Tell me what your children are eating next week

[nobodysawmedoit]

I must have spent four hours staring blankly at shopping list trying to plan meals for kids (6, 3) next week. They're not overly fussy, just typical children. I cannot think of anything other than the same things I seem to give them every day.
PLEASE - tell me what you are cooking next week so I can copy without thinking about it any more.

Do you cook separately for the children or do you mean family meals that you’ve got a chance they might deign to eat?

Friday Pork & Apple Burgers
Saturday. Birthday tea.
Sunday Moroccan Lamb Shepherd’s Pie
Monday beef burritos
Tuesday five spiced belly pork with pak Choi and rice.
Wednesday pulled chicken burger.
Thursday Carbonara
Friday probably fajitas. I’ve just realised that we’re having burgers twice in a week. The DC will be delighted

Tacos (turkey mince)
Chicken gumbo
Vegetable stir fry
Thai green curry
Chilli
Pork chops
Cottage pie

wow, that's impressive. How on earth do you find time to cook all that???!
yes, was meaning just for the kids. We eat much later, after they've gone t obed.

Nothing that I cooks takes very long to do.

We all eat the same meal and pretty much always have done.

If someone needs to eat later or earlier then it’s set aside to reheat but mostly we all eat together.

They'll be eating the same thing as us, don't know how you have the energy to cook separately.

I do a mix of frozen batch cooked meals and quick meals cooked fresh. No idea what they'll actually have, but in the freezer I currently have portions of:

Bolognese and cheesy butternut squash pasta sauces
Lasagne
Cottage pie
BBQ Chicken, mushrooms, corn and peppers (to add to wraps)
Lamb stew

Fish pie
Meatballs
Bean burgers
Fish fingers
Veg soup

And things I might cook fresh include:

Poached salmon
Fried rice
Omelettes
Quesadillas
Quiche
Stir fry

I also keep portions of regular and sweet potato mash, gravy, and cauliflower cheese in the freezer as sides, as well as frozen veg

Mine are 3 and 1 and the 3yo is mega mega fussy. The menu may include
Scrambled egg on toast
Egg fried rice with various veg
Noodles with veg and a baked (frozen) salmon fillet (add soy and sweet chilli sauce for the boy, who actually likes his food to have flavour)
Possibly boiled rice and peas with a baked cod fillet chopped through
Fish fingers beans and skinny chips (when I am losing will to live)
Porridge fruit and yoghurt (when I have totally lost will to live) (this is likely to be on a weekend, when DD has had 'proper' meals for breakfast and lunch)
Spinach and ricotta tortellini with peas and sweetcorn in cheese and butter (boy) or cream cheese (girl)
Fajitas (girl will eat the wrap, dipped into hummus or cream cheese, and ignore the meat and veg I put on her plate)

By fuck I hate thinking up dinners

Hope you don't mind me placemarking OP but I'm having the same issue. We have the same things week in and week out and are usually not that healthy....nuggets / pizza /oven chips etc.

I actually like cooking...just seem to have no idea where to start.

For those feeling a bit stuck in a rut we try a new recipe at the weekend every few weeks.

If it’s a success it gets cycled into our regular meal planning, if not it doesn’t matter.

It keeps everything fresh and sometimes we discover new family favourites. On my list for next week both the gumbo and the turkey tacos started out that way.

I’m teaching the kids to cook bit by bit so they usually get involved in the cooking for our experiments too.

No idea on what we are having when, But will include
Baked BNS falafel with pita and salad
Pasta Arabiata with garlic bread
Tuna steaks (frozen) with brocolli and green beans.
(Veggie) Sausage, butterbean and veg casserole with cous cous for those who want it.
Pizza (dough made and in the freezer) with salad and coleslaw
Cajun chicken skewers with salad.
All pretty quick and easy in terms of prep

Tonight- pizza
Saturday- fish n chips treat tea
Sunday- chicken pie, veg, roast pots
Mon- toad in hole (or sausages and separate Yorkshire pud for fussy one)
Tues- fish fingers rice and veg
Weds- quesadillas (pesto cheese ) and nacho crisps corn on cob (which will decorate the plate and no one will eat)
They all have school dinners and I am trying to limit snacks to fruit, toast, carrots and raisins

Mon sausage pasta or Bolognese
Tues pizza and salad
Wed one pot chilli chicken and crusty bread
Thurs paprika pork and rice
Fri sandwiches before cubs hot choc and supper after
Sat take away or fajitas
Sun roast beef etc
Everyone eats the same except for the pre cubs snack. No kids food since start of school

We’re having something along these lines;

Chicken, noodles, peppers, broccoli with a bit of soy sauce and sweet chilli
Sausage meat burgers (literally just get sausage meat and make into patties) with sweet potato chips and peas
Poached eggs, ham and oven chips with a corn on the cob
Pasta and roasted veg with a tomato and garlic type sauce

Nothing that requires much skill but I try to keep it interesting and colourful
Mine are 4&2. They aren’t particularly fussy and often get basic things like roast dinners, spaghetti Bol, chicken curry etc

@PinkCalluna Where do you get inspiration from?

Scratch that where do you all get inspiration from? Stuck in a major rut and could do with more ideas.

In the next few days, we will be having

• Ribs with veg and roast potatoes
• stuffed meatballs with pasta

-chicken curry

• salmon with roasted cauliflower and noodles
• chicken goujons with salad

Like Pink when the kids were smaller, I cooked new recipes at the weekend. I get ideas from the internet, supermarket magazines, recipe books, eating out...

We will be having

Roast chicken, mash and salad (salad= chopped cucumber and carrot for dc)
chicken curry including broccoli and peas with rice
Jacket potatoes with cheese and salad
Some sort of roast type meal with gravy, maybe sausages
Fish cakes, chips and veg
And of course spaghetti and pesto for when I truly can't be arsed with a fuss.

This week we've having
Paella
Burmese chicken with rice and broccoli - served with a sticky chilli dressing - the kids don't eat the dressing
Sausage and Puy lentil stew
Roast beef with caponata and roast potatoes
Huevos rotos - fronde potatoes, onions, peppers -topped with an egg
Hummus salad and pitta
Minestrone

Oh my. I love you lot. Trying to find recipes that both of mine like is real problem at the moment. Great ideas - thanks!

jaime I’m a big fan of the BBC good food app. It lets you create “collections” so every so often I have a browse and then save it to eg the “Chicken” or “Veggie” collection for next time we have time to try something new.

I also pick up recipes from Facebook pages, from friends and from trying to replicate something we tried at restaurants. I get recipe books out from the library and have a browse for something suitable.

I’m mostly looking for things that take 30 mins or less to cook or work well in a slow cooker.

The kids are fairly adventurous so are happy to try anything once at least. Occasionally they’ll say I liked x but can we have it without y next time or can it be more/less spicy.

If they'll agree to eat them:

Monday: fruity lamb pilaf
Tuesday: chicken, cucumber and sugar snap noodles
Wednesday: eastern chicken pan-fry
Thursday: Brazilian curry and rice
Friday: coconut dhal
Saturday: crispy crumb spaghetti with tuna
Sunday: nutty coconut chicken

DD who's 6 has the same as us. Just done this week's menu

Saturday - pork and apple burgers
Sunday - roast chicken
Monday - chicken and veggie fried brown rice with the leftovers
Tuesday - chicken rendang and kale from lean in 15 book
Wednesday - she has tea at my mum's
Thursday - steak, sweet potato wedges and salad
Friday - beans on toast (always in a rush before beavers)

All the recipes are from the Ella's Kitchen Easy Family Cookbook that I just bought.

How on earth do you find time to cook all that???! I on,y cook once, if DH gets in later, he gets his warmed up. The pork and apple burgers took about 30 mins, plus you get enough mixture to make meatballs for another night.

The carbonara takes about 10 minutes too. If I had to cook twice every night I’d be sobbing.