UNITED STATES – With the onset of the school holidays, there are plenty of things families have lined up for the vacation.

Then there is dinner. How can you meal-plan and cook when time and energy levels are abysmally low?

Six parents – recipe developers, a reporter and a photo editor – share what they make for their families when they are absolutely beat, but still want to get something cheap, delicious and mostly nutritious on the table.

Here are some delightfully speedy, real-life recipes you can turn to on your busiest days that will make everyone happy.

Samantha Seneviratne, recipe developer and mother to an eight-year-old boy; New York City: “I could eat pastina, the simple Italian pasta shaped like stars, with chicken broth, egg yolks and Parmesan every day. It is fortifying and comforting, and tastes like a hug. My sometimes tricky-to-feed son loves it too. The only downside is no vegetables. But I have come up with an easy solution. While it is not traditional, shredded cabbage adds flavour and nutrients without signalling ‘vegetable’. It becomes meltingly tender when simmered with the pasta and gives the soup a mild sweetness that goes beautifully ...