Eat cold make in advance recipe ideas please

[Flower0503]

Hi all,

Our dinner time is usually 5pm, eating later leads to grumpy kids. One evening a week my eldest has gymnastics so we get home at 5.20 needing dinner on the table already. Even beans on toast leads to kids crying. So i have started doing cold salads (pasta salad, bean salad etc) so it's literally just put on the plate when we get back. I also make extra for work packed lunches. This went down well- www.allrecipes.com/recipe/14169/mexican-bean-salad/

Any recipe ideas for things like this please? I like actual recipes to follow. Needs to be egg/milk/soya free due to allergies. Kids eat most things. Thank you 😊

This is on of the most well behaved recipes I have ever come across and everyone seems to like it. Can be made a couple of days in advance, can be eaten cold or heated in microwave. Really nice with crusty bread too.

With mill allergies - is it just cows milk? We use goats/sheep feta.

www.tinnedtomatoes.com/2012/02/stuffed-peppers-with-new-potatoes-feta.html

Can you have some crudités and dips ready to shove at them whilst you make the beans on toast?

Great thank you. Unfortunately he cant have any animal milk or products (so no sheep or goats milk/cheese, no milk containing sauces/baked products etc), and the same with egg and soya- no soya/egg containing bread, sauces, cakes etc. I prefer to make 1 dish for everyone than separate allergy/non allergy dishes.

Okay, well the feta gives a nice saltiness and interesting texture.

Could try substituting with vegan feta, or salted almonds (perhaps ground?), olives, some fried chorizo or sun dried tomatoes

I need to start with the disclaimer that I don't actually like this myself, but I have never yet met a kid who didn't gobble it up like a ravening wolf. It baffles me.

However.

Tinned sweetcorn, chop up red and yellow peppers (raw) into very small chunks, tinned tuna. Make pasta and chuck a handful of frozen peas into the water for the last couple of minutes. Drain and mix everything together with mayonnaise as a sauce - vegan mayo should be fine for this. The mayo melts and is sort of invisible. You can eat the resulting pasta as either a hot dish or a salad. Lowest possible effort and goes down weirdly well.

Falafel, pita, hummus and crudités
Cold chicken tikka skewers, salad, chapatti and mango chutney to dip.
Roasted veg and apricot Cous cous with cooked ras el hanout chicken pieces

Roast salmon, mix with chopped cucumber and dill, mayonnaise and sour cream.

Eat with a spoon pita or wraps.

I think you need a slow cooker. Then all you’d need to do is choose recipes which don’t need anything extra cooked/added e.g. pasta or rice. You could then do things like curries (serve immediately with naan bread), soup (serve immediately with crusty roll) etc…

If it's only once a week why don't you just stick to the same recipe .. or a plate of assorted things the DC will eat ... cold meat, fish, salad picky bits. Or a sandwich and a piece of fruit?

Are the DC really crying from hunger?

Would a snack after gymnastics sustain them until you warm through a meal? Crying from hunger/hanger isn’t great.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/vegan-potato-salad with cold roast chicken or ham?

I second the slow cooker suggestion.

But things that also work well cold would be roast chicken (or beef/lamb/pork to be honest) with bread and salads.

Wraps with ham and salad or similar.

I'd also say that i your children are that hungry they can't even wait for beans on toast, a snack in the car on the way home seems like a good idea. Bananas, crackers, breakfast bars are all snacks we used to have on hand for moments like this.

Waldorf salad with added chicken?

There’s a few variations out there but mine has

• apple
• grapes
• celery
• walnuts
• cold chicken
• mayonnaise and yoghurt - you could use vegan mayo

once it’s dressed it will last at least a day or two in the fridge

agree a snack seems a good idea!

Thank you all.
I have given a snack in the casr post gymnastics before then they didn't eat dinner 🙄

Cold salads seem to be working, and I want to increase the variety as I am making extra for work lunches so more variety is better for me.
We do meze plates at weekends already so wanted something slightly different as I get bored of the same things.

So far we have done already cous cous salad, pasta salad with basil and tomatoes, another with tuna, rice salad, mexican bean salad. Some of the ideas above look good thank you.

Chickpea and spinach pie

Or a wonderbag

www.wonderbagworld.com/

Best thing in my kitchen!

Give a snack within 1 minute of shoes off that would be either as healthy as dinner or would be dessert.

Apples
Raisins & bread sticks
Peanut butter rolls
Yogurt & satsuma
Carrot sticks & humous

Then if they eat less of their beans on toast it doesn't matter.

Raw carrots, cucumber, tomatoes all great snacks and healthy. If they are that hungry they’ll eat those. And then more likely to want dinner.