Budget Family lunch ideas

[feeb]

Quiche
pasta bake
Rolls
chicken nuggets
volevants (you can fill with chicken and cheese and corn etc)
chicken curry and rice
fried rice
pies
pasties

[briggsy's girl]

been thinking it through some more...

we always cook too much of whatever we have when doing a saucy based dish (spag bol, braise anything like that) and freeze in meal sized servings too

-home made sausage rolls (you can add onion and carrot to it) - i find most shop bought ones uninspiring flavour and texture wise
-baked spuds are good - with bacon onion cheese etc (you can keep most of it in the freezer)
-egg salad sandwich
-wedges with bacon, onion and cheese (sour cream if you fancy it) - divine! we do this as an easy feed when the boys are working - filling, but not too heavy
-steamed/bbq'd dim sims
-quiche is always good
-ommelette/scramble
-meatloaf - sausage meat, mix through some veg (we put onion and capsicum), form into a neat little shape, whack it in the oven - usually we top it with a tomato sauce/mustard glaze
-simple vegie stir fry (don't need to add meat, but can if you're needing the protein hit)
-toasted sandwiches! the best - cheese, ham, pineapple or whatever you like. the best ones we have are the ones with left over burrito mince and cheese - sooo yummm!
-nachos - simple - chips, salso, cheese (sour cream and stuff if you like) - if you want it a bit more bitey, use nacho sauce instead of salsa. if you want it "heavier" - use burrito or taco mince. the best way we've done it is left over mince, melted cheese, top with a nice salsa. yummmmm (neither DH nor i do sour cream or guacamole, but you get the pic) - if you're not big on cornchips for a meal, you can replace the chips but you can use wedges instead. take a bit longer though. when we make tacos or burritos, we make HEAPS and then freeze lots of small portions ready for stuff like this.


umm, DH has been home a few days so we have been eating other simple lunch foods and it's inspired me again!

[Astrid]

ooh, thanks for the ideas. I wanted to avoid salad rolls, DH makes yummy ones, but for some reason mine are not so good.

Have to get some paper for the printer, so I can print them all out and stick on the fridge, or maybe I should do some serious meal planning

[nagromeyk]

You could make pizzas using pita bread as the bases. I do them all the time and they are far tastier when you make them youself.
Your 8 yr old might even enjoy creating his own with various toppings??

I do a hawaiian one and then another one which has ham, salami, mushrooms on it... yum, feel like one now actually!!

[nelly]

old fave here I thought about today is mum's bacon and egg pie - it is divine, easy and tastes great!

1kg puff pastry sheeets
750g-1kg Bacon
12 egg
frzn peas and corn cooked for about 1-2 mins in microwave
fruit chutney
salt and peper to season

This used to feed us for 2 days lunch and dinner, or when we were older 7 adults and lunch the next day for a few of us - just as good hot or cold.

Line a huge baking dish - ours the the biggest one corningware makes without a lid - about 30x45cm ?
Grease the base and line it with pastry including up the sides w a bit of overhang.
Evenly sprinkle bacon around the dish, followed by peas and corn
Dot with fruit chutney
crack the eggs evenly around the dish and pirck their yolks a couple of times
Season w salt and pepper
Top with a layer of pastry and seal the edges, brush with milk or butter or egg white
Bake in a mod-hot oven for about 45mins until golden brown.