Eight recipes for the on-the-go mom
These breakfast, lunch, and supper recipes are perfect for busy moms!
It’s hard enough to cook meals for everyone when you’re not up to your eyeballs in work, errands, school runs, and all the added extras that go with being a busy mom or a working woman on-the-go.
If you’re struggling to fit in a good, solid three meals a day, here are some recipes for breakfasts, lunches, and dinners that will fit in with your crazy lifestyle, but still let you keep your family healthy and well-fed!
ALSO READ: Quick and easy healthy snack ideas
Breakfast
1. Egg Muffins
These egg muffins can be prepared in advance and even frozen – all you need to do is grab one from the freezer and pop it into the microwave. This recipe uses tomatoes, red pepper, and spinach, but you can customise them with anything you have on hand. Add bacon or chicken if you want some meat, or try them with mushrooms, zucchini, and blue cheese. The options are endless!
ALSO READ: VIDEO: Three ways to cook eggs in the microwave
Another totally customisable and easy breakfast, these oats are so much better than your standard microwave or stovetop ones. They keep for up to five days in the fridge, and the options are endless. The best is that you can get the kids involved each evening to help assemble their own! Simply put oats, your choice of liquid and toppings in a jar or container and leave it… you guessed it… overnight! Some toppings and flavouring options include cinnamon, berries, honey, cocoa powder, stewed fruit, and vanilla essence.
ALSO READ: Five things you can make using oats
Freeze ingredients for smoothies in Ziploc bags and in the morning simply throw them into your blender and drink. You can make them as big or small as you like. Spend one evening chopping fruit and veg to have enough healthy smoothie breakfasts left for weeks afterwards! It’s a great way to use up any fruit that’s starting to go soft or which you have extras of.
Lunch
1. Pasta Salad
Make pasta for dinner and cook some extra. The best thing about pasta salad is that even if the tomatoes and cucumber are stored with the pasta, it doesn’t go soggy! Throw in a sachet of ready-made dressing and add it just before you eat, or mix in a dollop of pesto.
2. Spinach, bacon and egg salad
Keeping this tasty salad in a jar means that everything stays crunchy and dry, and you get a super healthy kick of protein and greens all at once. We like to add some cherry tomatoes. Why? It’s got all the best elements of a BLT sandwich without the heavy carbs! Delicious dressing, crispy bacon, and tasty tomatoes combine to make your lunch dreams come true!
Dinner
1. Lemon and thyme chicken thighs
The beauty of chicken thighs is that they always make meat which is tender and juicy. Plus, you can throw your veggies into the same dish that you’re cooking the chicken in, leave them while you shower or help the kids with homework, and have your whole meal ready in 40 minutes with minimal mess and fuss. What’s not to love?
Stir fry is the ultimate weeknight meal. It takes all of 15 minutes to make, is a lovely change from the usual dinner meals, and is easy to customise, depending on what you have in the fridge. Noodles cook super quickly, and as long as you have soy sauce, some vegetables, and cooking oil – there’s a type of stir fry you can make. We love this beef one because it’s super simple, uses ingredients most people have on hand, and always comes out tasting delicious! It’s sure to become a weeknight staple in your busy household.
This prawn curry from BBC uses only five ingredients. One of those is a British curry paste, but you can substitute it with absolutely any curry paste from your local supermarket. Choose your favourite one, put on some rice to boil, and by the time the rice is cooked you’ll be sitting down to a healthy, flavour-packed meal that’ll please the whole family!
ALSO READ: Three healthy ways to flavour your water