Ideas for healthy meals everyone can eat at different evening times

[DontSingSusan]

I'm trying to plan meals for several weekday evenings when everyone in the house needs to eat at different times. For health (and weight loss) reasons, I'd like to eat early, like at around 7-7.30pm (we're not in the UK, so this is early!) but my DCs do activities and only get back at around 8.45-9pm. There's no way they can eat beforehand.

Does anyone have any good recipe ideas for things that you can leave on the stove/keep warm and people can eat when they want? I was thinking of maybe slow cooker recipes or similar.

Thanks!

I roast a chicken on a bed of rice so the juice from the chicken gets absorbed by the rice. It's lovely straight out of the oven hot, also lovely warm or cold. And a big salad with feta and avocado squidged in so it doesn't go brown.

The other one I do is pasta bake with chorizo and home made tomato sauce and mozerella and pesto on top. Again that's lovely hot or warm and can easily be heated up in portions.

I'd be wary of leaving rice to sit. But nay sort of pasta dish can be warmed up (including orzo that works as a rice substitute). Lots of salads so long as you don't dress them. COuscous and quinoa or pearly barley or buckwheat risottos. Poached salmon is good hot or cold, frittatas etc.

Sausage and sweet potato stew https://sophbradshaw.co.uk/food/smoky-sausage-sweet-potato-stew/- reheats well and hungry teens can eat it with crusty bread.

Turkey meatball stew - https://www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/mains/turkey-meatball-hotpot I usually serve it with mash or a baked potato for those who are hungrier.

Curry, chilli or stew in a slow cooker.bpeople can ladle out their portion when they're ready for it.

Thanks for those ideas. I haven't got a slow cooker but am thinking of getting one. So you can leave stuff warm in there for a couple of hours no problem? Sounds good.

Have you got a microwave? Would be easier than leaving a saucepan on all evening. 2-3 minutes to heat up a meal when the person comes home.

Does it need to be prepped totally in advance or can you reheat on arrival and/or do minor cooking? I ask because we had this for a while and still sort of do at times and I have a few options. And my top tip is get an air fryer for quick cooking, and leverage the microwave for reheating.

So yes to pasta which can just be microwaved as needed or slow cooker dishes. The MN paranoia about rice always bemuses me. If you cook rice and leave it on the stove for an hour or two then just microwave the rice with whatever you've got going on in the slow cooker, it's fine.

We don't like to eat too much pasta type dishes so we also have other options.

eg

Last night I made mince tacos. I cooked the mince and preppped all the toppings/sides earlier. Then as people appeared for food, I just quickly heated up the tacos and made up the tacos. DH/DS can do this for themselves too. Fajitas work similarly here. If doing Halloumi, we make that at the same time as heating up the wrap but chicken/chorizo can just be done in advance. This is somethign I often do for hordes of teenagers who have been playing sport or at the gym or a day out and DS' and his friends turn up anytime between 7-9pm as hungry as starving wolves!

Fish cakes was a popular one here for a while - I'd make a salad or some veggies and perhaps some mashed potato, then everyone would just stick their fishcake in the airfryer for 12 minutes or so as they came through the door. Works as well with crumbed fish fillets/fish fingers or crumbed chicken pieces.

Similarly, i sometimes did salmon pouches in tinfoil and again, those would be shoved in the airfryer as people came through the door.

We love baked chicken pieces and I find them great for days like this. Served with salad or lightly steamed veg and new potatoes. I make up the plates and everyone just microwaves them as they come through the door (salad separately, obviously).

We don't eat a lot of pies but again, this can work well - the pre-made ones can fit in our air fryer so that works well as another "walk through the door and shove in the airfryer" option.

Pretty much any mince dish can be easily microwaved - bolognaise, shepherds pie, chilli etc.

Yes, I do have a microwave. Maybe I should just stick to that then. I seem to be the only person who hasn't got a slow cooker and air fryer, so working out how I could use them!

I don't have them either and am single. I don't see the need.

Anything saucy basically.

I did a lovely Spanish chicken and chickpea sauce last week with chorizo and butternut squash. Serve with rice and broccoli. Or pasta. Or wedges. Or JPs

There was a lady on Chris Evans plugging a new book for batch cooking today and anything that works for that would work for you.

Just need a big casserole pan really then yes heat up individual portions when people are ready to eat

Much as I love my air fryer, and my slow cooker, if it requries buying somethign and you alrady have th emicrowave - just focus on things you can reheat in the microwave or that require a minute or two to warm up on the stove!

You can get a slow cooker with a "keep warm" function which is safe to keep contents warm for up to 4 hours.