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.

Hot dogs...I put them in microwave for thirty seconds...in a bun, ketchup and chop up some carrots and cucumber so I feel less guilty!

Hot dogs. Pesto pasta + cashews+ crudités. Bacon sarnies. Fresh goujons + rice + peas (15 mins). If you have a timer on your oven, baked potatoes. Instant noodles+ mange tout+ spring onions+ cashews.

Mine are all quite unhealthy. 😁

Sandwiches, yoghurt and fruit with icecream for pudding.

It does not need to be a hot meal neccessarily- and if so then baked beans on bagel things, fruit and a slice of cake.

You have a hard gig there. Whatever works is my advice.

Also I am a big believer in breakfast for dinner. Sausages and toast- bacons sarnies- you say no eggs but scrambled eggs topped with leftover caviar (how MC!) was my dinner tonight.

Oh yes and instant noodles with leftover stripped roast chicken in it and tenderstem borrcoli plus grated carrot and some tinned sweet corn. Instant ramen ala Wagamama!

supernoodles

My go to quick meal is:

Pasta
Dollop of Philadelphia
Veg (your choice, cooked in pan with pasta)
Protein (your choice)

Everyone can add different bits eg tuna / chicken / ham and it's a good way to use up veg

Pre-cooked chicken drumsticks (either pre-cooked by you or shop bought) with cous cous and cucumber/carrot sticks

Quesadillas - done in a dry frying pan with cheese and ham/cheese and chorizo/chicken pieces and cheese. Maybe with some tomato soup.

Chicken and veg soup maybe with some noodles

Stuffed pasta with pesto

Pasta with tomato and basil sauce

Hot dogs and baked beans

Nachos

Pizza

Generally I do try and keep some pre-made and portioned soup and sauces in the freezer that can be defrosted quickly and chucked together. Slow cookers are great for these days as well.

Thanks everyone. Loads of things I didn’t have on my rotation already.

this week we have had:

slow cooker pork shoulder and chorizo with micro rice

porridge, banana, PB

stuffed fresh pasta with butter and bagged salad

cheese toasties and tinned soup

prawn noodle stir fry

All on table within 15 mins of getting in the house while looking after 3 kids under 6 💪🏻💪🏻💪🏻

Well done that's impressive

PG tips is the quickest for me, but then I also have to add sugar and milk.

Sorry couldn't help myself.

Cook in advance, reheat. You’ll drive yourself mad otherwise.

great stuff op.
those pastas are fab.and then date on them is elite! you can do so much variation with them too.
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/easy-pasta-bake#rating
this one is great for somethign simple but a little more "meal like" if you cna cook it the night before when you are home.takes minutes to put together.
then you can just reheat in minutes the next day or two.

Why isn't batch cooking a quick tea? You cook extra on the other nights so no extra time required. Then just reheat. How is that not a quick tea?

I'm a batch cooking fan. Have a look at the batch lady. I regularly cook triple of things like shepherds pie. Luckily I'm able to stick them frozen in the slow oven of an Aga when I leave for work and they're done when I get back 13 hrs later. Serve with peas and sliced beetroot and there's 3 of your 5 a day.

Pre Aga though I used to put a frozen dish in my oven at 7am and time the oven to come on at say 4.30pm so it'd be ready in time for 5pm. Took a bit of trial and error to not still have a half frozen fish at 5pm but I got there and had a mix of about 8 meals I did this with.

Wholemeal pasta, tomato sauce, broccoli cooked with the pasta, grated cheese.

(The sauce being a tin of tomatoes, tomato purée, herbs, garlic. I used to make mine starting with onion, and pre freeze jars of it.

Isn't this why tinned spaghetti/beans/soup was invented?

Jacket potato with cheese and beans

Mini pizza with veg sticks - either shop bought that take 6 mins to cook, or make your own pizza with tortilla wraps, they cook in minutes. Tomato purée and some grated cheese and ham and you’re good to go.

If you make a bolognaise or something on the less busy days of the week make extra portions to reheat, or cook chicken breasts the night before, shred it and use in wraps.

I always have in the freezer batches of cooked basic bolognaise. I use it for bolognaise, but also chili or cottage pie by adding different things.

We are mostly plant based

Airfryer is used alot- tofu, homemade chips, veg sticks

Tin of chickpeas, Vitamix into a hummus

And peas.

Or veggie pasta.

Rick steins yellow dal recipe where it's literally whack onion, garlic,lentils, water,.curry leaves and turmeric in one pot.. cook until creamy..around 30 mins( if red lentil or moong ones)

Here’s a quick one I made this evening. Boiled rice, peas, broccoli (can be any green veg really), grated cheese, tuna and kidney beans. Sounds vile but it’s actually nice and fussy toddler DD loves it.

@Moonicorn I used to make something similar when dd was going through an especially awkward stage, but even simpler: rice / sweetcorn and/or peas / tuna / cheese if wished. Disgusting imo, but she used to eat that at least once a week for ages!