healthy dinnr

amandapleighse2
amandapleighse2 Posts: 30 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm in desperate need of some affordable healthy dinner ideas that my family will actually eat! It sucks making everyone else different food than I am allowed to eat, i mean I'm okay with giving my boyfriend the egg yolks, or using spinach and herb tortillas instead of flour, or beans instead of taco meat,but a lot of the time,i either have to eat what they are eating(I just can't afford two separate meals!) or I just skip dinner to avoid the situation completely. I'm open to suggestions!

Replies

  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
    Just eat smaller portions of what they are eating. You don't have to have spinach tortillas, or avoid egg yolks and meat.
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  • amandapleighse2
    amandapleighse2 Posts: 30 Member
    I have been eating smaller portions, but it's a lot of box dinners, so my sodium is always super high:/ When I learned to cook I mainly learned breads and biscuits and cupcakes. not actual reasonable thing to eat! Sad I know, but I guess I feel little lost to the idea, plus my family could probably stand to eat little healthier. They don't have weight to lose, but I still want them to be healthy.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    What kind of things do you like to eat? The wide world of things to eat is a little too big to suggest from everything.
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  • H_Ock12
    H_Ock12 Posts: 1,152 Member
    Do you have a Crock-Pot? You can put chicken breasts, pork chop, roasts, etc in and then pair it with some steam fresh microwave veggies. You can also do a large amount of chicken with BBQ sauce or salsa and have it for sandwiches or chicken bowls for a couple of days.
  • Nikki10129
    Nikki10129 Posts: 292 Member
    Exactly what everyone is saying, eat what they're eating but weigh out your portions and log it. We had chicken and potato salad the other day, I ate the potato salad, I just ate an amount that fit my caloric goals. Also don't be afraid to roast up some extra veggies for yourself, good way to pack in some nutrient dense, low cal food to fill you up.
  • eahrenee
    eahrenee Posts: 151 Member
    I have had a simular problem.
    Lately, we have eaten a lot of chicken, salad, and rice....
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    Suggestions? Break it down.

    You can eat anything you want. A healthy diet is balanced and varied. No special foods or meals required.
    You sholdn't have to make different meals for your family and yourself.
    You can make meals that your family likes. Ask them what they want to eat before you decide what to make.
    Just because you only can bake now, it doesn't mean that you can't learn how to cook. Read recipes. Look up tutorials. There are videos on Youtube. Cooking can be done as simple or elaborate as you want. Elaborateness does not equal healthfulness.
    Meals cooked from scratch tend to be cheaper than readymeals. You just have to plan, and not be scammed by false advertising.
  • amandapleighse2
    amandapleighse2 Posts: 30 Member
    so helpful thank you so much!
  • clrss1
    clrss1 Posts: 17 Member
    A big veggie chile with beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, tomato. Mmm. It's almost 'meaty' and definitely affordable. Also turkey meatball minestrone soup is good (and easy to add whatever greens like spinach, to at the end, but if spinach is expensive I just go with the veg in the soup).
  • amandapleighse2
    amandapleighse2 Posts: 30 Member
    spinach is worth the money to me.
    ii keep some around for salad anyways! Imma look up recipeon allrecipes, and we can have some soup and salad for dinner tommorow.
  • pacingoamy
    pacingoamy Posts: 78 Member
    It's hard to do when you start from scratch. I find one thing that I can cook quickly/easily/healthfully then plan around it. I tend to cook in waves, freeze it and then use it all the time. I have 3 boys ages 11-14 and they are VERY picky eaters. So, I learned how to make 'shredded' chicken in the crockpot (takes about 4 hours) using (on sale only) chicken breasts and once cooked, I throw it in the freezer in 8 oz servings. This week, I threw that in with some ramen noodles for the kids (yes, really) and I make a baked potato. Yes, we ate different things, but it was grounded in a healthy 'start' then I alternate the sides. I do the same for stew meat, pork roast and other meats (we are heavy meat-eaters) then make burritos, tacos, soups, etc. Perhaps when you are only looking at sides, the rest makes sense?
  • amandapleighse2
    amandapleighse2 Posts: 30 Member
    that's a very good idea, and it makes it possible to not spend so much time in the kitchen. Sundays are usually my cook days, where I prepare our loaves of bread and rolls and and biscuits to eat throughout the week. (carbs and sugar are my weakness!) I will incorporate your idea on my cook day for sure
  • suruda
    suruda Posts: 1,233 Member
    Tacos are brilliant for this....I just make chicken taco meat, or ground turkey and black beans, have all of the fixings out and people can make what they want (tortilla, hard shells, etc). This leaves me the perfect opportunity to have a salad.

    I also think those "basic" meals...meats, carb, veggies, work great. I would just skip or have very little of the carb.
  • federicafezza4271
    federicafezza4271 Posts: 69 Member
    amandapleighse2 wrote: »
    I have been eating smaller portions, but it's a lot of box dinners, so my sodium is always super high:/ When I learned to cook I mainly learned breads and biscuits and cupcakes. not actual reasonable thing to eat! Sad I know, but I guess I feel little lost to the idea, plus my family could probably stand to eat little healthier. They don't have weight to lose, but I still want them to be healthy.

    I suggest that you gradually switch to cooking more, also with some help and collaboration from your family if possible. I don't know how your family is organized but I feel that feeding a family everyday is a huge workload and it's fair to divide it a little!
    Making simple meals from scratch can also help you save some money.

    some examples can be:
    meat/fish + vegetables for you, also bread and/or potatoes for them
    legumes soup for you, legumes+rice soup for them
    on the weekend you could boil legumes and grains in batch and then freeze some

    I think it's great to influence your family to eat healthier even if they're not watching their calories, I feel very accomplished when I make breakfast for my mum and sis and know that they are having more proteins thanks to me ;)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    amandapleighse2 wrote: »
    I'm in desperate need of some affordable healthy dinner ideas that my family will actually eat! It sucks making everyone else different food than I am allowed to eat, i mean I'm okay with giving my boyfriend the egg yolks, or using spinach and herb tortillas instead of flour, or beans instead of taco meat,but a lot of the time,i either have to eat what they are eating(I just can't afford two separate meals!) or I just skip dinner to avoid the situation completely. I'm open to suggestions!

    Why aren't you allowed to eat egg yolks? Why aren't you allowed to eat taco meat? Both of those things are perfectly healthy.

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