What do you feed your kids?

[NymeriaStark]

We try to eat as a family most nights but sometimes if DH is working late, or it’s the weekend DD eats on her own and we eat later on. I generally don’t like cooking twice and

Argh posted too soon sorry!

I generally don’t like cooking twice and she usually eats the same as us anyway, but on nights when your kids eat seperately to you what do you feed them to avoid fish fingers and freezer tapas?! Looking for ideas when it’s not possible for her to have an earlier portion of what we’re eating or a frozen portion of previously made food.

Nothing wrong with fish fingers btw, just looking for ideas. Tonight DD is having a chunky salmon and broccoli fish cake (from the freezer not homemade) with beans.

Things with spuds and veg e.g. plain omelette, poached fish (or indeed fishfingers).

Pasta with stuff: spaghetti with quick tomato sauce, pasta pesto, or just pasta with ham/cheese/veg,

Currently these are my only reliable go-to options as my two (9 and 6) like almost nothing the same, plus DS has Aspergers and so won't eat anything wet/sloppy/mixed up, so no soup, casserole, curry, chilli, in fact almost anything that can be conveniently slow cooked and/or frozen in portions. DH and I both work, get home at different times and frankly it's a PITA!

Baked potato with tuna and salad, pasta and pesto or tomato sauce, chicken goujons and veg are our 'go to' kids teas - plus I usually try and make extra bolognese or chilli when I make it so that I can have a standby meal in freezer for kids too.

very quick simple meals we use in a rush are: cheesey beans on toast, omelette, poached/scrambled egg and mushrooms on toast, soup and a crusty roll, cheese and ham toastie with veggie sticks or jacket potato done in the microwave with cheese and salad.

Baked potatoes with tuna or beans and cheese. Omelettes with frozen veg in he side. Stir in pasta sauce with veg and ham/chicken mixed in.

Have to admit I'm partial to a bit of freezer tapas and occasionally cupboard tapas on a Friday night. Her fave "Mummy is waiting on Daddy to get home so we can have a takeaway" meal is spaghetti hoops and sausages 😂😂.

She eats exactly what we eat every other day of the week.

When my DC eats on their own:

A 1-portion tin of tuna in sauce such as www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/293229466 or www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/296219934 with jacket potato
Heinz Five Beanz snap pots on toast
Scrambled egg on toast
One of these 1-portion Tilda microwave pulse pouches www.sainsburys.co.uk/shop/gb/groceries/all-243760-44/tilda-pulses---rice-split-pea--green-chilli---coriander-with-wholegrain-basmati-rice-140g
bean burgers - from the freezer
falafel - from the freezer! With couscous

I also make use of the deli, fish and butcher counters at my supermarket. At the butcher counter for example, I can buy just two sausages or just one chicken breast. Likewise for vegetable pasties at the deli and fishcakes/fish portions at the fish counter.

DH and I cook in advance for the next day, most meals can be portioned off for DDs if we eat separately, such as:

Cottage pie
Spag Bol
Curry
Burritos
Casseroles
Pasta bakes

Or make freezer meals healthier by substituting oven chips for homemade sweet potato chips / rice with veg.

Scrambled eggs and smoked salmon.
Pasta with cheese sauce and mushrooms.

I batch cook and keep portions in the freezer - pasta sauces, stew, fajita filling, meatballs, cauliflower/broccoli cheese, fish pie, frozen mash, soup. I also keep frozen fish in, usually salmon.

Then I can just add pasta/rice/wraps/bread as needed. Microwaving baby new potatoes doesn't take long, and frozen veg is perfectly fine.

Spend a Sunday doing it and you have options for weeks and weeks, if you're only using the freezer meals around family meals.

My kids eat separately to us during the week. They are starving after school so eat dinner as soon as they get home. I give them...amongst other things

Chicken goujons, mash and broccoli

Lasagne

Chicken Kiev with some form of potato/veg

Pizza and crudites

Tuna pasta

Chicken stir fry with noodles

Sweet and sour chicken with rice

Jacket potatoes

I try to make sure that if I use one frozen, processed element in the meal that the rest are fresh. So if I do chicken nuggets, I won't do oven chips, I'll do boiled potatoes with fresh veg. Or if I do oven chips, I'll do it with fresh chicken that I've prepared myself. Veg with all meals. Sometimes just raw carrots, pepper and cucumber strips.

Pasta, cream cheese, peas, sweet corn and smoked salmon
Pasta, lemon juice, tuna, sweet corn, finely chopped red pepper
Pitta with falafel (batch cooked or shop bought!) and salad
Cod or salmon oven baked with lemon and herbs with micro rice or cous cous
Pita or bagel based pizza with salad
Fritata (fab because can take it he next day for lunch)
Nothing wrong with beans or scrambled egg on toast every once in a while!

Noodles with raw veg like carrots/sugar snap peas/ cucumber/ pepper with chopped up omelette and soy sauce

Pasta with tomato sauce - I make a simple one by frying garlic/adding Passata and basil and cheese.

Pancakes with tuna mayo

Eggy bread/bacon/beans

My dc are fussy and it's hard not to get stuck in a food rut.

Lurking for ideas as I’m stuck in a bit of a food rut with mine! They’ll reliably eat:

Pasta with cream cheese peas and sweet corn
Jacket potatoes with cheese/ tuna
Veg fried rice (I use a microwave poach)
Spag Bol
Scrambled eggs on toast with roast tomatoes
Pizza with veg sticks

Pasta wih a " sauce' of grated courgette garlic chilli parmesan and olive oil. So quick

My dc are young but i batch cook and keep things in the freezer. Things I tend to batch cook

Fish pie
Spaghetti Bol
Chicken stew
Beef stew

Unused veg gets puréed/made into a soup for lunches.

My son also enjoys noodles with sweet corn, chicken and broccoli.

I make ahead a pasta sauce with canned tomatoes, herbs, peppers, spinach, onions and sweet corn. I portion it up into little pots and I only have to boil some pasta then.

If she’s not eating with us and I haven’t resorted to freezer tapas:

JP with cheese, beans or houmous
Crudités and pitta sticks with houmous
Quick stir fry of veggies and rice with garam masala and coconut cream
Omelettes
“Burrito” (wrap with bits of crunchy lettuce, Mexican rice from a steam in the bag freezer pack and cheese) with crudités
Puff pastry veggie thing (cut a square of Jusrol and put slices of veggies, cheese, pesto, tofu, whatever and bake in the oven) with salad
Usual beans/cheese/egg on toast

Potato cakes (made with leftover mash) or latkes (made from sliced onion and grated potato) mix with flour and age and shallow fry. Serve with baked beans and/or some random leftovers like stew or cold meat from a roast.

Egg, not age.

I always cooked for the kids first - I ate with them most of the time and dh just reheated whatever I made when he got home - we still do that - dh often isn't home till very late.
I'd make simple things like pasta and tomato sauce or pizza if they had playdates.