Help! I need school day dinner menu ideas!

[missypie]

Food is an "issue" at our house. DH is a SAHD who doesn't like to cook and is not good at it. I work full time and am ticked when I come home and there is nothing made or planned for dinner. I admit that it would be hard for DH to cook great meals even if he wanted to because he shuttles kids around to activities after school. One of the kids is quite picky; the other two aren't terribly picky - they just eat like kids.

Every year I resolve that we will eat better/healther. What are your favorite quick dinner menus for school nights? Don't be afraid if it's not fancy or super healthy - if it's better than frozen pizza it will be an improvement!

 

[Freyja]

Fajitas!!!
Fried/grilled chicken
Lettuce
Cheese
Tomatos
Onions
Salsa
Guacomole
......

Everything put into seperate bowles and everyone can put their own fajitas together. My kids love this

Freyja

 

[missypie]

So funny that someone in Denmark is telling someone in Texas to serve fajitas!

 

[dizagain]

LOL! That was funny! Fellow Texan here was just about to suggest the same thing - I use the already cooked bags of grilled chicken and heat it up...easy and yummy! One of my DD's only puts cheese and lettuce in hers, but oh, well! I also like to fix baked potatoes and have toppings to choose from as well as a salad. Of course, there's always my personal easy fave...frozen ravioli, Ragu, bread, and salad!! I know it's a pain. Good luck!

 

[Jenn Lynn]

What about crockpot recipes? I love the cookbook Fix It and Forget It.

Here a a couple of my favorite quick oven recipes.

Tator Tot Casserole

1lb. hamburger
onion (to taste)
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 can french cut green beans
tator Tots (frozen)
Cheese (optional)

Brown Hamburger and Onion. Drain. Season. Put in bottom of casserole dish. Add cheese if desired. Then layer Cream of Mushroom soup and green beans. Top with Tator tots (I put almost 3/4 of the bag on mine.)

Cook at 350 until heated though.


Taco Casserole
1lb. Hamburger
Onion to taste
8oz. Sour Cream
8 oz. Cottage Cheese
8 oz. Doritos (crushed)
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 sm. can tomato SAUCE
sliced black olives
Mozzerella and cheddar cheese (1 12 oz. pkg. each.)

Brown Hamburger and onion-drain. Layer doritos in bottom of casserole dish. Next Hamburger. Mix taco seasoning and tomato sauce. Pour on top of hamburger. Layer cottage cheese, then sour cream, last black olives. Top with cheese. Bake at 350 for 1/2 and hour.

 

[decker96]

Chicken Quesadillas

8 flour tortillas
1 large can chicken (like tuna, only chicken but the big can, I think it's like 10 ozs)
1 pkg shredded cheese (we use cheddarjack, but you can use whatever you want)

Divide chicken evenly and place on one half of each tortilla. Sprinkle each half with cheese. Fold each tortilla over and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes. Cut in half and serve with sour cream, salsa and guacamole. Quick and good and easy to increase or decrease the recipe depending on the number of people you have.

 

[Shugardrawers]

You can find lots of great casseroles in the frozen section of the grocery store. Things like lasagna, chicken and noodles etc. All you do is pop them in the oven, make a salad and bread and it's dinner. Someone mentioned frozen raviloi, that's always good. So are the stir fries in the bags in the freezer section. Some even come with the meat too. Almost anything can be turned into a decent meal by adding salad and bread. Fish sticks, corn dogs, pizza, all kid friendly and easy. Also, in the deli section you can often find things like whole roasted chickens and deli made casseroles. And of course, the easiest things to make for dinner: a phone call to Dominos and reservations!

 

[missypie]

The kids really don't like casseroles, which is a shame because I like them and they can be made ahead. DH likes to buy the premade stuff from the freezer section....the sodium content is usually off the charts.

 

[Freyja]

I hadn´t even noticed that you are in Texas

That really is funny

 

[kasar]

How about plain old spaghetti with either meat sauce or meatballs. It's so easy and always a hit. A nice dinner with some salad.

We buy those hot rotisserie chickens from the grocery store, make some Stove Top stuffing and have a few veggies. Also easy and good.

My kids love ham but we rarely have time to cook a full ham so I buy ham steaks and throw them on the grill. Serve with veggies and some mac and cheese.

Stir fry chicken with some peppers and onions in soy sauce, garlic powder and ginger. I'll add a little orange or pineapple juice if I have it. Serve over rice with chow mein noodles.

 

[Jenn Lynn]

Do your kids like ham?

I buy half of a Cure 81 ham, slice and freeze it in meal portions. Then I just fry it up, with some potatos and a veggie. MIL buys really good mashed poatos that are in a bag. She just has to put them in a bowl and microwave them.

You can also put a ham in the crockpot with some scalloped potatos.

My Mom used to make us "bird's nest's". Butter a slice of bread on both sides. cut out a hole in the middle (we used the open part of a glass.) Put the bread in a greased (Pam spray) fry pan and crack an egg in the hole. We used to LOVE these as kids. Of course would would ask Mom to make out egg 'runny' so we could soak up the egg with the bread.

Another thing is mini pizzas. Buy the canned pillsbury biscuits, pizza sauce and whatever topings you like. flatten dough a little, add sauce and ingredients, top with cheese. Cook according to biscuit directions.

 

[disykat]

I'm the last person to give advice on cooking because I run into the same "what to serve" problems. However, when I do the following I seem to do okay. I am mostly a SAHM and actually find it easier to cook when I work because I force myself to plan ahead. When I'm home I think I'll have plenty of time and then I don't get around to it!

When you make your weekly grocery list plan about 5 real meals plus a few quickies (like hot dogs, canned soup, etc.) along with your lunch and breakfast staples. Stick the list of meals that you planned on the front of the fridge so you'll know exactly what you have on hand. A quick glance at the fridge the night before and you'll know what you have to take out to defrost.

Currently on hand I have a chicken and a pork roast for the crock pot, hamburger and stuff for spaghetti or tacos, and several baggies of chicken breasts or fish fillets already frozen in marinade to toss on the grill. I try to always have frozen vegies, stuff for salad, and potatoes, rice, or a quick corn bread mix on hand so I have side dishes.

Before I started the list on the fridge, I always had meat getting freezer burned in the back of the freezer - but never had anything defrosted to eat. Now when I go to make my next list I just look at what preplanned meals I have left and plan the next week accordingly.

Maybe if you and dh do the planning together and there is something ready - the cooking part will get easier!

 

[FreshTressa]

I am the total lazy cook, but we always eat good!! Also no one likes casseroles in my family.

I make lots of foil dinners....a bag of frozen veggies, salad dressing and a meat, wrap it in foil. You could even do it in the mornings and it would marinate all day then have DH toss it in the oven at the right time. We do fish and chicken this way and it is always fun to try different bottled sauces.

Michealangelos Frozen Lasagne served with garlic bread and bagged salad or green beans.

Chicken salad...prepared chicken put on bagged lettuce.

Sloppy joes and sweet potatoes. My family loves canned sweet potatoes, we eat them once a week.

Just throw some salmon with italian dressing on it in the oven and some cut up red and yellow pepper. We LOVE grilled peppers.

I buy those fresh breadsticks you get in the bread section and toss them in the toaster oven. I don't eat bread at dinner, but the kids like it, so that way they can have their bread. DH and I mostly just eat meat and veggies.

Chili dogs and Chili mac

Canned or the kind from the deli section clam chowder in bread bowls.

Also, do you have a month of meals place in your area? I used to do that when I was busier. You go one saturday a month and cook for the whole month.

Plus, now, lots of places do home delivery of meals.

 

[AWD]

If you make a lasagna over the weekend, you can have it two of
the weekday nights..........
The whole cooked chickens that a couple of people mentioned are great. In our local store they put fresh cornbread out next
to the precooked chickens. When I want to cook a healthy meal and I'm short on time, I go the the salad bar at the grocery store and buy the raw vegetables. Then I get the boneless skinlesss chicken tenders and cook them in a wok or large pan with some sesame oil. Add soy sauce, and a little brown sugar and some water. Then add the vegetables. Make some white rice and serve it with pineapple. It's a great quick meal!
A great recipe site is allrecipes.com.....You might get some ideas
there too!!! Good Luck!!

 

[missypie]

Thanks everyone! The key to decent meals is at least a minimum of planning ahead. DH refuses to do this (would take away time from the fitness center and the computer!), so I guess its more work for me.

 

[LovesDoomBuggies]

I know you said they don't like casseroles, but they might like this- it's like pizza with a twist!

Bubble-Up pizza

Get three tubes of biscuits (I love opening those things)
Cut each biscuit in half or quarters
mix with 1 can pizza sauce and 1 package shredded cheese
You can also throw in any other pizza toppings you have on hand- mushrooms, hamburger, whatever.

Mix it all up and put in a casserole dish- bake at 350. I don't remember for how long right off hand, but I don't think it's any longer than 30 minutes. It's really yummy!

 

[oogieboogie]

missypie, I'm in the same boat as yours. DH is a SAHD and doesn't cook (nor do I want him to, cause he stinks at cooking).

Most days, when I'm not in the mood to cook, we just scrounge around the house. The kids will eat PB&J or chicken nuggets or whatever's lying around the house.

On the days that I'll cook, I'll take chicken breasts, pound them out thin, bread them with a light dusting of flour, and put them in a skillet. Then I'll make some mashed potatoes and gravy - I'll have chicken fried chicken in 30 minutes flat. Add a can of creamed corn, and we're good to go.

Or I'll cut the chicken into strips and fry them - homemade chicken tenders

Hamburger Helpers always come through for me. Or a stir-fry of some sort with cut up chicken or turkey breast.

If you have a George Foreman grill, use that too. Grill some stuff.

My problem is that DH and the kids are extremely picky eaters, but will eat chicken. So that's what I end up doing most times.

 

[RedNeckChik13]

Tacos and hamburgers are two staples of my house. Prolly cuz that is what I am the best at making and I make dinner a lot cuz mom works late and lil bro hates cooking (he's 16 so he could cook if he wanted). We also love the rotisserie chicken from Publix.

 

[Christine]

Well, here is what I do. And I am trying to be healthy. A lot of the stuff is just so processed that even though it is "quick and easy", I won't fix it.

Marinated, grilled Top Sirloin Steak: Marinate this for about 30 minutes (or use a spice rub). Throw it on the grill for about 20 minutes and slice thin across the grain of the meat. The kids usually really like this steak because it is sliced so thin that they can easily chew it. It is also VERY flavorful and a no brainer to fix. Cauliflower, broccoli, corn on the cob, etc. with this. Sometimes I make white rice and then cook up some zucchini with fresh parmesan cheese. I can have that meal on the table in about 30 minutes if I'm moving fast.

Ham Steaks on the Grill. By these in package, throw on the grill. They take about 8 minutes. Baked beans and a green veggie. REALLY easy.

Fajitas. This is my son's favorite. I buy one of those marinated pork tenderloins--usually teriyaki or barbeque flavored. I slice/chunk it up and stir fry. I might roast some peppers and oninos in the oven for DH and I if I'm in the mood to chop. Add the appropriate toppings above and serve with a salad.

 

[2angelsinheaven]

Didn't read the whole thread, but if no one's mentioned it... Poor Man's Pie.

Pound hamburger, canned cream corn, Instant potatoes and Cheese... cook all... then layer and top with cheese and heat till melted.. yum!

Also we like Dirty Rice, we buy the boxed Cheesy Dirty Rice, and a pound of store brand sausage (like Jimmy Dean type), cook meat, toss in rice and water, cook for 15 minutes and dinner is done. You can even precook the meat and just toss it all together when your ready to eat... yum! And cheap too... about .75 for rice, 1.00 for the meat... feeds 2-3. We sometimes threw in salsa or cheese, mexican veggies or corn for more filling.

Another staple when we worked long shifts was salsa chicken. Cook chicken strips, pour salsa over them, let simmer for 10 minutes or so... cook instant rice and then pour chicken/salsa over this. Quick and easy.