One item that is always on my shopping list is eggs! Boiled, poached, scrambled or dressed up as eggy bread, served with a side of bacon, baked beans, sauteed mushrooms or baby spinach, with or without toast, eggs take just minutes to prepare and form the backbone of my dinnertime back-up meal. You know, that one super quick meal that you can always turn to on the day you just don’t feel like cooking, or you forgot to take meat out to defrost, or you forgot to set up the slow cooker…all of which happen with reasonable regularity in our house! My Quicker Than Takeaway Tuna Pasta was our easy, dinner back-up for the longest time but with the little one turning her nose up at anything fish-related and the fact that a gluten and dairy free cheese sauce is just not quite the same, it’s been retired for the time being.
Always on the lookout for quick and easy dinner recipe ideas, I would love to extend my collection of back-up ideas so I am wondering, what is your dinnertime back-up meal?
You can also see what other mums are saying on this topic over on the Childhood 101 Facebook page…
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Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.
If only all my kids at eggs! I mean they are pretty much free at our place yet I have two kids who can not stand them!!!
We do a ‘choose your own pasta’ as a quick meal so I don’t have to hear anyone complain about it being something they don’t like! LOL
I always have eggs in the house too, but I forget about them.
When I’m stuck or strapped for time I whip up a batch of veggie pancakes. Basic pancake batter (flour, milk, eggs) plus whatever veggies I have in the fridge (e.g. grated carrot/zucchini, frozen peas or corn).
I agree that dairy/gluten free versions are just not the same. Best to find some new recipes instead of trying to replicate.
2 kids DF here too, and my fave standby meal is ratatouille pasta! I stick the pasta on to cook, and meantime I pour a tin of ratatouille into a bowl, (check salt/sodium content for younger kids), whizz it smooth with hand blender, and add the cold ratat to the hot pasta – that way its not too hot to eat straight away. My kid that does eat dairy likes cheese melted through the sauce, so in his case I heat the ratatou to boiling point in the microwave (about 1min), add grated cheese and stir until it melts – to avoid serving it hot, I run his pasta under cold water and then add to the sauce – that way its ready to eat immediately. It’s nutricious and ready as fast as u can cook a portion of pastta 😀 a
Eggs are our back up meal as well. R is a very fussy eater but thankfully he loves eggs. He eats scrambled eggs almost daily for brekky, and he’ll happily eat them for dinner as well. We often make omelettes for a quick and easy go to meal and I do a macaroni and egg combo (almost like alfredo without cream or cheese) and he loves that too. They’re so versatile.
Dunk dunk googy eggs is my back up (3minute dipping eggs)
It’s the only feed my son will sit in silence & demolish
Only takes a few minutes too- easy 😉
Umm… if take away is out of the question, then it’s pasta with any left overs we have in the fridge and frozen veggies. Sounds weird, but it works 😉
If not takeaway, ham and cheese toasties!
Our backup meal is for child 1) fish fingers and for child 2) baked beans with toast and I serve a platter of pick-your-own salad in the centre of the table. Unfortunately it’s always me eating up all the salad!
Jacket potatoes, omelette, poached eggs, toast, cereal, and of course pasta
For me it’s prob fried rice. I usually have all the ingredients in the fridge/pantry/freezer and I can whip it up.
Our backup meal is always spaghetti with butter, parmesan cheese and peas. Yum! haha
Sounds like a delicious and simple back up 🙂
SO bad but we usually have toasted sandwiches as a back up!
Not bad at all. Easy!
Breakfast for dinner… Eggs, toast and fruit. Yogurt and granola and fruit. Our daughter gets excited to have breakfast at night!