Currently my girls are at the age where family dinners are a bit difficult with MrGGE's working schedule. On days when we are all home we eat together but it's not always possible....especially when the kids want to have dinner at 4.30pm.
Pizza pre-cooked and pulled from the freezer - a quick crowd favourite.
Sometimes the girls eat what we are eating if it's something I've prepared early and can keep it hot for us later - such as a slow cooker dish. Sometimes they eat what we had the night before or something from the freezer from a previous meal or cook-up. Frozen slices of pizza are a big favourite, I make these when baking bread.
And other times it gets to 4pm and I haven't got a plan (I hate those times) or I've planned for one of my quick dinner options.
I thought I'd share a few of my quick dinner ideas here in case they are useful for others. These ideas need not be limited to kids either!
Small pasta - quick cooking goodness
Quick & Easy Dinner Ideas for Kids
- Egg on toast - scrambled, fried or boiled
- Omelette with cheese, peas & corns (inside or on the side - frozen or tinned)
- Pasta with:
- grated cheese,
- butter/oil, salt & pepper
- cream
- pesto
- Hommus, crackers and raw veg
- Cous Cous with pesto
- Rice & red lentil dahl
- Mexican bowls - Taco shells or leftover rice with tin corn, tin black beans, grated cheese and any other bits on hand such as salsa, avocado, sour cream, capsicum, grated carrot etc.
- Tin spaghetti in a bowl
- Flatbread (toppings and sides optional at times!)
I think we can put a lot of pressure on ourselves to prepare a full meal every night...but who set those rules? As long as the meal satisfies little tummies I'm happy. Kids get a good balance of foods from all the meals and snacks across a day - dinner isn't the be all and end all. Plus at dinnertime kids are tired, and I'm tired too.
Leftover dahl and taco shells - Authentic? No. Quick? You betcha.
Around here we introduce new foods on weekends when we all eat together. I try and provide a variety of foods across the day and across the week so I don't sweat it if any one meal is a bit more basic.
Eventually we'll transition to us all eating together a bit more regularly. I'd also like to introduce more meals where all the elements are served to the table and people help themselves. But for this season it doesn't quite work like that...and that's okay too.
How do family meals pan out (or did pan out if the kids have flown the coop) at your place?
Any quick 'go to' meals to share? I always like to add to my repertoire.
My husband is a chef, so it used to be common, he wouldn't eat meals with us. Thankfully he landed a job, which allows him to be home in the evenings nowadays. So I'm familiar with the jig-saw puzzle that becomes family meals. Life is full of irony though, because we still prepare different meals, because we all have different preferences, lol.
ReplyDeleteThe few easy ones we agree on are: bacon and eggs (straight, or in a wrap) as well as, make your own pizza (on a wrap). Also, quiche - I make it, cut and store in the fridge. Then it's choose your own salad side. A really easy night, is fried hot chips. When it's just the kids, they have the frozen variety. When I'm eating, we make our own from potatoes - because I can't eat gluten.
I best keep prepared for that too then Chris - joint but different meals! I think my kids would be in on the chips for dinner option - that's a good one to add to the repertoire for nights the oven is on as I'd probably bake them. Thanks Chris :)
Delete