Give me your after work/after school dinner ideas

[verybusyspider]

I went back to work for 4 days a week in September - I have 3 ds's (4, 3 and 1) - ds1 is in reception and other 2 at Nursery, I started off with ds1 having school dinners and other 2 get hot lunch at nursery so tea only had to be be beans on toast or similar but ds1 had a hard time settling in to school - hearing difficulties - long story but part of problem was socialising and he said he wanted to be like the other boys and have packed lunch (got quite emotional about it ) so now I do proper dinner every night - which actually suits dh and I as we have sandwiches at lunch so we all eat together at about 6pm - my issue is I pick up littlest 2 at 3pm and dash straight to school then I get home, do snacks and start dinner.... I seem to spend my time at home dashing around sorting out food and not playing and relaxing with boys who I haven't seen all day - its the most stressful part of my day! everything else I can leave till they are in bed, online food shopping, cleaning etc.... it really hit home this week as I've had some time off and have managed to have ds1 help me with meals whilst little 2 nap at lunch - bliss! we'd actually played or gone for a walk before dinner every evening

Any advice? How do you manage mealtimes and feed everyone healthy food - oh and keep the food bill down?!

baked potatoes - beans, cheese and salad bits
sausages and home made (or not) oven chips
pasta of various kinds
maybe do some batch cooking at the weekend/eves so do some stews , pasta sauces that kind of thing

I think batch cooking might be the best option - got out of habit of jackets but that did work very well, trick is not serving it same day they do it at nursery

Make sure that you plan your weeks meal, I find one of the hardest things is to think of what to have, then make sure that the meals are quick and easy.

I do things like bolognese, sausages with some sort of potato & veg, shepherd pie, pasta with tomato sauce (very quick) and make sure that I always have some bung in the oven dinners for nights when we are really busy.
I sometimes cook double for things like pasta sauces and then freeze half of it for another day. Lots of people swear by using a slow cooker, I keep meaning to get one myself.
I'm sure there will be people along with a lot more ideas,
MLx

Agree meal planning is key.

We had the following 15 min meal tonight - steamed broccoli and corn on the cob (5 mins to get water to boil then about 7 mins steaming) plus pork escalopes with a blob of honey/mustard marinade (2 mins to get pan hot, 3 mins each side plus 3 mins resting) plus bread and butter for carb hungry dh.

Panfried fish with couscous is pretty quick too.

Gnocchi/filled fresh pasta are a good freezer standby with the addition of a homemade pasta sauce (toms, peppers, onions, herbs possibly bacon/salami/chorizo too we always have a tub or two in the freezer). OTher freezer meals like bolognese, casseroles, curries also means a meal or two a week can be re-heat jobs. We tend to pack them full of vegetables which means it is not the end of the world if there is no time to prep and cook fresh veg or if it's gone manky in the fridge.

Omelettes, quiche and salad, fishcakes etc all good usually served with frozen peas/sweetcorn as DS (nearly 3) reliably eats these and they only take a minute or two in the microwave.

I batch cook too. My current favs are : Tuna pasta bake ( I do the 'sauce'with the tuna and veg which freezes easy and just do pasta that meal time). Chicken casserole. Sausage casseroles. Sausage or chicken in a tomato and veg sauce so can just do pasta or rice to go with it.