5 Easy Family Meals To Make In The School Holidays – Week 2

5 EASY family meals to keep kids fuelled up during the school holidays, without spending a fortune (or all day in the kitchen)

We know that when it comes to keeping the kids well-fed during the school holidays, it can be a struggle! If you're looking for quick, easy and affordable meal ideas, don’t worry, we’ve got your back!

This is Week 2 of our 6 weeks of school holiday meal ideas. Every Monday we’ll be giving you five simple family meals you can cook at home, quickly, easily and without breaking the bank! 

You can get School Holiday Meals Week 1 here

And, as the rain has just NOT STOPPED, getting kids busy in the kitchen, is a great way to keep them busy. And learning to cook is a good thing!

Our kid-friendly easy meals are sure to put smiles on your little ones’ faces, and yours too! 

Quick & Easy Family Meals For Kids 

The ingredients for this weeks 5 school holiday meals are £23.69 from Aldi 

Chicken Pitta 

My kids LOVE these easy peri peri chicken and coleslaw stuffed pittas. They're super easy to make and taste really good.

If you've got an air fryer, the peri peri chicken is delicious and super easy cooked in the air fryer. But you can make this just on the hob if you prefer. Get the Chicken Pitta recipe here.

We priced this at £5.10 at Aldi for total ingredients - 4 portions at £1.27 a portion 

• Pitta Breads – 50p (you'll have two leftover)
• 400g Chicken breast mini fillets – £3.15
• Coleslaw (reduced fat one was cheapest) 69p
• Peri Peri Seasoning - 85p

Make it vegetarian - use halloumi instead of chicken.

French Bread Pizza - Easy Family Meal

French bread pizzas are one of those quick, easy and delicious meals. You can make these in the air fryer or oven. Air fryer is quickest.

They take just 5 minutes to prepare and around 10 minutes to bake. Cut the baguettes, top with the tomato sauce (you can add a pinch of herbs here if you have them) then add a layer of grated cheese and top with the chorizo and sliced red onions.

We've topped them with chorizo, but you could also top them with ham, pepperoni, tuna or just keep them veggie. So this is a meal you can make again later the same week or the following week just using a different topping. Get the full Air Fryer French Bread Pizza recipe here.

We priced this at £5.33 Aldi for total ingredients - 4 portions – £1.13 a portion. 

• French baguettes - get the two pack of part baked baguettes - 85p
• Passata – 55p
• Grated Cheddar – £1.99
• Chorizo - 99p 
• Pack 3 red onions (you'll only need ½ onion so you'll have 2 ½ onions left) - 95p

Make it vegetarian - top with mushrooms and sweetcorn instead of chorizo

Hot Dog Pasta – Easy Family Meals Idea

We've adapted the hot dog pasta recipe here, so to keep the recipe lower cost, we skip all the separate seasonings, herbs and spices and just use a couple of teaspoons of smoky chipotle seasoning.

Chipotle seasoning is a good one to keep in at home as you can use it in chilli, to season fajitas, or just to liven up mashed potatoes or cheese on toast. Get the full hot dog pasta recipe here.

We priced this at £5.43 at Aldi for total ingredients - 4 portions – 65p a portion (because you'll have lots of leftovers with this recipe, the portion cost is quite low)

• Red onion – 95p (you'll have 2 onions leftover) 
• Pepper – 45p
• Smoky Chipotle Seasoning – £1.69 (you'll only need a heaped teaspoon so will have lots leftover)  
• Tin Hotdogs - 99p
• 1 Tin Tomatoes 35p
• Penne Pasta 41p (you'll have 200g leftover)
• Vegetable Stock Cubes 59p (you'll have 10 leftover)

Make it vegetarian - use can of baked beans in place of the hotdogs

Cheese Quesadilla - Quick Family Meals Ideas

Quesadillas are a go-to quick and easy family meal at our house. They take just a minute to prepare and cook in less than 5 minutes. You can keep them basic cheese or add in any extra ingredients you fancy, or need to use up. Get the cheese quesadilla recipe here for full instructions.

We priced this at £3.68 at Aldi for total ingredients for making 4 cheese quesadilla – 46p a portion.

• Cheddar Cheese – £2.69 (you'll have approx 200g leftover)
• Wraps – 99p (you’ll have 4 wraps leftover) 

Baked Potatoes With Tuna And Sweetcorn – Easy Family Meals

Baked potatoes are one of those super easy meals to make. To make them as cheaply as possible, I microwave them for around 8 minutes, then finish them in the air fryer to crisp up the skins. But you can do them completely in the microwave or oven if you prefer. Get the air fryer jacket potato recipe here.

And if you like to use the slow cooker, you can grab the slow cooker baked potato recipe here.

Once they're cooked we just make a quick tuna sweetcorn mayo - with two tins of tuna, one tin of sweetcorn and a big dollop of mayonnaise, mix together and spoon into the hot, freshly baked potatoes. If you've any leftover cheese, sprinkle that on top of the tuna mayo and dig in!

We priced this at £3.80 Aldi for total ingredients for 4 portions – 75p a portion.

• Baked Potatoes Pack of 4 – 65p
• 2 Tins Tuna - £1.44
• Mayonnaise - 99p (you'll have lots leftover)
• Tin Sweetcorn - 72p

Make it vegetarian - fill the baked potatoes with baked beans and cheese

Store Cupboard Ingredients – You Need To Have In At Home 

In addition to the ingredients listed above, you need to have the following in at home, ready to use. 

• Olive oil (sunflower or rapeseed oil will be okay too if you prefer)
• Salt 
• Black pepper 

Easy Sides To Go With Family Meals

We find that during the school holidays with all the added activities the kids are always HUNGRY! 

So it’s a good idea to have some easy, affordable and fairly healthy food in that you can put with your easy recipes to bulk them up to feed larger appetites, make them into more substantial meals or to make them stretch to feed more people. 

Easy Side Dishes 

• Potatoes – for mashing or making jacket potatoes or wedges
• Carrots – carrot sticks, or mashed veg.
• Cucumber and peppers – to make pots of crudités to serve with lunch or dinner.
• Pasta and pesto – great alongside pizzas or chicken 
• Time savers – frozen chips, waffles or hash browns 
• Baked beans and tinned spaghetti hoops
• I usually give the kids fruit after meals – so apples, pears, bananas are always good to have in. 

Need Some Family Meal Ideas?

Check out our meal planning here – it’s filled with recipes, meal planning tips and pre-filled printable meal plans weekly or seasonally. We’ve got hundreds of the BEST family recipes and family meal ideas your whole family will LOVE!

Get more delicious meal ideas and easy recipes here