Ok, so no one responded to my first thread on this site. so i have been trying this on my own and so far so good. I have been making salads every night to go with dinner and that is working out great but the family is getting tired of salads. I basically need suggestions on affordable, healthy meals i can make for a family of 5. Is thier a website out thier with meal ideas? Iv started walking with my kids twice a week and that is helping, i just dont know what to make for food that they will actually like, wont get bored with and i can afford. Any suggestions would be greatly aprechiated. Thank you
Need suggestions
- Thread starter cgalvan88
- Start date
What kind of foods does your family normally eat? What things do you guys like?
Prices vary depending on where you live, so what's cheap for me may not be cheap for you. If you let me know what kinds of things you normally eat - I can give you some suggestions. We do up a monthly meal plan each month so that we don't go out for fast food. It's my husband and myself as well as our 2.5 year old son (and a 9 month old who doesn't really eat much real food yet). We have about 30ish meals that we plan for suppers, lunches are normally leftovers or something really easy and breakfast is cereal, yogurt, toast, fruit or any combination. For snacks I try to have fruit and veggies prepared with various healthier dips so that we don't do junk. I also don't buy alot of comercially prepared snack foods any more. I am really bad for drinking my calories so I try to limit what is in the house - no one has complained yet!!
Prices vary depending on where you live, so what's cheap for me may not be cheap for you. If you let me know what kinds of things you normally eat - I can give you some suggestions. We do up a monthly meal plan each month so that we don't go out for fast food. It's my husband and myself as well as our 2.5 year old son (and a 9 month old who doesn't really eat much real food yet). We have about 30ish meals that we plan for suppers, lunches are normally leftovers or something really easy and breakfast is cereal, yogurt, toast, fruit or any combination. For snacks I try to have fruit and veggies prepared with various healthier dips so that we don't do junk. I also don't buy alot of comercially prepared snack foods any more. I am really bad for drinking my calories so I try to limit what is in the house - no one has complained yet!!
Thank you for they reply, im making small steps but it feels good and im really pumped about getting healthy. Normal meals for the week include spagetti, very cheap and feeds everyone. Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and a steamed veggie. Baked chicken in teriaky sauce with rice and veggie. shake and bake porkchops with rice a roni and a veggie. And i usually make some type of fish once a week. I always make a veggie with dinner and have now begun making a salad with every dinner and serving that first. It seems to fill everyone up a bit more and they eat less of thier dinner. I did switch to whole weat pasta they dont seem to mind that. I really want to do the brown rice thing but they all complain it has no taste so any suggestions on making that taste better would help. Anouther person on this forum suggested making my meals in advance and i will try that as well. I guess what i am looking for are things to stear away from the easy cheap stuff like ground beef, potatoes processed rice and pasta sides. stuff like that, i know steamed veggies is great and salad is great but i need more options. Your suggestions are greatly aprechiated and much needed. Thank you
thank you, i have checked out a few sites and everything just seems to involve a lot of steps and a lot of diffrent ingrediants. I guess im just worried about going through all the work and the kids wont like it. I am making baby steps and so far so good, so i am going to try to research more on "kid freindly healthy meals" Thank you for your suggestions.
I find that if I can involve my son in the making of supper - he is more likely to eat it (I think becuase he knows what's in it and he is proud of his accomplishment).
PLB
Moderator
This is a great site that I have used... http://www.soscuisine.com/?sos_l=en - they email you a meal plan every week and you can tweak it based on your preferences. You can also get meal plans for different conditions such as diabetes and celiac disease. Some meal plans are free, others you have to pay for.
Here are some other great resources for free (healthy!) recipes:
Canadian Diabetes Association: http://www.diabetes.ca/diabetes-and-you/nutrition/recipes/
Heart and Stroke foundation of Canada: http://www.heartandstroke.com/site/c.ikIQLcMWJtE/b.3484019/k.6437/HeartHealthy_Recipes.htm
The American Heart Association: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/NutritionCenter/Nutrition-Center_UCM_001188_SubHomePage.jsp
American Diabetes Association: http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/?loc=GlobalNavFF
I hope those help!
Here are some other great resources for free (healthy!) recipes:
Canadian Diabetes Association: http://www.diabetes.ca/diabetes-and-you/nutrition/recipes/
Heart and Stroke foundation of Canada: http://www.heartandstroke.com/site/c.ikIQLcMWJtE/b.3484019/k.6437/HeartHealthy_Recipes.htm
The American Heart Association: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/NutritionCenter/Nutrition-Center_UCM_001188_SubHomePage.jsp
American Diabetes Association: http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/?loc=GlobalNavFF
I hope those help!