quick post nursery teas

[Yak]

Wise people, please could I ask you to share your best, quickest and easiest post nursery tea ideas. Yaklet will be starting next week & although they give him a big lunch plus tea (quite substantial) at 4ish, the boy has hollow legs. I am picking up by 5.30 & he'll be in bed at 6.30ish so I need things which will be easy for an overtired baby to eat & easy for an overtired mama to prepare. My mind so far has lit on sandwiches and got no further!

[Goodliz]

Some pasta already cooked that you could reheat in a sauce like pesto.

Having frozen stuff that you can take out in the morning and reheat e.g. bolognese, lasagne. I used to cook big batches. Vegetable soup.

Hope this helps x

[hellosailor]

slice of toast spread with warm tomato puree (i just dollop a spoon on a plate and pop in microwave for a few seconds so it isn't chilly from fridge but then yaklet probably isn't as temperature fussy as mine..) then grated cheese on top, either pop under grill or don't bother, cheese still sticks to it - mini pizza

Or as Goodliz says, freeze a few pots of cooked penne and defrost as you need them, then just stir grated cheese, pesto etc in,

a tortilla wrap with something like tuna and mozzarella inside, then cut into circular slices for easy eating (needs to have something like melted mozzarella to bind filling together or the wrap, unwraps, as it were..

fish fingers

houmous and pitta

scrambled eggs or cheese omelette

just a few ideas you've probably already made a million times, obviously my own baby - the one that I presume is living on love alone as it sure ain't food that's sustaining her - would laugh in my face if I offered her any of these ;-)

[Ruth_Baldock]

We do egg fried rice a lot, takes no time at all and is a sure fire hit with both infants.

Also toast pizza, sometimes on Pitta if I'm feeling Posh.

[jennyh]

Hey!

My girl is at nursery and also has a nursery tea around 3ish I think. I find that when I pick her up she is a little hungry but I havent tried offering her any meal at this time, she is so knackered that I think she would throw it at me! Instead we do milk before bed as normal and I find she often has a little more than on non-nursery days. I also know that the nursery do sometimes give them some little snacks (breadsticks, ricecakes etc) around 5ish if they seem hungry. I hadn't even considered feeding her again...does that make me a bad mother??? :)

[canadianlisa]

My girl also goes to nursery and they have a big lunch and then tea at 4:30 ish. She has a snack in the buggy in the way home and then something else at home- like cheese and crackers, toast, ham or fruit usually. She wouldn't be up for another cooked meal. I think the way the day is structured means that they eat a lot at nursery. Has milk at bedtime still as well.

You could also do beans on toast(homemade or not), pre-cooked baked potato with filling. Crumpets and butter / peanut butter sandwiches. Savoury muffins / eggs.

I have found that in the year and a bit that she has been attending nursery she is usually either a) pretty knackered / grumpy and needing to just wind down after her day or b) wanting to play with her toys she missed in the day. Depends on levels of sleep during the day. Definitely not up for a sit down big meal.

[Pickle]

You could just keep something from your dinner the night before to quickly microwave for him? I used to do this a lot for my two, and it was also a good way to encourage them to eat "normal" family food which makes life much easier now as I just cook one meal that we all eat.

Otherwise, I always have pots of tomato based pasta sauce and cheese sauce in the freezer which I zap and add to pasta when needed. Same with bolognaise sauce, an easy solution when I can't be bothered!

P x

[sunbob]

When my daughter was at nursery with the same food timing dilemma she used to enjoy a 'weetabix suppereaten in her pygamas.

[Yak]

Thanks everyone for the great tips. We'll see how it goes but I suspect picky things which require no or minimal cooking are the way forward. I had totally forgotten about toast pizza so I shall revive that & other lunchtime favourites.

Jennyh - you're not a bad mother at all! Just thank your lucky stars that you're not constantly having to think about the next snack / meal every hour....

[Knomester]

For 'picky' food you could try making up batches of fritters (eg sweetcorn), cheese scones, cheese or cheese & marmite straws, pancakes (to spread with cream cheese or dal), polenta fingers, savoury muffins, fish fingers, mini quiches, etc and freezing them. They defrost in no time (or in about 10-20 seconds in the microwave). Other quick snacks / teas we have are scrambled eggs, houmous & crudites / pitta, pitta pockets with peanut butter or cheese, banana smoothies, soups (again I tend these in batches and freeze).

[sanity girl]

My childrens' favourite tea - pasta with butter and parmesan and some broccoli on the side. I use one of the de cecco shapes that cooks in 8 minutes. Alternatively gnocchi rather than pasta. I keep gnocchi and broccoli in the freezer and cook them together - takes 5 minutes max.

[BellendenBear]

I'd be surprised if he wants to eat much at all. Nursery seem to feed them a massive lunch so that they sleep well afterwards and then a mid-afternoon snack and tea. My 2 might have crackers, cheese, fruit, raisins, toast or something occasionally but usually just seem really exhausted and just want a bit of time with us before bed.