My children probably eat too much toast.

Let me rephrase that. They eat a surprising amount of toast for a household obsessed with cooking.

Sometimes this is not a good thing. One morning last week I discovered chocolate fingerprints all over the kitchen cupboards. Chocolate-spread thieves had been munching chocolate toast for breakfast rather than the prescribed fruit and cereal. Sadly for them, I consigned the offending jars (a designated weekend treat) to the bin. Harsh, I know.

Generally, though, toast can be a mealtime saviour, so long as it’s made from good quality bread.

Most of us at one time or another find our food stocks depleted, unless you’re the lovely Nigel Slater, who seems to stumble across domes of burrata and other delicacies in his fridge “just waiting to be used up”. I cook pretty much incessantly, which is perhaps why I often open the fridge to find virtually nothing at all. Except lots of unsavoury reasons to get cleaning.

There are also times when, despite the fun I have pootling in the kitchen, my cooking mojo vanishes. Dries up. Then there’s Sunday evenings, after we’ve gobbled up a roast for lunch and all we need is something light. Or when someone is desperate for a snack, biscuits are out of the question and just fruit won’t cut it. On all these occasions, toast is often the answer.

I’m not talking here about a full-on cooking session, with toast as one of the components, or toast simply slathered with something from a jar. I mean toast as the centre of very quick and easy dish. I know this is straying pretty close to sandwich territory, but there’s something definitely more meal-like about bread that’s cooked than not.

Toast is an excellent way to encourage fruit-shy folk to eat more of the good stuff. Squished banana on toast (with a cup or tea or glass of milk, oh yes) is an excellent snack, as is toast topped with thinly sliced apple and a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar. (Replace the sugar with grated Cheddar - or Comte for the Nigels among you - if you want to stray down a more sassy cooked path). Toast spread with cream cheese and topped with sliced strawberries looks pretty and tastes delicious.

For more of a meal, peas on toast - unlikely as it sounds - goes down very well at our house. Cook a cup of frozen peas as you usually do, and while they’re simmering, pop some bread in the toaster - sturdy stuff like sourdough or thickly sliced seedy bread works best. When the peas are done, drain them and add a knob of butter, a pinch of dried mint (or chopped fresh), two or three heaped teaspoons of natural yoghurt, a squeeze of lemon juice and loads of salt and pepper. Mash until spreadable and spoon onto hot toast.

If you’re feeling energetic, a poached egg on top is definitely allowed.

Sausages on toast is another of our favourite standbys. I know, I know, snags involve proper cooking, don’t they? Not this way. Get the kids - or whoever’s partaking - to do the hands-on sausage and cheese prep while you make the toast and heat the grill. Just squeeze the contents of some good-quality sausages into bowl - about one per piece of toast does nicely. Then add a generous amount of grated Cheddar or whatever you have to hand (Parmesan will be too salty), leaving some left over for sprinkling on top. Mix together with your hands (add some ground fennel seeds, fresh herbs or lemon zest if you feel like getting fancy.)

Spread the cheesey-sausagey mixture over the toast, making sure you get it right up to the edges (the worst thing about cheese on toast is incinerated edges), and then sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese. Place under a grill. A word of caution: you need to set the grill rack close, but not too close, to the element. These toasts need to grill away for about 12 minute so the sausage cooks - but you don’t want the cheese to burn.

Eaten hot, this toast is very delicious. In fact, you could make these into little crostini for a drinks party when your energy levels are restored.