Feeding the crowded house!

[foolonthehill]

Please help me with your fail-safe recipes and ideas....I am going potty and our diet is going down the swanny as I am too tired/too busy/too disorganised/on a very low budget.

In my house i am a single parent looking after my 4 DC, 3 others, me and dog, working from home, low income.

Every day I provide 8 cooked protein based breakfast, 4 packed lunches, 3 cooked lunches (plus a sandwich for me..maybe), main meal for 7 dc and me.

I need a plan that could involve slow cooker, hob, oven, small 2 slice toaster, freezer, but no microwave. Ideally something to help packed lunches look less boring.

I know some of you must have this down pat...

Well, for a start stop cooking breakfasts & lunches! You must be driven mad!

Most of our dinners are pasta based, I'm so sick of pasta! We do dinners like bolognese, meatballs (delia's recipe), macaroni & cheese, shepards pie, roast chicken, homemade pizza, chicken/fish with potatoes etc but some of my quickest meals are:

1. Fry chorizo and red pepper, add garlic, add passata & tomato purée.

1. Fry bacon/pancetta, mix egg & Parmesan together in a bowl, mix altogether with pasta & peas

1. Fry bacon & leeks, add Boursin garlic & herb cheese, dilute a little with milk, mix with pasta

1. Fry chicken & peppers and serve with pesto pasta

1. Fry chopped onions & peppers, fry chicken, add cooked rice & peas, mix in a combo of egg and soy sauce.

thank you....mad yes but dairy intolerance and wheat intolerance make simplest breakfast the cooked variety sadly...

great ideas to add to the repertoire...so bored of mine

What about smoothies for breakfast? (frozen berries, oats, almond, yogurt and milk) or batch make a weeks worth of wheat free granola to have with the almond milk? Or porridge? I do mine in the microwave, tasted good (so I'm told) and takes minuets.

I batch cook a lot so I'd struggle without a microwave (I have a sainsburys basics one that seems to be lasting forever). The rice cooker is my latest wonder gadget, my rice used to get ruined as I'd be off changing a nappy or breaking up a squabble just as it needed taking off the hob. It also keeps the rice hot for anyone not at the first sitting.

I have just bought The Body Coach cook book, his recipes are all high protein. I also bought Deliciously Ella, although you need to add meat to her recipes they are all wheat free and I think dairy free...they may be worth checking out?

Maybe this isn't compatible with wheat intolerance, but I squeeze out the meat from sausages to make meatballs. I know sausages aren't the best meat, but I add it to a v simple tomato and basil pasta sauce and it's super easy and makes loads (6 here).

Oh, yes. I've had the same rice cooker for 11 years. I also add frozen peas or corn and sometimes a stock cube, generally using brown rice. There's carb and a veg!!!

For a start I think you are a hero and probably should be teaching us.

I'm a believer in cooking a big dinner and using the leftovers for packed lunches, though in your case that would be a seriously big dinner.

Would making a huge batch of pancakes with alternative flour and milk for breakfast be doable, and then having some of those with cheese sauce and veg for dinner?

Also if you make boiled eggs for breakfast, what about doing twice as many eggs, leave the others in longer to hard boil, and make egg mayo salads or rolls?

Thanks....so stuck in a rut and all these ideas are getting me interested in what I am doing again. Thank you for your ideas and time!

you know the world's not right when you look at a packet of haribo and think you'd prefer that for tea rather than the dinner you're cooking!

I think you need a microwave! We are 5 kids two patents and three of us are coeliac. I cook everything gluten free apart from packed lunches (only one thankfully) and regular toast.
We do porridge for breakfast or fruit.
DH and I work at home so usually salad for lunch for us.
Evening meal ideas:
Chicken chorizo pepper and rice one pot.
Spaghetti with chipolatas chopped in with tomato sauce
Chicken skewers with rice
I always have a batch of homemade chilli in the freezer in individual portions and M&S frozen rice for a quick meal again microwave essential here
Same goes for spag Bol / quickly boil some pasta
Whole chicken roasted earlier in the day with chips and or veg
If all else fails kids have sandwiches for tea. They have school lunches so it won't do them any harm to have something light for tea once a week if you're busy.
Baked beans and cheese is another favourite.
Tortellini is great to have for anyone who can tolerate gluten.

Does everyone always eat together?

If you are low income do you qualify for free school meals? I only ask because I refuse to do packed lunches (well only one and he has to make it himself DS13) as I find it's v expensive. School lunches are good value.
And who are the other three people? Apart from you and your four kids?

I'll put a microwave on the list of things needed....

Sadly (or not because I'm glad to work) as I get working tax credits I don;t qualify for free school meals.

the extra 3 are not all the same people all the time but are "looked after" people in my home, currently dietary restrictions mean it is easier to do hot meals than buy specialist (expensive) free from ranges, which aren't that nice anyway.

Are you a childminder? If so ask patents to bring a pack up.