#AfterSchoolChefs – getting back in to a routine 7

After the long summer school holidays it can be tricky to get back in to an “after school routine” again. I will admit I am far from the perfect mum, I am a lazy cook and just want food that is easy. So when BritMums got in touch about #AfterSchoolChefs with Birds Eye frozen foods I was interested. Normally Blokey cooks for me the night before and I just bung it back in the oven to feed the kiddies and me. He’s a great guy really, he irons too (no you can’t borrow him).

They want to know about after school routines, well I walk with the hound to the local little school to collect Jen, it is around a mile each way. When we are nearly home Jen often wants to play on the swing that is in a tree. That takes about an hour, when we get in D is always back from big school, he walks too but it is in the opposite direction. For some reason D, who is almost a teenager, will not have eaten his lunch, and declare he’s starving. He needs “dinner like now please Mum, STAT.”

Playing on the swing, and school walkies.

So for this cooking challenge I’ve actually been cooking, nothing too complicated. D says that my cooking is slowly getting better, so thanks for that son.

I (like a lot of Mums) struggle to get veggies in to my kid’s tummies. So I loved the zip-lock type resealable bags of frozen veg. I was grabbing it from the freezer often and shaking a little veg  in to what’s cooking. Chucking a handful of frozen vegetables in to a saucepan full of pasta or rice won’t exactly cram the kids full of good stuff, but if it is just the odd pea or slice of carrot my boys can’t be bothered to pick it out – they moan because they can see vegetables there,, but they eat it, so I don’t care. It’s also fabtastic to bung straight in to omelettes – I find cheaper supermarket frozen vegetables clump together as big colourful icebergs, which is ok for boiling it to within an inch of it’s life, but is naff all good for an omelette. We eat a lot of omelettes, having 5 pet chickens means we often have too many eggs. If I don’t make omelettes Blokey will make cake, oh, it is torture *having to eat cake*.

Our bag of goodies, and the usual overload of eggs we have.

And how about fish finger sarnies? I love the, but I am bored of them, soooo here is a Vegggie finger butty.

My finger butty. Yummy and easy.

This was my attempt at a space themed dinner. I’m nothing like as good as Grace at artistic dinners, but I had a go. On the rockets I tried (and failed) to draw details on them to make them 3D and cool. This didn’t matter though, as both lads ate it. D did comment on it though! Hiding the veg in waffles made it fun, as it was messy. Food that said “play with me and eat me”. D ate it all, which isn’t abnormal, but Jen clearing a plate was awesomeness.

My attempt at a space dinner. #Fail

We were given £20 of Birds Eye vouchers, and I filled a nice reusable bag full of frozen munch. All lame cookery was my own work!

This post is an entry for #Afterschoolchefs Challenge, sponsored by Birds Eye. Learn more on the Birds Eye Facebook Page. To see more #AfterschoolChefs posts check out BritMums linky here.

Related articles

• Our #Afterschoolchefs Challenge
• Birds Eye #Afterschoolchefs Challenge
• Taking It Easy At Teatime
• Birds Eye – Getting into the mealtime routine