Cheats meals for kids...

Tonight DH is working late, and on those nights I normally give the kids leftovers or something else quick and easy as I'll make our dinner together later (tonight we're having garlic prawns and cauli rice).

I'm just wondering what cheats meals you give your kids? What things do you keep on hand for those days when either you're eating later or can't be bothered?

Things I tend to keep on hand:

Cream cheese (great for a quick pasta dish with tinned tuna, corn, baby spinach and onion)
Tinned Tuna
Frozen Veg
Baby spinach (or other leaves)
Frozen Mash (it is quite good believe it or not and because I'm not a big potato fan these days means I don't have to peel spuds for 2 wee ones)
Tempura Chicken/Chicken Crackles etc
Honey Soy Marinade
Eggs
2 minute rice (in the sachets)
Stir through pasta sauces
Dry Pasta
Tortillas
Frozen Onion

Things I make for the kids:

Frittata
Tuna Pasta
Chicken Crackles, Potato Mash, Steamed Veg and a nice drizzle of Honey Soy Marinade (they love sauces/gravies and this seems to keep them happy as a "treat")
Left over cold meat & veggie omlette and steamed rice (makes like a fried rice when mixed together)
Stir through Pasta with ham and grated zucchini & carrot
Chicken Crackles with Avocado, Tomato, Mayo, cheese (in a flour tortilla)
Tortilla Pizza

Soooo gimme some other ideas. I like to always have foods in the freezer/cupboard for emergencies!

Um oh my i'm gonna ask you a dumb question here Niliac ... BUT What is Chicken Crackles ?? :rolleyes: ... Would so luv to know ;)

... I will be back later with my ... as i call it * Lazy Meals *, LOL !!

Basically Tempura Chicken Nuggets LOL just round ;)

I forgot to add I also buy the Heinz Spinach cubes so I can add spinach to meals too (like pasta and frittata) if I don't have fresh spinach.

My DD loves Chicken Crackles too! She also loves anything that is spaghetti with sauce and HEAPS of parmesan grated over the top.

ahhhh tonight was our lazy night & it was left over sausages & mashed potatoes with carrot sticks. Boring I know.

Other quick meals:

*fried rice
*bowl of hummous dip with carrot sticks, chicken strips, and pita bread
*left overs!!!
*fritatta
*bean burritos (layer of beans, grated carrots & zucchini rolled up in a tortilla)
*2 minute noodles (plain) with grated vegetables with chicken stock

Whenever I have a roast chook, I pull off extra meat & freeze it in zip lock bags. I also always make double portions of bolognaise so it is always in the freezer if I need it.

Chicken Goujons are a big favourite here, same brand as crackles ;) They are crumbed chicken fingers.

DD loves tuna morney; or tuna, cheese sauce, and frozen veggies with pasta.

Any sort of pasta, DS loves it! It can just be spaghetti with passata and parmesan, or pasta with butter and cheese, whatever. I try to add vegies though ;) I also have individual serves (DS size) of bolognaise sauce in the freezer.

Baked beans with grated cheese and multigrain toast. VERY lazy, I know!

Another fave here is buttered bread cut into little pieces, with a soft boiled egg broken up over the top and sprinkled with a little salt. Yum!

DP is not here for dinner (but DSD, myself and DD are!) for one week out of every two so I try to Imake sure I've done a stew or something that I can just reheat and DP will cook spaghetti sauce or a risotto before he goes to work so that's a few nights sorted and I just need to reheat when I get home from work.

One of my favourite lazy meals is jacket potatoes with pretty much any filling - baked beans + cheese, tuna + sweetcorn etc. etc.

I also try to make chicken stock from every pre-roasted chicken we buy and turn that into a chicken, lentil & sweetcorn soup.

My sister used to make mini pizza's. get them muffins that u toast and put tomatoe paste (or whateever), ham, she used to sneak in a veg like grated something and cheese and put them in the oven. they take no more than 10 mins to prepare and cook. and really, u can add whatever u like to them.

I do that with bread rolls too Holly, if we have had them for lunch or the day before and I have leftovers.
I also make quiche or fritata with any vegies and meat I have around.

We do a lot of the same things - tuna pasta (on a really lazy night I use the side dish pasta packs and add tuna and frozen vegies - my kids love it!), fritatta/omlette/scrambled eggs/baked beans with multigrain toast, chicken breast nuggets with steamed vegies. I also buy frozen chicken & vegie pies and serve these with steamed vegies and mashed potato.

I used to make a sort of 'cheats risotto' - aborio or jasmine rice cooked in the mircowave with flavoured tuna (usually tomato & onion) and grated cheese stirred through - it's surprisingly good! I actually have it for lunch sometimes. DS loves it but DD won't eat rice anymore :rolleyes:

gee.. most of these meals are our regular dinners! :hide: lol

chicken noodle soup is our biggest cheats meal.
dh usually makes a big pot and then we freeze a heap so i just have to defrost it.

Omlette with veggies like grated zuccini, carrot, peas corn...bacon, ham, chicken, cheese
Sliced ham with a boiled egg, cherry tomatoes, avocado
Dippy eggs with toast soldiers
Scrambled eggs with chopped ham and tomato
sausages with frozen chips, peas and corn
Tinned chicken and corn soup with added veggies
Frozen left overs like spag bol, shepards pie etc...
Toasties with tinned sausages and veggies
Potato salad with peas, corn, grated carrot, shallots and tuna (sounds gross but is actually really yum!) you have to use REAL whole egg mayo on it though!

I also keep Raffertys pouches in my cupboard JIC :) theyre great!

What about baked potatoes with leftovers on top - savoury mince with cheese, baked beans and cheese, quick and easy.

I like to do fritters with left over roast meats and frozen vegies tossed into the mix too.

One of my favourite quickie meals , and one that my girls absolutley love, is Plum Jam Lamb (that's what they have named it anyway.)

It's actually a weight watchers meal:

500g of lamb - (i buy the lamb schnitzel and dice it up fine)
1 tablespoon of Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon of Balsamic Vinegar
1 teaspoon of minced garlic
1/4 cup plum jam

I fry the ingredients, and then take off the heat and stir through the plum jam.
Serve with rice.
yummy

My DD1 is VERY picky, so its usually very basic stuff.
Home made spagetti
Boiled eggs, boiled potatoes, & cheese sticks. Sometimes they'll have other salad stuff too.
Continental packet pasta's with tinned tuna & vegies mixed through.
Toasted cheese & avocado sandwiches.
Nuggets & chips in the oven.
Hokkien noodle stir fry.

:

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One of my favourite quickie meals , and one that my girls absolutley love, is Plum Jam Lamb (that's what they have named it anyway.)

It's actually a weight watchers meal:

500g of lamb - (i buy the lamb schnitzel and dice it up fine)
1 tablespoon of Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon of Balsamic Vinegar
1 teaspoon of minced garlic
1/4 cup plum jam

I fry the ingredients, and then take off the heat and stir through the plum jam.
Serve with rice.
yummy

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how good does that sound?! :p

Had another quickie tonight - arancini from the deli. It's basically risotto that's been rolled into a ball, coated in breadcrumbs and shallow fried. I keep meaning to do this with leftover risotto but haven't got around to it yet but the ones from the deli were great. It's a little Italian-run supermarket so they know their onions!

Roast vegetable quiche (shop-bought) with baked beans is another quicky in this house.

That plum jam lamb sounds delish! My DD loves anything with rice, so I always freeze ziploc bags of rice in the freezer and just pull out one if I'm having a 'lazy cooking night'! She loves tuna rice (grated cheese, frozen peas and tin of tuna stirred through rice) or chinese rice (leftover chicken, peas, corn, egg and a splash of soy). I also make chilli con carne in the slow cooker, strog, bolognaise etc and keep frozen portions in the freezer. I'll have to try those chicken crackles though, think she'd love them :)

I do quesadillas or tortilla roll ups in the sandwich press - ham, cheese, pineapple and bbq sauce. Easy lunch or dinner and they love it.

DD also really likes any sort of roll up that she can make herself - messy but I know she'll eat it. I just cut everything up and let them go for it.

I also keep homemade pizza dough in the freezer and pull that out if I'm pressed - they'll eat that with nothing but pizza sauce and cheese but I usually go to a bit more effort :p

Fritters are good - ham, cheese, grated carrot and zucchini.

I also make good ole zucchini slice and freeze it cut into cubes. They love that.

And both of them LOVE pumpkin soup. I freeze that in small portions and give it to them with cheese toast.

Oh and also mini quiches. I just make them with rolled out wholemeal bread cut into squares and pressed into a muffin tin - a bit of cheese in the base to seal it, ham or spinach and some egg/milk mix poured on top. 10 minutes in the oven and done.

our favourite here is tomato soup with a rissole noodles added - easy way to get my girls to eat meat

A great one (if you can get your kids onto it early enough, before they get ickky about eating strong-tasting stuff) is sardines. Super easy and full of omega 3 fatty acids (for those days you KNOW they haven't eaten anything decent). Only bummer is they (the children, that is) smell for a while after they eat them LOL!