciting but it is healthy and quick. And not pasta which is nice. If the kids try the sauce and like it you can substitute the potatoes for whole meal noodles and break in the salmon to the drained noodles. Mix the lot up with the veg and sauce.

We try to do food that the kids don't get for lunch at school so jacket pots etc are mostly out. They've seen enough baked beans by evening time.

The carbonara recipe up thread is great. We add mushrooms and peas too.

Really lazy. Take out Frozen puff pastry in am to defrost. Roll out on tray. Cover in cooked caramelised red onions from a jar. Crumble goats cheese on top and bake in hot oven for 15-20 mins. Serve with green salad and lots of rose 😀 Doesn't really work if everyone is ravenous.

Pot of humous and some breadsticks stops WW3 in my house while food turns up.

I think most of my quick meals have been suggested already. I've also done a very quick chickpea and peach curry before - soften 1 chopped onion & one garlic clove, stir in some spices, add 1 tin each of drained chickpeas, peach slices and tinned tomatoes, cook through - takes all of 10 minutes. Unfortunately 2 of my 3 kids are fussy and hate anything in a sauce, but this recipe is really tasty and easy.

Or do various fish 'en papillotte' - take a square of greaseproof paper, add sliced potatoes, some veg and a fish fillet, plus whatever flavouring you wish eg garlic/ chilli/ white wine... wrap up and microwave until cooked - lovely little meal in a parcel in no time at all.

Some fab meal ideas here. Will be making lots of them!

Minestrone, super quick, easy and the kids love it.

Gnocchi, I fry mine straight from the packet so it goes crispy, can toss with pesto or a tomato sauce.

Batch cook roasted veg and blend with pasatta, pop in the feeezer in portions to add to pasta.

Check out bbcgoodfood.com they have loads of great recipes for families.

My quick meals are stir fry chicken and a bag of the stir fry veg with noodles and sharwoods sachets of different flavours ( sweet chilli/ chow mein) takes about 15 mins tops.

Fajitas- stir fry peppers and chicken with the sachet of spices with sour cream and onion dip/ cheese, salad or I sometimes mix the fajita spice with bread crumbs and make home made chicken nuggets to go inside the wraps with salad and some sort of dip/ salsa/ sweet chilli) 20 mins

Grilled satay chicken skewers- peppers and chicken on sticks- again sharwoods sachet mixed with the chicken serve with the quick cook microwave packs of rice ( I usually jazz these up with peas and scrambled egg- a sort of egg fried rice) Serve with a peanut
Dipping sauce 20 mins
Tuna bolognaise- mix tin of
Tuna with a jar of dolmio and a tin of sweet corn. Cook spaghetti- heat tuna mix in microwave. Serve with grated cheese 10 mins

Perhaps not cooking from
Scratch but more nutritious than a takeaway.

If you smash chicken breasts covered in cling film with a rolling pin so they are squashed flat, they will pan fry whole in about 10 mins or slice into strips then stir fry in 5 minutes. Could do the smashing the night before then do a micro rice pouch and micro frozen veg.

Full English Breakfast

Do a massive cook and freeze in portions then just take out in the morning to defrost in time for dinner.
Baked potatoes are good...5 mins each side in the microwave then put a bit of oil and salt on and chuck in over for 10 mins. Yummy with any topping.

Omelette cooks in 2 mins or beans on toast.

Soup in a mug and toast.

My kids love Porridge for dinner!