Family Dinner ideas?

[coley170]

Hi I'm desperate for some cheap filling quick & healthy family meals... 4 kids, 2 are fussy!

I have jacket pots, stews, sausage mash and veg, sweet and sour with rice, sage/garlic/hunters chicken & a healthy carbonara on a loop atm with some freezer meals thrown in like fish or fish fingers with low fat chips.

kids wont eat onion, peppers, mushrooms,
or anything spicy and we don't like Beef, Tuna or Salmon.... don't really want to make more than one meal a night and on a tight budget so can't afford big joints of meat etc

Any ideas appreciated....

Lean turkey mince spag bol. I also make red lentil spag bol but not sure how that would go down with your family. In the turkey version, I add mushrooms and onion but very finely chopped and my mushroom hater doesn't complain. It's versatile for us because I can give them hungry teens extra spaghetti and the dieters less.

Also done turkey mince shepherd's pie a couple of times. I do a version with turnip mash on top for the dieters.

Lightly boiled cauli and broccoli and grilled bacon chopped up, into a oven dish and pour over cheese sauce (made from bisto with water or half water, half milk is lower calorie than from scratch). Oven cook like a pasta bake. Do a separate portion which includes pasta for the non-dieters or serve past on the side to mix in.

-Pitta pizzas (let them tailor their toppings which they will enjoy) with sweet potatoe fries

-homemade meatballs in a sauce of choice (hidden vegetables) and baby potatoes made into wedges

-pasta bake

-fajitas BBQ flavour

-chicken stir fry with vegetables they will eat

This weeks we have had:

• Turkey cottage pie with carrot & potato mash
• Beef stir fry
• Vegetable fajitas
• Pork steaks with pasta & loads of veg
• Chilli con carne

We have planned:

• Homemade burgers
• Roast
• Spaghetti Bol

I often make a BBQ sauce & have meat & veg with it.

Hope that helps.

Have you had a look at the Hairy Dieters Books, they have loads of family friendly / low cal recipes in.

What about Quorn Chili, Chicken Tagine/Couscous, Homemade soup & soda bread, Chicken Stir fry with noodles (with Broccoli, Baby corn, asparagus), Spanish Omelette, Pork Schnitzel. Leave out the bits you don't like. Turkey Burgers or turkey/pork mince meatloaf.

Lentils are good for bulking & cheap.