Healthy, inexpensive meal ideas?

[apmommyto4]

I'm trying to cut out all the sugar and fat I've been cooking with for so long! :bag I don't want to go overboard and fix stuff that no one will eat, but what are some good healthy breakfasts, lunches, and dinners that I can fix now that are kid-friendly? I start supper about 4pm, and it needs to be ready by 5pm, unless crockpot, etc.

I'm overwhelmed trying to do this alone! :jawdrop

[Johns_Gal]

Though it will take a couple days (need time to make broth) do your kids like soup? I know, too hot for it now, but chicken soup was always our "broke and pantry is empty" standby. I'd mke broth, add cabbage, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, maybe a handful of spinach, sometimes even a tomato or broccoli stems... really anything goes well in chicken soup. Ooh, but let the broth cool to skim the fat first.

I bought a veggie steamer from the thrift store that works great... even the most persnickety of veggies are done in twenty minutes at the most. I also sometimes pan sear chicken breasts in EVOO (just enough to prevent sticking, no deep frying), season however, and either serve them whole, over salad, or slice mozzarella thinly and lay it over the meat to melt, then slice a Roma tomato thinly, put it into the pan just to take the chill off, and lay atop the cheese. With a green salad and some broccoli, it's pretty good.

We eat alot of plain baked sweet potatoes, they have become a favorite as our palates have adjusted away from all the artificial non-foods we used to eat. Inexpensive, VERY good for you, and naturally sweet. We do veggie omelettes sometimes too.

Maybe give us a couple examples of a typical meal for your family and we can tweak it? :think

We do alot of simple fish dinners too. Wild salmon is probably our most used, but I do buy cod or orange roughy (both favorites, but we eat them rarely for a number of reasons) every now and then. We fish locally, too, so when we get lucky... nothing is as good as fresh bass!

[jenny_islander]

Oooo, plain baked sweet potatoes or yams, yes! Even better, IMO, with a sprinkling of pumpkin pie spice mashed in.

Don't underestimate the value of a good PBJ. Use all-natural, unsweetened PB and low-sugar J (or replace it with sliced bananas) and make it with whole-grain bread. Most people don't know what real, unhydrogenated peanut butter is like: meaty, slightly chewy, with a satisfying effect. Supermarket peanut butter is faintly unpleasant if you eat the original kind for a long time.

Check the Bento forum for lots of tips on cutting foods your kids might consider "weird" into shapes they find appealing. It works for me!!

Eva gobbles up veggie fried rice. Sophia, not so much, but she does enjoy bagged salad (currently cheaper than homemade) with dressing on the side. Stir-fries--heavy on the veggies, light on the meat--are good, fast low-fat dinners.

Keep on hand for snacks: hard-cooked eggs, kosher dill pickles or other unsweetened pickles, sliced lunchmeat made with minimal starches and sweeteners, bagged baby carrots, small apples.

You need an occasional fatty meal for satisfaction. Make it good fat: an unsaturated oil such as olive oil or something rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, such as wild Alaskan salmon. Bumble Bee sells 14.5-ounce cans of wild pink salmon, with bones and skin, for less than ground beef. I grew up eating this homestyle canned salmon and the kind with the bones and skin picked out is tasteless by comparison. Simply drain the savory liquid from the can (drizzle over hot cooked rice for an Asian-style treat--my husband just drinks it!), then mash the bones and skin right into the fish. Now it's ready to use in any tuna recipe. I recommend fish cakes, salmon salad sandwiches, macaroni-salmon salad, and pasties.

[jrsmama]

I would second the suggestion to tweak foods your family already likes. There are lots of ways to make many dishes more healthy.

For a healthy quick breakfast, I make real oatmeal from oats with brown sugar, a dash of vanilla, cinnamon, and maybe raisins/craisins/dried fruit

Easy lunches would be grilled cheese sandwiches (very easy if you have a George Foreman grill!), multigrain crackers with cheese/fruit/peanut butter

For dinners you can make simple spaghetti or lasagna with whole grain noodles, bake a pan of chicken to use in lots of dishes, make your own chicken nuggets, bake meatballs, make a pot of rice to go with just about anything, etc.

And re sweets...I love to make some cookies or cakes from scratch...ds loves them and I'd rather he have that than fruit rollups or something.

[apmommyto4]

Lots of great ideas! We're doing better eating healthy, the problem is trying to eat healthier and yet cutting back on our grocery budget a little bit more (food prices are so high lately!). Are there any good websites that have good recipes for cheap AND healthy meals that are ALSO fairly quick to make? I'm having trouble finding a site with all 3 things! :scratch :smile