Please help me with a) packed lunch contents and b) v quick hot evening meals!

[Pendulum]

DD1 about to start primary school and needs a packed lunch. No crisps, choc or sweets allowed.

Apart from the obv sandwich, fruit & yogurt, any ideas how to vary the contents a bit (she's an adventurous thing and eats just about anything)?

Also, she will need a hot dinner eveyr evening which is something I haven't catered for before (she is used to having main hot lunch at nursery, and DH and I usually eat after she goes to bed). I don't get home from work until 5.30 so need inspiration for meals that can be chucked together very quickly. Any top tips/ recipes? Thanks!

We have two super quick & easy hot dinners that we use a lot, both take about 20 mins in total

• pasta with chopped up sundried tomatoes and shredded chard or spinach thrown into the cooking water (the toms before the pasta, the chard just after the pasta has come back to the boil) then drained and plenty of grated cheese added.

• equal volumes of long grain rice and red lentils cooked together (1 cup rice/lentil mix to 2 cups water) plus a bit of bouillon powder and plenty of shredded chard / spinach all added as it cooks, (dd likes it with Pataks garlic pickle but maybe she is just wierd)

if I am feeling enthusiastic I fry an onion & spices & chuck that in the pot with the rice/lentils, but not at all essential if you have some nice chutney

Also we often have a pot of soup going that will do us for several days for lunch and dd for a supper if she needs to eat before we are ready.

Looking forward to everyone elses quick meals to add to our repertoire . . .

Sticks of carrot and cucumber?

Little pots of dips (am sure you can buy these in threes at Sainsburys), with cut strips of pitta bread, or you can buy packs of mini pitta breads.

Pasta salads with say pieces of chicken in.

With regards to hot meals in the evening -

sausage and lentil casserole
curries
stew and dumplings
chilli
spag bol

all these can be done in a slow cooker - so your tea would be ready when you get home.

thanks for these! takver, how long does your lentil/ rice thing take to cook? Around 20 mins perhaps?

Bellavita, I love my slow cooker but have never tried to use it on a work day- partly because it is such a struggle to get out of the house without browning meat etc as well. How do you manage to fit that in or can you make do without browning?

please keep them coming!

Round about 15-20 minutes, basically as long as it takes the rice to do, which seems to vary from batch to batch. We used to get broken basmati which was really quick (and cheap!) but they don't have it in any of the shops round here. The friend I got the recipe from doesn't put the chard/spinach into it (we have a lot in the garden & we all like it so it goes in everything), I think it would also be nice with peas thrown in as an alternative.

Packed lunch -

Wraps and pittas instead of normal sarnies.
Malt loaf
Quiche
Dried fruit
Nuts
Pizza slices or mini ones
Little sausages (though these are full of shit I know as a rule)
Pots of fruit salad or stewed fruit
Mini cheeses like babybels etc
Breadsticks and dips

Get everything ready the night before. If making a stew, I would chop the veg, put the meat into a sandwich/freezer bag with seasoned flour and then in the morning just chuck everything in the pot without browning.

Here is the sausage and lentil casserole recipe, I do the same amounts but add two extra sausages.

Also - evening meals - make too much and freeze so can always get some quickly.

IME children are often pretty happy with the same thing every day! It's us who feels that they need the variety.

As for a hot meal, don't forget that beans on toast is actually a pretty nutritious meal, despite its fast food connotations.

And pasta only takes 10 minutes to cook, so that is always an easy meal. This was one of my boys' favourites:

Whilst the pasta is cooking, chop and fry an onion and some garlic, then add ham and choppped peppers. Stir into cooked pasta with some olive oil and cheese.

yes, I'd say evening meals, give her leftovers from your night before, that way she'll always have a varied diet.

other really quick suppers that we do are

frittata (omelette with anything from peas and sweetcorn, grated cheese and apple, goat's cheese and spinach...etc) they take about 5 mins to make.
boiled eggs
beans on toast/cheese on toast
rice, cheese and peas
pasta pesto
fish cakes

would you be up for a spot of batch cooking at the weekends? chilli, cottage pie, fish pie, curries etc can be made ahead and frozen in individual portions, and reheated while DD is in the bath, if you're really pushed for time.

otherwise, Stir-fry with noodles takes 10mins. or Pasta with borlotti beans, toms, bacon and creme fraiche (sauce cooks quicker than the pasta).

these are so helpful, thank you all!

I love the idea of giving her nuts and dried fruit, and also stewed fruit for pudding.

can I also ask where is the best place to buy little pots/ tubs to pack this in?

bellavita, that recipe looks delicious and DD's favourite food is sausages, so bound to be a winner. Do you do that one in the slow cooker too (the recipe uses hob method) and if so for how long and do you reduce the liquid?

You can buy little weaning snack pots for babies from boots, they are very good size.

Most supermarkets do small plastic tubs. My DD likes the klipit ones.

Lunchbox
Sandwiches - varied fillings,
Breadsticks, Pitta breads,
Fruit - apple, orange, banana, grapes, pear, raisins
Veg - carrots, cucumber, pepper, tomatoes
Pudding - Yoghurt pot, fromage frais, frubes, custard (pots from supermarket), rice pudding, (pots from supermarket), fruit jelly (with fruit bits in).

Dinner
Spag Bol (Make batch and freeze portions)
Pasta and sauce (dolmio is pretty good)
Pasta and veg
Yorkshire puds (frozen, take 4 mins in oven)& veg
Fishfingers/Fish steaks/Fishcakes etc - about 15 mins in oven
Beans/Egg/Cheese on Toast

Also couscous is VERY quick - about 5 mins to soak in boiling water. Add pesto sauce or similar, & some veg. (sweetcorn or peas are popular here and also really quick) or anything else you fancy. Quite good for protien I think.

Pendulum - on the hob and for the time it states in the recipe, sorry I should have been more clear (I only found the recipe a few weeks back and cooked it only twice, so have not yet experimented with it in the slow cooker)

I serve it with warm crusty bread.

pendulum i make something wet (stew, curry etc) on sunday. it will keep for a few days or can be frozen in portions if you are that person.

stuffed pasta cooks from frozen, pesto and voila 10 mins start to table.

Jacket potatoes cooked in the microwave then browned in the oven for 10mins, with cheese and beans or tuna/mayo.

Batch cook curry/spag bol/pasta bake etc or just make extra of your evening meal for dd to eat next evening.

Does she eat soup? My friend makes a very quick soup out of potato/carrot/tomato ketchup/water, cook for about 20mins then blitz.

Lunch box:
carrot/cucumber/pepper/bread sticks with a tub of hummous.
Also mini cheeses & pittas.
ds1 also likes left over pasta bake or tuna pasta for lunch.

Might have to be careful about nuts in lunch box, some schools ban nuts/peanut butter etc from the premises because of allergies.

For starting school think about calorie dense food. They often don't get long enough to eat in and if they get a bit overwhelmed or chatty they can come home having eaten little.

dd likes avocado (with a bit of lemon to stop it browning, cubes of cheese/sausage. pasta salad. Flapjack.

Have you considered letting dd have school dinners? then you'd not have to worry about a packed lunch or evening meal, just a sandwhich type dinner? If she's used to a cooked meal for lunch she may prefer it?

I'll have this dilema with my dd soon as she's starting school on the 12th! She'll be doing half days for 2 weeks so I don't have to worry, but then it's packed lunches and i'm not sure what i'll put in them!! I may change to school dinners

eddas- the day DD says she wants school dinners my heart will sing

Hopefully that's where we will end up, but apparently most of the foundation kids eat their packed lunches in their own area (a little separate from the rest of school. I don't want her to be the only foundation child trudging across the playground to the dinner hall so will wait until she asks (hopefully not too long!)

bellavita, I bet the casserole would work well in the SC, I think I have a cassoulet recipe in my SC book so must be similar principle.

Thanks all who have suggested batch cooking/ freezing, I certainly am that person and will prob have something along those lines a few days a week, but am also trying to cater for the "aaargh forgot to get anything out of the freezer" moment!

good point about the calories, ohyoubadkitten. could be easy to prioritise "health" (veg sticks etc) over energy, but you're right, it's important to balance the two. Like the sausage/ cheese suggestion.

My ds loves having food in a small flask for lunch.

He has soup (with a slice of bread to dip)

Pasta with butter and cheese (his favourite)

pasta/spaghetti bolognese

Stir fry

All these are left overs from previous nights' teas. At the most I re-heat in microwave or cook pasta in the morning.

Some of those days, I then don't have to worry about what he has for tea.

I got his flask from robert dyas. It is plastic so (virtually) unbreakable.

I make batches of bolognaise sauce with grated carrot and other veg cooked in it then freeze it in portions - it defrosts in the microwave whilst the spaghetti cooks.

Or pesto pasta - just added the pesto sauce to the cooked pasta and mix in grated cheese. If time allows and I have it in I will chop up and fry a rasher of bacon to add in too.

Sometimes I make and freeze, other times I just buy chicken goujons, they will cook in about 15 minutes in the oven the serve with new potatoes that will also boil in about the same time plus carrots cooked in with the potatoes for the last few minutes or just poor boiling water over frozen peas.

Homemade burgers made with mince can be made very quickly then fried with no extra fat in the pan if it is non stick, or make them the night before and get DD to help and keep them in the fridge.

I know this is bad but I usually have a tin of spaghetti and sasuages or ravioli in stock for emergency days when we are late of the DC can't even wait 20 minutes. baked beans another healthier option but my dc won't eat them sadly.

No ideas for packed lunches - that is why I do school dinners, one less meal to think about!

Have just remembered one of my own staples- tinned fish of all varieties. Pasta with tuna and sweetcorn (obviously) but also tinned salmon mashed up with potatoes and a spoon of tomato ketchup, and baked potatoes with tinned mackerel or sardines in tomato sauce (it always amazes me how much DD loves these- think it's because I ate so many when pregnant with her!)

I love the flask idea DesperateHousewife. Leftover dinner would save me a lot of thinking time (believe me it is scarce in this house)

Evening meals - pasta with tuna and sweetcorn, pasta with meat sauce left over /thawed, baked pototoes (oven on timer), cheesy beans on toast, soup and toast.

Lunchboxes I only do for DD (nursery heat them up so she has leftover + youghurt & fruit) and DS for occasional holiday clubs (beetroot cucumber and ham wrap, always)

I know 'leftovers' are very thin on the ground here too.

I have to make sure I remove it from the pan first and put it into a plastic box, otherwise dh eats everything!

I just do extra veg/pasta to make up for what I have taken out.

I suppose it's not really leftovers really as I take it out first