Family meal ideas

Anonymous

Family meal ideas

So I’m in need of some new ideas with school holidays around the corner. I only work school terms so am home during school holidays with my kids. I’ve always done a fruit platter for morning tea with an assortment of fruits - apples, pears, watermelon, grapes, mandarin, banana and oranges, another platter for afternoon tea with carrot, cucumber, celery, baby tomatoes, cheese and crackers (usually rice, sometimes jatz). For breakfast they have toast or cereal through the week then pancakes or scrambled eggs on weekends.
Because I’m home during school holidays I do things like spaghetti bolognaise, creamy chicken pasta, Shepard’s pie, sausage hotpot, tacos, enchiladas or butter chicken for lunch then roast meat and veggies for dinner. I always do buttered bread with hot meals. And the kids have yogurt or custard after dinner if they want it.
But I feel like I’m cooking the same thing over and over. During school terms the kids and I all take sandwiches for lunch so I try not to do sandwiches during school holidays however usually in the six week Christmas holidays I’ll do a sandwich platter once a week.
I’m really needing some simple meal ideas to keep these kids interested. Ideally something that can be whipped up easily enough as usually my eldest and I prepare everything in the mornings before I’m waking the rest of the kids up.
My children are pretty good eaters with no allergies other than seafood. Any ideas for any meals will be highly appreciated!

Posted in:  Food

4 Replies

Anonymous

How old are your kids? If they are old enough get them to make their own breakfast, lunch, snacks in holidays. You will absolutely thank yourself when they are teens. They can open up a cupboard or fridge full of food and say there's nothing to eat! They say it when there's nothing right there in front of them that's ready to go. I see it when I go to my sisters house and her kids can't make themselves a sandwich. Well they can they just don't see it when they're looking for food, they see ingredients not what they can do with them! Just putting it out there cause it is really frustrating seeing older kids and even adults that can't make their own meals due to it all being done for them.

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Anonymous

I have 6 children aged between 2 and 18 which is why I do bigger platters of food as otherwise they will eat us out of house! I don’t buy snack / convenience foods as they are so expensive! My four older children all help make lunches during school terms and help prepare dinners as well however during school holidays I prefer to prepare it all in the morning so it’s ready to go and I can be with them doing crafts, games etc. My eldest helps as she gets up early and comes in for a coffee. We work together through school terms but don’t really see each other through the day at work and she has her life so it’s time when we can talk without her sisters interrupting.

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Anonymous

Fair enough, it just seems like a lot of work to cook lunch as well as dinner.

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Anonymous

I make more than enough for dinner so we have leftovers for lunch the next day. If it doesn't get eaten the next day I put it in the freezer. Instead of having roast and veggies every night why not cook one meal for night then have it the next day for lunch? Then you're only cooking once which will be a lot easier than doing a heap of dishes all day. Things we like are Beef Stroganoff, lasagna, honey mustard chicken, fried rice with sweet and Sour pork, savoury mince, beef chow mein, apricot chicken curry, Italian chicken, honey pepper beef.

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