Easy Nigerian Back-to-School Recipes for Busy Mums

Every new school term casts its fair share of demands on parents. Outside of sorting school fees and procuring learning materials, you have to sort a range of domestic tasks, including laundry, cooking, cleaning, and shopping.

Imagine, for a moment, that in the chaos of planning for the school year, you could outsource your food planning. And all you have to do is walk into your kitchen, glance through your meal plan, and pick an easy recipe for breakfast or dinner.

If this sounds like something you’d want to own, then stick around. In this article, we present a list of easy Nigerian recipes you can integrate into your meal plans as a busy mom. Covering a variety of breakfast, lunch, and dinner ideas, you can spread these recipes across several weeks of a school term and recycle as appropriate, whenever you want.

Navigate this guide with these quick links:

• Porridge Oatmeal
• Bread/Yam and Egg Sauce
• Spaghetti Stir-fry
• Baked Beans and Toast
• Overnight Oatmeal Pancakes
• Puff Puff
• Boiled Corn
• Fruits
• Jollof Rice
• Yam Porridge
• Efo Riro
• Fried Rice
• Akara (Bean cakes)

Breakfast Ideas for Busy Mornings

One proven way to simplify breakfast preparation for your kids is to adopt quick-fix meals. Traditional children’s breakfast meals—Golden Morn, cornflakes, and other cereals—are a good, well-appreciated option. They, however, become bland with repetitive consumption.

Instead, consider these two categories of easy recipes for breakfast:

Quick Breakfast Staples

You can prepare any of these recipes within half an hour while you get your kids ready to head out.

Porridge Oatmeal (with Fruits)

A bowl of porridge oats supplies nutrients that cut across the classes of food your children need for healthy growth.

Ingredients

• Water.
• Milk.
• Teaspoons of honey (or proportionate sugar if you prefer)
• Chia seeds.
• Peanut butter
• Oats.
• Bananas (optional)
• Grapes or any other fruit toppings.

To prepare:

• In a pot, add one-part water and one-part condensed milk.
• Add two teaspoons of honey (or sugar).
• Add a scoop of peanut butter (if you prefer), and then add some chia seeds.
• Bring the water to boil (3 minutes). Before it boils, add desirable quantities of oats. Allow to boil for 3 – 5 minutes under moderate heat.
• Turn off the heat and add some cuts of banana. The porridge oatmeal is ready to serve.
• Pour the porridge into a bowl and add your desired fruit toppings.

Cooking tip: if adding fruits, prepare your fruits ahead, for instance during the weekend, and store them in the fridge. This fastens your cooking time when making this meal.

Bread/Yam and Egg Sauce

Taking notes from a food content creator, one might assume that egg sauce takes up to an hour to make. However, a busy mum isn’t a content creator; she’s someone ensuring her child eats well during the school year.

For busy mums, you can fix a plate of egg sauce in thirty minutes or less (less if you pair it with bread, not yam).

Egg Sauce Ingredients:

• Eggs
• Vegetable oil.
• 1 medium onion (sliced)
• 2 medium tomatoes (chopped)
• 1 scotch bonnet pepper or 1 bell pepper (optional, for spice)
• Salt.

To prepare:

• Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
• Add the sliced onions to the hot oil and sauté until soft and translucent (about 2-3 minutes).
• Add the chopped tomatoes, scotch bonnet peppers, and bell peppers (if using). Fry for about 3-5 minutes until the tomatoes break down and the oil starts to separate.
• Add salt and seasoning cubes (optional) to taste. Stir to combine.
• In a small bowl, whisk the eggs with a pinch of salt until well combined.

• Pour the whisked eggs into the pan with the tomato mixture. Allow it to set slightly before stirring.
• Stir gently until the eggs are fully cooked but still soft (about 2-3 minutes).
• Serve your eggs with boiled yam or soft bread.

PS. If pairing with yam, peel your yam and boil before preparing your egg sauce. The yam should cook for about 25 – 30 minutes.

Spaghetti Stir-fry

Ten minutes. That’s the ideal cooking time for spaghetti. Fifteen minutes at the most. So a meal of spaghetti stir-fry can be the right fit for a school day.

Ingredients:

• 1 pack of spaghetti
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion (chopped)
• 2 cloves garlic (minced)
• 1-2 scotch bonnet peppers (chopped)
• 1 red bell pepper (sliced)
• 1 green bell pepper (sliced)
• 1 carrot (sliced)
• 1/2 cup cooked chicken or shrimp (optional)
• Soy sauce (to taste)
• Salt and pepper to taste

To prepare:

• Boil the spaghetti for 10 minutes (or according to the package instructions). Drain and set aside.
• Heat vegetable oil in a large pan. Sauté the onions, garlic, and scotch bonnet until the fragrance hits your nostrils.
• Add the bell peppers and carrots. Stir as you fry for 3-5 minutes.
• Add the cooked chicken or shrimp (if using) and stir.
• Add the boiled spaghetti, soy sauce, salt, and pepper. Stir-fry for another 2-3 minutes until everything is well combined.
• Serve hot with protein of choice.

Preparation tip: You can chop and freeze your veggies (peppers, carrots, onions, etc) ahead of need to reduce the cooking time. You can also convert this into rice stir-fry (instead of spaghetti stir-fry) if you prefer.

Baked Beans and Toast

Did you know that baked beans and toast are the base items for what’s commonly called the English breakfast? You can make a simpler version of this while your children dress up for the school day.

Ingredients

• Cans of baked beans (1 per serving, store-bought for convenience)
• Vegetable oil.
• 1 medium onion (sliced)
• 1 medium tomato (chopped)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste (optional for flavor)
• 1 scotch bonnet pepper (chopped, optional for spice).
• Salt and pepper to taste.
• Slices of bread.
• Butter for spread.

To prepare:

• Heat the vegetable oil or butter in a pan over medium heat.
• Add the chopped onions, sautéing until soft and fragrant (about 3-4 minutes).
• Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste (if using), and scotch bonnet peppers (optional). Fry for 5-7 minutes until the tomatoes soften and the mixture becomes slightly thick.

• Pour the canned baked beans into the pan with the tomato mixture.
• Add salt, pepper, and a bit of sugar or honey (if desired) to balance the flavor.
• Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, to let the flavors blend.

• While the beans are simmering, toast your bread slices in a toaster or on a stovetop pan until golden brown.
• Spread butter or margarine on the toast if desired.
• Serve the baked beans hot, spooned over the buttered toast.

There you have it, a quick-fix English breakfast with nutrients for your children.

Preparation tip: You can prepare homemade baked beans to save cost and batch-produce. Simply gather navy (dried) beans, brown sugar, molasses, onions, and any other flavory ingredient. See this quick guide to making baked beans at home.

Make-Ahead Breakfast Ideas

These meal ideas can be started the night before and completed the next morning

Overnight Oatmeal Pancakes

Oatmeal pancakes are recognized as one of the healthiest quick breakfast you can make for your kids. Oats are gluten-free, and other ingredients such as eggs and almond milk supply protein, vitamins, and minerals for your kids.

For a comprehensive recipe—suitable for weekends, public holidays, and other slow mornings —click here.

Ingredients:

• Rolled oats.
• 1 cup milk (or non-dairy milk)
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (or whole wheat flour for a healthier option)
• 1 tablespoon sugar or honey (optional)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (optional for extra fluffiness)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• Extra oil or butter (for cooking)

To prepare:

• The night before, combine the rolled oats and milk in a bowl. Stir and cover with plastic wrap or a lid, then refrigerate overnight.

• In the morning, remove the oat mixture from the fridge and stir.
• Add the egg, flour, sugar (if using), baking powder, baking soda (optional), salt, vanilla extract, and 1 tablespoon of oil to the oats.
• Mix until just combined. The batter will be thicker than traditional pancake batter (given the oats)

• Heat a little oil or butter in a non-stick pan over medium heat.
• Pour about 1/4 cup of the batter into the pan for each pancake.
• Cook for 2-3 minutes until bubbles form on the surface, then flip and cook for another 1-2 minutes until golden brown.
• Serve.

Cooking tip: Ensure you soak the rolled oats overnight, or for at least six hours, to let the oats soften. However, if using instant oats, you don’t need to soak overnight. 20-30 minutes in milk works just fine.

Shopping List Idea

Stock your kitchen with these items to ensure you don’t run out of ingredients when making the meals reviewed above.

• Eggs
• Vegetable oil
• Peppers (bell, scotch bonnet, and cayenne)
• Tomatoes and onions
• Seasoning (salt, maggi)
• Milk
• Rolled oats.
• Beans
• Butter
• Yam

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Lunchbox Ideas for School Hours

Packing a lunchbox for your kids fosters their health and well-being, and can improve their learning and academic performances. To ensure their meals stay warm until lunchtime, store meals in thermos lunch boxes.

Puff Puff

Kids love puff puff. Frying puff puffs on a schoolday might seem like a daunting task, until you realize that once you have your puff puff dough ready, frying takes less than ten minutes.

You can mix the puff puff dough before getting breakfast ready, and then return to fry the dough once breakfast is served. Alternatively, you can shop for quality puff-puff mix from supermarkets near you.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup warm water
• Vegetable oil (for frying)

To prepare:

• Dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm water. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes until it becomes frothy.
• In a mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add the yeast mixture and stir to form a thick batter.
• Cover the bowl and let the dough rise for 1-2 hours until it doubles in size. You can reduce this time by placing the dough in a warm environment (for example, in an oven pre-heated for about 2 minutes), increasing the yeast quantity, or using instant yeast.
• Heat vegetable oil in a deep pan. Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot oil and fry until golden brown (about 3-5 minutes).
• Remove from the oil and drain on paper towels.

Packing tip: Wrap the puff puffs in foil paper before placing them in your child’s lunchbox. You can also purchase ready-made puff puff mixes to shorten your cooking time.

Boiled Corn

Boiled corn is a fitting snack for children because it requires little to no supervision when cooking. Though carrying a peculiar sweetness, corn also supplies protein (up to 3g per cob), vitamins, and minerals (up to 5mg of sodium per cob).

All you need to make this healthy lunch snack are fresh corn cobs, salt, and water.

To prepare:

• Peel the husks off the corn and remove the silk.
• Boil water in a large pot, add salt, and cook the corn for 10-15 minutes until tender.
• Drain and let it cool.

Once cooled, wrap in foil or place in a thermos lunch box to retain moderate warmth until lunchtime.

Fruits (or Fruit Salad)

Fruits are an essential feature in every child’s lunch routine. With many options to choose from, you should definitely add fruits to your meal planning.

A typical fruit salad could include:

• 1 apple (chopped)
• 1 banana (sliced or halved)
• 1 orange/tangerine (peeled and segmented)
• 1 cup pineapple chunks
• Grapes.
• 1 cup lemon juice (to prevent browning of fruits)

Combine all the chopped fruits in your child’s lunchbox. Ensure the lunchbox is well-sealed to minimize air intake. Drizzle lemon juice over the fruits, and seal the lunchbox.

Expert tip: If your child is a picky eater, don’t panic. Instead, plan lunches around their preferences. Food influencer, Maryeam Salam, says, “My toddler is picky with proteins. So I shred beef into his meals; that way, he doesn’t have to chew the meat, and his body gets the needed nutrients.”

You can apply the same hack to your fruit salads, your pastries, etc. 

(insert this video by Sisi Yemmie on more lunch ideas for kids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlgt4wrCrmY)

Shopping List Idea

Stock your kitchen with these items so you have all you need when packing your children’s lunchboxes.

• Corn
• Baking ingredients (flour, baking powder, and baking soda)
• Sugar
• Fruits (bananas, oranges, grapes)
• Butter

Nutritious Dinner Ideas

Dinner. Who says the perfect meal at the end of a long day doesn’t exist for busy mums? Below, we cover meals that can be prepared in one pot and meals that take 40 minutes or less to make.

One-Pot Dinner Recipes

For these meals, all you need is a pot large enough to feed the family, and ingredients prepped in advance. They include:

Jollof Rice

Sundays are for rice, but you don’t have to wait till Sunday to make a meal of spicy jollof rice for your children.

There are different hacks to boost the outcome of your jollof rice (as the tweet below implies). 

To To get started, you need:

• 2-3 cups long-grain parboiled rice
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large onion (chopped)
• 4 medium tomatoes (blended)
• 2-3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1-2 scotch bonnet peppers (blended)
• 1 red bell pepper (blended)
• 1-2 cups chicken broth or water
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 bay leaf
• Salt and seasoning cubes to taste

To prepare:

• Heat vegetable oil in a pot and sauté the onions.
• Add the tomato paste and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Pour the blended tomatoes, bell pepper, and scotch bonnet. Cook for 10 minutes until the sauce thickens.
• Add thyme, curry powder, salt, seasoning cubes, and chicken broth. Allow to simmer for a few minutes.
• Add the rinsed rice and stir. Reduce heat to low, cover, and let the rice cook for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Once the rice is fully cooked, remove the bay leaf and fluff the rice.

Cooking tip: Prepare a big batch of jollof rice and refrigerate. You can warm this up on busy mornings and garnish with beef or chicken.

Expert tip: Food blogger and queen of easy recipes, Joy Etor, recommends preparing your pepper mix ahead. “Boil together tomatoes, red bell pepper, onions, scotch bonnet peppers, and cayenne pepper on low heat and without water. Once the heat extracts the peppers’ water content and dries it off, allow the pepper to cool, then blend until smooth. The mix will help you quickly put together pasta dishes, porridges, rice dishes, and sauces for your kids’ lunch and dinner.”

Yam Porridge

Does a garnished plate of porridge sound like a good dinner idea? Absolutely. As with jollof rice, this also takes 40 minutes or less to cook, especially if you have your pre-blended pepper mix handy.

Ingredients:

• 1 yam tuber (peeled and cut into cubes)
• 1/2 cup palm oil
• 1 onion (chopped)
• 2 tomatoes (blended or chopped)
• 1-2 scotch bonnet peppers (blended)
• 1 red bell pepper (blended)
• 1 teaspoon ground crayfish (optional)
• 1 smoked fish or dried fish (optional)
• 1 seasoning cube
• Salt (to taste)
• 1 handful spinach or ugu leaves (for garnish)

To prepare:

• Peel and cut the yam into cubes.
• Heat the palm oil in a pot and sauté the chopped onions for 2-3 minutes until translucent.
• Add blended tomatoes, bell pepper, and scotch bonnet (or your pepper mix if you have one). Cook for 5-7 minutes until the sauce thickens.
• Add yam cubes to the sauce and enough water to cover the yams. Sprinkle maggi cubes, ground crayfish, and salt.
• Cover and cook on medium heat for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the yam is soft and the sauce has thickened.
• Stir well to mash some of the yams to give the porridge a creamy texture.
• Add the spinach or ugu leaves, stir, and allow to cook for another 2 minutes.
• Serve hot.

Efo Riro

We close out the list of one-pot dinner ideas with efo riro, the vegetable that bangs. You can pair this up with eba, pounded yam, wheat, or any swallow you choose.

Ingredients:

• 2 bunches fresh spinach or ugu leaves (roughly chopped)
• 1/4 cup palm oil
• 1 onion (chopped)
• 2 scotch bonnet peppers (blended)
• 2 tomatoes (blended)
• 1 red bell pepper (blended)
• 1-2 tablespoons ground crayfish (optional)
• Smoked fish or meat (optional)
• 1 seasoning cube
• Salt to taste

Pepper mix saves the day here as well.

To prepare:

• Heat the palm oil in a pot and sauté the onions until soft.
• Add the blended tomatoes, bell pepper, and scotch bonnet. Cook for 7-10 minutes until the sauce thickens.
• Add the ground crayfish, seasoning cubes, and smoked fish or meat. Simmer for 5 more minutes.
• Stir in the chopped spinach or ugu and cook for 2-3 minutes.
• Adjust seasoning and serve with pounded yam, eba, or any other swallow.

Expert tip: You can cook efo riro in advance and store in the refrigerator until it’s needed. Lifestyle influencer, The NimiChen Brand, recommends meal prepping as much as you can. You can also cook twice the volume needed for a meal and store the remaining portion for another busy night.

40-minute Dinner Ideas

Though these recipes usually require more than one pot to cook, they’re a great option for busy parents short on time.

Fried Rice

Nigerians are divided when it comes to rating the delight that fried rice offers. And you can’t fault those whose first dance with fried rice was a soggy, under-garnished version.

However, once you’ve unlocked the recipe to making fantastic fried rice, you’ll be excited whenever this meal pops up in your meal plan. Here’s one recipe, by Chef Lola’s Kitchen:

Ingredients

• 3 cups long-grain parboiled rice
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion (chopped)
• 1/2 cup green peas
• 1/2 cup diced carrots
• Spring onions
• 1/2 cup each of diced green and yellow bell peppers
• 1/2 cup sweet corn
• ½ cup cooked liver (optional)
• 1 cup cooked shrimp or chicken (optional)
• 1-2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 seasoning cube
• Salt and pepper to taste

To prepare:

• Parboil the rice in well-seasoned chicken stock (for 10-15 minutes).

• Heat vegetable oil in a large pan. Sauté the onions until soft.

• Add the green peas, carrots, bell pepper, and sweet corn. Stir-fry for 3-4 minutes.

• Add the cooked shrimp or chicken (if using) and stir. Add cooked liver.

• Add the boiled rice, soy sauce, seasoning cube, salt, and pepper. Stir everything together and fry for another 5 minutes.

• Serve hot.

Cooking tip: You can marinate your mixed vegetables – carrots, green peas, sweet corn – with seasoning cubes and salt so they absorb the sweetness before stir-frying.

Akara (Bean Cakes)

Can we have a dinner guide without including akara? This multipurpose meal comes through on all occasions. Here’s how to feed your children sumptuous akara balls during a busy week:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups peeled beans (or use unpeeled, and peel them yourself)
• 1 small onion (chopped)
• 1-2 scotch bonnet peppers (ata rodo), chopped (optional for spice)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground crayfish (optional for added flavor)
• Water (just enough to blend, about 1/4 cup)
• Vegetable oil (for deep frying)

To prepare:

• If you’re using unpeeled beans, pour them into a blender or food processor, add some water, and pulse. Pulsing means alternating the switch between on and off for a few minutes. Once done, rinse out the chaff or peel.
• In a blender, add the beans, chopped onion, and scotch bonnet peppers (if using).
• Add just enough water (about 1/4 cup) to help blend the beans into a smooth, thick paste.
• Transfer the blended mixture to a large bowl and whisk vigorously with a spoon or a hand whisk to incorporate air, for fluffiness.
• Add salt and ground crayfish (if using), then whisk again to combine.
• Once done, transfer into a tight-lid container and place in a refrigerator until needed.

To fry:

• In a deep frying pan, heat vegetable oil over medium heat.
• Once the oil is hot, scoop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot oil, frying in batches.
• Fry each batch for about 4-5 minutes, turning occasionally until they are golden brown.
• Remove the akara and drain out excess oils on paper towels.
• Serve with bread or pap.

Breakfast tip: Not feeling like having akara? Tweak your recipe and convert to small bites of moi-moi instead.

Preparation tip: To save time on cooking, shop your ingredients during the weekend or ahead for each month.

Shopping List Idea

Stock your kitchen with these items to stay winning as a busy mum:

• Rice
• Yam
• Beans
• Vegetable oil
• Vegetables
• Peppers (bell, scotch bonnet, cayenne, etc)
• Beef
• Chicken
• Tomatoes and onions.
• Garlic.
• Crayfish
• Carrots
• Sweet corn

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Conclusion

When we set out to compile the recipes in this article, we wanted to help busy mums navigate meal planning for a busy school year. Thinking through what to cook can be an extra chore when you’re also juggling work, home maintenance, and other parenting tasks.

We hope this article has improved your options and eased your research process. You can take it one step further by delegating your market runs to a brand committed to making quality groceries accessible to Nigerian families.

Hand over your shopping duties to PricePally and leave the nitty-gritty details to us. Start shopping at www.pricepally.com today.