Homemade veggie burgers or falafel are my go-to. There are a thousand different recipes that offer a great balance of protein and healthy carbs - typically they include things like beans, quinoa, lentils, and sweet potato, along with veggie mix ins like carrots, squash, onion, and greens.

Chili is great and there are also many healthy, veggie-heavy recipes out there.

While not THE healthiest, fried rice is also an easy one that is a kid favorite and that can be veggie-heavy if you want it to be. Use brown rice and include an extra protein source like tofu to up the nutrition value.

Like others have said, you don't have to do 100% pre-cooked stuff to be able to get a meal on the table fast. Pre-wash and pre-chop veggies on the weekend and make a large pot of some sort of grain, then just add the protein day-of - quick eggs, baked chicken or fish, etc.

Taco meat with beef or turkey

I’ve been known to boil pasta and use later that week or even freeze.

Find a marinade chicken recipe that you can freeze. Use chicken tenders so they cook faster. If you remember to defrost, great, pop in oven and done. But even if you forget to defrost, stick bag in hot water for a few minutes, boom, defrosted. Then serve with frozen veggies. I usually get frozen rice or quinoa with sauce or flavoring, then add more frozen veggies.

There are a couple things that are really fast to get on the table without advance prep. Steamed white fish with soy sauce, steamed or baked tofu (I do a sesame oil, ume vinegar, soy sauce that the kids love), broiled salmon, anything you can just pop in the pan and sear like a breast or thin cut of meat.

Then if you have time on the weekend you can wash/pre chop vegetables to stir fry. Some things that last well even if cut are zucchini, peppers, shredded red cabbage, carrot, green beans, broccoli, bok choy. There are things that don't need to be chopped at all, just washed -- baby kale, spinach, bean sprouts. Also prep the garlic and onion. You can also prep some sliced chicken or beef to throw in a stir fry. Open containers, throw in pan . . . dinner in 10 min. If you want to bake vegetables in advance, sweet potato and cauliflower lasts for at least two days. Steamed I would do beets or daikon.

That's pretty much how we eat, and we cook big pots of grain (quinoa, barley, farro, bulgur, rice) periodically throughout the week for lunches and dinners.

Anonymous wrote:Soups, stews, chili all freeze really well. Soup and grilled cheese is a great quick dinner.

I’ve also done batches of frozen burritos, enchiladas, empanadas, homemade veggie burgers that don’t need to be too heavy and can include lots of veggies.

Pulled pork or chicken is also good to do ahead - you can use it for sliders, salads, tacos, etc. There are good recipes out there for veggie-heavy turkey sloppy joes too (I think epicurious has one with zucchini and sweat potato) that I think would similarly freeze well.

I’ve tried freezing prepped sheet pan sausage and veggies, as well as fajita meat and veggies too, though not with great success.

Do you mind sharing the veggie burger recipe?

We freeze chicken stew/soup, Kafta burgers (ground chicken thigh, red pepper), salmon cakes (salmon, white potato, sweet potato). Bolognaise sauce is one that lasts well and we probably do once every couple of weeks (and eat twice -once as leftover). I really like the fettuccine bolognaise recipe on Weelicious actually except I substitute ground beef and spaghetti instead of turkey/fettuccine.

Anonymous wrote:Stew? Chicken or turkey chili? Premade and frozen breakfast burritos?
Also rethink dinner some days. It can be scrambled eggs and frozen peas and a piece of toast. Or avocado toast and a tomato.

+1

You need to get a list of meals you can have on the table in 30 minutes. My kids love breakfast for dinner.

Also, come up with pantry/freezers meal you can cook quickly. You can have spaghetti (whole wheat or veggie based) and meatballs (frozen, your choice of meat or "meat") and some type of veggie on the table in 30 minutes. Also, when you cook something that can double/triple/etc nicely, cook extra and freeze. This works well with pasta, beans, soups, stews, chilis.

Mini beef/pork meat loaves using oatmeal in place of bread crumbs. Toss in some puréed veggies.

This one is a pretty healthy and whole casserole that I go to often.

https://ifoodreal.com/healthy-chicken-and-rice-casserole/

-baked chicken thighs (serve with any quick vegetable: salad or steamed broccoli are my go-tos); shred and make tacos or quesadillas at end of week
-turkey chili
-chicken tortilla soup
-chicken, kale, sweet potato soup

Soups, stews, chili all freeze really well. Soup and grilled cheese is a great quick dinner.

I’ve also done batches of frozen burritos, enchiladas, empanadas, homemade veggie burgers that don’t need to be too heavy and can include lots of veggies.

Pulled pork or chicken is also good to do ahead - you can use it for sliders, salads, tacos, etc. There are good recipes out there for veggie-heavy turkey sloppy joes too (I think epicurious has one with zucchini and sweat potato) that I think would similarly freeze well.

I’ve tried freezing prepped sheet pan sausage and veggies, as well as fajita meat and veggies too, though not with great success.

I batch cook a vegetable-heavy pasta sauce every other weekend. It has onion, garlic, mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash, green peppers, carrots, and spinach in addition to tomatoes. I purée it because one of my kids would freak out if she new about the mushrooms. My husband is in charge of dinner during the week but isn’t a particular adept or imaginative cook. So the kids have this sauce with pasta, sometimes adding meatballs, 2 days a week, beans and rice (also batch made on Sunday because it makes DH’s life easier to jot have to hassle with the rice cooker or actually seasoning the beans) with some cut up peppers one day, mac and cheese out of a box with peas one day, and then they meet me out on Friday.

Stew? Chicken or turkey chili? Premade and frozen breakfast burritos?
Also rethink dinner some days. It can be scrambled eggs and frozen peas and a piece of toast. Or avocado toast and a tomato.

This week was really rough because I didn't do any pre-cooking or pre-planning the weekend before for weeknight dinners. so it was a scramble home, rush to cook and feed my starving toddler.
So I am going to do some batch cooking this weekend, but struggle to come up with healthy ideas. I think of pastas and casseroles, not exactly healthy eating.