Which quick, healthy meals do you rely on most often? £100 voucher & Deli Kitchen products to be won

[MaddyMumsnet]

Life can be busy, and finding the time to prepare something both healthy and tasty can feel like a challenge – especially when you’ve got little (or not-so-little!) ones to feed as well.

Whether it’s breakfast before the school run, a speedy desk lunch, or a no-fuss dinner after a long day of juggling work, homework and after-school clubs, we’d love to hear your go-to meals that tick all the boxes for speed, nutrition, and flavour!

Everyone who comments below by 15/09/25 will be in with a chance to win a £100 VEX voucher & x5 Deli Kitchen products of their choice, that’ll be delivered in a straw tortilla basket (T&Cs apply).

Tofu scramble is quick, easy and healthy. Pair it with whatever veggies are in the fridge (mushrooms, tomatoes) and ta-da!

Leek and bacon pasta,add loads of garlic,black pepper and grated cheese..takes 15 mins.

Ultra quick options are things like stir fry vegetables and noodles with teriyaki salmon, on the table in under 10 minutes, spaghetti putenesca takes me 15 minutes, I do a chicken and basil pasta in a similar amount of time. Wraps with taco meat, salad and sour cream takes 10 minutes too. I batch cook and freeze rice in old takeaway containers for convenience, just take out in the morning, I then serve with dal or seabass curry for instance

A favourite in our house is a Greek bowl!

Greek salad, homemade tzatziki (Greek yogurt, cucumber, grated garlic, lemon olive oil, garden fresh mint, combine) some marinated lamb, roasted med veg and toasted flatbreads.

One of the few meals that all finish and don't have any complaints about!

Fajitas, wraps and tacos filled with the chicken from Sunday lunch, lots of crispy sweet red onion, yellow and orange peppers, and some grated cheese.

Carbonara is a good one, can whip it together very quickly

I like doing a traybake for speed. Courgettes, halloumi, peppers, chicken etc and then wrap in a flatbread with some lettuce and hummus. Easy to prepare and only 1 tray to wash up after

One SN child - we do things like salmon, broccoli and new potatoes which he will eat, is quick and fairly healthy.

We've recently found a relatively easy, tasty & family-friendly recipe from a Hairy Biker's recipe book - sweet & sour chicken! Really yummy & the whole family ate it - winner!!
Stir fry chopped chicken pieces, x1 onion cut into wedges & x2 chopped peppers.
Add a can of water chestnuts (really lovely & crunchy) - find in the world food aisle of supermarkets & can of chopped pineapple.
Sauce is made up of cornflour, juice from can of tinned pineapple, white wine vinegar, soya sauce & tomato ketchup (I know, not the healthiest - but it's only a small amount & it really helps the balance of sweet & sour!).
Add sauce to pan & cook until reduced.
Really delicious - none of the MSG you'd find in a takeaway & a hell of a lot cheaper too!

Chicken and veggie orzo. I chop whatever veg I’ve got in the fridge - usually courgette, mixed peppers, onion, mushrooms. Fry them off, add some orzo, tin of tomatoes, tablespoon of harissa and some stock. Put lid on until cooked through. Add some spinach and a tablespoon of cream cheese and stir through. Meanwhile cook some harissa brushed chicken thigh fillets in the air fryer. Serve on top of the veggie orzo with some Parmesan.

Pasta bake with hidden veggies in the sauce and others mixed in. Veg and egg fried rice. My kids eat a stack of veg without noticing usually. They recently like cheese paninis (thanks to Lottie Brooks) and these are kept for after school bribes 😁

We love tinned sardines or mackerel with scrambled egg & crudites for a quick & healthy meal.

Risotto is another quick & healthy choice.

Quesadillas are our go-to quick tea, I use the chicken from Sunday - or buy a small chicken and 'ninja' it for 40 minutes - it's the best way I have found to have a moist flavoursome chicken. My DC's love red, orange and yellow peppers (not green) and I add red onion, sweetcorn and a red leicester grated cheese.
Goes down really well after a busy school day.

Tacos or burrito bowls are our current quick, easy and nutritious option. Chicken is easiest (although we've done slow cooked pork shoulder, pork belly and mince fairly regularly too. Fish is next on my list).

I marinate chicken breasts in lime, paprika, yoghurt, cumin and coriander while I make a salsa - we like to vary this. Tomato, corn and avocado is probably most common - bonus points if I chargrilled the corn first - with fresh coriander if I have it and I either add red onion or make a quick red onion pickle alongside. But over the summer we've had versions with mango, pineapple and plums. All have been fabulous.

Then while the chicken is cooking I grate some cheese, get out sour cream or make a quick flavoured mayo - usually mayo and greek yoghurt mixed with paprika, bit of honey, bit of garlic oil, bit of mustard - then serve up the rice or warm up tacos and we're done.

I always mean to add a bit of crunchy lettuce but always forget to buy it!

For breakfast, this isn't the QUICKEST, but I can cook the pancakes while I'm making packed lunches. I make banana pancakes. we go dairy free and I don't add any additional sugar so they're healthy, filling and the DC love them.

Jacket potatoes done in the slow cooker so they are cooked when you get home.

When they were little we had rainbow dinners.
One of each colour
Red: tomatoes, apples, ,radish
Orange: carrots, peppers, baked beans
yellow: egg (yolk), sweetcorn, peppers, potatoes,chickpeas
Green: lettuce, cucumber peas,
blue: blueberries,
purple: purple spriuting broccoli, plums, beetroots

They loved it!

Salmon filets in a dish with hosin sauce over the top. Bake in the oven whilst cooking some brown rice (or heating up quinoa) Often serve with oven cooked broccoli which takes 2 mins to prepare - chop up a head into bite size pieces. Toss with bit of oil and whatever spices/dried herbs you like. Place in the oven - spread out on a baking tray.

Whole meal takes around 20 minutes.

Batch cooking / slow cooker / quick veg chopped and steamed. stews, chilli con carne, spaghetti bol, chicken fajitas, katsu curry, mini roast, jacket potatoes and salad. All quick and easy.

I try to batch cook on a weekend so on our busy weekday evenings we can grab something nutritious out the freezer and heat it up quickly.

Ive also always encouraged my children to cook with me so now they are teens if I’m late home I’m confident they could cook something for dinner.

a quick meal I like to do if I haven’t had time to batch cook, is cook up some rice, while it’s cooking panfry some diced chicken breast, add trimmed and cut in half green beans, baby sweetcorn, half a diced onion, add a jar of red Thai curry paste, fry together then add a tin of coconut milk, leave to simmer until the rice is cooked.

serve the curry with the rice, add coriander leaves and halved lime and a bowl of prawn crackers.

it takes 20-25 mins and is very tasty.

I batch make meatballs fry them off, cool & open freeze on a tray then bag them up to save room in the freezer. I then make a big batch of sauce to go with them and freeze that in single portions too. It's so easy to thaw and heat through while the spaghetti cooks. Top with grated cheese of choice and it's done.
Air fried salmon with new potatoes and steamed veg is another quick & easy healthy option. I like broccoli and green beans with ours, but sometimes use the supermarket brand frozen mixed veg as well it's quick and great value.

For me its a stir fry, with chicken / tofu and noodles

Chicken fajitas.. it feels like a ‘fun’ dinner, is tasty, takes ten mins, is low carb and contains veggies. Win win.

Had this in Brussels once late at night. Chicken pieces, stir fried in soy sauce, in a wrap with hummus. Food of the gods and takes about 5 minutes.

Cheapest, healthiest and quickest on 2 days is to have a roast chicken dinner on the Sunday using the dark meat only. Monday slice some breast for sandwiches for lunch (with salad to bulk or my favourite, coleslaw) and evening use rest of breast as topping for Caesar Salad padded with garlic bread, corn on cob and rest of coleslaw. Tuesday, boil leftovers with bones and stock cube, strip useable meat, add frozen or tinned sweet corn, sliced mushrooms and noodles, can also pad out with chunks of bread and butter for dipping (give rest of meat not fit for humans to dog).

Beef mince fried off with an Oxo cube and onions. Spaghetti boiled, teaspoon of butter added and a teaspoon of Marmite (roughly a teaspoon per adult serving). Mix meat, onion and pasta and serve with broccoli - delicious and inexpensive.

Just please don't tell the members of my household who hate Marmite as they have NO idea it's in it! 👀