Rustling up a manic midweek fakeaway in minutes ! #RustlersHack

Whenever people learn that I'm a teacher, the first thing (and, in fact, often the only thing) they say is always "ooh it must be lovely to have all those holidays". Well, yes, this is undoubtedly the biggest perk of the job - not because I'm a lazy tyke but because it's lovely to be off at the same time as the Madhouse kids and spend real quality time with them ! What people always tend to forget though are the manic days and weeks at the end of term, marking and filling in school reports way past bedtime (or, since having the kids, I do the opposite now and get up at 6am on Sunday morning to clear it all before everyone else gets up so I get a weekend too !) or weeks like this week, with two parent-teacher evenings, meaning I leave home before 7am (my bus is at 6.55) and get home around 8pm. I love cooking from scratch but some days, it just isn't going to happen !

When BritMums emailed news of their Rustlers Burger Hacking Challenge, it sounded perfect. They provided a shopping voucher to pick up a Rustlers Southern Fried Chicken Burger twin pack, plus some other ingredients to add extra toppings and sides. As the challenge email said, "sometimes we just need a quick and convenient meal solution that pleases the whole family" and Rustlers have really taken this on board. 

BritMums explain : "Rustlers Southern Fried Chicken Burger twin packs are a perfect quick fix when time just isn’t on your side. Smaller than the average burger (at just 140g each) and in convenient packs of two, they are ideal for little hands and mouths. Just 90 seconds in the microwave and then ready to add your favourite toppings - add what you like to your Rustlers to make it your own as part of a balanced meal." I will be honest, I was slightly dubious when I got to the bit about the microwave, expecting an end result that was soggy and not very appetising, but the burgers are in fact designed to be deconstructed, zapping the meat part in the microwave while toasting the bun and preparing your extra toppings. I chopped up some iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber, grilled some bacon and got out some sweet mustard, tomato relish, ketchup sachets (from a previous Burger King visit, for the genuine fast food experience !), and beetroot - yes, beetroot ! If it's good enough for New Zealanders (check out my Kiwi Burger recipe if you don't believe me), it's good enough for me ! Oh, and cheese squares - you can't have a burger without fake cheese !

I put everything on the table and let everyone top their burger with whatever they wanted - it comes with black pepper mayonnaise but the kids preferred the ketchup, sweet mustard and relish options. They basically stuffed everything in there - each burger was spewing salad, tomato, cucumber, cheese and bacon everywhere and I wondered how they'd ever manage to fit them in their mouths ! They did though, declaring them delicious and deciding that next time, they'd be happy enough having just extra salad ingredients on the side without the Actifry chips that I'd prepared. The chips were the longest to prepare (20 minutes) so without those, I could literally have a meal on the table in ten minutes. Certainly can't say fairer than that !

Disclosure : This post is an entry for BritMums Rustlers Burger Hacking Challenge, sponsored by Rustlers.