Although we Scrambling parents know how to get a meal on the table quickly, especially if we’ve planned meals in advance and grocery shopped for the week, we all have those days when things don’t go as planned.
The other night, for instance, I found out at noon that I had a meeting that was going to run right up to dinner time, so I had to quickly come up with a dinner that would be ready in 15 minutes or less when we all got home.
For those (hopefully!) rare occasions when your day implodes, we have some suggestions for really quick, truly easy recipes that are totally kid-friendly. All of these highly rated quick dinner ideas for kids take 20 minutes or less to prepare.
Quick Dinner Ideas for Kids (and adults alike)
Fresh Corn, Tomato and Avocado Salad with Shrimp
Caramelized Tofu and Broccoli Stir-Fry
Giant Smoked Turkey And Cheddar Omelet
Quick Tilapia with Lemon, Garlic and Capers
Pork Cutlets with Mushroom-Sherry Sauce
Chicken or (Chicken-Less) Tortilla Soup
Slow Cooker Options
For the days where you have spare time in the morning, but know the afternoon or evening is shot, the slow cooker is a great option. Some of our kid-friendly, quick-prep slow cooker quick dinner ideas for kids include:
Rigatoni with Mushrooms, Marsala and Mascarpone
Spicy Szechuan Green Beans and Ground Turkey or Pork
Spiced Chicken with Maple Butter Glaze
Baked Fish with Lemon Aioli-Panko Coating
Grilled Pork and Pineapple Kabobs
Some other useful tips for your jam-packed days
- Enlist your kids’ help in the kitchen. Depending upon their age, they may be able to help you get dinner on the table more quickly (and a bonus is that they’re more likely to eat what they helped prepare).
- Use our Do Ahead or Delegate suggestions that come with each recipe. If you have a spouse, sitter or older child to whom you can delegate some dinner prep, this will help you be ahead of the game when dinner rolls around.
- Double recipes and freeze them. This won’t help tonight but it might help avert ordering a pizza or making store-bought chicken nuggets next time you need quick dinner ideas for kids.
To find more recipes for quick dinner ideas for kids (and parents!) use our recipe browse function and select 30 Minutes (or less) option under “Meal Type.”
Have we whet your appetite? Sign up for The Scramble’s family-friendly meal plans today to get access to all of these recipes in full as well as close to a thousand others, plus family-friendly weekly menu plans to save you time and money and give you plenty of quick dinner ideas for kids.
Ashley
Tuesday 20th of May 2014
Great idea