It’s the age-old question that puts fear into the hearts of moms everywhere, “What’s for dinner?”

Coming up with family dinners on busy weeknights can feel like a recurring nightmare. Ok, if we’re able to feed our families we are so blessed so maybe I’m being a little dramatic. But I do know this is one of my weekly struggles. As the prices of groceries continue to increase it’s getting even more challenging for families. 

I wanted to create a list of easy dinner ideas that are great for a family night and are also low-cook or even no-cook. These are great for those busy times when dinner just feels too overwhelming. After all, we want to enjoy the precious time we have as a family. 

So here are some quick dinner ideas…

DIY Dinner Bars

These are especially great if you are having a family game night because everyone can grab their dinner and start playing. You just set out all the ingredients on a bar and everyone gets to choose their own adventure kind of thing. 

A few ideas for food bars for family night are:

• Waffle and pancake bar– you can make the waffles and pancakes ahead of time and put them in a warmer then just put out syrup, fruits, nuts, and whatever types of toppings your family enjoys.
• Pizza bar-bake individual size crusts ahead of time or just buy premade ones. Put out a marinara sauce and a white sauce, veggies, and the toppings of your choice and let everyone make their own pizza. Homemade pizza is so fun.
• Sandwich bar– Set out a variety of breads, deli meats (you can use vegetarian options), veggies, cheeses, and condiments. This allows for endless customization. If you want to do warm sandwiches you can allow everyone to put on their own toppings and just quickly place them on the griddle to melt. 
• Salad bar– even children can get excited about salad if there are lots of topping choices. Think sweet corn and cranberries, nuts, and different kinds of greens. 
• Taco bar– we love tacos in our house and a taco bar is so easy to put together. This works for burritos,nachos, fajitas, and tostadas too. Put out sour cream, guacamole, tortillas, and tortilla chips beans, or meat and cheese. 
• Build your own pasta bar– you can have two or three different kinds of pasta like spirals and spaghetti set out in bowels and then a couple of different sauce options and toppings. Your local Italian restaurant has nothing on you. 

Some tips:

If you are worried about children choosing ingredients like cheese and bread and not any veggies you can put ingredients into sections and make a rule where everyone has to select at least one topping from each section – like something green, a seed or nut, etc.

If given at least a few choices children and adults are more likely to cooperate. Bars are great for picky eaters because all family members have choices.

Encourage each member of the family to try something new- either an ingredient they would not normally eat or a new combination. 

Put the ingredients out in glass storage containers that come with lids so if there are ingredients left you can easily pop on the lid and store them away. Fast and easy cleanup so you can keep playing.  

If you’re really not feeling it a snack bar works too. You can put out some popcorn, guacamole, chips, salsa, fruit cups, and nuts on the bar. Just try to think about snacks that are more nutritious and filling and remember this is for a fun time to give you a break. It’s not every night. 

Platters and Charcutiere Boards

If a bar is feeling like too much you can also try a charcuterie board or platter. I included charcuterie boards in my simple work-from-home lunch ideas because they’re so fun and easy. You can do classic combinations like meat slices, cheeses, and fruit. Or you can do themes like Mediterranean with olives, pitas, and hummus. 

Veggie platters with dip and crackers are crowd-pleasers and a great way to fit in more veggies. You can do simple pita sandwiches or wraps alongside a try of veggies if you feel your family needs something more substantial. 

One Pan and Baked Dishes

One-pan dishes are great for a low-cook option because you can chop everything ahead, throw it in the pan, and just cook or saute it when it is dinner time. 

Baked dishes are also great for dinner because you can make ahead in a casserole dish and then just pop in the oven. These dishes are often hearty and comforting.     

Some One-Pan or Pot Dinner Ideas:

• Chilli
• Meat or vegetarian protein source with rice and veggies
• Stir Fry
• Soups and curry
• Pastas

We love both our slow cooker and instant pot for these kinds of meals. Just set it and forget it. Dinner will be ready and warm. 

Ideas for Baked Dishes:

• Lasagna
• Enchiladas
• Baked Ziti
• Rice bake
• Sheperd’s Pie
• Stuffed bell peppers

All of these are flexible and can be made with meat or vegetarian. You can change up the types of sauces and veggies. 

You can do baked sheet pan meals too. Add potatoes and veggies to a pan and bake. This is a great way to build a veggie rice bowl too. 

When you make pot and baked dishes make extra and put some in the freezer. This is a fantastic way to save you on another night when you don’t feel like cooking. 

More Easy Dinner Ideas That Don’t Take A Lot Of Cook Time

Burgers

There are so many varieties of burgers you can make. If you eat meat you can do chicken burgers, turkey, and beef. If you are vegetarian there are loads of different vegetarian burger recipes that you can make ahead and also many store-bought options. You can also try mushroom cap burgers. 

Throw them on the grill or griddle and set out your buns and toppings. Easy and dinner is done. You could have some french fries or mix things up with zucchini or carrot fries. There are always ways to make a meal more nutritious. Avocado slices on burgers taste great. You could even try avocado mayo. 

Pre-Made Salads And Bowels

We mentioned a salad bar but there are also salads you can make ahead that can act as the main course for dinner. Taco salad is a fun option, something easy that we love at our house. Pasta salad is another delicious option. 

Greek and Mediterranean salads are nice too. You can make couscous in minutes and add some lovely toppings. 

Bean and veggie bowls are great too. Put your starch base like rice and then add a protein source like beans or meat and then your cooked veggies. Sprinkle with some sesame seeds and you have a fast nourishing meal. 

We love to have a Greek-style salad and put it in pita wraps too! 

Sandwiches

We think more of eating sandwiches for lunch not dinner but when the energy to cook is low sandwiches can be a great way to go too. You can make no-cook sandwiches like cucumber sandwiches and chickpea sandwiches. You can put meat or veggie meat slices, lettuce, and tomato in it. You can do grilled sandwiches which take some cooking but not much.

Grilled veggie sandwiches with peppers and zucchini are delicious. You could also come up with creative easy meals with open-face sandwiches. Think bruschetta or avocado toast. You can add a side of zucchini or carrot fries or even a bowl of fruit. You can skip the bread and make wraps instead like chicken lettuce wraps. I like to make those with veggie meat. 

There are some great trending folded wrap recipes going around so be sure to look for inspiration on social media. Pinterest is my meal inspiration BFF. 

Dinner Doesn’t Always Have To Be Hard

When you do cook make extra so you can save some in the freezer for another day. If you don’t feel like cooking make one of the bars or platters we talked about and buy the ingredients already made. Just look for the freshest ingredients you can get. Create simple meals with simple ingredients and use simple recipes or forget the recipes and just have fun.

Think of healthy dinner ideas that can quickly become family favorites. If you do have a little time to cook then focus on the main dish and make your sides super quick and easy. Enlist the family to help. Even young kids love to get involved in the kitchen. It does take a lot of patience to let them help but you are spending time together while also accomplishing a task.

This is bonding for the entire family. Make weeknight dinner time a family project. Make it a conversation starter or fun game to see how many no-cook or low-cook ideas you can come up with for dinner tonight. This doubles as quality time together. 

Use your pressure cooker to help you on those days when you know you will be extra busy or drained. If you choose to cook make the cooking process as simple as possible. You can buy ingredients that are already partially prepped. For meat eaters, this could be buying ground turkey or a rotisserie chicken.

In our house, I like to keep some vegetarian protein sources already chopped up and ready. Pay attention if there are evenings that feel particularly hard on certain days of the week so you can prepare ahead for those. You can meal prep to get ahead or something I prefer- ingredient prepping.  Ingredient prepping is just chopping or preparing certain ingredients ahead then you can mix and match those to create different meals. 

Keep a running list of ideas and inspiration and prepare ahead on the days you have more energy so you are ready when the harder days come. I love Pinterest for keeping lists of different types of recipes I can go to as needed. You can have different boards like a salad board and a soup board. 

You could also try having themes for different nights of the week like Meatless Monday and Taco Tuesday. You can check out our themed dinner ideas here. 

Why Even Bother?

I know it can feel like so much extra work to prepare daily family meals but studies show that family meals have so many benefits. Children who eat family meals at home tend to be physically healthier and eat a larger variety of nutrients. What we model matters. Children also tend to feel closer to their parents and have fewer behavioral issues the more meals that eat at home as a family.

Some studies have even linked family dinners to higher academic performance. And of course, those relationships with likely be stronger when everyone is having that time together. Look for fun family dinner ideas and come back to this list if you are feeling weary and not sure what to put out on the dinner table. Know that this is a ministry that you are doing for the benefit of your family. 

Over three decades of research have shown that regular family meals offer a wide variety of physical, social-emotional and academic benefits. While some of these benefits can be gained through other activities, eating together is the only single activity that is known to provide all of them at the same time.

 The Family Dinner Project

In fact, a family therapist thinks that sitting down to dinner together may even be better than an hour of family therapy with her. 

As a family therapist, I often have the impulse to tell families to go home and have dinner together rather than spending an hour with me. And 20 years of research in North America, Europe and Australia back up my enthusiasm for family dinners. It turns out that sitting down for a nightly meal is great for the brain, the body and the spirit. And that nightly dinner doesn’t have to be a gourmet meal that took three hours to cook, nor does it need to be made with organic arugula and heirloom parsnips.

Anne Fishel, The Conversation Science Says Eat With Your Kids

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse has even found family dinners as a contributing factor in keeping children and teens away from substance abuse. 

Our surveys have consistently found a relationship between children having frequent dinners with their parents and a decreased risk of their smoking, drinking or using other substances, and that parental engagement fostered around the dinner table is one of the most potent tools to help parents raise healthy, substance-free children. Simply put: frequent family dinners make a big difference.

drugfree.org, The Importance Of Family Dinners

Here at Grace FIlled Mom, I’m passionate about not only sharing practical tips that can help us live more joy-filled lives in the midst of motherhood but I want to be an encourager on why doing what we do is important. I know the daily grind can feel so mundane and yet overwhelming at the same time.

Dinner can certainly be one of the areas that contribute to those hard feelings. But you are doing something important momma when you prepare those meals over and over again. You are nourishing your family’s body, mind, and spirit. You have the most important work in the world. Don’t you forget it. I believe in you! 

I hope this post encouraged you and gave you some great ideas. If you have low-cook or no-cook delicious dinner ideas or a recipe the whole family loves let us know in the comments so we can support each other in answering “What’s for dinner?”