Busy single mum seeks quick and healthy recipes!!

[Proudmaryxo]

I'm a single mum to a 7y/o and an older teen who basically refuses to help at home. I work full time and have my youngest full time also. By the time I've worked a full day, come home to the mess the older son has created, put on a wash, got the youngest homework out, done the chores, I don't have the energy to cook a massively complicated meal, or one that takes up too much time!

I've found myself falling into the habit of getting a takeaway to give me one less thing to do, or chucking some oven based meal in the cooker such as chips and pizza. I really do actually love to cook, but at the end of the day when I've been running around for 10 hours, I just don't have the energy every night to switch on my master chef mode.

I'd love to hear your go to recipes for good, quick yet healthy meals? We have a slow cooker that I did get way too into using last year, so although I'm not opposed to using it, I would be grateful for other suggestions.

Thank you

I don't know if these are helpful as it depends on the tastes of your kids and what you consider quick (and what you consider healthy!) but these are my easiest staples:

Baked potato and salad is my real "can't be bothered" meal - not quick but the potato just sits in the oven for an hour, then bag of salad, tomatoes, cut up cucumber, grated cheese, hummus.

Special fried rice - just boil the rice, and in that time fry up whatever you have in terms of peppers, spring onions, ham, prawns etc (I use sesame oil), bung in some soy sauce and Chinese five spice, add the cooked rice, stir in some frozen peas and or sweetcorn. Break an egg on top and mix in.

Stir fry - just about the quickest meal ever if you have it with noodles, and you can get meal deals where you buy the already chopped veg, the sauce and the noodles.

Salmon on a tray, shove some honey and soy sauce and maybe sesame oil on top of the salmon, or lime maybe, new potatoes, red pepper, all cooks in oven. Maybe green beans to go with. Or can do it with couscous instead of the potatoes.

Prawn curry - onions and grated ginger fried for a bit, add curry powder, add tin of tomatoes, add prawns, serve with rice and yoghurt. Takes ten minutes.

My first suggestion is to get your teenager on board.

It's not acceptable. Please don't let him leave home thinking it's someone else's job to run a house. The younger one should be helping to prepare a meal as well.

I am a full time working, lone parent.
Here are my quick meals.
Meatballs, rice and veg. All done in 20 mins. I have an air fryer.
15 minute daal. It's not quite 15 mins but quick and filling. Rice and naan.
Thai fish curry. Ready in less than 15 mins cos white fish cooks in about 5 mins.
Chicken curry. Using a paste pot.
Marinated chicken breast in the air fryer.
Stir fry
Shepherd's Pie using a packet mix. If you're boiling the spuds as you're preparing the meat then it's pretty quick.
Steak

Some of these do have quite a few ingredients, but once you've done the recipes a few times it seems less fiddly.

I love one tray bakes and one pot meals, stirfry and leftovers like a big tomato sauce made into soup with cheesy garlic bread one night (not healthiest) pasta sauce, curry base. Always make extra and freeze.

Hi OP as a busy single mum too I can empathise. I tend to do quite a lot of meal prep at the weekend - so that means chopping the veg, getting spices together in a dish etc then refrigerating so it's ready to cook through the week. And always cook double or triple so you can eat it a couple of days in a row. Or even if you find 5 mins in the morning to do 5 mins meal prep for the evening meal you find you feel a lot more inspired to cook in the evening. For the kids I chop carrot sticks and put into water ready for serving up through the week. Microwaving other veggies e.g. broccoli is quick. Making dahl is super quick, easy and healthy and cheap. And I found a one pot tomato orzo recipe which I really liked recently (BBC I think).

Eggs - omelette, dippy eggs, frittata, scrambled eggs, egg fried rice etc

Pasta with pesto, feta, spinach & tomatoes

Slow cooked pork shoulder then shred and put on top of jacket potatoes, in wraps, nachos with guacamole etc

Do you have time at the weekends to batch cook?

Thank you gang, some lovely suggestions here! I do clubs with my youngest Saturday morning until 2pm, whilst I don't wish to spend the rest of my weekend batch cooking on top of everything else, it may be my only option.

I started to struggle with depression last year, so really do try and keep a couple of hours for myself Sunday night however, this may have to be left to one side to allow more time in the week for cooking.

Really appreciate your suggestions. Thanks again.

I find our quick meals are ones with fewer elements and less chopping.

So basically, most pasta sauces which I can whip up in the time it takes to cook the pasta. Depending on what I'm doing it's some kind of meat (usually), some veg and then tomatoes or cream based sauces. Pretty easy and quick.

Stir fries yes, although I find the chopping of the veg a bit time consuming. Buying pre chopped stir fry mixes can solve for that though.

The other "quick" option is a traditional "meat and 3 veg" type thing - a fried/grilled chop/steak/piece of fish/sausages with new potatoes (quick to cook) or chip (quick to cook in air fryer) with steamed veg of choice.

If your family will eat omelettes (mine won't), they're a good quick nutritious option.

I don't make mash often, but when I do, I try to make enough to freeze it as it's a bit of a faff to make and takes time, but freezes quite well and is quickly and easily heated up in the microwave. Ditto, I try to make extra of cauliflower cheese as it freezes okay and is a good side dish when I need one.

If you're really pushed for time, the benefits of low processed convenience foods, particularly vegetables, can't be overstated, particularly if you want to reduce takeaways or things like pizzas and beige food in the oven. Examples could be pre chopped veg (as per my stir fry comment above but also things like pre chopped sweet potato/butternut that can be roasted to add to risottos or similar), frozen prepped veg for boiling/steaming/adding to curries/stews/sauces, chopped onion so that you can get on with the onion being sweated while you're doing other things, bags of microwave rice or noodles that just have to be hydrated, curry pastes so that you just have to add your coconut milk/tomatos and overall speed up making a curry.

I've seen people comment that tinned potatoes are genius as you can turn them into decent roast potatoes in the air fryer but I haven't had a chance to test that theory myself.

A few quick suppers that my teens like are:

Fry up some chicken strips in Peri Peri seasoning and some peppers, have in wraps or with rice, and salad.

Fillet steak, corn on the cob and jacket potato - potato takes a while but you can leave it then the steak is cooked in 3 mins (although I do let it rest for 5-10 mins while I steam the corn)

Macaroni cheese (they don't like it baked)

Meatballs in pasta sauce. I make a big vat of sauce with lots of vegetables and freeze in portions.

Side of salmon - just bake in foil with lemon and white wine and butter for 30 mins while I cook some roasted vegetables and potato wedges.

Pizza pinwheels (I use the food processor to mix the dough) with salad

I would like them to eat more of the vegetarian food DH and I eat but they're not keen!

so really do try and keep a couple of hours for myself Sunday night however, this may have to be left to one side to allow more time in the week for cooking.

How about shutting yourself in the kitchen and putting some music or a podcast on while you batch cook a couple of things? If you enjoy cooking it might be quite relaxing and you'll feel like you're achieving something at the same time.

There are some good threads already on MN if you search "what's for dinner" or batch cooking.

For your batch cooking, make a base!
Basically equal parts onions, carrot and celery sticks (a bit of garlic) All finly chopped in food processor. Fry with ( or without) tomato puree and make your Bolongese sauce or a curry or a shepherd's pie or ratatouille, ...

Another easy meal is pasta bake.
Passata, add a dash of oil, cream and some tomato puree add herbs and spices to taste. Boil pasta and mix all in a baking dish, cover with cheese and bake for about 25 minutes. (You can also fry some peppers sausages, ... and add to the mix.)

My go-to quick meals are

Omelettes with lots of lovely veg and cheese, salad and oven chips

Pan fried haddock, served on a bed of puy lentils, with garlic and cherry tomatoes. If you use pouch lentils takes about 5 mins, normal lentils, about 30 mins.

Peppers stuffed with parslied sausage meat, served with french beans & wholemeal garlic bread. Five minutes prep, 45 mins in the oven

Pasta with seafood, made with frozen mussels, hake fillets & buttered fennel & garlic. About 30 mins.

Endless tomato based pasta sauces, mushroom & cream sauce, left over chicken from sunday roast with creme fraiche and bacon.

Rainbow trout, stuffed with herbs from the garden, baked in paper and served with wholemeal couscous and veg of choice. Takes about 25 mins.

If anything takes more than 45 mins, it doesn't get made in our house 🤗

Have you got a slow cooker OP? Great for lots of things - I often do a chilli in ours.
My other suggestions:
Jacket Potato (could have with left over chilli)
stir fry
pasta and sauce with garlic bread
spaghetti bolognaise (again could use slow cooker to help timewise)
sausage and mash with veg
risotto

My DD is similar age to yours, though I don't have an older one to keep happy too! Full time work is draining so my midweek meal offerings are generally either straightforward or from the freezer- I don't have the time or mental/physical energy to do much by the time we need to eat.

I have a dedicated drawer in the freezer with batch cooked, portioned meals that I can defrost in minutes. I do a different meal every so often in the slow cooker then portion out. Off the top of my head in there at the moment is chilli, Bolognese, pulled pork, mild curry, meatballs & sauce, dahl, cottage pie (filling only- not a mash fan so usually have with jacket or chips).
Most of these work with any side- pasta, rice, jacket potato, in a wrap, chips etc. Also make sure you include portions for yourself- I like my curry/chilli much spicier than DD so take hers out first then add encona to mine!

There's also the usual suspects of fish fingers, nuggets, sausage rolls but we don't tend to have these often. Not because I'm virtuous, DD has them at school and I try to avoid repetition. Frozen veg can be a lifesaver too.

I know that we're all supposed to be moving away from ultra processed food but in moderation I think it can be really helpful- pre made pasta sauces, beans, ready to roast veg etc. It's a trade off I can live with on busy weeks!

Quick/not freezer meals are definitely omlettes, wraps, noodles with veg cooked in with them, jacket potatoes, fajitas are really quick if you cut the chicken small. Traybakes for when I have the time but not the energy!

We do lots of variations on noodles, jackets, pasta, things in wraps.

Cheese or cheese/refried bean quesadillas - grate cheese, scoop refried beans out of the tin, put a tortilla wrap in a flat dry (no oil) pan, add other tortilla wrap on top, turn when cheese has melted, cook both sides til brown and a bit crisp. We have them with salad, tomatoes, onions, peppers, creme fraiche.

Roast chicken thighs or salmon or whatever over ready to wok noodles. I cook the chicken or salmon (easy as just putting it in the oven with bit of olive oil, salt, pepper) or you could just do a boiled or fried egg, microwave the noodles, add whatever cooked or raw veg you like, shred chicken/salmon/whatever over the top, season with soy sauce, chillies, sesame oil.

Meatballs and spaghetti - buy the meatballs, chuck in a pot to brown for a couple minutes, pour dolmio on top, cook spaghetti, cook broccoli (you could even do it in a colander on top of the spaghetti. I make enough for 2 nights.

Jackets are the obvious easy meal - we do them with cheese/grated carrots/mayo or tuna/mayo and green salad with cucumbers/tomatoes

A big hit in our house at the moment is the Boursin pasta dish.
Even quicker in the air fryer but can ce done in the oven.
1 wheel of Boursin
Couple of generous handfuls of cherry tomatoes or other small, sweet ones. Olive oil, garlic (I use lazy or squeezy garlic) oregano or muxed herbs, salt and pepper and maybe a small pinch of chilli flakes.
bake or in air fryer (30 mins or 18 mins)
smush it all up adding some pasta water to loosen. add to pasta and enjoy!
i normally but fresh pasta as it takes 3 minutes.

Three more 5 minute meals that haven’t been mentioned so far are carbonara, halloumi and salad, and shop bought fresh stuffed pasta drizzled with olive oil or garlic butter and fresh Parmesan. You can add things like chopped bacon, fresh herbs, fried bread crumbs or the crispy onions you can buy ready made.

Old school fish/meat and 2 veg is a good shout. Things like chicken breasts, salmon fillets, pork fillets etc that can be pan fried or chucked in the oven, served with new potatoes, baked potatoes or even chips, and frozen veg are great if you don’t have the physical or mental energy to cook. Great if you can be bothered to marinate them or add a rub, make a sauce or wrap them in bacon or do something fancy but perfectly fine plain if you are dead on your feet. Unexciting maybe but healthier than a takeaway and much cheaper.

I'm the same as you OP - single mum and working full time.
DS will help around the house but I prefer not to rely on him taking care of meals as he often changes his plans last minute.

Typical meals here are;

Stir fry - I buy diced chicken so I can fling it straight in the pan with a packet sauce and veg

Meatballs with pasta or spaghetti - brown meatballs off for a few minutes then add a tin off chopped tomatoes, some pesto and dried herbs, leave it on a low heat for 20ish minutes and obviously cook pasta to go along with it.

Fajitas - I don't buy the packs, just put diced chicken in the pan with fajita seasoning, some garlic and tomato pureé to loosen it up, add veg and serve with wedges or on tortilla wraps. This also works well if you use barbecue sauce and some cheese.

I sometimes fry mushrooms garlic and bacon then add some cream cheese/ creme fraiche and chicken stock and have with rice or pasta.

Nothing overly exciting but tasty enough for a weeknight and all of them take less than half an hour.

Don't give up your Sunday evenings OP! Your mental health is more important than batch prep. Fellow busy single mum here and that time is PRECIOUS.

My quick go-tos are:

Pasta with tuna and sweetcorn mixed in and mayonnaise.

Soft cheese pasta with some salt and pepper (with any veg your kids will eat, mushrooms are nice) or I sometimes just mix in the soft cheese, put grated cheese on top then raw carrots/babycorn/tomatoes or whatever on the side.

Chilli (easy and quick to prepare but not as quick to cook so good for a Saturday where you can leave it be) - mince, kidney beans in chilli sauce, passata, s&P, paprkika, chilli powder, baked beans, butter beans (delete as needed) with mushrooms and carrots - can slow cook or do in a pan. With rice or jackets - it makes tonnes so it's a meal for another day.

Wraps with fish fingers / chicken (can ready buy cold stuff or grill some) and salad.

Pasta, pesto, spinach, chicken as above or on its own and garlic bread.

Picky dinner with mini sausage rolls, salady bits, bread (can do part baked or fresh) and some cheese cubes or babybell.

But mostly don't beat yourself up about convenience food, take the path of least resistance. We always have oven pizzas once a week. I WFH so can usually do one slow cooked thing, then it's a quick pasta meal or a jacket potato with sausage rolls or fish fingers or whatever. Or ready made mash (nicer than my lumpy efforts anyway) with shop bought yorkshires and sausages and peas for a toa in the hole type affair. I think the best thing is doing a regular shop (I do Tesco delivery, £4.99 per month for unlimited deliveries) so you know you've always got some easy stuff in.

Slow cooker curry:
Throw chopped chicken (100g per person), tinned tomatoes (1/3 -1/2 a tin a person, frozen cauliflower (100g per person), spinach (if tolerated) curry powder, garlic (frozen or in a jar works), ginger (i use powdered), turmeric (optional) in slow Cooker. Serve with microwave rice or quinoa.

Slow cooker lamb tagine
Throw chopped lamb (80g per person), harrisa paste, dried apricots (20g per person), spinach (if tolerated), chickpeas (1/3-1/2 a tin per person), olives (20g per person) and tinned tomatoes (1/3-1/2 a tin per person) into a slow cooker

Meal planning will help a lot too so you aren’t using mental energy to decide what to cook. Start with only very easy, quick meals and a few ready made things like pizza or fresh pasta so you aren’t tempted to give in and order a takeaway because you’ve been over ambitious and exhausted yourself!

I'm a fan of traybakes in oven style dinner- it's not that they are super fast but you can do prep which usually takes less than 10 mins bung in oven , let it do the work , while you then do something else like teh homework and then it's ready to go.

iI try to have some slightly healthier freezer options like frozen mash, i use so it's not all oven chips and pizzas, buts still convenience food form freezer

This sausage recipe is popular uses tins and frozen stuff so prep is fast , but as we have a veggie we either do with veggie sausages, or i just do the sausages on teh grill and put them in afterwards
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/sausage-white-bean-casserole

this fish oen is super fast and we have non salmon eaters it also works with other types of white fish so you can play around as suits your kids
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spiced-salmon-tomato-traybake

I'm not a huge fan of batch cooking , though i will try do extra to have spare portions to freeze. I find we waste a lot as batch cooked portions in freezer not always what we need (and other family members just take out and use the same diners over and over till my freezer is empty) . A trick a colleague thought me was when prepping dinner tonight see if you can prep the next night, so when i do the veg and tomatoes for traybake, i chop some extra chunks throw in a few extra cherry tomatoes, in a bowl chop up a couple of chicken breasts and bung is some olive oil, squeasy garlic, spices , or lemon as a marinate, cover bowl put in fridge and next day ist ready to be put on skewers , next day your having chi ken and veg skewers with some pitas in toaster and boiled rice, do extra rice and that can be used for egg fried rice another day.

You can also throw the ingredients for chilli in the slow cooker. If you do it as a three bean chilli there's absolutely no prep other than opening tins

Hi OP,

Some others have mentioned one tray bakes, and I found this book really good:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Quick-Roasting-Tin-Rukmini-Iyer/dp/1529110068/ref=asc_df_1529110068/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310882654267&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14758111697167530982&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046033&hvtargid=pla-756930166719&psc=1&mcid=c180fa3056d33d8493ec8fffe08249cd&th=1&psc=1

Additionally, you mentioned the slow cooker, and if you can get back into using it, it can really be your friend.

The two 'Bored of Lunch' cook books have some great, easy 'just stuff it all in' recipes that I find my kids eat too and only a little washing up.

Its tough when you are time poor.

"Bored of Lunch" also has an instagram page with loads of easy recipes.

I find that 'quick' means different things to me on different days.

On days where I need to have food on the table within 30 mins and kids out of the door again within 45 min I tend to go for:
wraps (fry onion, add beef with wrap spices mix, chop tomatoes/other veg while that's frying, serve)
pea soup (fry onion, bacon, add stock, add frozen peas. At same time bake a part-baked bread).
pasta: either with pesto, or carbonara style (fry bacon and an onion, add creme fraiche/sour cream/whatever, serve), or quick tomato sauce (fry onion, garlic, add chopped tomato, let bubble as long as I dare)

On other days I know I will have no energy but time is less of an issue, so quick means as low prep as possible. Here:
chicken breast, smear with pesto, mozzarella slices on top, bake for 30ish minutes. Serve with rice. Other options can be to smear with bbq sauce or ketchup and wrap in bacon
cajun chicken: mix chicken with spices (brown sugar/honey, smoke paprika, cumin, oregano, similar)
lentil and bacon soup: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/lentil-bacon-soup, served with bread

Hope you find some interesting recipes that also work for you!