I make grilled cheese in the oven, and boxed tomato soup. Kids will (usually) eat it. Or I sautéed some ground beef with some kind of bottled sauce (teriyaki, bbq, etc) with some frozen bagged veggies and frozen rice.

-BLTs (add avocado) we add salmon lots of times too
-pot sticker bowls (ground pork sautéed with stir fry veggies and soy sauce with garlic over rice)
-bacon broccoli pasta (spaghetti noodles with bacon, broccoli and olive oil, top with Parmesan and red pepper flakes)
-cheeseburgers with a yummy bun (brioche or pretzel) and air fryer French fries

My kids are both picky and rarely eat the same thing, so our options are limited, and fairly basic. So I’m hoping to get other ideas here! Our go-tos are pesto, turkey tacos, make your own pizza (on store-bought naan if I don’t feel like dealing with dough), and eggs and fries.

Rice noodles, broccoli and pork loin. We buy pork loins at Costco, 4 in a pack. My husband chops them up and throws the bits in different marinades and freezes the bags. They thaw quickly and we either shove them in skewers and bbq or stir fry. Sometimes carrots and bokchoy go in the stir fry but the kids won’t eat those. They only eat broccoli.

Almond-parm crusted chicken. Thin sliced chicken breast, season then dip in eggs and then in the mix: 1 part grated Parmesan, 2 parts panko, 2 parts almonds (almond flour, and/or crushed up sliced almonds) then cook in 1/4in oil. My kids eat it up and the leftovers can reheat well

Shepherds pie! Or a similar incarnation. It’s has whatever ground meat you have on hand or sub impossible crumbles for vegetarians. It covers the basic food groups and is flexible. I usually keep frozen mixed veggies on hand so as long as I have that, some sort of protein and potatoes, the rest is flexible. Got spinach? Throw it in! Leftover broccoli? Good to go!
All that flexibility in one pan and baked so you can clean up while it cooks. And both kids and adults love it. Bonus!

These ‘Korean beef bowls’ are always a hit and quick and easy to make. I serve it with rice and add shelled edamame to the bowls.

https://damndelicious.net/2013/07/07/korean-beef-bowl/

Not a recipe, but more of a meal generating approach in general…We subscribed to Farm to People during the pandemic. It’s only in NYC, but I imagine there are helpful CSAs or equivalent in other places. Basically you get sent a box of produce with meat or bread/cheese items every week (or every other week). This eliminates having to come up with something to make, you just make what you get! At first it’s a bit of a challenge, now it’s a fun puzzle to mix and match ingredients in recipes and adapt things to eat in a fun way. Might not work for every family, but maybe it would work for some 🙂

Quesadillas and guacamole! Or just smashed avocado if I’m feeling lazy. It’s a guaranteed hit in our house. We always have tortillas, refried beans, cheese, some sort of protein and spinach so we can always make them.

We put chicken in the crockpot all day, shred it, add some taco seasoning, and mix guacamole and rice with the shredded chicken. IDK why but my toddler loves it. Probably b/c of guacamole but I figured out that mixing the stuff into the guac actually gets him to eat it! The rest of us eat is as tacos or rice bowls.
Another SUPER simple Crockpot recipe that is always a hit- chicken, fav tomato sauce. That’s it. Cook it ALL day and it’s going to fall apart. Make some pasta.
Sheet pan, chopped sweet potato, whatever other veggies you have, and a can of dried chickpeas. Throw some seasoning on it, roast it, cook some rice, and get a good dressing to put on top (We like Annie’s Goddess).

Turkey cheeseburger helper! https://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/hamburger-helper/

In the summer, we love “big messy salads.” I will have at least one protein but usually every workable leftover protein laid out, along with any other thing that could conceivably work in a salad. I try to keep a dozen hard boiled eggs on hand (Instant Pot 5-5-5 method) and everyone gets to pick what goes on their bed of salad greens. Kids tend to evolve from iceberg and baby carrots and cold rotisserie chicken to using it to try new things like falafel or smoked salmon or beets or grilled corn or strawberries in a salad. I have learned to love hummus on my salad. I use Jamie Oliver’s jam jar salad dressing recipe and we have a 2 c. salad dressing shaker now for this meal.

Just recently tried Caro Chambers Summer Sauté recipe and that will be part of rotation for sure. During the summer grilled chicken thighs with a sesame marinade and during the winter bagel pizzas where the kids get to choose their own toppings before cooking.

I make so many recipes from Salt and Lavender and my 4 year old loves them. Lots of pasta, but also great recipes for chicken with different easy sauces. One of my summer favorites is this cream corn pasta. I know that sounds weird but it has fresh basil and sweet summer corn and my whole family loves it. https://www.saltandlavender.com/creamy-corn-pasta/#growSource=search&growReferrer=true

Our kids love better chicken. I too organize recipes, meal plans, and grocery lists using an app. I opted for PlanToEat. I have even organized things so that the grocery list is organized according to the layout of our go-to grocery store. I love it!

I recently discovered Smitten Kitchen’s sheet pan chow mein (https://smittenkitchen.com/2021/04/sheet-pan-chow-mein/). I love recipes that are flexible with veggies and protein. It was a big hit with my 6-year old daughter who often gives me a thumbs down review when it comes to dinner.

I have a weirdo factually vegetarian toddler (will not touch any meat, not even rolled into a ball – which as Italian breaks my heart in two) so our task is to maximise iron and proteins. We do a lot of lentil-based stews + rice or quinoa. Recipe is very close to what you do for beef: onion carrot garlic + bay leaf + tomato concentrate + a starch (potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, a combination of the above) + a leafy green + precooked lentils. Toddler scarfs it down and it’s very good for us too.
If you also have vegetarian or vegan leaning kids (or are so yourself), I can only recommend Meera Sodha’s books. They are reasonably quick or hands-off recipes (many of the curries you throw together on low heat for a long time) and they are all spectacular (she also writes on the Guardian for free recipes).

Following- bonus if adults feel good eating it too!

We love these veggie enchiladas, I throw in frozen kale or spinach into the mixture for some hidden greens

Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas

We do teriyaki chicken thighs with store bought sauce in the instant pot, with a roasted veggie and coconut rice (coconut milk instead of water to make jasmine rice). It’s my kids and husbands favorite meal. I make it 2-3x a month.

-Pan-fried gnocchi and brussels sprouts. It’s a NYT recipe, and we halve the butter and usually skip the lemon zest. My 1 and 3 year old eat it all up, including the sprouts!
-“poke” bowls of canned fish or kani on sushi rice with avocado, edamame, seaweed, and whatever we have on hand
-boil some rice noodles, throw in broccoli at the end, make a quick brown sugar/soy/peanut sauce, top with frozen peas and scallions

One of our go-to’s is quesadillas. Our 6 year old has historically liked just cheese. But the other day she actually had the same one my wife and I did – which has black beans and sweet potatoes in it, as well as cheese. We prep the sweet potatoes on the weekend by roasting in the oven. Then during the week it is easy to throw a tortilla on the stove and then add the cheese, sweet potatoes, and canned beans. And you could always substitute other stuff too, but this one is def a fav of ours.

Greek Soufiko (vegetarian stew) – great for the bounty of summer produce. Just dice all the vegies, toss them in the pot with salt and herbs, cook for 30 minutes and add EVOO. Healthy and easy to feed to my 9-month old with no teeth 🙂

https://sarahwilson.com/2012/07/how-to-make-ikarian-soufiko/

I swear by a number of the recipes on yummytoddlerfood.com, especially some of the “hidden” veggie ones! My kids are picky but love a good baked or pseudo-baked item. Our faves include:

— Spinach Banana Muffins (#1 requested item at least once a week)
— Carrot Cinnamon Pancakes
— Fluffy Sweet Potato Muffins
— Broccoli Cheddar Waffles

We also adapt a lot of the recipes into mini waffles, other types of pancakes or muffins, or use different veggies/fruits based on what we have lying around. The recipes are all super easy to follow and substitute where necessary, and make a TON to freeze. (My personal rec is to make a million during nap times on the weekends while listening to a podcast with a glass of wine, but that’s just me.) Then, when you’re stuck for dinner, you can just ask “do you want broccoli cheddar waffles or sweet potato cinnamon pancakes?” and pop them in the toaster like a frozen eggo waffle, but healthier and less guilt-inducing. Hidden veggies + already-made dinner?? Count me in.

Our three quick crowd pleasers are tacos, change your life shawarma (https://www.thelazygeniuscollective.com/blog/shawarma), and turkey sloppy joes from How Sweet Eats Everyday Dinners cookbook.

We are fans of the veggie-loaded recipes from Natural Nurturer:
https://thenaturalnurturer.com/

Kiddo is a fan of the breakfast cookies and pancakes, but the pasta dishes (spinach mac & cheese, one-pot taco pasta, slow cooker black beans) are kid-accepted too.

Frozen scallion pancakes are super easy to fry up with some Chinese sausage and eggs (not the healthiest but a simple treat and we love breakfast for dinner). Finding new ways to make quinoa + veggie combos, latest is mixing with fresh corn and turmeric. Or making rice with half water, half coconut milk. Recently rediscovered an Andy Baraghani’s recipe for miso and tahini dipping sauces which amazing for crunchy veggie dipping. Filling the lunchbox has been hard to change up but my 3 y/o is loving goat cheese and cucumber sandwiches and discovered egg salad on good white bread. Basically think high tea sandwiches, can’t go wrong!

For school age kids: Mr. and Ms. Potato Heads! Bake potatoes, have cut up things on hand to decorate them with toothpicks: any sort of veggies, cheese, really anything cut into shapes that they can make eyes, nose, mouth, bodies.

Quesadillas. Our toddler loves them with plain yogurt and avocado on the side. The adults can add other ingredients like beans or veggies. We’ve also gotten into the habit of making breakfast for dinner. I’ll make a big batch of pancakes and freeze them, and we can take a few out and reheat them in the microwave and scramble some eggs with some fresh fruit on the side.