Quick after school food

[Magnificentbeast]

I'm looking for meal ideas to feed my DC after school particularly on the days where I am working.

Three days a week we arrive home between 6-6.30 so I tend to give them something quick to eat such as pasta or soup. They both have afternoon snacks at after school club and nursery so aren't usually very hungry. It has to be quick to prepare and have some nutritional value.

I tend to cook dinner for myself and DP after putting the kids to bed.

Thanks in advance.

Omelette?

Not working at the moment but when I did I used to make a huge pan full of Macaroni cheese, chicken curry etc then freeze in portions, get out to defrost in the morning and then heat up in the microwave 3-4 mins while veg boiled, or used microwave rice packets to go with curry.

Used to have a routine, 2 days meal as above (so if I'd made 2 big dishes at a weekend that would last 4 weeks), 1 day soup, 1 day pasta, 1 day pizza/fish & chips from takeaway on the way home.

The routine was the key though. Not having to think because Thursday was soup day, therefore it was soup!

Jacket potato's cheese and beans, either frozen jackets or cook them in the micro. Slow cooker meals?
Chicken and salad wraps, cook the chicken the night before.
Toasties?
Chunky soup

Marinate some pieces fo white fish (e.g. haddock or cod) in olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper in the fridge the night before. When you get home remove from fridge, pour over some lemon juice, cover in breadcrumbs (I do these in big batches when we have stale bread, freeze them in bags, and just take straight from the freezer) and bake in the oven. While fish is cooking, make rice and a green vegetable (e.g. runner beans) or a side salad. Takes about 20 minutes total and is nutritious and tasty. You can also do enough to feed yourself and DP later on so that you don't have to cook twice.

make potato skins and keep in the fridge - jacket potatoes halved and scooped out and filled with bacon and melted cheese. They will keep for a good few days in the fridge and can simply be heated through to serve.

Stir fry with nice noodles

Feta couscous salad www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/11690/10minute-couscous-salad
Scrambled eggs with ham and spring onions on toast
Gnocchi www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipe/gnocchi-pancetta-spinach-parmesan-cream
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3065/gnocchi-with-two-cheeses-and-bacon
Thai green prawn curry www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/thai-green-prawn-curry
Prawn stir fry realfood.tesco.com/recipes/one-pot-prawn-and-noodle-stir-fry.html
Chickpea and chorizo stew with crusty bread www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3147690/chorizo-and-chickpea-stew

Make extra of whatever you and DH are having and reheat a small portion for the DCs the following day?

I agree, gnocchi can make a nice alternative pasta. Jamie Oliver does a nice recipe, I think it's in his 15minute meals. Use sausages to make kind of little meat balls fry with a few fennel seeds, add red wine (although I guess could be replaced by stock) and pasata. He does this with broccoli and gnocchi.

Stir fry is also a good shout.

Pancakes with cheese and ham and peas, sweetcorn or baked beans on the side

Quesedillas (basically two wraps with a filling toasted in a frying pan) www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/quesadilla

Potato wedges or sweet potato wedges can be made the night before and reheated. You could smother them with a chilli/veg chilli from the freezer and a bit of cheese, bung them in the oven and have a kind of "better than nachos" dish.

If anyone can recommend a good cook book with this sort of food I'd be interested to hear about it.