Easy minimal-prep family meals when there are lots of dietary restrictions

[Sleepy104888]

Can anyone recommend a good food blog or book for easy, minimal prep recipes? I'm really struggling to eat healthy and want to lose a little weight, but it's a nightmare making things that work for the whole family because my DH has stomach problems meaning he needs to each low-fat and can't tolerate anything acidic or spicy, DD has a severe dairy allergy, and DS is super picky and only eats a handful of things (e.g. porridge, yoghurt, chicken nuggets, cheese, and then most fruits ok). I also do not like slow cooker meals or frozen veg unless it's in a curry or something as the texture always feels off to me compared to fresh veg. Same with slow cooker, as I prefer how the spices come together in, say, a soup when just letting it simmer in a pot on the stove.

I'm desperately trying to figure something out that is easy prep and can work for everyone. I'm so burnt out and as a result keep eating crap food. I just need to reduce the mental load and prep and clean up time and doing stuff like overnight oats in the fridge so I can grab and it's ready is so much better. I don't mind pre-chopping some things over the weekend if it will keep during the week (e.g. tomato or peppers).

What do others do? Would doing a spread of things people can assemble on their own be the best choice (e.g. assemble your own toppings on a baked potato, salad etc) or are there recipes out there that can cater to the above. I'm willing to ignore the little ones pickiness as he's not really going to change right away but it's nice to make some meals he'll eat too to reduce stress.

'The Roasting Tin' series of books is helpful for this and has guidelines for coming up woth your own combinations (i.e. the cooking times for different kinds of foods in a roasting tin).

I like a nice salade Nicoise in this kind of weather. That is dairy-free and low in fat. Sometimes I substitute leftover roast chicken for the tuna. I usually try to cook something with boiled new potstoes and green beans a day or two before, adding plenty extra so that I have 'leftovers' for the salade Nicoise and it becomes very low prep.

I’ve been using chop-it.com their app has over 1,000 free recipes. You only have to pay for the AI features. E.g. you can bulk upload your cook books which you can do we subscription or pay as you go credits. This hidden veg lasagna was great!

I haven't nailed this, but I have a few tips - try to do things that canbe easily adjusted to suit different groups.

Chicken is my friend here. I often bake chicken thighs served with steamed veg and new potatoes and/or yorkshire pudding. And everyone gets what works for them. Or cook chicken breasts served plain for DD while the rest of us have something more interesting.

Bolognaise is served as bolognaise for DD and DH then converted to a sort of Korean flavoured option for me and ds on wedges or jacket potatoes.

Sausages work for us but might not work in your case. So I cook them in air fryer for DD with some frieds or somethign and steamed veg and turn them into a creamy style pasta/gnocchi dish for the rest of us.

I do mince pork stir fry with veg for the rest of us with added chilli for those who want it (d`d has something boring like a chicken nugget or left over pasta for hers).

It sounds like your best bet is a healthy protein with veg and salad at each meal with extras people can add on as they wish.

Roast chicken with new potatoes and green veg

Baked salmon, broccoli, rice, salad

Scrambled eggs on toast with fruit salad

Protein, veg, salad and always have things like fruit, nuts, cheese, porridge, crackers or whatever to hand for your ds.