Need QUICK weekday tea ideas for 5 kids!

[Ardorse]

Morning all,

Completely losing the will here and need some inspo pls!!
I’ve got 5 DC (DS17, DS8, DD6, DS4, DS2) and tea times are absolute carnage most days.
By the time we’ve done school runs, homework, clubs etc I just CBA to faff about with proper dinners that half of them won’t even eat.

DH (who thinks beans on toast is a gourmet meal btw) is NO help and usually rocks up around 6pm asking what’s for tea like he’s living in a hotel.

I’m sick of doing the same old nuggets/pasta/sausages on a loop and getting moaned at. DS2 just throws everything on the floor, DS4 eats about 3 bites max, DD6 demands ‘something different’, DS8 wants what DS17’s eating, and DS17 basically wants an all you can eat buffet or he’ll ‘starve to death’.
I literally can’t win!

Looking for really quick, cheapish ideas that even the picky ones might eat without WW3 breaking out.
Ideally stuff I can batch cook or shove in the oven, not spend hours stirring at the hob while the toddler tips crayons into the washing machine again.

Help me out wise MNetters! What’s your go to CBA weekday tea??
(also, bonus points if minimal washing up - feel like I’m living in a constant pot wash at this point)

My two favourites, which my kids by and large will eat:

Easy chicken tray bake

Chicken thighs,
new potatoes,
Roasting veg - I go with:
Peppers
Courgettes
Butternut squash
Onions
Cherry Toatoes

But whatever veg your kids may or may not eat.

Preheat oven to about 180.

Season the chicken and toss the new potatoes in a little oil. Shove chicken and spuds in a large oven tray and throw in the oven for 20-25 mins.
Chop up the veg, season and toss in oil too, and either chuck into the tray with the chicken, or throw into a second tray and into the oven, for another 20 minutes or so. (I usually have to do this because I tend to do loads of chicken thighs and have some left over for cold lunches).

You can prep the veg in advance, so you just have topull it out of the fridge and put it into the oven trays. It works well with sausages/pork chops/chorizo/salmon and whatever veg and seasoning you like.

Chilli Wraps (this relies on having a batch cooked tub of chilli in the freezer, which we do tend to have.)

Heat up chilli

Put on table:

Tortilla wraps
Sliced tomatoes
Guacamole
Sliced peppers
Lettuce
Mozzarella cheese
Sour cream
Spring onions
Chilli

Everyone makes their own wraps with as little or as many of the contents as they like. You might need to help the smaller kids a bit with this.

And finally we quite often batch cook something like bolognese, or chilli or beef stroganoff, and keep a couple of extra tubs in the freezer. On a busy nigt one of those with rice or pasta is super quick and easy.

Tray bakes would meet your 'shove in oven' criteria - this one is fairly quick and easy, you could serve with some noodles or microwave rice - https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/sticky-chinese-chicken-traybake

Or so similar with whatever veg you have to hand plus some fajita style seasoning, serve with wraps.

Do your kids like prawns? We love lemon prawn orzo and that's really quick - cook orzo, add frozen peas for last 5 mins or so to cook in same pot. Cook or warm through prawns in some garlic oil, maybe a little butter too, squeeze in juice of a lemon, take off heat and stir through some parsley if desired. Combine it all.

Usual batch cooking suggestions - chilli, bolognase, curry etc in the slow cooker. Maybe meatballs - buy ready made or you can make your own fairly easily, turkey mince is good for a change and often a bit cheaper.

If fish is an option, we really like it done in this kind of way - https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/greek-style-roast-fish - or if not exactly that then I do it in an oven dish with diced potatoes, tomatoes, whatever other veg - put a little veggie stock in, herbs, lemon juice and roast until nearly cooked, then put the fish on top and into oven for another 10 mins. Frozen fish fillets are really cost effective for this.

Have you used Gousto or Hello Fresh before? Might be worth trying if not - get a referral for the free/ much cheaper box, then cancel after but you may have got some ideas in that time.

What do you like to eat that’s easy to make? I wouldn’t be catering to everyone’s whims and wishes. Just make sure there is plenty of it for everyone to eat enough of what they enjoy.

I pretty much cook normal meals from scratch every night, but I can tell you the pretty easy ones from this week.

Roast chicken, boiled new potatoes, baguette with butter, salad with extra crudités for the little ones who don’t eat green salad. We get 2 nights of dinners out of this.

Halloumi with hummus, olives, salad in wraps with chips if you want. It’s basically a tray bake, you could chuck in extra veg, you can do chicken thighs instead of halloumi. Bake it, chop some cucumber, tomatoes, carrots, chuck it in wraps with the hummus, olives. Again, chips on the side if you want.

Cacio e pepe - spaghetti with butter, bit of garlic granules, lots of cheese, chilli flakes for anyone who wants them. Store bought garlic bread. We’re having it with asparagus and broccoli, which takes no time really, but you can just do peas.

Chicken wings and chips - This is a bit more labour intensive because I personally chop the wings into a drumstick bit and a wing bit, so involves a bit of butchery, but you don’t have to. Wings are cheap too. Coat in seasoning of your choice (for the little ones who tolerate no spice at all, I do soy sauce and honey). The seasoning is the only work, then just chuck them in the oven. Chips in the air fryer.

Breakfast for dinner - fried or scrambled eggs on nice toast with sausages and fruit salad. The fruit salad is just tinned fruit cocktail with what we have chucked in, sliced grapes, some melon, strawberries.

I do no tidying up because dh does all that. I cook. He does dishes and tidies the kitchen before bed.

One pot tuna pasta https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/creamy_tuna_one-pot_19168
Fish finger tacos https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/fish-finger-tacos.html
Cheat’s chicken pie https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/cheats-chicken-and-broccoli-pot-pie.html

🍜Spagetti Bolognese, garlic bread
🥔Jacket potatoes or sweet potatoe and put bowls of fillings on table to help themselves
🌭Hotdogs and sweet pot fries
🧀Mac and cheese with garlic bread
🍕Pizza and coleslaw and fries

chicken & broccoli pesto pasta (boil the broccoli in the same pan as the pasta about half way through cooking, add cooked diced chicken and mix everything through with pesto)
fish finger wraps with salad / crudites
ham in the slow cooker with jacket potatoes, coleslaw and corn on the cob
sausages, wedges and beans/peas/sweetcorn
chilli in the slow cooker & rice or tacos - make it mild and those who want it hotter can add more chillies
spag bol
roast veg tray bake with chicken or fish
ramen bowls so everyone can add the bits they like (probably not suitable for the younger 2 but they might be ok without the broth)
sausage & bean casserole in the slow cooker with jacket or new potatoes
cottage pie or fish pie (prepped in advance or batch cook and freeze in foil trays to go straight in the oven)
chicken fajitas