Quick & easy dinner recipes for a family.

just gone back to work, need some recipes that are quick to make on the weekend, thought i could spend a few hours on a sunday preparing some meals for the week. as i have to work a little later if the need arises, having something prepared will help hubby with the kiddies. like most, we are on a budget. any ideas would be fab, just got a crock pot so i have asked for help with that and am learning to use. but anything i can freese would be awesome. to feed 2 adults, a 4 year old and a 2 year old, (he eats more than the 4 year old tho)

You could make up meal sizes of Macaroni Cheese or Lasagne & Freeze.
Another thing I do is make up a few meat patties, so can grab them out of the freezer and make hamburgers.Quick and easy!

One thing i found great was to cut up fresh meat that was going to be cooked in crockpot, before freezing it. That way you take a bag out of the freezer the night before, next morning tip in meat, veges and seasonings, turn it on and dinners prepared.
It may not sound like much of a timesaver, but, believe me, when you're already busy, stopping to cut up the meat in the morning is just one more headache.
The other tip is to make double of any meal that can be frozen. Generally, most meals dont take much more work to make double quantity
- and you're always grateful on those days that time is really against you - or you're too exhausted to cook!

.I also read another thread a few days ago about making up meatballs in advance and freezing them. I think in a lot of cases, if you can get the preparation done in advance, you're halfway there!

I always do spag Bol and freeze then just cook spaghetti and just reheat the frozen bol. Easy.

Two favourites from Alyson Holst:

Curried Pineapple Chicken

4 chicken pieces, or diced raw chicken
1 pkt Maggi onion or cream of chicken soup mix
1 -2 tsp curry powder
1 can (400g) pineapple pieces or slices
1 -2 tsp soya sauce

Microwave version:
Put soup mix, soy sauce, curry powder into a plastic bag. Drain juice from pineapple, and add water to make liquid up to 1 ¼ cups. Add this to plastic bag, mix together. Add chicken pieces, cut smaller if desired, knead bag to ensure chicken is well covered with sauce ingredients.
Fold over top of bag, place bag on a dish. Microwave on High for 12 mins, rearranging bag after 8 mins. Add drained pineapple to bag, cook for a further 3 mins. Check that chicken is cooked. Serve with rice.

As this recipe cooks the sauce ingredients thicken and create a smooth curry sauce.

If you're not certain about curry for the children, you could leave it out - it will still have enough flavour.

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Barbecued Beef Serves 2 (Probably the fastest, easiest and tastiest meal you’ll ever cook!)

200 – 300g beef schnitzel or other fast cooking beef, cut into strips
1 chopped onion
1 Tbsp oil

Sauce:
4 Tbsp tomato sauce
3 tsp tomato paste
2 Tbsp brown sugar
4 tsp Worcester sauce
2 tsp mustard powder

Mix sauce ingredients together in a small bowl. Heat oil in a wok, or frying pan, sauté onions until softened. Add beef, and cook quickly (only about 3 -4 mins max) add sauce mixture to pan, stirring meat at same time, to make sure meat is coated. Remove from heat as soon as sauce is heated through.
Serve on crispy buns with salad.
This recipe os so fast you need to have the sauce mixed and the buns/salad ready before you start cooking the meat,

Beef Chilli
Minced steak
1 onion
1 tin baked beans (can use the mild Chilli flavour)
1 teaspoon chilli powder (optional)
mushrooms/frozen veges/leftovers
In a little olive oil soften onion.Add minced steak.Keep turning steak to colour.Put lid on pot and turn down heat to lowest setting.Watch meat to see it doesn't catch.You can add some tomato sauce at this stage to keep it moist.
Tip in baked beans and chilli plus anything else.
Heat.
Serve with a salad.
Freezes well.
Heat.Serve with a salad.
The mild chilli baked beans should not be too strong for children.My grandchildren eat it.
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