super quick family meal ideas

mamabear09

i have bought a slow cooker due to the other half buying it me for valentines.

katylou6180

Hi all, was wondering if anyone had any ideas for me...I have recently escaped the demon that is redundancy and gone back to work, whilst I was off and watching the pennies I learnt a lot of valuable lessons in how to budget and eat properly without resorting to packaged stuff...as I also had plenty of time to cook. I hope it's not just me but when I come home from work I'm cream-crackered and the last thing I want to do is slave over the oven for ages..there is also the time aspect of it as hubby and son always want feeding "yesterday" and the first question asked is "whats for dinner?" I did used to batch cook a bit when I worked previously, but I don't really want to spend half the weekend in the kitchen either....plus I am sick of soup/stew/mince mince mince!!I don't want to give up my moneysaving ways but wondered if anyone had any quick easy and healthy fresh meal ideas that don't involve the aforementioned stuff I'm sick of..and that aren't expensive. Any ideas would be appreciated before I start reaching for the basics ready meals again.......

jillymit

A slow cooker might be the answer to at least a couple of nights a week food especially at this time of year. I usually do a beef stew one night a week and a chicken chuck it all in type thing on another. I sometimes cheat using packet mixes for the gravy if pushed for time. Coleman's chicken chasseur is a favourite in our house.

Slinky_Malinky

Slow cooker curry or tagine, stir fry is quick to throw together and you can always prep the night before, if you have a George Foreman type grill you can grill some steak, chicken, chops or fish and either steam or microwave some fresh veggies.

Pink.

Hi Katylou,

Congratulations on your new job. :T I agree with the previous posts that in your situation a slow cooker could be a god-send.

On nights when you don't fancy stews/casseroles/soups etc what about omelettes, filled baked potatoes (cooked in the microwave and finished off in the oven) grilled fish, chops etc with salad and baby potatoes, risotto, or pasta with homemade sauces can be nutritious, quick and easy too.

I do a cheap and cheerful meal sometimes when I'm rushing out to work in the evenings...beans on toast with grated cheese etc, now and again can still be filling and nutritious. If you are working full time and your family aren't overwhelmed by this idea, maybe it's time to rope them in to help with the evening meal.

I know you're not keen on batch cooking but what about when you are cooking something, making double the amount and freezing half. I find this works for me and soon the meals in the freezer begin to build up.

Also don't forget to freeze any leftovers, even if it's only one portion. I do this and at least once a month we have a pot luck night where I lift these leftover 'ready meals' out of the freezer and everyone gets to choose which one they want.

There are lots of good suggestions on these threads that may give you some ideas:

super quick family meal ideas

What's your 'can't be bothered' dinner/tea?


Pink

Patchwork_Quilt

Could you set the timer on your oven? A few minutes in the morning and you could have a whole meal ready to eat when you came in. We do roast dinners with jacket spuds like this if we have to go out. You can braise some veg around the meat and put some baked apples in for pud too.

zzzLazyDaisy

Jacket potatoes. Start them off in the microwave the night before and put them in the fridge. When you get home bung them in the oven to finish off and crisp up. Serve with beans and cheese, or tuna mayo, or whatever is left over from the slowcooker yesterday

Or do a big pan of pasta and stir in tuna (or left over chicken), mayo, and sweetcorn, and warm through again before serving

Butterfly_Brain

When I worked whoever was in first started cooking the meal

ubamother

I tend to cook 'building blocks' of meals and keep these in the freezer - so things like home made tomato sauce - good for pasta/chilli dishes, chopped cooked ham, sauteed onions, mashed potato, potato wedges. I always find that if I make whole meals for the freezer I never quite fancy what's in there! This way I can turn various blocks into different meals very quickly depending on what my teeth fancy that day.

Justcoll

Simple sauces with pasta:

Fry up some chopped bacon and onions and add marscapone.Serve with spaghetti or linguine. Really yummy and satisfying!

Extra large tin of plum tomatoes stirred into pan of fried onions. Bash the tomatoes a bit then let it simmer for 10 mins stirring occasionally. Add cubed mozarella (the sort that comes in bag of liquid) and let it soften up and blend in a bit. Add parmesan and pour over cooked penne pasta. Preferably finish off in oven for 10 minutes. Look out for half price promotions on tinned tomatoes - 'Stressco' keep doing them.

I know you're off stews at the moment but when you fancy them again invest in a pressure cooker. I've recently rediscovered them and a casserole that used to take hours in the oven can be done in half an hour and is sheer comfort food! You don't lose flavour so even the veg tastes really good. The big plus to this is that you can use much cheaper cuts of meat. If you can be in a supermarket around five pm, supermarkets often reduce their sell-by-today meat then. Last week I got chuck steak and some other stewing meat reduced to a fraction of the original price in Waitrose.

Pressure cookers aren't just for stews, of course. I did a lovely rice-pudding recently and if you're into steamed puds they're really quick and easy.

I see previous posters have suggested baked potatoes. If time is a problem cut them up into wedges before baking. You coud serve them with tzatziki and a side salad - or bacon and melted brie.