Weeknight Meal Ideas

[cowgirl836]

I can't be the only one running on a repetitive short list of quick meal options for weeknights and interested in new ideas. Especially as a bunch of you are now back to school with kids/spouses - what are your go-to quick and easy meals that you can prep for or make fast with a tired and hangry toddler hanging on to you???


Let's crowd source!

 

[cowgirl836]

Our list to start:

Chicken nuggets
Tuna sandwiches/tomato soup
Tacos
Variations of ham & cheese
BLT
Brats (Wisconsin, duh)
Mac & Cheese
Tuna Helper
Pan-fried fish
Egg sandwiches
Tortellini
Kale, sausage, & tomato pasta
Crockpot pot roast

 

[BuffettClone]

Nice thread topic. I have no input as we're stuck in the rut too, but anxiously awaiting responses.

 

[oldman]

Our list to start:

Chicken nuggets
Tuna sandwiches/tomato soup
Tacos
Variations of ham & cheese
BLT
Brats (Wisconsin, duh)
Mac & Cheese
Tuna Helper
Pan-fried fish
Egg sandwiches
Tortellini
Kale, sausage, & tomato pasta
Crockpot pot roast

Don't forget Hamburger Helper.
Chef salads
Hot dogs
Various pastas and alfredo or pesto
Sloppy joes
Sectioned tomatoes with cottage cheese
Hobos
Ravioli
Potatoes baked in the microwave with cheese and ham

 

[cowgirl836]

Don't forget Hamburger Helper.
Chef salads
Hot dogs
Various pastas and alfredo or pesto
Sloppy joes
Sectioned tomatoes with cottage cheese
Hobos
Ravioli

Never actually had Hamburger Helper though it reminds me I had a homemade version I wanted to try. What are Hobos?

 

[CascadeClone]

GF has a go-to for quick and healthy. Couple of chicken breasts, pan fried in butter with onions and seasonings. Steam some veg, often carrots. Nuke a cup of water with 1/3rd cup of couscous. Throw it all together on a plate. Super healthy, all fresh, delicious, it will stuff you to the gills, and takes prob 30 minutes start to finish.

Vary the seasonings (greek, cajun, italian, etc) and the veg for variety. Hangry kid (or me LOL) can snack the veg during meal prep.

 

[cowgirl836]

I should also mention we do frozen pizza on Monday nights and usually leftovers on Fridays so it's only 3 nights a week that really involve much cooking. Usually try to do something bigger/more time consuming on Sundays to generate leftovers for lunch all week plus something for the baby if he can't have much of our dinner.

 

[CtownCyclone]

Old El Paso Taco kit. No, it's not the best tacos you can eat, but it's quick and easy.

InstantPot spaghetti and meatballs. We use the WallyWorld frozen meatballs, put them on the bottom of the pot. Pour in a jar of spaghetti sauce to cover the meatballs. Put in the spaghetti (I break in half). Pour in water (fill the empty spaghetti sauce jar). Cook on high for half the time the spaghetti says to cook for. Boom, done.

 

[cowgirl836]

GF has a go-to for quick and healthy. Couple of chicken breasts, pan fried in butter with onions and seasonings. Steam some veg, often carrots. Nuke a cup of water with 1/3rd cup of couscous. Throw it all together on a plate. Super healthy, all fresh, delicious, it will stuff you to the gills, and takes prob 30 minutes start to finish.

Vary the seasonings (greek, cajun, italian, etc) and the veg for variety. Hangry kid (or me LOL) can snack the veg during meal prep.

That does sound good and we need to do more chicken. I always end up avoiding chicken on weeknights because I feel like I haven't gotten practiced at cooking it very well to do it with only half a mind on it. We should really try this one, never had couscous either. Does it have kind of a rice or pasta flavor? And you keep it plain or season it however you want?

 

[Gonzo]

A good/easy one is to throw a pork shoulder into a slow cooker and let it go all day. By the time you get home (8-9 hours) you'll have pulled pork. I'll put a dry rub on and let it sit for 30 minutes, thinly slice a yellow onion, layer onion on bottom of slow cooker, put pork shoulder in, few cloves of minced garlic, pour in 1 cup of chicken stock, cover and set to low. This also leaves plenty of leftovers for later in the week.

 

[cowgirl836]

Nice thread topic. I have no input as we're stuck in the rut too, but anxiously awaiting responses.

you gotta give us your list! Unless it's only frozen pizza and cereal every night. Which, no judgement, I just already have those!

 

[cowgirl836]

One good/easy one is to throw a pork shoulder into a slow cooker and let it go all day. By the time you get home (8-9 hours) you'll have pulled pork. I'll put a dry rub on and let it sit for 30 minutes, thinly slice a yellow onion, layer onion on bottom of slow cooker, put pork shoulder in, few cloves of minced garlic, pour in 1 cup of chicken stock, cover and set to low. This also leaves plenty of leftovers for later in the week.

I didn't include this but we'll make carnitas out of pork shoulder and freeze the leftovers. Every so often I swap tacos for carnitas and just get out some frozen carnita meat.

 

[BirdOfWar]

Our list to start:

Chicken nuggets
Tuna sandwiches/tomato soup
Tacos
Variations of ham & cheese
BLT
Brats (Wisconsin, duh)
Mac & Cheese
Tuna Helper
Pan-fried fish
Egg sandwiches
Tortellini
Kale, sausage, & tomato pasta
Crockpot pot roast

You mentioned tacos, but my wife has some recipe for chicken tacos that is fantastic to use in tacos or burrito's. It's a crockpot recipe as well so it's very easy.

Buffalo chicken pasta - This is a fairly recent addition, basic but good
Pasta bake (meat, noodles, sauce, pepperoni)
Tuna noodle casserole
Tater tot casserole
Crockpot meatballs - We make meatball subs and use for spaghetti and meatballs
Swedish meatballs - A recent addition and they are wonderful

I didn't see grilled cheese mentioned, so I'll add that because it's certainly easy.

 

[cyfan92]

Can you get home over lunch to put things in a crock-pot?

 

[Isualum13]

Ground beef strogenoff is good.
1 lb ground beef
A can of cream of mushroom soup.
A small can of mushrooms diced
8 oz sour cream
Add minced onion if wanted.

Serve over white rice or egg noodles with peas as a side. Frozen peas are far superior to canned peas.

If you have a preassure cooker/instant pot hard to go wrong with a pot roast.

 

[cowgirl836]

You mentioned tacos, but my wife has some recipe for chicken tacos that is fantastic to use in tacos or burrito's. It's a crockpot recipe as well so it's very easy.

Buffalo chicken pasta - This is a fairly recent addition, basic but good
Pasta bake (meat, noodles, sauce, pepperoni)
Tuna noodle casserole
Tater tot casserole
Crockpot meatballs - We make meatball subs and use for spaghetti and meatballs
Swedish meatballs - A recent addition and they are wonderful

I didn't see grilled cheese mentioned, so I'll add that because it's certainly easy.

Something like this on the Swedish meatballs?

https://therecipecritic.com/the-best-swedish-meatballs/

 

[cowgirl836]

Can you get home over lunch to put things in a crock-pot?

Technically possible for me but we tend to put stuff in in the morning and then set it to do "warm" after the 8-9 hours.

 

[mj4cy]

My wife spent a Saturday making a bunch of freezer meals so when I'm a single parent for a night, I can pull something out and throw it in the oven or on the grill.

Other meals we like are stir fry, homemade pizza, and chicken grillers (can go in oven or on grill)

 

[ClonesFTW]

If there’s something wrong with Tuna Helper I don’t want to be right.

 

[VeloClone]

Make that crock pot hum!

Chili

Chicken Bacon Ranch - here is a recipe something like ours - https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/crock-pot-bacon-ranch-chicken/ Serve over fresh pasta of you choice. We just use spaghetti noodles.

Pot Roast

Chicken Tortilla Soup - again similar to our recipe - https://www.dinneratthezoo.com/slow-cooker-chicken-tortilla-soup/

Grilled cheese and tomato soup. Even just Campbell's is pretty good when dipping gooey cheese sandwich in it.

Tacos and/or Taco salad

Walking Tacos - my kids love this even as an evening meal.

Kings Hawaiian rolls with frozen breaded chicken fingers and cheese slices make great little sandwiches. Kids doctor them up however they want.

Frozen breaded shrimp with frozen french fries and salad or a canned (or fresh) vegetable. Make that fryer work for an evening. Good for us Catholics on a Lenten Friday.

Chili and Soups can be made on the weekend and reheated during the week. Can also prepare pot roast and chili Sunday night and fire it up Monday morning for the Monday evening meal. In my opinion left over chili that is reheated just keeps getting better as the flavors have an opportunity to marinate and blend. Move your frozen pizza to another night so you can use the Sunday evening prep for Monday night's meal.