I have three kids under 13 — lots of sports, lots of stress, little time.
Please post your favorite (I’ll take serviceable!) recipes that can be prepped and cooked in under an hour. No allergies in the family.
Hit me! 
Trying to think back (my only child/daughter now is 37 
). I vaguely recall she always like pasta with a red sauce (and while I often made homemade sauce, she was just fine with the stuff in the jar). She also like “beer can” chicken on the grill (can also be done in oven). Fried chicken in the cast iron skillet always worked. Cheeseburgers always worked. Just about any protein grilled worked. Loved her corn, peas, corn on the cob. So-so on salads when younger (now she makes salads that put me to shame). And, of course, she liked any kind of pizza (and Cheyenne is lucky in that we had some Jersey transplants who cranked out “east coast” pizza that was and still is quite good). Regardless, enjoy your time with them, as before you know it they will be older and out of the house! 
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Chicken fajitas was a big hit for me. Bloom ground coriander, cumin, and chili powder . Sauté onion, bell pepper and thin sliced chicken breast (or thighs if they will eat dark meat). Add canned drained and rinsed black beans. Serve with tortillas and lettuce, cilantro, jalapeños, shredded cheese, sour cream, salsa, etc.
Sounds like a lot but quick and easy
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Lemon cream pasta (or just pasta with some butter and evoo) is quick and easy, and you can spruce it up with all sorts of variations: shred some rotisserie chicken, add mushroom, various veggies, shrimp, chopped tomatoes, etc. I even do it all in one larger pan (though if I’m sauteeing or browning something to start, I’ll move that out, and add back in at the last minute). Filling, quick, and you can make it a pretty healthy one pot meal.
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If it’s more that you have to cook for kids at various times because of practices/events all being at different times, I liked making cheesy eggs in a tortilla, turned into a rollup. Start a flour tortilla with some shredded cheese in toaster oven, then make a couple of eggs in a non stick pan, flip eggs and throw the now ready tortilla on top. Roll it up and eat in the car on the way to lesson/practice/dentist etc.
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Get a rice cooker:
One pot meals
Beef scramble over rice
Lamb scramble over rice
Baked chicken, salmon etc. over rice
For example… just sautee ground beef, onion, broccoli, salt and pepper garlic and your choice of seasoning (Asian? Go soy ginger. Indian? add cumin, curry seasoning. Mexican? Add tomato and taco seasoning etc).
Another recent success: using pre jarred tomato sauce and adding beef, pork etc. to it. Sautee the meat and season it…stir in the sauce… protein packed pasta.
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That Fondue cheese that comes in a pouch.
Melt it with a touch of Sauvignon Blanc while the macaroni boils.
Boom.
Fondue Mac!
We eat Jain style. Google Rasoi Magic ‘No Onion, No Garlic’ spice packs. Under two dollars each! Go to an Indian specialty market website.
Substitute coconut milk for regular milk and ten minutes to a delicious dish you can serve over rice or pasta!
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Tacos/burritos. Cook up some beef/pork/chicken. Use canned/jarred corn, salsa, beans, etc. Shredded cheese and lettuce-can buy.
Build your own according to taste.
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Keep them coming. I do the various proteins over rice, taco combinations, etc. often and then get the “again…” from at least some of the chorus.
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I subscribe to Mob (mob.co.uk) and love it. I found it while looking for post-gym meal prep but it would be great for what you’re looking for. It’s focused on quick and healthy recipes, and all the recipes can scale up or down on their site for the number of servings you’re making.
Two of our long time favorite meals that our kids also loved are these Marcella Hazan recipes for chick pea soup and pasta with tuna sauce. I couldn’t find a link to the exact tuna recipe but the Serious Eats recipe linked below looks similar.
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This recipe for pasta in green sauce from Six Seasons is so delicious - I usually serve it with little tomatoes and sauteed shrimp on the side and revel in the thought that my girl’s dinner is coated in liquified kale or spinach.
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It doesn’t take too long to pan fry a few fillets of fish if you guys aren’t averse to seafood, not to mention very healthy.
For a truly simple and easy meal, I’d brown some ground beef in a pot, toss in a bag of frozen veggies, dump in some marinara sauce and then some chicken stock. It’s pretty quick and again very healthy.
For other meals that require a bit of preheating, I would try oven chicken shawarma and pasta puttanesca.
But honestly? Your best choice is to meal prep on the weekends so that you don’t have to cook from scratch every day. Invest in some good Tupperware, and the world’s your oyster. For people that are short on time but still want to eat healthy and tasty food, this is IMO the best option. Some of my favorite meal prep recipes that store well in the fridge over a week are boeuf bourguignon, cowboy goulash, chorizo rice and beans, chili, and Japanese curry rice.
Speaking of seafood, my daughter and the kids her age in my friends group all loved it whenever we steamed mussels. And often we did it (steamed them) in a simple wet curry sauce. Takes a little prep time to clean the mussels, but otherwise really a pretty easy meal, but the kids all appreciated it as a welcomed break from routine.
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- One thing I have been doing recently is marinating and freezing ahead of time tandoori chicken. It would work with all types of seasoning (jerk, etc.). What I did was buy many pounds of chicken, tandoori masala, yogurt… mix it up… freeze it up. And then air fry from frozen as needed. You can then use it with wraps with yogurt, etc.
- Thai curry. Coconut milk + a can of thai curry paste + sugar lime/lime leaf etc. gets you 90% there flavor-wise. Coconut milk adds nice fats and calorie density. Add in protein (shrimp, chicken, etc.) for variety. Whatever vegetables on hand (canned baby born/bamboo shoots/water chestnuts work well). Serve with noodles or rice for variety.
- You can get pre-bottled Thai curry and Indian curry etc., I think they are called “simmer sauce”. Pair with bread, frozen naan, rice, noodles etc. Another change up. Just more expensive buying the jars of simmer sauce, but I’d guess CostCo now has these
- For variety, sub in quinoa instead of rice.
- Easier than tacos is loaded nachos. Heats up all at once, no separate preparation etc.
- Chinese is really easy. Can go sweet: soy sugar glazed, spicier: soy/hot sesame/ginger, etc.
- Shrimp scampi (you can pre-freeze the sauce here too, to be ready-to-go). Can serve with toasted bread too.
- I’m going to learn how to make sushi. The couple times I made it was easy (and much cheaper than outdoors). Slice raw fish (or mash it up), soy, white rice… you are 90% there
- Mediterranean night: lamb burgers, package of hummus, rice/fries/potatoes + any other veggies
- One pot Tuscan white bean + sausage + escarole = nice and hearty. And serve with crusty bread.
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I second the Thai curry–if you’ve access to a Chinese deli, get a roast duck and use that as the protein in a red curry (red curry paste, coconut milk, eggplant, tomato, bamboo shoots).
A sheet-pan meal that I like: roasted duck breasts, broccoli, cauliflower, maybe tiny potatoes. Season to your taste–I sometimes use chipotles and maple sugar on the duck, sometimes garlic and rosemary.
Ceviche is easy and delicious and great with tortilla chips.
Good quality conservas, of which there are a lot, are a fantastic short-cut to pastas, grain bowls, salads, tacos, etc. I’ve even used conservas (branzino/cod/squid/etc.) to make “ceviche”. Good sources include here, here, and here. There are several cookbooks that focus on tinned seafood.
Lentils cook up quickly and are delicious with added greens and sausage.
Cook up a pot of beans on the week-end and use the beans all week. If you’ve not had Rancho Gordo beans, you’re missing out big-time. Loads of recipes on the site as well. Or you can get their cookbooks.
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The NY Times has a weekly “Five Weeknight Dishes” newsletter and column that features exactly this, except I think they say 30 minutes rather than an hour (I am slow so these often take me longer). I wonder if you can see the newsletter and some content without a subscription.
For example, try this one, Honey Habanero Pork Chops with Carrots (gift article). I was serving this to my chemistry undergrad daughter and said “I wonder why this isn’t any spicier than it is”, then she immediately looks up the temp that capsaicin starts to break down 
.
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Quick Chicken Cacciatore:
Use skinless/boneless thighs. Here’s the proportions for 8 thighs.
2 bell peppers (any color you choose) diced to bite size chunks
1 medium onion diced
4 garlic cloves peeled and rough chopped
Fresh or dried oregano-to taste. I generally use around a tablespoon and bloom it by rubbing in my palms.
Fresh basil to finish
700ml (full bottle) Passata- I like Mutti brand
8-10 mushrooms sliced-plain old buttons work fine
White wine
Unfold the chicken thighs and season on both sides with salt and pepper.
Dust with all purpose flour and shake off excess.
Heat stainless steel skillet big enough to hold all the chicken in one layer or brown them in batches. The pan should have enough room to hold all the ingredients and have the lid cover it all. The pan is ready when water thrown in beads up and evaporates.
Add cooking oil with a high smoke point to the pan (avocado or grapeseed) and lay the thighs in a single layer until they release. Flip them and do the same on the other side. Remove from pan.
If there’s little oil left add a knob of butter and throw in the veg. Sweat the mixture until just tender (it’ll have more time to cook).
Deglaze the pan with some white wine. Figure around a cup. Scrape up all the brown bits on the bottom with a wooden spoon. Add the thighs back in and pour the passata. There will be plenty of tomato left in the bottle. Fill it 3/4 of the way with water and shake to release the rest of the sauce and dump that into the pan.
Stir to combine and add the oregano. I usually season after every ingredient but you can wait until it’s cooked and season to your liking. Cover and cook for 30 minutes or until the chicken is tender.
Before serving check seasoning and add torn basil leaves
Cook’s note: I usually add some sausage to the dish during the browning process, this week it was chicken sausage with provolone. It really amps up the flavor.
If you have any questions please ask. I cook by feel and most things are a little different every time I make them. This was a family favorite and it’s better the next day reheated. Serve with pasta, potatoes, or rice.
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My kids loved these and they now make them as adults. They were my budget friendly go-tos as a single Dad.
Sloppy Joes
1lb gr beef
Chopped onion and garlic
2tbsp red wine vinegar
1 can tomato soup
1tsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp ground mustard seed
1/2tsp thyme
2tbsp butter
Sauté onion and garlic in butter add ground beef and brown. Add remaining ingredients. Heat through, simmer for about 15 minutes. Toast your buns or butter and broil serve hot. We add a slice cheese.
Hamburger Stroganoff
1-1/2lb grd beef
Chopped onion and garlic
1/4-1/2lb sliced mushroom
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 cup cooked white rice
Sauté onion and garlic and butter add ground beef and brown. Add mushrooms and simmer until cooked down. Add mushroom soup. Salt and pepper to taste simmer until mixed well, add sour cream and parsley, stir until incorporated and heated through. Serve over white rice.
Chili Stew
1-1/2 lb gr beef
Chopped Onion and garlic
1-1/2 tsp salt
1tsp pepper
1tsp chili powder
1/2tsp celery salt
1/4+ tsp thyme
1/4+ tsp marjoram
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne depending on how spicy you want it.
1 14oz can kidney beans with liquid
1 14oz can diced tomatoes
Sauté onion and garlic in butter, add beef and brown. Skim excess fat, add seasonings, tomatoes and beans. Simmer 1/2 hr. We serve it over a small scoop of white rice. It just works.
I still make the chili regularly. My wife loves it. She likes the Sloppy Joe’s too. But now I use Flannery ground beef because it’s so so rich that you don’t have to drain the fat and it adds so much more depth of flavor.
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I always did decent amount of meal prep.
Enchiladas were always a hit and used rotisserie chicken.
Nowadays I do the blackens catfish under the broiler from frozen. See what did you cook tonight chain.
Salmon was easy and fast salt in the morning and grill when you get home. I use charcoal in a kamado and it is ready to cook in 10 minutes and the cook takes 10 minutes. The sides can vary dramatically cous cous as always a hit and is done in 5 minutes.
Biggest take away is pre-positioning and having something in the freezer.
Sous vide makes defrosting easy. A steak can go from frozen to room temp in 30 minutes then on the grill.
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