Really quick post school dinner ideas

[little_muffin]

I am so keen on doing this with my girls but am currently doing research and tonnes of preparation so that I can cover all bases.

I have several ideas for breakfasts and lunches I'm going to have to discuss with school but am struggling for dinner. Our quick and easy go to dinner at the moment is cheese and crackers for those days when you're late back from school and the girls are screaming for food. As this is out on W30, what do you feed your children that is either quick and easy or doesn't take much prep before the school run.

[Krista Billows Rodriguez]

do a big cook prep on the weekend. Grill some chicken, precook some ground meats, steam saute some veggies. Then you can throw those things in a pan with some herbs and spices and have dinner ready in relatively little time. Compliant salami with raw veggies would somewhat mirror your cheese and crackers as a quick finger food option as well.

[Tom Denham]

I try to keep boiled eggs and baked sweet potatoes in the refrigerator all the time. And I can make tuna salad in somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes when I have mayonnaise in the refrigerator. And now that I have an immersion blender, I can make mayonnaise from scratch in less than 5 minutes.

[little_muffin]

My girls are 3 & 1 Tom so not all that keen on tuna salad at the moment but I am working on it. Baked sweet potato is a good idea; how do you heat them up and what kind of thing do you serve them with?

[Krista Billows Rodriguez]

I eat them plain or with coconut butter on top. I take them to work sometimes and reheat in the microwave. At home, I will bake them and then let them cool and set in the fridge then slice them into rounds and saute in ghee.

[Moluv]

My girls are 3 & 1 Tom so not all that keen on tuna salad at the moment but I am working on it. Baked sweet potato is a good idea; how do you heat them up and what kind of thing do you serve them with?

I bake a bunch of sweet potatoes at once in a shallow pan with a little water covered with foil. Wen they are totally cooled down the skins just peel right off. It practically mashes itself. I just keep it in jars and then reheat in a very small saucepan (enough for both kids) and add a dab of ghee an sea salt. They love that with any cold sliced meat or sardines or smoked oysters out of the tin. I also always have raw veggies cut up and they like to use cold sweet potato as a dip for their veggies. The weekly cookup idea is what is going to make this sustainable for a family. I have literally never had such a streamlined and well run kitchen- we are never more than 5 min from a fresh meal. Oh another thing, I thaw 5 lbs of grassfed ground beef and keep that in the fridge for a quick browning and seasoning in a small cast iron. That only takes a few minutes.

[Giselle Crouch]

Moluv you make it sound so easy...:-)

[bon]

My boys (9, 6 and 3) love to make little "sandwiches" with sliced cucumber and lunch meat (I cut applegate farms meats into squares) or salmon and caper or tuna salad (give it time! they will come to LOVE it!). I don't eat dairy myself, but will offer my boys raw cheese on occasion, so adding a slice of raw cheese to the "sandwiches" is fun.

A date or two with a piece of prosciutto wrapped around .

Celery with almond or sunflower butter and raisins (ants on a log style)

Zucchini hummus with vegetables for dipping. We always have cucumber, celery, carrot and bell pepper spears on hand.

Strawberry's with coconut whipped cream is a special treat that my boys love.

On most Sunday's we make pumpkin pancakes - I make extra and save a few for a quick snack or meal addition later in the week.

Hard boiled eggs. My boys love these cut in half with a little salt and Penzy's spice like Mural of Flavor or Sunny Paris.

My boys LOVE the Olive tapenade recipe from Eat Like a Dinosaur.

Meatballs are a favorite around here so I always make extra - beef, bison and lamb. Quick and easy to heat up.

When we have "taco's" I make extra taco seasoned beef so we can make taco egg muffins. The silicone baking cups work great for this-just put them in your muffin tin, place a little beef (and diced veggies if you like), whisk about 8 eggs and season. Pour over the ground beef and bake for 15-18 minutes. My boys love this.

Beef jerky!

[Giselle Crouch]

Sounds yummy!!

[Beets]

My 5yo son is the pickiest eater. Partly temperament, partly my parenting Frankenstein. He doesn't dip, he doesn't like new textures. No spices, not even pepper. No eggs, very few cooked veggies. Makes family style eating less than appealing.

He does like his meat, though. So what has been saving us lately is burger patties. I just grab some grass-fed ground beef or lamb and fry it in coconut oil with a bit of salt. (He likes things to be salty like boogers. What can I say?) Then I have some veg and fruit on the side. He has a very limited veg repertoire and and will only eat raw veggies so I go with what works.

My 2yo daughter loves ClothesMakeTheGirl's chocolate chili with avocado so I make sure to have a batch of that in the fridge.

[Beach*Bike*Run*Mama]

I know this is a slightly older thread but I thought that I would just add a quick "recipe". The other night I made chicken tenderloins wrapped in nitrite-free bacon. Baked on a baking sheet and wire rack for 25 minutes on 425. I served it with Buffalo wing sauce (half Frank's Red Hot and half ghee), celery, carrots, and a salad. The kids devoured it!!! Bonus: They drank a TOn of water, too! They are suckers for spicy food and dips... Took less than 5 minutes to wrap and throw them in the oven. Vegetables were already precut and in the refrigerator. Worked on homework while we waited for them to finish baking. They ate the cold leftovers for lunch. Easy-peasy!