Tell Birds Eye about your midweek meal tips - £300 voucher to be won!NOW CLOSED

[AmeliaMumsnet]

How do you get tasty, nutritious food on the table when you’ve been busy all day? After all, when it gets to summer, the last thing most of us fancy is spending more time than we need to tied to the oven. So do you have some clever shortcuts or cheats? Whatever your tips for midweek family meals, Birds Eye want to know.

Here’s what Birds Eye have to say: ‘Tea time can be a stressful time of day and coming up with nutritious and tasty meals the kids will enjoy isn’t easy. But Birds Eye frozen chicken is quick and easy to prepare, and made with 100% chicken breast, barn-reared chicken, and no artificial colours, flavours, or preservatives.’

Are you a whizz at preparing ahead or batch cooking? Do you have a fast, nutritious recipe that’s too good to keep to yourself? Maybe you’re just great at making sure the whole family pulls their weight when preparing dinner? Whatever the secret to your midweek meal success, particularly if you’ve something summery in your repertoire, share it on the thread below!

Every MNer who posts on the thread with their midweek meal tips will be entered into a prize draw, where one lucky winner will be randomly selected to receive a £300 Amazon voucher.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

if i make curry, stew or chilli i always make enough to freeze for another day , it makes sense and saves money

Once a week I grease a muffin tray and put a bit of egg in each one, then I add vegetables in different ones, i.e peppers, spring onions, tomatoes and then I sprinkle each one with cheese and bake in the oven for 20 mins, great for picnics or snacks the next day.

I make extra and freeze, always handy to have something ready when yo've not got time to cook.

I tend to double up, so a shepherd's pie for tea and one for the freezer. Other family favourites are Bolognese, chili, jacket spuds.

My other shortcuts for adding veg are, I am a supermarkets dream:
Frozen ready chopped onions
Frozen peas
Frozen mash
Ready prepped carrots
Frozen chopped leeks.

I don't always intend to batch cook, but things like hidden veg tomato sauce or chilli always seem to leave leftovers which are great to freeze down and defrost during the day then quickly nuke on rushed days!

Just discovered the toddler loves omelette too which is a nice quick meal and we always have eggs thanks to our backyard chickens, great for when I forget to shop

We are living on salads at the minute thanks to the lovely weather, which is great as they are quick and easy to make. When the weather isn't so nice my go to dinners in a rush are bean chilli which is super quick or pasta and a simple tomato sauce.

Wraps with felafel, chicken or fish plus salad & dips/ sauce

Hash browns or potato waffles with eggs or beans

Scramble egg on toast

Omlette

Nicoise salad

Caesar salad with chicken

Butterfly chicken on the BBQ if we're home early enough to light it before nursery pickup, with bread & salad

Chinese dumplings done in the steamer

Portions of chicken or fish done in the steamer with veggies

Soup & sandwich

Baguette, pate, cheese & salad

If I'm in work, I tend to keep it simple with frozen chicken, veg and chips/wedges but if i'm off, I make everything fresh and often make slimming worlds "diet coke chicken" which is gorgeous

In the warmer weather, we don't always have a hot meal. We've had one of our go-to midweeks this evening: wraps with lots of salad, avocado, olives, chopped walnut and mackerel or feta. A make your own affair (with chop up whatever's in the fruit bowl and have it with yoghurt if you're still hungry after!).

Being in a rush doesn't mean we don't eat a nutritious meal. A salad, pasta dish or stir-fry only takes 20 minutes to get on the table. I also batch cook chilli, bolognaise etc. and freeze them.

I do cheat and buy frozen jacket potatoes though- they're the only ones my DDs will eat.

We also quite enjoy a frozen chicken dippers and chips type meal from time to time.

My partner and I do lots of meal planning! Every Sunday we will write a list of our meals for the coming week before we do our shopping. That way we only come home with what we need; so not only are we prepared for the week, we're saving money too

I'm just at the beginning of my healthy food journey, preparing and trying to be organised with planning my meals and shopping so I only have the right thing in. I am also in a group chat so we can share ideas and help out if we need that bit of a push.

Bulk out meals with veggies. The kids help peel the veggies so they are more likely to eat them.

A quick mid week meal here is often home made soup followed by Spanish omelette, or risotto is another standby.

Frozen veg such as peas, peppers, sweetcorn and green beans are so useful for these dishes, so I always have a good selection of them available.

The freezer is your friend! Our favourite quick midweek meal is cooked from frozen salmon fillets sprinkled with faita spices baked in tinfoil with some frozen veg and boiled potatoes or rice

My mid-week quick and easy recipe which my DDs love is my homemade vege spag bol. I stick the spaghetti on to boil then fry off some Quorn mince for 3-4 mins, then add some passata, Italian herbs and sweetcorn and cook for 8-10 mins. Meanwhile I prepare some cherry tomatoes, cucumber and carrot sticks for a side dish. It all takes approx 20 mins from start to finish, and I'm guaranteed clean plates!

Mid week is lasagne or spaghetti :)

i do a cheat roast dinner, ready in 45 mins, defrost chicken breast in microwave, par boil roast potatoes in microwave, frozen yorkshires, it goes down a treat.

Baked salmon with Coucous with roasted veg or if in real hurry i pan fry or poach salmon fillet and serve with couscous with microwaved frozen veg.
I also love the frozen rice and veg pouches for convenience.

or as my daughter calls it a banquet!..... we love to have pate, cheese, sliced meat, salad and crusty bread, takes 5 mins to prepare and looks so impressive

I like to knock up enormous salads that are enough to accompany 2-3 meals. It's so easy to then just cook fish or chicken and dish up - quick and healthy!

I usually break something out the freezer - batch cooked or ready made.

I have to say that pasta is one of my go to mid week dishes, you can do so much stuff with it. Carbonara, bolognese and pasta bake are some of my family favs

Fish, chips and pizza

I do a lot of batch cooking chili,curry, stews allgo in my chest freezer you can also hide lots of veg in them if children are not keen