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

Having a meal plan in mind so that I don't waste time deciding what to have
Cooking one meal (maybe slight variations like a has broccoli, b has peas and c has both)
Batch cook when I can

Have roast chicken leftovers..... fry up onion, chorizo, red pepper, frozen prawns, birds eye peas, leftover chicken, chicken stock cube, splash of water, tom purée, cayenne pepper, paprika, two min microwave long grain rice = quick tasty paella!!

Meal plan - life is a lot easier if you're organised. Batch cook food. Cook quick things like grilled salmon with stir fried veg, fish baked in a foil parcel with steamed veg etc. Use a slow cooker.

The slow cooker is my midweek best friend. Throw some chicken & a sauce in & boil some pasta or rice, job done!

I use the slow cooker a lot, its so simple - simply batch cook a load of mince and you can then take out freezer as and when to turn into Lasagnes or Spag Bol

Another pasta fan. Pesto or filled ricotta and cheese for when we get in late from after school activities. Lasagne or bolognese if we have more time. Lots of salad and hidden veggies in home-cooked varieties.

Pizza wraps, using either panini press or in frying pan.

I have a variety of ways of making meal preparation as quick as possible: partly because of time pressures, but also because - to be honest - sometimes spending even half an hour preparing a meal that is eaten in (at most) minutes feels relentless. So my tips: batch cooking and freezing, making pasta sauce (with lots of hidden veg in it) and freezing in portions, plus always cooking lots of fresh veg (all cooked in one go in the steamer). I have no qualms about serving things which may be seen as short cuts (such as chicken goujons or fishfingers) providing I serve them with 3-4 portions of veg and pasta/rice/potatoes. Oh, and loads of frozen peas served with everything (one daughter actually eats them from a bowl with a spoon as her 'fruit').

I think I probably use most of the well known tricks. Batch cooking, freezing leftovers, frozen veg to be whipped out etc. I meal plan religiously and have a separate one for my fussy eldest. Hers incorporates three or four meals that we are having during the week and then some that she chooses. We like spicy food and she doesn't so we compromise. Having it pinned up helps her to understand that we need to compromise and that sometimes it will be her turn. Gradually she's complaining less.

I do jackets on a Monday which are easy after the weekend and then a Friday is always something quick like a stir fry, when we might otherwise want a takeaway. I make lots of Ragu which in the winter makes bolognase or chilli and rice and in the summer makes Mexican lasagne and salad chilli and wedges with corn on the cob. This really leaves me with just a couple of days to think about. I try to find a balance between premaking things and weather appropriate food because no one really fancies chicken casserole in the middle of summer.

Get slow cooker bags ready - chop the veg etc as per the recipe the night before and then it can just be emptied into the slow cooker the next morning while doing breakfast - all ready by the time time you are home from work!

We always have an abundance of 'salad' in the fridge, as the children do not always want hot veg for lunch. Easy cooking - fishfingers, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, celery and carrot sticks, (and maybe a waffle on the side, if its needed)

Dinnertime - I am a whizz with making wraps.. just vary the sauces!
We always sit together at the table too.

Enjoy x

No difference with us for weekend or midweek...always a lot of prep, but that can be fun too if we do it together or listen to music. But sometimes, if we are really pushed, pasta and pesto or rice and soy sauce or a quick tinned pilchard curry does the job.

We like frittata midweek, with lots of veg, and a few bits of bacon or ham - whatever's lying around in the fridge.
Served with baked potato if it's not that warm, or a lovely crisp summery salad.
Quick to prepare, ready in no time and healthy and delicious.
Plus leftovers can be used for lunch and pack ups.

I try to prepare the bulk of my husband and my meal whilst the children are having their tea at about 4 pm. Lets me get ahead of the game and means we don't eat too late after the children are in bed.

I often will prepare food the day beforehand or involve my child in helping cook. Pasta and a sauce is always a hit as are chips with fish fingers!

We make batches of casseroles and lasagna to put in the freezer .

For quick meals, I tend to stick with things that can be cooked on the hob so no waiting for oven to heat up. Pasta with various sauces always go down well and easy to shove frozen veg in the boiling water just before draining :)

I like to prepare ahead and batch cook meals to pop in the freezer. That way there is always something to choose from and if different family members want to eat different things or at different times it's all catered for. The fridge is always full of salad so if a hot meal us not wanted then a quick egg salad is healthy and nutritious

I am a self confessed really bad cook. The only thing I can cook in bulk is veg, I buy leeks or red cabbage when they are on offer , then cook, and freeze them in individually portions. Having said that I have read the above comments, and might try some of the suggestions

Everyone gets involved in the prep here.

think of ideas at the weekend for the following week

Sweetcorn fritters are a hit in this house, and theyre great as theyre quick, you can use whatever leftovers you have eg ham, cheese, all sorts of veg, beans, tofu etc, and fussy dc1 can't tell all the healthy stuff that's hidden in them! he also likes them dipped in hummous which ups the protein

Yeah as PP said frozen veg is your friend! Frozen Mediterranean veg tray nakedness with pieces of chicken and some spices is good - served with cous cous or blitz the veg and use it as pasta sauce

We always make a large batch of chilli which lasts us about 3 days. You just need to add extra ingredients and leave to simmer for 3 hours and store in the freezer for another night

In the winter I use the slow cooker so there is something hot and filling when we get in, and quickly do something to accompany like steam veg bags, instant mash, noodles, micro rice etc

In the spring and summer though, my go to fast dish is homemade pizza, sounds like it would be faffy but it's made and on table in 20 mins, and I can hide veg under the cheese, and serve with raw veg sticks.