Last week I had one of “those” afternoons. Or maybe it was a stretch of days. Who knows when you have a 2 year old around. All I do know is that by 4.55pm it was dinner time, the kids were circling and I had NO idea what we were cooking for dinner, or how in fact I had created 3 extra humans that required so much food, all the time. What were we thinking?
And then it came to me! Brinner! Brinner would be the dinner we would have. Except I didn’t know that it was actually called Brinner until I put up an Instagram story and I was given a name for it.
Breakfast for dinner = BRINNER.
And everyone is a winner when there is brinner for dinner.
I am sounding very Dr Suessy here.
I made the call! Brinner is served! Hit me up with your requests. Extra crispy bacon with fried eggs and toast for the 10 year old. Pancakes with lemon and sugar for the 7 year old. Both crispy bacon AND pancakes for the 2 year old who was resembling David Hasselhoff on a bender as she hadn’t had her day sleep and was literally eating with her eyes closed.
Happy kids. Mum looked like a legend. Everything eaten and full tummies. SUCCESS.
I really must remember to do that more often.
Cooking dinner can be SUCH a pain in the arse. Especially mid week cooking. I am no meal planner. I am not a slow cooker kind of gal. I have no freezer supplies besides shitty frozen nuggets and a bottle of vodka and prawn heads and shells that I keep forgetting to put out in the bin on a Sunday night. I am more of the “organic” or make it up as you go kind of mid week cooker.
But Brinner? Brinner is a winner!
I’d love to know, what’s your go-to “4.55/5.55/6.55pm haven’t got a clue what anyone is going to eat dinner”?
Are you a fan of the Brinner too?
What’s cooking at your place tonight?
It’s going to be spag bol here I think. Nice. Different. Unusual.
My favourite quick dinner/brinner for the 4 year old is boiled eggs, smoked salmon, half an avocado and some buttery toast. He thinks it is the biggest special treat, I can make it in a matter of minutes, and it’s actually quite a healthy dinner too. It is now the go-to after soccer training when he is starving and there is no time to cook.
I used to call that exact dinner a Picnic Plate! Always went down a treat.
Spag bol here tonight also (and will likely make enough to cover tomorrow night too)!
Emergency dinner here is usually something involving wraps. Maybe a cooked chook with avo, vege sticks and wraps. It seems to work for everyone.
You are generous in taking requests. One meal fits all is the only way for me.
I must have been in a good mood I agree!
Scambly eggs, mushrooms, toms and toast FTW
I would eat eggs every night for dinner if I had no one else to worry about.
The David Hasselhoff comment had me in stitches Beth. I definitely need to whip up Brinner around here more often. It rarely happens and I most often spend hours in the kitchen every single day prepping and cooking and cleaning up afterwards only to have at least one small person (if not more) pull faces and declare its disgusting or “I don’t like it” without even having tried it yet. Brinner it on!!!!!
You’ll feel great when it’s all gobbled up!
You are not alone Mara, not alone.
Leftover Shepherd’s Pie made by my mum last night is on the menu tonight (winning for sure), my go to emergency dinner is usually good quality pork sausages from the butcher, baked in oven for 30 mins with jacket potato and steamed veg. Plain, simple, delish and everyone loves. If there isn’t enough time for that then it can often be an omelette or beans on toast – which is pretty much brinner again!
YUM.
Because I work in an office 4 days a week, I have to be something of a meal planner and a freezer stocker – I get home with both boys around 5pm and they’re already starving! But on the days when things just haven’t come together, or my brain has melted, a cheese toastie or cheesy pasta is the back-up dinner for the kids! At this stage (they’re 7 and almost 5 respectively) they’re highly suspicious of breakfast as dinner, so that doesn’t fly at our place, more’s the pity.
What’s for dinner tonight? I have no idea! But that’s fine, ‘coz my husband’s home from work today and it’s his responsibility! As long as it’s preceded by a g+t…
Always with the G&T Josephine!
For a while it was poached eggs on toast. But we totally rock brinner in this house too. Especially on a Sunday night before the weekly shop and the fridge is looking a bit bare
We always had it Sunday night when I was a kid too.
Pasta with Brocolli and Cherry toms mixed through, sprinkled with a bit of parmessan – is loved and vacuumed and so so easy! Fortunately I have a child that is fairly happy to eat bland food when necessary (at least once a week!).
I would be stoked if my girls ate that!
We had pancakes with maple syrup every Sunday night as kids. I used to think we were so lucky but now that I’m a parent, I understand it may have been more of a sanity-saver for my mum and dad! I roll out the Babymac pancakes for dinner on occasion…and not just on Sundays! ? Tonight though, it will be spaghetti bolognese…from the freezer (homemade and one meal I always try to have a stash of).
I can see why my Mum used to do it too now.
Yep Brinner is a winner here too when kids get back from swimming and it’s cold, they’re tired and STARVING. They are all happy to take an omelette with toast and occasionally even let us toss veges into the omelette. Dinner done then get them into bed.
I could eat an omelette for dinner EVERY night.
Brinner is standard weekly fare in our home. Especially on an activity night.
It’s usually eggs on toast, or eggs & bacon, or eggs & soldiers. Usually eggs. Sometimes even porridge!
Tonight it’s ham hock soup that’s been in the slow cooker all day while I’m at work. Thank CHEESUS for the slow cooker over winter. Life saver.
YUM. I need a slow cooker, I really do.
Pasta with melted butter and parmesan but we’ve been known to have eggs on toast for dinner. Perfectly acceptable option. I’m impressed the tribe was given options…. Impressive! 🙂
I know I must have been in a good mood.
Can of tuna, microwave steam pack vegies, microwave quick cook rice. Done in under 5 minutes and healthy. Winner!
Well played.
I need to do this tonight I think. I’ve left it to the last minute to do dinner.
Now it has a name!
We do brinner but it is “upsy down day” in our house. Usually involves pancakes or waffles and icecream and maple syrup. My 6 year old loves it…thinks all his Christmases come at once.
My girls love it too.
I make a Ploughman’s plate and pretend that was my plan all along. Or tuna mornay. It’s my comfort food that reminds me of childhood and my Mum.
We used to call that a picnic plate!
Can’t beat a toasted sandwich for a ‘Can’t be arsed’ dinner here. Always clean plates and very happy children. Spag bol from the freezer for the kids tonight and curried pumpkin soup and Chadd’s bread rolls for us – love winter.
Oh YUM – Chadds bread!
BBQ chicken from the supermarket with steamed veggies or a quick salad, but it is also great in wraps, sandwiches or in a risotto (hello hot wet rice). Fast, yummy and fuss free. I also opt for Kelly’s suggestion of canned tuna and veggies, usually my go to lunch.
Can’t beat a charcoal chook!
In the day I always had good quality sausages in the freezer for just such times. Then it was sausage, carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, cherry tomatoes, cheese. What else do you need?
Nothing else at all!
In my house it’s always been pasta pesto! Now that the boys are 13 and 10 they eat a whole packet of pasta between them and they can cook it themselves!
If I’m feeling fancy they get tuna or chicken stirred in as well as fresh spinach!
Gluten free pasta cooks in about 5 mins too so it’s super quick!
My other backup is Ikea meatballs in the freezer, can of chopped tomatoes blitzed and spinach, sour cream and lots of salt and pepper added to the sauce, all on pasta again! Winner!
Perfect!
My 1 and 3 year old eat Brinner at least once a week. The super gourmet…….Weetbix!!!
Love it Sarah!
We did ‘brinner’ tonight too ,Beth … Asian style… with David Herbert’s Chicken Congee. Perfect for winter, summer, breakfast and dinner. Scrummo really and a real crowd pleaser!
YUM.
I buy a couple of bulk packs of sausages, get hubby to cook them on the bbq then freeze them. My go-to-quick-meal is defrosted & chopped reheated bbq snags, cook up some pasta, Then in a pot, add pasta, tomato passata, herbs, snags and you have a filling but super easy meal. Or just a sausage in a piece of bread.
As a kid, we got super excited to ‘Have breakfast for dinner’. Always a treat!!
Great tip – thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Went all out tonight on a cubs night no less and made a lasagne with steamed broccoli and garlic bread and stuck it all on the table serve yourself style. Master 4 decided to skip the pasta and just eat the entire head of broccoli. Next week broccoli will be the devils spawn, go figure..
They make NO sense. None! At least he ate it. Mags LOVES broccoli.
I didn’t know it was Brinner, that’s funny, but that’s a weekly occurrence in our house for the 2 and 4 year old. Eggs, baked beans and avo on toast – everyone is happy.
The best thing someone put me onto is the fresh Latina Kids Veggie Cheese Ravioli’s, they take 5 minutes to cook and are delicious and fairly healthy. I have a few packets of those suckers in the fridge at all times! Perfect when nothing is organised for dinner. Sometimes I’ll make a quick tomato sauce by sautéing up some garlic and tomato to put on top. Otherwise serve with a drizzle of olive oil and parmesan, it’s a lifesaver!!!
I used those a lot when the kids were little – lifesavers!
I call it buffet. Anyone can have anything. My son always has baked beans on toast. The girls will push the boundaries and ask for ice cream, but end up having an omelet or tuna wrap or boiled egg etc
Everything gets eaten and I find it less work than a regular dinner.
Winning all round!
I’m off to make myself lemon and sugar pancakes ? thanks a lot.
Nothing better – hope you enjoyed!
Cheese on toast with a side of baked beans with peas and corn. Done.
Tick.
Oh I could have eggs and salmon or bacon or spinach on rotation every night but as I cater for a family…I have a spare spag bog in freezer or a chicken curry but the worst, the worst is the teenager that is now a vegetarian who does not cook …FFS!
I make sure there is hummus, dear God, you will find any flavoured hummus in my fridge at all times and baby carrots and baby cukes and capsicum and corn chips…
Also haloumi she can knock herself out trying to fry that up and that million dollar persian feta in a jar, I need it in 5kg jars.
Brinner, brinner is a winner.
It sure is – great stuff!
I love Brinner!! I never knew it had a special name, but yay for that!
Bacon & egg sangers, with tomato, cheese, lettuce & mayo, always hit the spot!
Another super quick pantry staple, is fettucine, or spaghetti with some cooked bacon, and onion, chuck it all back in tge pan you cooked the pasta in wirh eggs, cream, parmisan & parsley, cook for a minute or 2, and voila! Done in the time it took to cook the pasta, pretty much. This is awesome with the colder weather with a salad and some bread, or just on it’s own if you cant actually be stuffed!
And sometimes its baked beans, and eggs on toast. My kids can actually make that themselves!
Bacon pasta is a go-go at our place all the time too!
Yes Beth, brinnner on offer here (eggs and the like) for the kids about once a week and then get them to bed nice and early so me and hubs can have the expensive Thai take-away that would be too exxy to have as a family. Brinner is a winner 🙂
Liz xx
I miss good thai take away!
We call it a Neville Special – eggs, tomato’s, bacon, mushrooms, baked beans, toast. It’s a Neville Special because once when we visited my uncle, he cooked that for lunch – 3 hungry boys thought it was amazing!
Now the boys are 11, 13 and 14 we have “Feed Yourself Friday” – best night of the week ?