Ides for suppers that are not full meals for hungry, sporty teens

[notafish]

DDs have a decent main meal at secondary school. I don't want to cook a full meal for them in the evening, but sandwiches or toast don't fill them up enough. I am looking for ideas for light meals that contain some protein, as they do a far bit of sport and are hungry.

Things I currently do might be baked potato with salmon/mayo/sweetcorn. Pasta with bacon and peppers. Wraps with mixed beans and cheese. Falafel and couscous. Shredded chicken fried rice.

I'd like some new ideas as it is all getting a bit boring. I need the ideas to be on the cheaper side as I don't want to be cooking a full meal as well as paying the sum of money I do for school dinners, but sometimes we are short of time depending on out of school clubs so I could also do with some quick supper recipes that will fill them up.

My teens will eat a grilled chicken breast in a panini/ french stick( i cook a load and leave them in the fridge), tinned sardines on toast, almost always have a soup of some kind in the slow cooker (lentils, potatoes, veg, beans etc), fish finger sandwiches, falafel and houmous wraps etc.

Why not just cook full meals ? Do you cook something different for yourself? IME school meals are fine but not huge and when mine were at school and going through the very hungry growth spurt stage they would have a school dinner, a large snack on getting home and then a cooked meal with us in the evening and still be hungry again at 8pm.

A thick, delicious frittata with salad? Can be made ahead of time, it's full of protein and veggies, and takes less than 2 minutes to plate up. Here are some ideas (I would leave out the milk in the basic recipe, myself).

www.epicurious.com/expert-advice/ultimate-easy-frittata-recipe-article

My go-to for ds1 on busy nights is a quesadilla. Two wraps/tortillas spread with pesto, cheese in the middle, sandwich together and fry on both sides. He loves it.

Thanks everyone so far. The quesadilla sounds good. Any suggestions of food they can easily prepare themselves are doubly welcome.

Frittata is being added to my list. We usually have soup once a week during winter.

My DH eats at lunchtime also and I'm happy to eat a lighter supper with them or I'll heat up leftovers from weekends from the freezer. They really do get fed well at school.

A baguette with favourite filler.

American style cheese sandwich and tomato soup.

Gypsy toast.

These are my fave filler uppers.

Things like poached eggs and avocado on toast are really filling.

For the sports snacks/top ups post swimming etc I try to make a quiche at the beginning of the week and then portion that out...over a few days.

Also boiled eggs, houmos wraps and weirdly mine will happily eat tins of sardines/tuna etc. Although I limit that a bit.

I also try to bake banana bread and freeze in slices and flap jacks for pre sport snack.

I too find the extra snack hard to keep healthy but these options work. Also nuts. Lots of nuts.

Good luck as it is all extra expense!

I read the OP as extra top up snacks rather than an evening meal...so feel free to ignore some of what I said.

Soup is a great one.

sheet pan oven cooked omelette and you can chuck in all sorts
naan bread or flat bread pizzas.stick them on the hob in a shallow pan and then add any toppig you like.
buy a packet of puff pastry ready rolled.lay it on baking sheet and add any topping you wish(leave slight border).weve done bacon and egg,pesto chicken,cheese and tomato,roasted veggies.then just cook for bout 20 mins.
rosti with anything
fish cakes
veggies patties.
quick stir frys

Snack suggestions are good too oigetoffmycheese

Swap your normal jacket potatoes for sweet potatoes now and again to add a bit of variety.
Peppers stuffed with cous cous, chorizo, red onion and kidney beans, topped with grated cheese before baking.
Pitas stuffed with scrambled egg, spinach and tomato
Bagels with cream cheese and smoked salmon
Potato wedges topped with salsa and cheese (a bit like nachos)
Burritos

Eggs are your friend for cheap protein: frittata, tortilla, omelette, eggy bread, poached or scrambled on toast, fried in a sandwich, whisked into stock for Chinese egg drop soup, egg mayo with prawns or bacon either in a sandwich or on a baked potato..

Fish finger sandwiches
Beans / spagetti hoops on toast
Cheese toasties
Bachelors pasta n sauce packets

tinned mackerel in sauce (bbq, tomato, chilli there's a whole range and it's cheap) on toast, with rice or pasta .
Sausage roll with baked beans / mixed spicy beans.
Agree eggs in any way.
A small packet of ready shelled mussels (£1.20 feeds two) makes for a different salad.

What is the objection to cooking a meal for them with veg and protein and carbs?

We have a Breville sandwich press and it's fab for cooking paninis, bagels, wraps, bloomer bread, sourdough toasties etc - delicious with some filling cheese/tuna/ chicken/etc - we use it loads..

Home made soups with bake in the oven petit pains. Add some additional protein by for example adding some shredded ham on top of lentil soup, grated cheese on top of tomato etc

Bagel/waffles in the toaster topped with beans and cheese

Avocado on toast

Hummus, crudités with flatbreads/Pitta/oatcakes

Another idea for quesadillas place a tortilla in a dry frying pan place grated cheese and slices of pepperoni top with another tortilla flip over teens love em!!