Another thread on quick teas

[bullgoggy]

What would you cook on nights when you (solo parent) arrives home at 1800 with 3 kids under 5 and needing tea but needing to start bedtime at 18:30?

Sadly the two quickest proteins (egg and tinned tuna) are out. They get ‘tea’ at childcare about 1600 but they’re hungry again and so am I.

Buffet platter in bowls from

Veg crudities, cheese chunks, humous, broccoli spears, mange tout, cut up fruit, yogurt, cheese on toast strips, soft boiled egg, ham strips, peanut butter on toast strips.Pre roasted chicken legs.

My son used to have this twice a week after After School Club. It's known as 'a kings meal' in my house.

Des the 6.30 bedtime start include baths? Can that be skipped once a week to give you more time? "On toast" one night. Reheated meal from another night on the third night?

Just to be clear this was picky bits made up from some of the things on the list. It wasn't everything at once.

But I didn't worry about ' a hot meal' rather bits of stuff they liked, on the healthy side, that would fill them and they'd eat. And that was quick to prepare.

Tbh it worked well and there was never a fuss. And they enjoyed it.

I remember the 'light tea' that was given to my DC in their afterschool club was one small party sausage roll, and an orange or apple segment. Rock and roll.

We got home just after 6pm, all of us pretty knackered and hungry. I was a lone parent and have very, very fond memories of many nights of spaghetti hoops on toast.

I use precooked chicken from the freezer in Aldi. It’s decent quality. I use this for creamy garlic chicken pasta and chicken Korma with boil in the bag rice.
We sometimes have ham, egg and chips.
Bung in a pizza.
Yes, nuggets and chicken burger make an appearance occasionally.
We have take away once a week or go to a restaurant.
The first eggs my dds had were hard boiled as they didn’t like the yolk just the white.

Air friers.... i cook most things twice as quick in there. Chicken goujons are lovely in there with microwave mash and thise microwave frozen veg bags or boil some frozen mixed veg. Stir fry is quick. Pasta with stir in sauce and a protein in the air frier, beef sausages do in there in a few mins. Sausage pasta in less than 10 mins.

Toasted sandwich. I make mine in a frying pan, ham and cheese, butter bread on outside and then put in frying pan. Serve with cucumber sticks or baby tomatoes. You can do the same thing with a wrap. 5-10 mins

Soup and french stick, those precooked oven ones that take 10 mins. 10-15 mins

Fry bit of chorizo or bacon. Add tin of Chili beans in the chili sauce to make a kind of quick chili con carne - eat with rice or microwaved jacket potato (cook that first). 15-20 mins

Gnocchi with a jar of pasta sauce and cheese on top. 5-10 mins. Put in grill and melt cheese if you want to make it posher (extra 5 mins)

OK.do you have a timer on the oven that can turn it on.if so stick jackets in.so then ready for when you get Home.
One has to be a picky tea.cereals. or something on toast.fish fingers etc.
Fishcakes and frozen veg
Pasta.jar of dolmio.frankferters.takes 10 minutes.
Pesto pasta
Pasta.tin of tomato condensed soup.sorted.
Double up the day before mince,chicken stew so leftovers anything really.Pasta or potatoes.
Frozen pies.
Frozen veggie burgers.
Soup and bagel
Toasties
Quesidella
Night before roast a chicken: have it with veg,salad,pasta,rice,couscous
Pouch rice Frozen veg chopped ham stir fried with spring onion
Put chicken to marinate in fridge.cooks for ten.sides.
Dahl

One thing my children loved when getting home late due to swimming, etc was spaghetti carbonara - usually with pancetta but they also liked it with smoked salmon (and broccoli).
Other quick suppers we make are omelette, wraps with whatever we had last night (eg with roast chicken and add stir fried peppers). I also make a lot of peri peri chicken as my son has this with rice and mange tout every day for his packed lunch so that's a good one too - takes minutes.

As someone who is bored of cooking currently, I've put quite a lot of thought into easier meals. Some are not necessarily quicker (eg slow roasted vegetables with pasta) but ones that might work for you:

fishcakes and chips, in air fryer

Quick pasta sauces. We have a few that are quick and easy and can be prepped while the pasta is cooking.

Waitrose does surprisingly good frozen risotto/paella

Burgers - premade beef burgers or slice a chicken breast in half horizontally so it's 2 thin ones. I usually then cut them into roughly 3 or 4 equal pieces, one per roll. They can be fried very quickly and easy (I usually put the lid on the frying pan when I turn them over so they partly steam which prevents them from drying out. We usually have with sliced veg on/on side depending on what kids like - cucumber, pickles, avocado, peppers, tomatoes are all good here.

Anything in a wrap or pita bread. Halloumi with humous and tzatziki, steak and onions etc.

No way would my oven heat up quick enough to have beige food or pizza even - maybe I should buy an air fryer?! But then don’t want to sacrifice the counter space.

Eggs obvious solution but 2 of the kids are allergic sadly.

Sounds like you need a new oven! How long does it take? I’d turn mine on for a few min then get it in. It doesn’t need to be at full temp to get going.

Scotch pancakes with Greek yoghurt, fruit and a drizzle of honey

Avocado on toast

Pre-baked jacket spuds: scoop the insides out and mix with cheese / reheat and serve with cucumber sticks etc

I’m with you on oven food not being quick, particularly not from frozen.
Our quick go-tos have mostly been listed here (and I’m going to try a few new ideas too, particularly the healthy sweet ones like scotch pancakes or porridge). Only one to add is macaroni cheese made with 8 minute macaroni, and a mix of cream cheese and cheddar rather than white sauce, and not crisped in the oven. If I’ve got a few extra mins I thicken with a bit of beurre manié, takes me less long than a roux and white sauce.

I think it's less about what you can cook quickly and more about making things simpler. I buy frozen chopped onion, mushrooms and peppers now, sliced chicken (ok it's can be expensive) also cuts down prep time. Ready made meatballs are easy, chick in the oven, make a quick tomato sauce with the frozen onions and peppers, micro pasta and by the time you've done that the meatballs are ready, mix together and you're done.

Micro rice is also a game changer

Microwave jacket potato with cheese. Pasta with chopped broccoli and frozen peas thrown in with the pasta 1 min before the end, stir in some pesto and cheese once drained.
Picky tea with ham, cheese, chopped tomatoes, carrot sticks and toast.
I'm not claiming these are amazingly nutritious but they'll do.

Buy a load of ‘picnic’ type foods - ham, coleslaw, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, quiche, sticks of cheese, banana - and put them on the table for them to dig into. What doesn’t get eaten goes back in the fridge for the next day.

Avocado pasta. Mash avocados with lemon, cheese, olive oil while your pasta cooks. Mix and serve immediately.

if the tea at childminders is dinner. I’d either do picky tea, so toast, cheese toastie, little hot dog something like those suggestions.
id be tempted with big puddings occasionally as well. Sponge custards, pancakes etc

Quick things I used to do in a similar situation were

savoury pancakes (cheese and sweetcorn usually)
gnocchi or filled pasta and tomato sauce
omelettes
muffin pizza (spread tomato purée or ketchup and sprinkle with cheese and anything else you have)
pasties
fishfinger sandwiches
minestrone soup
very basic and inauthentic ramen (noodles, slightly spicy stock, sliced cold meat, carrots and peas that cooked in the stock)

And served most of these with veg sticks, baked beans, peas or sweetcorn

I have been doing a very quick fried rice. Frozen chopped onions and frozen chopped mixed veg in pan with oil. Dried herbs sprinkled in or bit of mild curry powder. Frozen peas. Packet of microwave rice stirred through it. Chop up some ham or pre-cooked cold sausage. Very quick and gets some veg in, and can use whatever is lying around.

Crumpets
Variations of pasta with ham peas and a ready made cheese sauce
Soup and toast
Bolognaise from freezer
Sausages mash and beans/peas
Crunchy chicken with wraps and salad
Pre cooked chicken, noodles, brocolli and a sweet chilli sauce or other stir fry sachet.
Same as above with pre cooked salmon
Pre made and cooked thawed shepherd's pie that can be microwaved?
Picky bits, ham cheese crackers cut up veg and fruit.

Key to all this is planning and having stuff ready to grab in fridge. Maybe a bit of Sunday freezer cooking.

Cooked chicken shredded or cut into chunks. (Can buy like this or make in advance). Add cold pasta, tinned sweetcorn and Mayo. Mix it all up. Can serve with crudités. Can be prepped in advance.

If you still want the crispy topping.uou can do really quick bread crumbs in the microwave. Doing them for 25- 30 seconds stir and repeat until crisp.

Fried rice using a sachet of pre cooked rice. Add whatever veg you have in, maybe an egg, any protein, chopped up ham or chicken. Stir fry everything, add rice and a dash of soy sauce. Ready in ten minutes max