Hey Ladies! I am looking for some advice on meal planning ideas and recipes? I am having trouble figuring out meals for my family. My husband travels at least a few times a week so I have no idea what to make when he is gone and it is just my daughter and I. When my husband is home I would like to be able to at least have a family dinner most of the nights he is home but am out of ideas on meals to have. My father is really picky so my mom always seemed to make the same meals every week and I would like to give my own family a different variety and to ensure my daughter doesn't grow up being too picky of an eater. I am not much of a cook but would love to learn by making dinners for my family. Any ideas? What do you do for dinners/lunches with your families?
Well, I have a similar situation at home. My husband isn't gone, but he usually works late & ends up missing dinner. I go to this website almost daily & find all sorts of recipes. It is allrecipes.com They've got every type of meal/recipe you can think of. You can enter a keyword or an ingredient that you'd like to use & it will find ideas that way as well. I'm a big fan of them!
I hope this helps!
J.
A book call Deceptively Delicious is genius. It talks about adding purees to regular meals since the little one sometimes won't each their veggies
I have been subscribing to Taste of Homes Simple & Delicious magazine for 10 years now. Their recipes are very easy and fast, but taste really good. Something that we all love is a Hot Dog Casserole that my husband and I created many years ago when we were first married. It's great because we love it - and now my daughter does too! Take a half a package of hot dogs and cut them up. Mix them with a can of diced tomatoes, about a cup and a half of rice and a big can of Buschs baked beans. Put in a casserole dish and bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Happy cooking!
The great thing about being at home is that you can do things like soups that aren't complicated but take longer for cooking. I can highly recommend the Daily Soup Cookbook (it's just a paperback, nothing intimidating.) You can do all sorts of easy stuff with a crock pot or in the oven/stovetop, too - pot roast and chicken cacciatore are pretty easy (basically, brown the meat, lower heat and let it cook a long time, add vegetables, let cook for a while.)
You can do a lot with a few basic ideas. My kids like beans and mexican food a lot, so we have something at least once a week: nacho bake, enchiladas, fajitas/soft tacos, beans and rice. If you have soy sauce, rice, vegetables, and some kind of protein (meat, tofu, eggs) you have the ingredients for stir fry or fried rice. I make all sorts of things with pasta - a family favorite is pasta cheesy bake (I throw a bag of frozen mixed vegetables in with the boiling pasta and include that in the bake.)
My kids also like lentils and chick peas, so I've been working my way through the recipes on vegweb.com, which can be hit or miss but tend to be easy and not have a lot of steps for weekday cooking.
It's great to start getting kids used to having healthy, homecooked foods! Even if you throw it together quickly, I think it's more tasty than any fast food meal.
Check out www.savingdinner.net There's lots of great stuff there. I use 2 of her cookbooks, but you could buy her menu plans that are great, too. Her cookbooks are laid out by weeks according to seasons, include menu for a week plus shopping lists set up according to sections at the store. I LOVE this! And she has freezer menus, you can spend an afternoon prepping 30 meals for the freezer. All are nutritious and cook in under half an hour. She's a nutritionist whose mission is to get people back to the dinner table.
D.
To make easier & healthier versions of comfort foods I get recipes online for a slow cooker or pressure cooker.
My husband works different evenings (and last minute sometimes, as he's a funeral director), so I can understand your situation somewhat.
All the suggestions so far have been great.
allrecipes.com is a great resource. slow cooker recipes, soups, casseroles, - all great ideas. i would say pick up (or pick out from your own collection) 2 cookbooks for a week, and set aside time on a day to go through and find recipes. i would say don't try more than 2 new recipes in a week, just in case something goes wrong or you don't like them....that way you have other regulars to fall back on. and don't forget (one of our favorites) breakfast for dinner....maybe on a night when it's just you and your daughter. we like to do a big bowl of scrambled eggs w/cheese, then some sides of bacon and sausage patties and toast/bagels! it's easy, fast, and everybody likes it. :)
i am big on meal planning for us on the day i'm making my grocery list and big on saving by buying what's on sale (meats and produce), so if you're interested in more details, i can definitely share how i do it....but i've probably rambled enough on here! good luck!
