Meal plan help - family of 4

[generallyfailing]

Hoping for some help with meal planning!

Me and DP are both tired and stressed from busy jobs and 2x toddlers who don't sleep well - and we've fallen into some bad food habits. DCs eat a lot of repetitive "kids meals" (fish fingers, baked beans etc) then we eat after they've gone to bed. DP loves cooking but if he cooks from scratch we don't end up eating til really late so a lot of the time we eat quick ready meals.

Starting to show on our waistlines and also feel guilty about not giving DCs more variety of food.

Obvious way to save time would be to eat with DCs but the evenings are already such a rush of pick ups and baths etc I don't know how we'd have time to cook too. Another issue is that a lot of the meals DP would cook for us are spicy and really not sure DCs would eat them, so we don't have a go to repertoire of kid friendly meals...

Just wondered what other people do and if you had any tips or advice, or easy/quick recipes that suit the whole family, or even a full meal plan to share?!

Thanks

If I was making a curry or chilli. I would make a smaller pan of the same dish with les spice in for the children or one pan and then add chilli flakes ect on my own

My three super easy go to meals are Bolognese, chilli, fajitas and casseroles. All can be make in bulk and super bulked out in veggies. If you fancy saving standing over the stove, you can just toss them into the slow cooker in the morning. All of these I cook at least two meals worth and freeze one to grab out on an evening where we just won't have any time to cook from scratch.
Other simple meals I go to are things like jacket potato, omelettes, pasta bakes, and curries.
Most only take a max of 30 minutes, with minimal stress. Just chopping veggies really.

Lamb/ Beef Mince
2 Chicken 2
4 large pieces Salmon

Cook the mince in a generic tomato sauce so that you can add flavours later in the week . If you don't have time for onions use onion and garlic powder at the beginning of cooking . If pasta sauces are expensive make them stretch out further by mixing it tinned or carton of Passata

Roast the chickens - lemon and olive oil and salt and pepper but keep the strong flavours to a minimum so you can add later

Roast the salmon in baking paper- olive oil/ light seasoning and lemon

Carbs for the week: potatoes/ pasta/ rice/ wraps

Veggies - some fresh for the beginning of the week then frozen

Hummus/ cucumber/ tomatoes/ big pot of yoghurt and mint sauce for left over meat . Can also change out salmon for lamb ( we slow cook with red wine)

Invest in some really good click shut plastic storage ..

Get a good Spotify playlist on .. and cook it all off in one go !

I lose my mind, is what I do! :)

Also a family of four. We eat together most of the time. The kids only bathe twice a week and we both WFH which helps.

I don't always do it, but having a rough format helps (Monday is pasta day etc).

Hits in our house:
Souvlaki kebabs (chicken or pork marinaded in lemon juice, garlic and oregano, grill and serve with salad/peas/pitta or potatoes)
Spag bol
Stir fry (DD has it deconstructed with piles of raw veg as she's fussy, but noodles mixed with peanut butter/ketchup/soy sauce are a hit)
Pasta pesto with random veg
Jacket potato
Tomato chickpea chorizo stew or cassoulet with sausage and beans
Pan fried salmon with rice and veg
Burgers of some sort

To do spicy food, I sometimes bulk cook a basic chicken korma then the kids have that and we add some spicy interesting veg curry eg pumpkin and green bean, or we have Dal and DH and I have spicy samosa with it

Pancakes are also a hit, you can make them with chickpea flour like this recipe but use mango chutney instead of lime to make it less spicy meerasodha.com/chickpea-pancakes-with-lime-pickle-paneer/

@jesusmaryjosephandtheweedonkey

If I was making a curry or chilli. I would make a smaller pan of the same dish with les spice in for the children or one pan and then add chilli flakes ect on my own

Thanks that's a really good point - could just add chilli flakes at the end for me and DP 👍🏼

@peboh

My three super easy go to meals are Bolognese, chilli, fajitas and casseroles. All can be make in bulk and super bulked out in veggies. If you fancy saving standing over the stove, you can just toss them into the slow cooker in the morning. All of these I cook at least two meals worth and freeze one to grab out on an evening where we just won't have any time to cook from scratch. Other simple meals I go to are things like jacket potato, omelettes, pasta bakes, and curries. Most only take a max of 30 minutes, with minimal stress. Just chopping veggies really.

Some great suggestions! I don't know why I never think of fajitas - DCs love wraps so sure this would go down well 👍🏼

@doubleshotcappuccino

Lamb/ Beef Mince 2 Chicken 2 4 large pieces Salmon

Cook the mince in a generic tomato sauce so that you can add flavours later in the week . If you don't have time for onions use onion and garlic powder at the beginning of cooking . If pasta sauces are expensive make them stretch out further by mixing it tinned or carton of Passata

Roast the chickens - lemon and olive oil and salt and pepper but keep the strong flavours to a minimum so you can add later

Roast the salmon in baking paper- olive oil/ light seasoning and lemon

Carbs for the week: potatoes/ pasta/ rice/ wraps

Veggies - some fresh for the beginning of the week then frozen

Hummus/ cucumber/ tomatoes/ big pot of yoghurt and mint sauce for left over meat . Can also change out salmon for lamb ( we slow cook with red wine)

Invest in some really good click shut plastic storage ..

Get a good Spotify playlist on .. and cook it all off in one go !

This is so useful, thank you! Think I definitely need to set aside a couple of hours on a Sunday to prep for the week. Do you then have a meal plan of what you'll eat when or just grab what you fancy on the day?

[quote GrendelsGrandma]I lose my mind, is what I do! :)

Also a family of four. We eat together most of the time. The kids only bathe twice a week and we both WFH which helps.

I don't always do it, but having a rough format helps (Monday is pasta day etc).

Hits in our house:
Souvlaki kebabs (chicken or pork marinaded in lemon juice, garlic and oregano, grill and serve with salad/peas/pitta or potatoes)
Spag bol
Stir fry (DD has it deconstructed with piles of raw veg as she's fussy, but noodles mixed with peanut butter/ketchup/soy sauce are a hit)
Pasta pesto with random veg
Jacket potato
Tomato chickpea chorizo stew or cassoulet with sausage and beans
Pan fried salmon with rice and veg
Burgers of some sort

To do spicy food, I sometimes bulk cook a basic chicken korma then the kids have that and we add some spicy interesting veg curry eg pumpkin and green bean, or we have Dal and DH and I have spicy samosa with it

Pancakes are also a hit, you can make them with chickpea flour like this recipe but use mango chutney instead of lime to make it less spicy meerasodha.com/chickpea-pancakes-with-lime-pickle-paneer/[/quote]
Argh just deleted my reply to you 🤦‍♀️ So many good suggestions, thank you! Making a note of all of them. Reckon the deconstructed stir fry could be a hit as DCs are keen on peanut butter. And chorizo, of course! They love sausages so chorizo stew bound to go down well. Feeling inspired ☺️

www.recipetineats.com/category/collections/quick-dinner-ideas-15-minute-meals/

This is my go-to recipe site now, and unlike some her “15 minute meals” really are 15 minutes, or close to.

Things I often do when pressed for time are meat that cook quickly eg chicken breasts halved across ways, salmon, pork fillets marinated or with a rub, thrown in oven or frying pan, served with salad or fried rice with leftover veggies.

Or stir fry using pork, chicken or beef mince - quick to cook and cuts down massively on prep time.

There are a couple of ideas for the above in the link at the start.

Go on bbc good food
Menu plan and shop. Lots of quick one pan meal ideas

Hi op, we have a magnetic kitchen meal planner that we keep on the fridge, can't remember were we got ours but you can probably find them on Amazon . I like to plan around 5 home cooked meals for the week otherwise we would eat rubbish. I cook a lot of slimming world or PON recipes but they're not always child friendly.

Can anyone suggest a family friendly cookbook that little ones would like as well but is healthy?

@WaterLilly42

Hi op, we have a magnetic kitchen meal planner that we keep on the fridge, can't remember were we got ours but you can probably find them on Amazon . I like to plan around 5 home cooked meals for the week otherwise we would eat rubbish. I cook a lot of slimming world or PON recipes but they're not always child friendly.

Can anyone suggest a family friendly cookbook that little ones would like as well but is healthy?

I would love to know this too! The only home cooked things I know DCs would eat are stodgy so not the best when watching my weight. Great idea about the magnetic meal planner

@TheBugHouse

Go on bbc good food Menu plan and shop. Lots of quick one pan meal ideas

Thanks I'll have a look

@Ginandplatonic

www.recipetineats.com/category/collections/quick-dinner-ideas-15-minute-meals/

This is my go-to recipe site now, and unlike some her “15 minute meals” really are 15 minutes, or close to.

Things I often do when pressed for time are meat that cook quickly eg chicken breasts halved across ways, salmon, pork fillets marinated or with a rub, thrown in oven or frying pan, served with salad or fried rice with leftover veggies.

Or stir fry using pork, chicken or beef mince - quick to cook and cuts down massively on prep time.

There are a couple of ideas for the above in the link at the start.

Haha that would be impressive if they genuinely took 15 minutes! I tried one of Jamie Oliver's 15 minute meals once and - not exaggerating - it took me an hour and a half 😂 Will check out the link for sure!

We sometimes make curry paste from scratch in food processor and freeze it in ziploc bags, we freeze 4 pastes at a time. Then defrost one overnight and fry it off in morning plus a pack of chicken pieces, transfer to slow cooker with stock, leave on low. After work, stir in yoghurt etc, serve with rice.

You can make similar fresh meal bases for chilli, stews, spaghetti Bol etc, then freeze. So if your DP has time at weekend he could meal prep for your week.

@generallyfailing yes it was Jamie Oliver’s 15 minute meals I was thinking of! The ones in that link are much more realistic!