Meal Ideas for Busy Families (as Seen on Shop Smart Save Money)

Nowadays as a family, we have more time to plan and prepare meals. But when we worked as teachers, it was a real juggling act. We think we have mastered it and so today we are sharing meal ideas for busy families.

There are a number of tricks to this and we will share them now before we share the dishes, recipes, and photos that we suggested for Aisha and her family on Shop Smart Save Money.

Tips for planning meal ideas for busy families

1. Make use of standard components (this includes pre-prepared ingredients which make preparing meals easier.) Examples are ready made pastry, jar sauces, ready-made wraps, part baked baguettes and grated cheese, etc.
2. Spend a few minutes each week to do some meal planning. See what you already have and only purchase the extras.
3. Prepare foods in batches and then freeze and refrigerate some for later use
4. Make use fo kitchen gadgets and equipment which make your life easier in the kitchen. Our personal favourite is a slow cooker.
5. A pressure cooker is a useful gadget to have as it cooks tough cuts of meat and things like dried peas/lentils in a fraction of the normal time.
6. On the weekends, when there is likely to be more time, cook those types of foods which require a longer cooking time
7. Here is where the ready cooked fridge and freezer meals come in handy too

 

For Aisha and her boys, these are the meals we suggested:

Slow cooked lamb with pilau rice

Sweet chili chicken wrap

Quick lentil curry with naan or chapatti

 

As teachers, we are so familiar with coming home from work and feeling so shattered and stressed, with hours more of school work to do. The kids would also come home from a hard day and be ready for some delicious food!

This is where our lovey Morphy Richards slow cooker came in handy. We would season any joint of meat such as lamb, goat or beef, add it to the slow cooker with some herbs and vegetables like carrots and celery. Once this was set on a low setting and covered, it would be ready with the meat falling off the bones when we got home.

Imagine the lovely aromas that would greet us at the door after such a stressful day! The slow cooker is a really handy tool and I suggest that if you don’t have one, that you get one soon. Mine is perfect for meat and soups and I am planning to try some cake recipes in it soon too.

 

 

 

 

The sweet chili chicken wrap is easy to prepare if you cook the chicken in advance (maybe on the weekend) and use standard components such as ready-made salad packs and also ready-made wraps. Let everyone help themselves to what they want.

The sweet chili sauce adds a nice spicy and sweet flavour but you could always vary the sauce you use. You may want to try mayonnaise or your favourite BBQ sauce.

 

Every now and again we also have a week where we eat mostly vegetarian meals. The lentil curry which is rich and spicy with ginger and chilies is my favorite to make. Once the lentils have been soaked overnight, it’s easy to just put them to boil in salted water, make the base curry, and add the boiled lentils.

Recently we have been making our own chapattis after a few friends from India and Pakistan gave us some tips and tutorials. It’s great to have a meetup with your girlfriends as you can learn so much!

The recipes for three of the meal ideas for busy families are laid out below

 

Slow cooked lamb with pilau rice

Sweet chili chicken wraps

Quick lentil curry with naan or chapatti

Please note that we have misplaced our photo of the lentil curry we usually make. So this photo I found thanks to Pixabay, will just hold the place until we can find it or make another batch and get another photo.

 

To make the slow cooker lamb curry:

 

Ingredients

1kg lamb shoulder joint or lamb shanks

3 carrots

200g potatoes washed (peeled if you have time) and cut into big chunks

1 cup chopped onions

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp chili flakes

1 tsp garam masala

I tsp turmeric

Salt

Pepper

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 tbsp curry powder

1 vegetable stock cube

 

Method

Wash carrots and cut into big chunks. Place in the bottom of the slow cooker

Add chopped onions and potatoes

 

Season the lamb with Soy sauce, curry powder, salt, pepper, garam masala, turmeric, tomato puree, and chili flakes. Place on top of carrots, onions, and potatoes

 

Make 400 ml of stock using the stock cube and hot water, and add to the slow cooker

Turn slow cooker on low and cook for 8 to 9 hours.

Remove lamb which should fall easily off the bone.

Plate up lamb pieces with vegetables and the sauce from the slow cooker, Serve with rice.

 

For the rice: Follow package instructions

This is a lovely meal idea for busy families

Depending on the size of the family, you may have enough for two days’ dinner: one with lamb and potatoes and one with the lamb and pilau rice.

 

For the sweet chili chicken wrap

Ingredients

4 boneless chicken thighs/breast cut into cubes

3 tbsp sweet chili sauce

1 tablespoon chopped onions

1 teaspoon garlic and ginger paste

Oil

Salt and pepper

4 Wraps

1 lettuce, shredded

Method

Sauté onion along with garlic and ginger paste in oil for a minute.

Add the chicken and cook until the chicken is no longer pink. Stir all the time and season with salt and pepper

Remove from flame and toss in the sweet chili sauce.

Warm wraps in the microwave for 20 seconds.

Place wraps on individual plates. Spoon on chicken and lettuce. Fold and serve with your favourite salad ingredients

 

 

Quick lentil curry with naan or chapatti

Ingredients

1 cup chopped onions

200g red lentils

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp garam masala

2 tablespoon ginger + garlic paste

2 tablespoon curry powder

2 green chilies, chopped

1 pack frozen spinach

2 tablespoon chopped coriander

2 tablespoon tomato puree

2 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon oil

 

Method

Wash lentils until water is clear. Put to boil in salted water. Cook for 12 minutes

In a separate saucepan, saute chopped onions and garlic ginger paste in oil and butter for about 5 minutes until soft.

Add curry powder, turmeric and continue cooking for another minute

Once lentil is cooked, transfer it to the saucepan with the onions and add chopped chilies, spinach, tomato puree, garam masala, and chopped coriander.

Simmer for 3 minutes and season to taste with salt pepper

Serve with warmed chappatis or naan bread

For our weekly meal planning linky with Katy Kicker and friends, here are 4 other ideas for meals for busy families

 

 

Batch cooked fish pies

Fried rice using leftover cooked rice, cooked meat and or eggs

Homemade pizza using ready-made pizza bases

Make some vegetable soup by boiling together all your vegetables with some stock cubes. Blitz the whole thing and serve with shop bought crusty bread

 

 

Do share with us in the comments below about your favourite quick meal ideas for busy families.

 

Time-saving gadgets