re: Help..ideas for easy dinners..me & 2 kids

I totally understand trying to get a good meal on the table quickly because I have a 3 & 5 year old and by 6:00 they are “starving”

I crock-pot ribs, spaghetti sauce, roast, beef stew, chicken, bean ect.

I cook up a few pounds of ground beef at a time and freeze in zip lock bags, I’ll take one out the night b/4 and place in the fridge so when we get home it is already to be mixed in for stuff like spaghetti sauce,sloppy joes, tacos, hamburger helper ect..

I will cook up pasta the night b/4 and olive oil it, place it in a zip lock bag—that way all I have to do is pop the bag in the microwave to reheat it for sauce.

Make bbq sandwiches out of left over roast.
When you cook extra chicken tenders the next day they can be topped with spaghettis sauce for chicken parmesan.

For things like quick veggies and mashed potatoes look in the frozen food section for items that can be microwaved.

Grilled cheese sandwiches and soup also go over well.

Skewer & season up some steaks or chicken with veggies the night before and just pop them on the grill when u get home.

Check out the deli department, they have decent take & bake pizza, rotisserie chickens.

If they eat any veggies, many of them are great roasted in the oven or just steamed in the microwave for easy fast sides.

For roasting, I always line the baking sheet with foil for easy clean up. Red potatoes cut into chunks roast well also. The kids around here eat those up.

There are some good suggestions here. While I can't exactly relate, I've got a seriously picky wife and a toddler with some finicky tastes...so we have to plan. A couple of good suggestions:

1. Let your kids look through a couple of cookbooks or magazines (the wife likes Southern Living, and they do have good recipes) and identify things they might like to try.
2. Invest in or look for a used vacuum sealer.

Like others have said, I plan multiple meals with the same ingredients, and to save money, always start with staples and build on that. I also always buy meat in large quantities, and then prep it in usable sizes and vacuum seal and freeze.

Here a couple of go-to's for us:
Ingredients: A top or bottom round roast, rice, onions
1. Smothered round steak and rice and gravy (slow cooker)
2. Sliced, pounded flat, cut across the grain, grilled with onions for fajitas. Toss rice with lime and cilantro, add black beans
3. Sliced, pounded flat, cut across the grain, and stir fried with onions, cooked rice, other veggies, and oyster sauce.

A big cooked ham can be your best friend, as it's both cheap and lean. I cut it into chunks, and then cut some of the chunks into slices, and dice some of them.
1. Great in omelets
2. Great with beans...red, white, black, etc.
3. Awesome on pizza crust with pineapple
4. Also good in fried rice
5. Perfect melted on chicken with Swiss
6. Makes a great grilled or pressed sandwich
7. Great on baked potatoes with broccoli
8. Good start of a chef's salad
9. Wonderful with peas and mushrooms in a risotto
10. Saute with a little butter + brown sugar and toss in snap peas or fresh green beans or cabbage or Brussels sprouts or spinach or peas or many other vegetables...
11. Great on a potato rosti (highly recommended - there's no way kids won't love rosti). Recipe here

Good luck!

Mini Pizza's, wife and I do this 1 two times a month, and its cheap.

6 English Muffins cut in half
1 jar of pizza sauce
1 bag of pre shredded cheese
any toppings you want, we usually use cut up ham or pepperoni

1 table spoon of sauce per half, hand full of cheese, and what ever toppings you want, turn the oven to 375 and bake away.


We usually have a bag of salad total meal runs us less than 8 bucks usually

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Thanks guys. Iwanted to report back today anyway.

I made the ritz cracker chicken last night (the breasts were one sale but not the tenders so I got those & cut them up) along with a pre-made salad-in-a-bag.

It went over well with the kids. For the first time I didn't feel like they ate too much and they did enjoy the chicken quite a bit.

I got my son to eat his salad by telling him that he could be like Man vs Wild and pretend he's eating leaves to survive.

Whatever works.

I'm trolling through this for tonight's dinner and I'll keep you updated tomorrow on what I make.

-red beans & rice, blue runner out the can + turkey sausage off the grill, kids love it
-tuna or chicken salad sandwiches + sliced cantaloupe (or whatever fruit they’ll eat), we ate this every Wed. night b/f church growing up, just toast the bread – they’ll think “fancy sandwiches!”
-tilapia on the grill seasoned with whatever, Sams has them individually frozen and vac packed, this is the tamest tasting fish on earth
-we've started using all those vegetables in a bag that you pop in the micro - that saves a bunch of time
-pork roast + 1 package lipton onion soup mix + ½ cup water + crock pot + 8 hours on low, whole chicken can be done this way also
-we buy those roasted chickens from Walmart/Sam’s all the time, then cook a veggie at the house, they’re damn strong
-and for Friday nights, $5.55 hot and ready from Little Caesar’s!