Seven awesome, quick recipes in seven days for people that don’t stop #mademyday

For the last seven days, we have been cooking quick recipes from the Dinner4Tonight website created by Co-operative Food. We’ve sampled different types of food from stews, to Thai noodles and vegetarian options. All of them require simple ingredients, and most don’t take long to prepare at all. In fact, the longest took 15 minutes. Some of them do require a little pre-planning as they need a bit of oven time, but if you have a slower cook, which I can’t recommend enough, then even that is easy to achieve.

I love to get the slower cooker ready at lunchtime, but if you are uber organised, you would be able to do it in the morning before the kids get up, or while they are *quietly* eating breakfast.

The seven meals we are cooking, perfect for those on the go are all summarised below. There is bound to be something that you and your family would love to try; which of these quick recipes do YOU fancy giving a go?

Pasta with Broccoli and Chilli

This is a great meal for the kids as it make Broccoli something they might even consider eating. It is so quick to do as well; I managed to get it ready to serve while the better half did the bedtime routine. If your kids aren’t massive spice fans, then why not swap the Chilli for red pepper, or just tone it down a little?

Chicken Stir Fry

One of the reasons I love this Cooperative Food recipe, is that it helps with some of those short-cuts that working parents really need. Their fresh stir fry bags cut down preparation time, but are fresh, which is something I really want to try and maintain with my dinners. Not need to buy the frozen version for this dish, just nip around the corner to the Coop and buy a bag when you need it. Delicious, and job done!

Spicy Prawns and Rice

Prawns are a favourite of both our children; I think it is probably because I love them so much. This dish is simple and tasty. Most importantly though, it cuts out the need for that rather time-consuming risotto rice. In this recipe, it has been replaced with boil in the bag rice, which is much easier to cook with and allows you to step away from the hob once in a while to stop the kids from arguing ;-)

Thai Style Salmon and Noodle Soup

We don’t usually so soup, but this is a light, tasty version, that is very appetising and surprisingly filling. Salmon isn’t an easy food for the kids to eat, but with noodles, it is a much easier sell.

Easy Beef Stew

A warming, and satisfying meal, great for the school chaos, as you can adapt this recipe slightly to both include any left over veg, and add to a slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 8 and its ready for the little muchkins without you having to go to too much trouble.

Chicken Stew

Another meal that take a little time in the oven, but little time to prep; thanks in part to the fresh vegetable packs that Cooperative food offer you. Cauliflower, Broccoli, and Carrots make this a healthy meal for the kids, as long as you chop them up and they don’t notice them! ;-)

Lemon and Prawn Pasta

Lemon is good way to add a little flavour easily to a dish, just to pep it up a bit. This prawn dish take 10 minutes to prepare, and even less time for the kids to eat!

All seven of these were classic, simple and effective and making sure my kids and family were fed well over the week, without having to get too complicated in the kitchen. Critically though, they all took so little time to prepare that I was able to keep on track our very busy lifestyle.

And I didn’t even need to drink wine with any of them ;-)

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Helen

Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, and website editor; and this site is (we think) the only Social Enterprise parenting magazine!Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time.KiddyCharts has reach of over 1.1million across social and the site. The blog works with big family brands (including travel) to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10.It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania.Helen has worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on.Get in touch TODAY!

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