Need some easy, kid-friendly meal ideas

I noticed they will eat chicken soup. What about taco soup in the colder months? My recipe calls for a lot of canned items, but you can adapt it for fresh ingredients if you want. I’m not sure how economical it is for 30-40, so take it or leave it. Here’s my recipe, courtesy of Taste of Home magazine (makes about 8 servings):

1 lb. ground beef or turkey

1 envelope taco seasoning

2 cans each diced tomatoes, whole kernel corn, ranch beans

Brown and drain meat. Add taco seasoning and vegetables. Heat through. To serve, crush tortilla chips in the bottom of each bowl. Top with soup and shredded cheese.

HTH,

Karen

When I taught at an ABEKA school/daycare, a popular menu item was chicken and cheese quesadillas. Sorry, I never was able to successfully duplicate so I can’t give you the recipe.

My boys really enjoy:

Hard boiled eggs with fruits and raw veggies, maybe a muffin or cracker on the side.  

Tuna sandwiches.  

I’m not sure of your budget so homemade fish sticks and/or chicken nuggets might not work.  Sometimes you can find decent store-bought versions of them too.

Meatballs w/veggies on the side (to make the meat stretch further you could add a bunch of pureed veggies and possibly some soaked oats).  

Sometimes chili (with cornbread) works better than “soup”, or at least it does in my family.  

Here is a super yummy recipe for “chicken” fried steak, only it’s made with oatmeal instead of chicken.  You can totally ‘healthfiy’ it by making some substitutions.

I’m not sure how they’d feel about breakfast for lunch, but baked oatmeal, pancakes or waffles, muffins, etc.  Sausage or fruit or yogurt on the side.

We make pinwheels like Tristan but typically use nut butters which you can’t use so never mind.

Tator tot casserole, maybe not the healthiest but it works.  You could make it healthier by using diced potatoes instead of tator tots, and your own “cream of” soup instead of canned mushroom soup.  (Let me know if you need the recipe, some people have never heard of it)

Tacos.  Hard or soft shell.  We have those A LOT.  Some of my boys eat theirs with scrambled eggs instead of taco meat.  I also make the meat with pureed/diced super tiny veggies to add some nutrition and extend the meat.  You could also add beans or lentils to the meat…or just make lentil tacos!  

Sloppy joes.  If you really wanted you could make homemade rolls too!  Again, you could add lots of veggies (or beans) to make the beef (or ground chicken/turkey) stretch further.

Baked potatoes.  I’m not sure how other kids feel about this, but my boys love them, especially if we put out a variety of “toppings” and they can pick their own.

That’s all I’ve got for now…I’ll keep thinking though…

Heather

I make a quick casserole on occassions – Midnight Garden Chicken Casserole – that 3 or my 4 kids like. I use fresh chicken, but canned could be used. I also dislike condensed soup, but have used it in a pinch. 

How about spiced lentils (we use the Madras pre-made, but scratch would be fairly easy with lentils) over rice with cheese. You could add some ground beef, too, but it isn’t necessary.

Barbecue made in the crock-pot (maybe 2 or 3 crockpots for your crowd).

no bake Lasagna

Pasta with Pesto and Parmesan, add chicken if desired (very easy)

HTH, not exactly my area of expertise, but maybe a new idea here. 

Christie

If you can find the time to make a whole bunch of mini meatballs and freeze them, then you could include them with a variety of pasta (shells, elbows, whatever is on sale) with either tomato or cheese sauce. That would change up the spaghetti meal.

I’ll have to sneak a peek at the posted menus at our church’s preschool and let you know if there are some good ideas. It’s nice that you can take your kids to help. Our laws don’t even allow the food service people near the kids…they would have to be fingerprinted and have a background check. Also, minors who are not siblings of a preschool student are not generally allowed near the kids, either. (Probably because you can’t do a background check on a minor!)

Sue

We make Pizza Pitas all the time……Pita bread basting slightly with EVOO, for the sauce 1 can of tomato paste+1 can tomato sauce seasoned with garlic powder/italian seasoning, whatever easy toppings (bacon&spinach our favorite), and cheese…..baked at 425 for about 12-14 minutes each.  Our kids love these…..you could just do sauce and cheese.  We serve it with a smoothie (we have a power blender so we put spinach, chard, or kale in with our fruit smoothies, but you could just do fruit smoothies).  In fact this is on our menu for dinner in 30 minutes, yummy!

 I have found Kale Chips are tasty to kids even though they don’t sound good……… wash and stem stem the Kale and tear into 1-2″ pieces, massage in some EVOO and apple cider vinegar (about 2 tbsp per bunch) and a dash of salt……bake on low till done/crisp (watching VERY closely towards the end so it doesn’t burn……..Seal in an airtight DRY container till ready to eat (keeps a few days).  Kale is King of veggies, I hear.

Roasted chicken breasts sliced into strips (if you get it on sale) with dipping sauce and cubed roasted potatoes is much better for kids than chicken nuggets & fries. 

Nachos with black beans, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce toppings. 

Mini lasagnas made in muffin tins or mini quiches made in muffin tins (haven’t tried this but have seen recipes in the past).

I did not completely read through the other posts so forgive me if these are duplicates  My kids are 17,13,5,4.5 and 2 and they all pretty much eat the following…….

mini meatball subs with cheese (use hotdog buns and make the meatballs to fit)

chicken and dumplings

chicken and rice

turkey and ravy with veggies

hot ham and cheese sandwhiches or pita pockets

chili with pasta and sour cream (not spicy)

bean bake (green beans, pintos, and a couple others with small amount of ground beef and bbq sauce baked into a casserole type dish)

meatloaf

sloppy joes

mini salisbury steaks

baked ziti

lasagna

sometines a good alternative to salad for my little kids is (sliced carrots, baby tomatoes, and cucumber slices tossed with a vinegarette or with ranch for dipping on the side)

fruit salad (many ways, one that we like has pineapple, cottage cheese, raisins and nuts)

cauliflower mashed potatoes

sweet potatoes with cinnamon, brown sugar, raisins

chicken pot pie and rice

shepherds pie (ground beef)

stuffed shells

veggie kabobs with dipping sauce  or they will eat anything with fondue or dipping sauce

chicken abd brocoli wraps

sausage and potatoe pockets

french toast and fuit kabobs

I can send you recipes if you want any……I have tradtional versions and I have some that I tweak to make healthier…….usually the traditioanl are easier on the budget….so sometimes around here if money is tight we eat the tradtional ‘cookbook’ versions and I don’t feel guilty because none of them are really that bad to begin with