Your easiest make ahead weeknight meals for kids?
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Anonymous
| I’m so tired of our regular rotation of easy weeknight meals. I need to mix things up a bit. What are your easy weeknight go tos? Vegetarian meals are our preference but we can adapt whatever you’ve got. We like lots of veggies. Family includes early elementary kids. I usually make most of the ingredients (like roasted veggies or plain pasta or cooked beans) on the weekend and then just put things together during the week. Thank you! |
Anonymous
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Check out these websites:
Minimalist Baker Cookie and Kate Love and Lemons Smitten Kitchen They will lead to others if you don't like anything they have. |
Anonymous
| Big pot of soup and sourdough bread. |
Anonymous
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Sloppy Joe's from ground turkey (has peppers and carrots in tiny pieces in it)
Egg roll in a bowl - calls for ground pork, but I frequently use ground turkey |
Anonymous
| I love a good sheet pan dinner! Can prep everything over the weekend and just toss in the oven to cook when you get home. |
Anonymous
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Veggie burgers and tots and salad
Lentil soup and bread Quesadillas / tacos |
Anonymous
| Not easy but definitely make-ahead- big thing of ratatouille or similar vegetable sauce. You can serve it with noodles, rice, potatoes, add cheese, etc. I have older children so would make one version "puttanesca" with some chili peppers, capers and olives too. |
Anonymous
| Lasagna |
Anonymous
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You need to stop precooking things like pasta and roasted veg. These things cook in the same amount of time as the rest of the meal, and taste significantly worse reheated.
The Marcella Hazan pasta sauce is quick. Shrimp scampi is super fast. Pork tenderloin or salmon with rice and roasted veg, “taco salad” with 3 bean chili (can make the chili ahead of time), quesadillas. There are so many under 30 minute options that actually taste good. |
Anonymous
| White bean chicken chile. Cook up sweet potatoes and potats for the week. |
Anonymous
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Sauté whatever veggies you have around with some garlic (or skip the garlic if your kids aren't big on it) -- today I had some mushrooms and a shallot and a couple of plum tomatoes I needed to use. Add a package of frozen peas, stir til they are warm. Add a thing of boursin cheese and a bit of the pasta water (or stock, if you have it handy). Season to taste with salt and pepper. You can add some parm cheese too if you have it.
This recipe adapts to just about any veggies -- perfect for using up leftover roasted veggies or the stuff in your fridge that has only one day left or a bag of frozen mixed veggies or whatever. |
Anonymous
Ugh, PP here. Sorry -- left out the pasta! This is for pasta -- boil some pasta and last step is to mix it in to the rest! |
Anonymous
| ⬆️Boursin garlic and herb works in so many recipes. I use it in stuffed mushrooms. |
Anonymous
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My kids really like these stuffed mushrooms. One just eats the filling mostly but the other eats the whole thing. I make the filling in advance and just clean and stuff the mushrooms. I serve with Rao sauce and bread on the side.
https://www.budgetbytes.com/spinach-stuffed-portobellos/ This frittata could be made in advance as well. It tastes fine the next day. For one kid’s preference I roast the asparagus on the side. https://cookieandkate.com/baked-asparagus-frittata/ I do crockpot meals and prep the. Veggies and spices in a bag in advance. Black bean soup, tomato, split pea, etc… |
Anonymous
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Do some Hello Fresh Kits. Also, I’m not sure if you need to have signed up in the past, or if anyone can, but you can see meal ideas + full recipes and ingredients.
None of them take longer than 10-20-30 (maybe up to 45) minutes. You can filter out ones that take a while. |