Five Quick and Easy Weeknight Dinners

We have all been there.  You get home from work and realize you have no desire to cook and have zero ideas for dinner. To top it all off the kids immediately start complaining that they are starving.  You don’t want to fight the kids to get them to eat, don’t want to order pizza, and you didn’t set anything out. You need some quick and easy dinner ideas in a hurry!

Trust me, I feel your pain.  I usually pre-plan our dinners for the week via my bullet journal, but I will be honest that I am not always 100% on top of my game. There are nights that I know I have something planned that I just don’t want to make, I work late, or I forget that I needed to set something out or pick something up from the store.  Those conundrums also happen to coincide more often than not with the nights that my kids are magically famished at the site of my car pulling into the drive way. They greet me at the door with a “What’s for dinner?” but no suggestions on what they want.

This is where this list of quick and easy dinner ideas comes into play.  These are some of our go to dinners when we are pressed for time and have zero interest in cooking but know we need to feed the kids.  They are simple dishes that are probably not something you would usually think of as quick and easy dinners, but are always winners with our family.  I hope you can use these to add to your arsenal of quick weeknight meals that your kids will actually eat!

Meatball Subs

What could be easier than a meatball sub.  We always have frozen meatballs in the freezer because our kids love them.  They are super versatile for everything from pasta, sandwiches, or the always delicious barbeque crockpot meatballs that you eat at parties during the holidays. Yummmm!

This dish is so super simple.  All you need are frozen meatballs, sub rolls (hey, I have used hotdog buns in a pinch), and spaghetti sauce. Heat the sauce and the meatballs until warmed through, place in the roll, toast in the oven, with cheese on top if you are feeling frisky, and enjoy!

Breakfast for Dinner

MMMM breakfast! Who doesn’t love breakfast foods!? Breakfast for dinner gets on this list of quick and easy weeknight dinner ideas because there is so little prep to many breakfast foods. Fried or scrambled eggs, French toast, fried potatoes, bacon and sausage, the possibilities are endless. 

Added bonus is that majority of these foods are probably already in your pantry, fridge, or freezer and really cost very little.  One of my favorite breakfasts is a quick breakfast hash.  You can use small cubed fresh or frozen potatoes, onions, crumbled sausage (this nearly eliminates the need to pre-thaw your meat because you just thaw it as you cook it), and scrambled eggs.

You start by frying up your sausage, breaking it up into small crumbles.  When most of the pink in gone drain off any excess fat that has accumulated leaving about a tablespoon.  Add in your potatoes and onions, and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and cook until the potatoes are soft, turning occasionally. Once the potatoes are soft add your scrambled eggs right over the top and gently stir being careful to not break up the potatoes. Cover and cook over low until eggs are done.  Add cheese if desired and serve with toast.  It is a one dish delish dinner!

Leftover Soup

No, no, I am not telling you to eat day old soup.  Well maybe in a sense I am.  It should perhaps instead be called” Leftovers Reimagined”.  You know that conglomeration of side dishes that you just don’t know what to do with.  Repurposing leftovers is my jam! I am all about a no waste fridge and one of the easiest way to use up leftover veggies and meat is in a soup.  It comes together really quickly and can be a great meatless Monday option. 

I usually use up whatever I have in my produce drawer first.  Carrots, bell peppers, and celery leftover from lunch snacks, maybe mushrooms that are borderline on their way out the door, random half onions that seem to accumulate throughout the week.  Then I look to leftover side dishes like corn and green beans that are begging to be given new life.  Maybe some leftover rice or other starch like scalloped potatoes or even a quick cooking barley that may be hiding in your pantry.  Then I look for the meat.  If I don’t have anything needing to be used I will either us a can of canned deer meat or leave the meat out all-together and go for an all veg option. 

Empty all of your findings into your soup pot, add your choice of stock or whole tomatoes crushed by hand (helps to get out some frustration from the day) and let it simmer with a bay leaf, salt, and pepper to give it that all day cooked taste.  You can speed up the cooking of raw veggies by doing this in your pressure cooker too! Regardless, you are looking at a great dinner in under 30 and a clean fridge.  Serve up with a grilled cheese sandwich and you are winning at quick and easy dinners!

Tacos!

This is one of my favorite go to quick and easy dinners when I am feeling rushed to get something on the table that I know the kids will eat.  Again, since the meat is going to be crumbled up I just put the whole frozen thing in the skillet. I add a little bit of oil and a splash of water over medium heat and break off the thawed pieces as it starts to soften up.  Add in a pre-made taco seasoning or your house made taco seasoning and you have a quick and easy dinner that your kids will love. 

Lately my kids have been obsessed with the mini taco boats, but if you don’t have those, serve over a salad or add some cheese and sour cream and turn into a dip to be scooped up with chips.  Have no beef, but have some leftover chicken?  Just re-season with taco seasoning and put in soft flour tortillas with cheese and bake for quick chimichangas. Really there is a whole world of Tac-opportunities!

Baked Potatoes

Baked potatoes are my favorite way to eat potatoes, especially if they are stuffed! I am getting hungry just thinking about it. I make my quick and easy dinner baked potatoes using my Ninja Foodie.  Just wash your potatoes, pierce the skin, place them in the Foodie and drizzle with oil and salt.  Air fry for 20 to 30 minutes depending on size. 

If you don’t have an air fryer, no worries.  Pierce the skin put in the microwave on the potato setting and let them go for about three quarters of the recommended time.  Take them out, wrap them in foil after drizzling them with oil and bake at 400 degrees another 15 minutes or so until they are soft inside.  I like this bake method because it speeds up the process to getting a softer potato while giving you a great baked potato skin. 

Once the potatoe is nice and soft, split it open and salt to taste.  Add your butter next then pile on your toppings.  My favorite for a quick weeknight meal is sandwich ham or turkey, black olives, shredded cheese, and sour cream.  I know black olives sounds a little weird, but trust me, it is delicious. On nights where I have a little more time, we do my daughters favorite stuffed potato with steak, broccoli, and cheese.

I hope these quick and easy weeknight dinner ideas have inspired you to rethink dinner and remove the stress of having to come up with a great meal on the fly.  Check out other easy recipes here! What are your favorite quick and easy dinners in a hurry? I would love to hear how these dinners go over at your homes! Don’t forget to follow us on Pinterest for more recipe ideas!

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