Hey dudes,
Monday nights have turned exclusively into “We’re having pasta and a side” because I have to get my oldest home from school, fed, changed, and back out the door for activities. Pasta is easy to make at lunchtime and toss in the fridge for reheating at dinner and never gets and complaints. I want to branch out more, I enjoy cooking, but the kids are getting into a picky phase. I’ve been stuck in a rut of making the same 5 or 6 meals for weeks on end.
What’s everyone else who’s rushing kids around to evening events doing for dinner time these days? Who has some solid, kid friendly, Slow cooker or one-pot meal ideas? Google is letting me down with a bunch of variations of max and cheese, chili, or chili PLUS Mac and cheese.
Taco night. Grate some cheese, chop some lettuce, put out the condiments and tortillas with a rotisserie chicken from the store for $5. Bam!
Is it authentically Mexican? Absolutely not. Will the kids ingest some nutrients? Yes.
Taco night is a STAPLE. The kids will devour the fillings leaving behind the tortilla or hard shell, but insist on having it as an essential part of the meal, lol. I don’t know it as long as they’re eating something.
Mine would chew face holes in the tortillas to wear as masks while they ate cheese.
On a separate note, and maybe this doesn’t apply to you, we found ourselves reducing activities as well. Everyone, including the kids, was getting stressed and feeling hectic too many days a week. We cut it down to three nights a week for activities which feels more manageable. It’s supposed to be fun, right?
White people taco night!
Just like back home at Taco Bell
Don’t forget the ketchup!
r/ketchuphate
I replaced taco night with shrimp fajita night.
It’s surprisingly simple to make. Just toss 3-4 seasonings in a bowl, toss the veggies (bell peppers, onions, etc), toss the shrimp, throw it all in a pan. Microwave the tortillas.
I'm a big fan of making 1 or few proteins on a chill night, then just reheating and diversifying the seasoning for other meals. An example is 1st night is beef tacos. 2nd night beef fajitas. 3rd night beef stir fry. 4th night beef subs. 5th night beef stew. I'll alternate some nights so it's not the same protein 4 days in a row.
For a whole chicken, maybe 1st night everybody gets their favorite piece. Then, we shred the rest for some chicken tacos. Whatever is left gets used in a stew.
Cooking is a hobby of mine because it combines art and science. Allows me to get creative and experiment when I want. If I'm not in the mood, then we have leftovers or just make a basic sandwich with some plants on the side.
Smart! I do something similar if I find pork butt on sale. The whole thing goes into the slow cooker with a fairly mid-range seasoning so that it can be versatile. First night turns into BBQ sliders, or can be eaten plain by the kids claiming the BBQ is too spicy. Then it can turn into some carnitas, and then more of a “roast” vibe with potatoes and roasted carrots, etc.
The whole chicken is great. We do the same thing the first couple nights. Then we make a broth with the carcass and have soup later that week. Three meals at least from one chicken.
Stir fry night is also a great call. Get a wok and stir fry a protein or two, get stir fry vegetable blend and heat it up in the wok. Rice in the instant pot or rice cooker which is essentially 0 work and a kid may be able to handle for you. Some teriyaki sauce for kiddos and potentially something more complex/spicy for parents. Done
Rice, meat, two kinds of veggie. Oil up a pan and throw it all in until the meat’s done. Season to taste.
We call this meal boring ass chicken. Some bone in skin on thighs baked in the oven with some potatoes or rice and veggies... We just change it the chicken for whatever .
I'll poach some chicken breasts in chicken stock and water then when it's done I'll cook rice and mixed veg in the leftover poaching liquid. I'll dice the chicken breasts and mix it into the rice. It's all done in 40 minutes with maybe 5 minutes of active cooking time.
This was basically a staple growing up for me but apparently my kids don't like it with the chicken cooked in. They'll eat it just fine if it's on the side.
So I grill some chicken breast, toss it in whatever seasoning while I'm doing the rice.
Got some examples of the kinds of seasoning you like to use? Are we talking stir fry sauce or just dry herbs and spices?
Throw in unboiled rice with all the rest, estimate some fluid/broth level and cook till done?
New York Times pizza beans recipe. You can Google it.
It's basically white beans with tomato sauce and mozzarella. Warm and gooey. Quick to make in one pan. Nutritionally, it's a big pile of beans, which is pretty good.
I like a nice crock pot soup or stew if you're specifically looking for slow cooker ideas. Homemade chicken noodle is always a hit with my kids and we get enough to have leftovers.
Gift link to the official recipe:
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019681-cheesy-white-bean-tomato-bake?unlocked_article_code=1.EVA.ZDa5.j6nxCkDjUpnG&smid=ck-recipe-iOS-share
Lazy "Channa Masala".
1) Chop onion, add to pan, throw in minced garlic and ginger from the glass tubs. Cook until brownish 2) Chuck 1-2 cans of rinsed garbanzo beans. 3) Season with curry powder, coriander, tumeric and any pepper seasoning for spice. Or use the Thai red/green paste. 4) cook for 5 or so minutes 5) Dump a can of coconut milk and stir it up. Simmer for like 10-15 mins. 6) throw in spinach and/or frozen peas at the end and cook for another 5 minutes. 7) Serve with rice.
Easy as shit and takes like 20 minutes. Can be stored in the fridge and reheated or frozen and eaten later in the week or month.
This sounds delicious. The kids would take one look at it and swear off food for a week but hey, more for me?
Keep serving it until the hunger gets them to try it…
Hahahaha. Yeah, some days my kid loves it, some days they hate it.
Pro tip, put the seasoning in with the garlic and ginger so it gets a little toasted in the oil and onions and then add the other things
Thanks. Will try this.
Meatloaf, pot roast and then beef stew the next night out of the left overs (two easy slow cooker dinners in a row!), lasagna, chili, Mac and cheese chili, chicken pot pie in slow cooker, hearty salads, and an assortment of frozen veggies in the deep freezer.
You know, I’m sleeping on meatloaf over here. Not something I’ve tried to make in my adult life. Adding it to the list to give it a whirl though!
One of my favorites! Doesn't hurt that it goes so well with mashed potatoes either.
I’d just throw it out there that we make meatloaf with ground turkey and it’s great. Google Skinny taste petite meatloaf. I make like 16 of these single portion meatloafs at once and then we’ve got three freezer meals ready to go.
Get a long beef sausage, slice it up on a bias, and cook it in a pan. Then take the sausage out, deglaze with water or red wine, and then add in sliced bell peppers and onions and cook until the onions are caramelized. Toss the sausage back in to warm up and serve with rice.
Literally had that for dinner tonight.
You can mix it up and serve over instant polenta too.
There’s a daycare chain that publishes all of their recipes. They’re all pretty quick to throw together and I haven’t been too disappointed by any of them. All in all very decent ROI.
https://kitchen.kidsandcompany.com/recipe/
We’ll that’s an instant bookmark. Seeing what our kids’ daycare has for food I’ve half-joked I’d just take their ideas, but now it seems like I can. One of the kids has raved about a cheesy chicken casserole she had once but so far I haven’t had any luck recreating it successfully enough. I keep getting told “more cheese” to the point where I’m thinking she had cheese soup with a handful of rice and chicken in it.
Smash burgers.
Pre weigh some 3-4oz balls. Hot skillet. Smash. It’ll take like 10 minutes to get a burger out with all the prep and less time for multiple burgers.
Also - if you're making some, it's not much more effort to make a few extra, layer them with parchment paper (before cooking) and toss in a ziplock, and freeze. Even easier dinner a few weeks later when you realize you're up a creek some night!
You can do a biriyani, it stores and reheats very well. You can adjust the spices and heat level to suit the kids. It's a simple easy to make rice and meat dish.
Pre-baked chicken thighs or separated rotisserie chicken, bag frozen veg of choice, butter chicken sauce, 5 minute white rice
Warm the chicken in microwave while rice water boils, then throw frozen veg in for 2/3 stated time while rice settles, chicken in pan with sauce, add veg when done, serve over rice
About 10 minutes in total if the chicken is already cooked
Mondays are almost always pasta days for us too. I like to elevate it a bit by also doing meatballs and garlic bread. You can totally cheat and buy both frozen, they don't take hardly any more time than the spaghetti.
My other go to quick meals are quesadillas, grilled cheese and my favorite: breakfast for dinner. I can turn out two cheese omelettes for the kids while quickly tossing some tomatoes, peppers and mushrooms in separate pan with a splash of olive oil and some salt. Throw the veggies into omelettes for the adults and everyone is happy.
Of course, now that I have teenagers, ramen noodles and pizza rolls make the meal list more often.
You can also subscribe to r/whatsfordinner to get more ideas.
Fried rice is easy, especially for getting rid of leftovers. One pot meal, can chop ingredients as the others cook. Rice can be made in advance, for protein, eggs and spam or bacon.
I love a fried rice. Kids won’t touch it when I make it, but jump for joy when they hear we’re getting Chinese or sushi (with fried rice and udon) for takeout. For my next trick, I’ll be turning homemade fried rice into takeout by popping it into the container we saved the last time we had takeout…
Red beans and rice, if your kids will eat it. Sausage and bacon for awesome flavor, but good RB&R hides a ton of vegetables. Cheap and feeds an army.
Sloppy joes. Brown some meat, maybe add some onion and bell pepper if you feel like it. Add tomato sauce, brown sugar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce. Eat right away or throw it in the slow cooker.
A lazy sloppy joes recipe I found in a kid's cookbook long ago - brown a pound of ground beef, drain the grease, mix in 2/3 cup of ketchup and 2 tablespoons of mustard, let sit on low for 5 minutes, eat. Yummy. I've done it with A1 sauce before. No buns? The Aldi store brand version of Tostitos bowl chips are excellent. (They're also great with some of the Curly's or Lloyd's store-bought pulled pork/chicken/whatever!)
NYTimes Salsa Verde chicken in either slow cooker or instant pot. Add a couple cans of pinto beans and some frozen corn to bulk it up. Supremely easy.
Also, the red lentil soup with lemon and cilantro they have is super easy and yummy.
Every time I make tacos I double the recipe for leftovers. One day within the same week I get out these premade goya empanadas discs from the freezer. I make half taco meat/toppings and half with pizza toppings in it to make mini calzones. The Goya package says the discs are for frying, but they bake perfectly. Kids go crazy for it. Zero effort and super tasty. (also served with a side of fruit and veggies of course)
Instapot.
https://40aprons.com/instant-pot-chicken-and-rice/
After the 2nd or 3rd time you make it, you can get it done within 30 minutes.
If your kids will eat them, fish fillers fry up in 10 minutes. With rice and a bag salad, it's a good quick dinner.
Fish is a tough one but I’m on a mission to change that. The furthest we’ve gotten is fish sticks and shrimp poppers. They have yet to experience the joy of a perfectly grilled salmon with some lemon juice and Old Bay.
At the risk of people telling me its laced with mercury, we try to fit in fish weekly - often cheap basa or tilapia fillets ($5 for a pound) it has no flavour and takes on whatever it is cooked in. We like them breaded and fried or air fried. I think we added it to the rotation when the boys were around 5 or 6 yrs old, and the texture did take some getting used to for them. It helps to introduce fish to their diet if they are the ones who caught the fish. :)
fish sticks with a southwest bagged salad, and tortillas. fish tacos was the gateway i used to get my kids eating more fish.
Sliders and tots
Meal prep on Sunday.
Charcuterie board.
Noodle surprise: fun noodle shape. (Bow tie, wagon wheels) Protein (hamburger, ground chicken or turkey, or sliced itialian sausages or chicken sausages) roasted veggies(broccoli, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms), and throw in your favorite sauce jar, like pesto or alfredo.
Soups! I love soups, tomato soup, potatoes soup, butternut squash, tortalini soup.
Sheet pan fajitas. Slice up some chicken, peppers and onions and bake on 1 sheet pan after seasoning and oil
Chicken broccoli alfredo
I've become a soup master at my house. They are so easy once you get it down. And you can prep a lot in advance, it's just some chopping. I have a food processor for when I don't prep though, cuts down on prep time a lot.
I'll chop an onion and some veggies up and pop in a tupperware then into the fridge. Chop up some sausage or whatever is going in as the protein, same deal put it in the fridge for later. I'll do this stuff late morning when I've got a few minutes to breathe and I'm working from home or a day off.
The actual soup making process basically always starts with brown the protein, remove to a bowl. Then cook the onions and carrots until starting to soften. If you wanna do a roux that's when you do it. If you're adding garlic do that until fragrant. Otherwise deglaze with broth of choice and bring to boil. Lower to simmer and add protein. Obviously season to your preference or your pickiest eaters preference.
Soups are so damn versatile and easy but most of my friends are intimidated by the process. Takes longer than pasta but it's only as crazy as you make it.
throws pasta at fellow redditor
Pizza waffles. Standard waffle mix, olive oil, water, half a brick of grated mozzarella, healthy dose of Italian seasoning. Pour mixture in waffle iron and top with pepperoni before closing. Super easy, super delicious.
Not fast and less hard than it seems… risotto.
It needs stirring but it can clean out the fridge and it’s an easy place to stash veggies. Practice and technique are critical.
highly recommend souper cubes. you can get them in 1/4, 1/2 cup, 1 cup portions. i freeze EVERYTHING. take out, a chili crisp peanut noodle dish i made, crockpot meat, ground beef taco meat, stuffed shells. you can truly freeze anything and doing it in portions makes thawing them EASY PEASY. make what you like on a weekend or when you have time ... double it if you have freezer space, and freeze all of what you don't eat immediately into portions. repeat and you have a stockpile of meals that you can heat up in under five minutes
as for easy recipes, i’m becoming a huge fan of "ingredient bowl". i have a bunch of things ready to eat in my fridge and then i toss it in a bowl or shallow plate and it's like when you see a video of someone filling a cafeteria tray w food. one of my bowls last wk was two chicken breakfast sausages, a hard boiled egg, a piece of cheese, cottage cheese, sauerkraut, ground beef, sweet potato. they're all just sitting there next to each other but ill mix and match different bites. i’m too tired to think of meals every night and this has been surprisingly satisfying. it's like a girl dinner or snack plate. but it gets my toddler exposed to a lot of foods... sauerkraut, cottage cheese, sweet potato's are all things she's repeatedly exposed to but doesn't love (yet)
Chicken and potatoes. Marinate chicken in any dressing or your own seasoning. Do the same with potatoes. Cook both in the oven for an hour at 400 degrees. Serve with salad or other vegetable.
Cheesy Tomato Bean Bake
3 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 onion, chopped
2 14.5 oz cans white beans like great northern or cannellini, drained and rinsed
1 14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes (preferably fire roasted)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp thyme, divided (you can double the herbs if you want more fragrant beans)
1 tsp oregano, divided
Ground pepper
Low moisture Mozzarella, sliced (6 or 7 slices)
1 c panko
Heat oven to 450.
In a large heavy bottom skillet or Dutch oven, heat 2tbsp oil. Add the onions and cook on medium until golden.
Add the beans, tomatoes, 1/2 tsp thyme, and 1/2 tsp oregano, and salt. Simmer until thickened, about 10 min, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl mix the remaining oil, thyme, and oregano with the panko until moistened.
Once the bean mixture has thickened, remove from heat and add salt and pepper to taste. Arrange mozzarella slices on top then pour the panko mixture on top between the slices.
Bake uncovered in oven until panko is golden brown and cheese is melted, about 8-10 minutes.
Air fry broccoli with olive oil. Fry an egg and top over white rice with soy sauce.
For all the things these kids are unwilling to eat in the last year, broccoli is a winner that they’ve never turned down and for that, I’m grateful.
A favorite easy dinner of mine is called breakfast for dinner. Idk why, but kids tend to go crazy for dinner if you call it breakfast. We're having breakfast omelets for dinner. Breakfast burritos. Pancakes and fruit! For the ultra lazy, just cereal for dinner. For the curious, try some savory grits, porridge, or oats. Nothing like quick oats with chicken stock and cheese on a cold night after a brutal day.
1lb ground meat- brown it.
1/3 cup each brown sugar and soy sauce. Tablespoon ginger, garlic and some onion salt. Couple dashes sesame oil and some sriracha.
Add noodles. So good.
My kids call it Asian beef but we do w chicken or turkey too. All good.
Brown a pound of ground beef with half an onion. Drain the fat. Combine 2 tubs of sour cream and 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup, some garlic powder, and black pepper. Mix well. Simmer for 20 ish minutes. Boil some egg noodles on the side. Pour sauce over noodles. Congratulations you just made beef stroganoff.
sheet pan meals! infinite combinations, super easy and healthy.
pick a protein: chicken thighs, pork or chicken sausages, salmon filets, chickpeas, tofu
pick yer veggies 2-4 kinds: anything that you can roast - onions, broccoli, zucchini, peppers, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, asparagus, cauliflower, kale, sweet potatoes…
pick a sauce/marinade (store bought is perfect): pesto, teriyaki, italian dressing, honey mustard, balsamic vinaigrette etc
chop veggies and toss with some sauce. throw on a big ol’ sheet pan.
sauce your protein and nestle it on the pan with the veggies. don’t crowd ‘em. use 2 pans if you need to.
roast for 25-35 minutes til the meat is cooked, turning everything halfway through. perfect with a pot of rice, pasta, bread or as is. bonus: ya got leftovers
Sheet pans! I got tunnel vision trying to find slow cooker or one pot stuff, and didn’t think to try hunting for one SHEET stuff. Thanks!
I personally dont like cooking and the clean up, so ive been doing one pot recipes. Greanted alot fo them have been just different version of want we normally eat. I did a garlic parmasean pasta and added chicken to it, did a cheesy chicken, broccoli and rice. Also Costcos has good pork chops for cheap near me, coat them in onlive oil and all purpose seasoning and cook in the oven for 40 mins at 350 F. I usually do potatoes and broccoli with it. That was today's dinner.
Seaweed wrap + Sushi Rice (and rice seasoning [rice vinegar+sugar+salt])+ Salmon (cook in air fryer for 12min) + Avocado.
Lay the seaweed wrap down, put the cooked rice in, add the salmon and avocado. Cut it in half and you have two seaweed wrap rolls.
Add some soy sauce on the side and some veggies. We can make about 8-10 of these with 1.5 cups of rice and a filet 1/2 lb of salmon. Takes about 3-4 to fill up an adult.
It's delicious, trust me.
Tortellini and sauce w garlic bread. Quick and easy to make
Chicken katsu with katsu sauce, steamed rice if you have a pressure cooker or rice cooker, and salted cucumbers maybe some tomatoes.
It'll take you maybe 30 minutes after a few goes.
Picky daughters, who would only eat carbs if they could. But i make a healthy pasta dish that we all love and it’s real healthy. Slice and sautee three zucchinis, add to blender with ~1 cup of cottage cheese and a jar of pasta sauce. Cook up some protein paste (banza or other, loaded with protein and fiber) and mix in saucepan.
Haven’t heard of protein paste before, I’ll have to check that out. My wife is vegetarian and meat can be pricy outside of sales, so I do as much with beans and lentils as I can sneak in. Feeling that first sentence…when I ask for dinner input the only answers I ever get from the kids are pizza or pasta. Or, the runner up, max and cheese.
I think paste was a typo, that should read protein pasta
I like the cookbook A Man, A Can, A Plan. I regularly make the once called island beans and rice. Is delicious and easy
Chop up some mushrooms, add to hamburger helper. Side of steamed broccoli. That’s what we had tonight. Took about 30 minutes. Epic gas though, so buckle up.
Stuffing meatloaf, use the stuffing as breading (add water to it first dont need to cook it though just let it get soft) add to ground beef or whatever you want for meat and throw it in a bread pan and once done add the ketchup, brown sugar, mustard mix to the top for glaze.
Picky plate: Ham, sausages or chicken sausages
Some veg: broccoli, pepper, cucumber or something
Carb: bread/toast or tortilla wraps
Bonus eggs if kids like em
Grab a Dutch oven - sausage browned in the bottom of the pan - Deglaze with cheap white wine - Add in a can of crushed tomatoes, a bag of bronze dye cut pasta, and enough water to almost cover the pasta - simmer on medium heat stirring regularly until the pasta has absorbed enough moisture to be al dente - shred an ungodly amount of Parmesan into that sucker and pour in 1/4 cup of cream
My kids will eat this bowl after bowl, even the picky one. And it makes great leftovers
Slow cooker pulled pork is easy and delicious. Just google Dr Pepper Pulled Pork Crock Pot and any of the top page results will do the job. It makes food for days too. I portion the left overs into single servings and freeze them in vacuum packs. They microwave extremely well for a quick lunch down the road.
Taco salad. Brown some burger or get a rotisserie chicken, add salad mix, dressing or salsa, shredded cheese.
We've made BLT night a thing. It's pretty easy, and satisfying.
Every week or 2 I prep and make a large batch of protein. Smoked Chicken/pork chops/steak/pulled pork/brisket/smoked salmon. Freeze half and eat half. Rotate in one or two other proteins that were frozen and rotated in.
Butter Chicken
This has been a go to for us on nights we need a quick dinner, I usually will microwave some frozen broccoli and add it to the pot after the final step. I always make it in the crockpot either the night before or while I’m getting my boys to eat their breakfast. Turn it on as I’m walking out the door and then it’s about 10 minutes of work when we get home.
We do pan nachos. With some pico, cheese, with either beef or chicken. Kids eat it and ask for it. Spaghetti is an easy-ish one we do. Lemon chicken soup in the winter months. Chicken and rice with some veggies mixed in usually broccoli in our house. We are always on the go with soccer and baseball, these meals are some of my go to easy ones that my boys actually eat.
Oh also, Costco Chicken Chunks in the air fryer and their mini pizzas. Super easy, but definitely lacking a bit on the nutritious side. Some nights it's just about survival and those nights are when we break out these two classics.
Fried eggs are a perennial hit, offer different sauces for dipping if you wanna get adventurous
Big hits in our house include, most are easy to make and include veg that taste great. We typically make enough for the adults lunches the next day. Most are easy to prep and either cook quick or can be left to cook slow.
Beef ramen skillet Chicken pot pie( the pie type) Copycat Panera broccoli Cheddar soup Chicken or steak fajitas Crockpot beef stroganoff
I feel like everyone is still posting a ton of stuff that needs a ton of prep or attention to cooked. These are some of my go to healthy stuff. I’ll grill chicken breast and get a premade bad of salad (even easier if you stop and get a rotisserie chicken on the way home)
Canned sauce + noodles (tomato sauce, pesto, etc)
Crockpot dump meals that can cook all day
I’ll throw some chicken thighs in the oven and my rice cooker has a steaming tray so I’ll cook rice +steam veggies
Grilled salmon + asparagus + leftover rice
Grilled Shrimp/fish + coleslaw on a tortilla with some cheese and avocado
Quesadillas, I put a little oil and two folded tortillas on low heat with some cheese
Gonna plug YourBarefootNeighbor on IG/Tiktok. His whole thing is super accessible busy weeknight/one pot/crock pot dinners. I have several of his recipes on my weekly rotation. Always easy, always a crowd pleaser
mac and cheese with hamburger and/or ham cooked with it.
Fried rice (Soy sauce, Oyster Sauce, Vinegar, onions, other veggies if you have), but we always have rice as my wife is Vietnamese. Rice cooker always got something in it.
Steak lovers may kill me, but my airfryer roasts steaks to be pretty serviceable, and saves me time as I toss it in for 4-5, come back, flip it, do another 3 minutes. go. If it is frozen, it can still handle it, it's just more like 9+5.
I also love my instapot, 2 hours and I have a stew that will last us several meals. Just toss water+Meat+whatever veggies you have. g2g.
When my wife cooks a pho a few times a year, I make my signature Pho Beans (patent pending!) Just put beans in the left over broth and instapot. Essentially refried beans that tastes like awesome pho. I add bacon in sometimes.
Bacon Beans. Beans+instapot+bacon (I usually half cook the bacon first). When they're ready to be mashed up, add some honey and/or maple syrup.
Grilled cheese and tomato soup. I think every dad should own a large electric flat top grill, so you can pump out grilled cheese sandwiches or pancakes at a high speed.
I have a flat top gifted to me when I first moved out of my parent’s house. It’s old but still works great and is in nice shape…it’s my all time favorite kitchen appliance.
Okonomyaki! There's a couple of major styles to be aware of, but the essence is it's Japanese cabbage fritter/pancake, with a bunch of other mix-throughs. It's pretty easy to make, it comes together quickly, and it's customizable per person, so you can account for picky eaters. There's a bunch of recipes on youtube, some from youtubers you've heard of. We have recently (in the last 6 months) decided that we like not having the huge heaviness of the Osaka style, and prefer the lightness of the Modan-yaki style, which has a thinner pancake and a topping of fried noodles (and a way of holding it all together) instead. It's not a great description of the difference, but you'll understand when you look for the differences.
I've never gone wrong with https://www.budgetbytes.com/
Or, mezze bowls. Just mix and match any of the following: tomato, cucumber, carrots, cabbage & lemon slaw, hummus, feta, rice, couscous, roasted chickpeas, grilled chicken, pita bread.
Budget Bytes is the best! A solid chunk of my cooking knowledge got started from there. Mezze bowls sound good, I haven’t heard them called that before but we do something similar with some Trader Joe’s frozen falafels at times.
Monday is rushed for us too, and the kids came to expect spaghetti & meatballs as that's what i used to make, with more time. Well i prefer mom's recipe for homemade meatballs (too bad for me!), which is a good 2 hours before any are ready to eat. So i will double (lately triple) the amounts, make a Ton of meatballs once every other month or so. Then i take enough for a meal and leftovers out of the freezer that morning, or just defrost them after work. Boil noodles, prep a side & bread and heat up some sauce and meatballs. Great, filling meal ready quick. Granted it requires all that prep, but it's always worth it on those busy weekdays!
Sheet pan chicken. Just had it tonight. Pack of bone in chicken thighs, pack of baby carrots, chopped up cauliflower, little potatoes. Salt, pepper and olive oil. Done in 40 min.
Honestly, just put some chicken breasts into a crock pot for a few hours and then you can shred the chicken and keep it in the fridge for several quick meals. It goes with rice, tortillas, potatoes, over chips with cheese, or just plain.
You can put something in there as well to change the flavor like salsa, chicken broth to keep it moist, or other spices but it can also just be the chicken.
Big fan of the idea of going a little generic at first to make it more flexible later. I’ve made a whole crock pull of BBQ pork, and even freezing half I get tired of it before it’s all eaten. Now I’ve learned my lesson and I try to get as versatile as I can.
We've implemented themed nights throughout the week to help reduce cognitive load, and each night's theme can be altered slightly to better accomodate the needs/tastes of the toddlers vs the adults
Monday - Soup & Grilled cheese
Tuesday - Mexican
Wednesday - Sheet pan (protein, veg, roasted potato)
Thursday - Protein bowl (protein, veg, grain)
Friday - Pizza night (we usually invite others to join)
Saturday - Something easy: leftovers, breakfast for dinner, sandwiches, etc.
Sunday - Comfort meal or experimental meal
And 'Mexican' isn't strictly Mexican, it might be Doner Kebab or some other street food that has essentially the same ingredients as tacos, but with different seasonings.
Lots of stuff can get cooked ahead of time then just heated quick.
Loaded baked potato soup is a winner, make it a different day, then heat in a pot.
I am a fan of meatball sandwiches or Italian sausage sandwiches, you can buy frozen meatballs and air fry them in 8 mins.
Pulled pork, either cooked ahead of time in a smoker or just crock potted. Imma out myself as a "smoked meat dad" archetype but I will get 2-4 pork butts from Costco, smoke them all then weigh out a single meal portion and vacuum seal them to pull out for easy dinners.
Know who likes sloppy joes? Everyone. You can premix the sauce if you want, or just buy manwitch. Add it to a can of green beans and you got a super quick meal.
Lastly the dreaded precooked frozen foods. Are pizza rolls or dino nuggets great for the kids? Meh, will it be fast easy calories? Yeap.
Ooooh the soup is a good one. They’re usually plain tomato soup purists when it comes from a can but I’ll try some convincing.
And I think a lot of us feel that last point. Something frozen popped into the air fryer with something resembling a veggie (or I’ll take a fruit if that’s all I can sell them on) alongside it.
Crock pot meals are good - cook on low
Phó. Udon noodles for the little one.
Chat GPT has saved my family with weekly/daily meal ideas.
Taco's, you can batch cook the taco meat at the beginning of the week. We have made Tacos every Monday for the past 4 years. I meal prep the leftovers for lunch all week.
Grilled chicken strips, they take 10 minutes on medium-high heat on a propane grill (5 minutes on a side, check with instant thermometer). This can become chicken Alfredo, chicken salads, and my favorite Chicken Mac-N-cheese.
Beef tips and rice. Slow cooker, onion soup mix, brown gravy mix, and water. Toss it in the slow cooker in the morning and it will be ready in 6-8 hours. Minute rice takes a few minutes to cook on the stove. If you have a rice cooker long grain is MUCH better.
Sloppy Joe's, again batch cook and stores well in the refrigerator.
Chilli freezes well in a ziploc freezer bag.
Pork chops/loins quick hit in a pan, onions/mushrooms in
Stock, mustard herbs etc pork back in
Done in about 15/20mins
Some kind of simple tofu dal with rice; easy to make, healthy, and made out of pantry ingredients.
Nom nom paleo has a lot of slow cooker and instant pot meals and most of them are pretty good.
https://nomnompaleo.com/category/recipes/pressure-cooker-instant-pot
Crockpot chili, pull apart meat for taco night, lentil variety, soup Easy for two working parents with mouths to feed
Pierogies & kielbasa. It’s something different and it’s become one of our favorites!
Toss some frozen pierogies, some sliced kielbasa, and some onion in a skillet for about 12 minutes and you’re done. We serve ours on top of some Bob Evans mashed potatoes.
Korean Beef
Brown ground beef and then add soy sauce and brown sugar. Serve over rice. That’s the base and could be eaten as such and is delicious.
You could also spice up the beef. I add white pepper, ginger powder, sesame oil, sometimes regular ginger, MSG. Any combo of these will take it up a notch.
You can also add toppings if you’d like. We like green onion, toasted sesame seeds, quick pickled cucumber, carrot sticks.
If you want a sauce just mix mayo or sour cream with sriracha and a few drops of water to thin it out.
Again, just the beef, soy, brown sugar, and rice is delicious. Everything else is bonus.
Cut potatoes and carrots. Put them in a dutch oven. Season a whole chicken with oil, salt, pepper, garlic, paprika. Put chicken on top of veggies in pot.
Cook in oven at 425 for an 1.5 hrs.
Done.
We get the breaded chicken strips from aldis, throw them in the air fryer for 15 minutes. Then tortilla, bag of shredded lettuce, and 1 tomato — chicken wraps that you can add ranch, honey mustard or bbq
Chili? You can slow cooker that.
It's a rare week that we don't have at least one of:
Tacos, Pasta or Frozen Pizza.
Taco Bowls - onion - package of 3 peppers from Aldi - Ground Turkey, also Aldi - rice - Pinto beans, 2 cans drained
Sauté onions and peppers (we chop them small for the kids)
Add in turkey until cooked. (Can use any ground meat)
Add taco seasoning and water
Add rinsed beans
Throw it on top of rice
Easiest and healthiest meal we make. Can use one pan and we use a small rice cooker too. Kids devour it and makes for great leftovers.
Salmon + minced garlic + soy sauce + honey. Marinate overnight
Instant 90 second rice
Asparagus + olive oil + sea salt + cracked pepper + garlic powder (bake at 400 for 20ish mins
Perfectly balanced meal for everyone and the kids love it in my house.
We keep a box of Bubba burgers in the freezer for backup
Raviolis (Rana brand) you can store in the freezer, still pasta but at least adds some variety. Add frozen meatballs.
Pork loin for 30-60 mins in the oven. While that’s baking, heat up rice and veggie. EZ
Late to the party here but one I make often for my family is an easy "sausage carbonara" thing.
Ingredients:
1 pack of mild or hot Italian sausage (I have also made this with other types of sausage and they turn out insanely good) removed from their casing
1 box of any pasta shape
A metric shit ton of parmesan cheese, if you got the real stuff all the power to you but I've used the plastic jar stuff and it works fine EXCEPT Kraft brand parmesan, I have no idea what fillers and stabilizers are in it but it does NOT incorporate into a sauce
I've added some sauteed frozen spinach as well to add some more nutrients to this but it's not necessary
Recipe:
Cook pasta in a large pot of lightly salted water, cook and break up the sausage in a separate pan while the pasta is cooking.
Once both pasta and sausage are cooked, drain pasta but reserve 2 cups of pasta water.
Add 1 cup of pasta water back into the pot and add the sausage to the same pot with all the rendered fat. Stir vigorously for a minute or so.
Edit: remove from heat at this point
Bit by bit add your metric shit ton of parmesan cheese, adding more water as necessary, while stirring vigorously, to create a smooth creamy sauce. If adding fresh spinach or thawed spinach do this now.
Serve immediately.
It comes together in 20 minutes, and all the flavour is from the sausage and the cheese. Insanely easy brain-dead meal to get on the table and fill bellys.
Both pasta adjacent but:
Crock pot turkey meatballs (for variation could do beef though it’s a bit greasier or could do Swedish instead of tomato sauce)
Crock pot lasagna - not quick to set up but turns out really well and you could start it at lunch
https://thegirlonbloor.com/crockpot-lasagna-recipe/
You can look it up on instagram or ticktoc, there are these 3-5 ingredient Trader Joe’s meals. We’ve been doing those for a couple of weeks lots of variety and it takes like 20 min max to throw together. E.g. shaved beef with teriyaki sauce, rice and broccoli.
Baked sweet potatoes topped with whatever you want. We do carnitas or taco mixings often. Sometimes just regular baked potato stuff. Daughter loves it.
Dirty rice: either Aldi brand (I prefer their seasoning) your local chain will have Uncle Ben's or store brand. 1lb or ground turkey (my wife and kids don't eat beef). Follow boxed directions, add in drained kidney beans and drained or frozen corn (optional). I also grab a pre-cooked and pre-cut andouille smoked sausage to throw in mine. It's one pan, feeds 4 of us comfortably, you can also add more rice and seasoning depending on your family size.
Fried rice - let the kids choose 2 veg and whatever protein and you can whip it up it for each one. Like in a restaurant. My nephews loved it.
Three ingredient banana pancake. One banana, one egg and two tablespoons of flour. Makes three silver dollar pancakes.
If you have a rice cooker or instant. Make a pot of rice, but swap the water with any kind of brother. Throw in big pieces rotisserie chicken, green onions, garlic, onion, whatever veggies you have chopped. And a splash of soy sauce. Cook regular and boom. Instant meal.
Instant noodle (shin ramyun) and beef bone broth soup (can buy ready to heat packaged)
Heat bone broth to boil throw in noodles
I did Greek or teriyaki bowls- got some either salmon or chicken and you can cook in the pan, grill, or even airfryer. Japanese bbq sauce, hummus or tzatziki, season with just like onion and garlic.. did the 90 second lentils from target, did some quinoa with it and then air fried some sweet potato to get all mixed in. You can even cheat and hit up your local Chinese takeout spot for rice if you want or grab the 90 second brown rice too.. but Generally healthier and dinner can be made in like 15-20 min
Last night's hit that everyone finished and raved about was Chicken Katsu and white rice. Considering I have 3 from 2-6 y/o, this was high praise.
I usually see what's on sale at the grocery store then visit r/tonightsdinner for ideas. I also stop all snacking 2 hrs before dinner.
Shakshuka, easy to prep and just put in the oven If you have a little more time mushroom risotto Anything traybake-able Melanzane Quiche easy to prepare in advance and reheat
My mom called these "Bar-B-Cups." They're like miniature meat pies, and my kids think they're delicious. Even my may-as-well-be-vegetarian daughter who turns up her nose at any meat other than chicken nuggets.
Get some pre-made biscuit dough. I buy the Pillsbury tubes. Flatten the biscuit dough into discs, then put them into a muffin pan so that each one has a cup shape. It's okay if the tops don't come all the way up to the rim of the muffin basins.
Brown some ground beef in a skillet, draining off most of the grease. Add seasonings as desired (I use salt, paprika, and basil; I would also add diced onions if my kids didn't insist that they hate onions). Transfer it to a bowl. Mix it with a generous amount of your favorite barbecue sauce so that all the meat is coated, but stop before you turn it into sloppy joe filling.
Spoon some of the beef mixture into each biscuit dough cup to be level with, or slightly higher than, the rim of muffin basin. Top with shredded cheese. Bake as directed on the biscuit dough packaging.
I generally use 1.5 pounds of ground beef for two 10-count dough tubes.