Easy school night menu plans

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DD1 starts school in September. She's been in FT nursery since she was 11months, so ive never had to worry about breakfast or weeknight evening meals - other than a snack when she gets in at 6pm. Obviously this all changes from Sept.

She will be picked up by me at 3.15pm 3x per week as ive dropped hours to facilitate this. Then picked up by DH 2x per week from after school club at 5.45pm on his way home (the days that I need to be working in central London).

Would love to hear what everyone does for easy weeknight meals so I can start to put together some meal plans / shopping lists and get organised. We also have 16month old DD2 - she goes to nursery 3x per week and will eat at home with DD1 2x per week.

Tuna pasta - I use this recipe and it’s on the table in about 20 mins https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/linguinewithtunafish_70041
Naan pizzas
Enchiladas https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/quick-bean-enchiladas.html
Sausage, mash and peas
Very quick chicken noodles https://www.myfussyeater.com/sesame-honey-chicken-noodles/
Omelette https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/kids-sweet-potato-and-chorizo-frittata.html
Fish finger tacos https://www.asda.com/good-living/recipe/fish-finger-tacos?recipe_id=bf8e6d80-e661-11ea-9fb8-63829316da95

Jars of pesto and ravioli based dinners are the quickest meals in our house. By ravioli I mean the ones in the fresh pasta section with a filling.

Salmon and prawns also feature in super quick nights. Team with pasta, rice or noodles.

Stir fries and fajitas are good for speedy meals.

I'm crap at cooking in the evening (and in general!), so I usually make a curry and spag bol sauce on a sunday and freeze them, then just get them out in the morning and pop some rice/pasta etc on when we get home. Other days we do snacky plates with chicken drumsticks, salad, rice cakes and peanut butter etc (usually an odd mix of whatever is in the fridge!). Other quick ones for us are sausage, mash and veg or tuna pasta.

Thank you - these are great ideas.

@LeedsZebra90 yes, the plan for the nights DH is coming straight from work is definitely to have something in the freezer that we can just bung in the microwave or add some extra rice etc.

Try the Sarah Rossi cookbooks, loads of fab ideas in there, all can be cooked really quickly.

Oven rice. Chop veg (onions, peppers, anything else that needs using) & add to a roasting tin with a glug of oil, cook on hob until softened a bit, add a mug full of rice & stir until the rice is shiny. Add two mugs of stock (cube is fine), bring to boil & CAREFULLY transfer to the oven, covered loosely with foil. Cook for 30-40 minutes depending on type of rice - risotto is quicker than long grain. It's done when the liquid is absorbed.

Variations - add chicken, halloumi or meatballs/vegballs on top. Replace part of the stock with chopped tinned tomatoes. Add leafy stuff like spinach to wilt in for the last few minutes. Add frozen peas etc for last few minutes. Add curry powder or harissa etc with the oil & veg.

You can chop & bag your veg the night before, so it takes 5 minutes to get in the oven & then it looks after itself.

Stuffed pitta bread with chicken and vegitables and garlic sauce. Toast the garlic bread, cut it in half and stuff it. I do the same with tortillas and burger buns.

Store bought lasagna and garlic bread.
ASDA pizza.

tortellini with ham, mushrooms and cream.

chicken wings/drumsticks in the oven with fries/potatoes.

Steamed haddock with potatoes and butter/ketchup.

Mince, spaghetti and baked beans/ketchup if you feel fancy add some hot dogs in there.

Yoghurt (something not sweet so think Greek yoghurt) and ham and cheese toast.

Chicken tenders and potatoes or a salad

Loaded nachos when I really can’t be bothered

Whatever I cook on the weekend I try to double the amount and then have 2 nights dinners in the fridge ready to re-heat.

Also chicken goujons in the air fryer, in wraps with salad and mayo.

Following for more ideas!

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What do you normally eat? Honestly, I would just make that. I mean, the meals you make for yourself.

That said, the worst part of planning weeknight meals is thinking up new things, so I make variations on the same things on certain days.

For example, Wednesday is jacket potato day with salad, pickled beetroot, cucumber, carrots. Dc normally have cheese and beans, Dh and I have tuna mayo.

Tuesday is pasta day - pesto and cheese, cheese and peas, sausage, tomato and ricotta, etc with green veg and/or salad

Monday is almost always leftovers from Sunday. Sometimes Sunday is a roast, so we’ll have the rest of it Monday. Or dal and rice. Or a big lasagna. Whatever it is, I make enough so we have it again on Monday.

There is also often a second meal that I double up, so maybe Thursday, I make enough for leftovers on Friday.

The meals themselves rotate around depending on what’s happening that week and what running around to activities needs to happen on what days.

Normal family meals. Eating together is so important. Think pasta, couscous, meals you can make ahead on weekends for when you are in London

Whatever you usually cook!
we have relied heavily on

pasta in endless variations, some homemade sauces, some jars

cook sausages/nuggets/falafel/ halloumi/ whatever in air fryer and prep quick sides

omelettes
filled wraps/tacos
Bought quiche
stir fry

sides - rice, mash (we do frozen cube one on weeknights), potato waffles, new potatoes, frozen roast pots (small ones cook quickly in air fryer), buttered pasta, my kids hate couscous sadly

frozen veg ….crudites or salad…tinned sweetcorn

plus on Sunday I make a massive meal like a casserole, bean dish, curry, bolognese in quantity, freeze half and put half in fridge to reheat one weekday night. Then there is a stock of meals in the freezer that will do another weeknight another time. Sometimes cook jacket potatoes and reheat in the week.

kids are quite fussy but they are getting better with age…except vegetables

How about slow cooker chicken korma?