NEED EASY EASY DINNER IDEAS FOR 6

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MickyMo
MickyMo Posts: 48 Member
in Recipes
HELP! I have 5 kids and though I have no problem eating salad with chicken every night, I have to make them different things and they are sick of sloppy joe's and hamburger helper. I am NOT A COOK so I can't do things with a bunch of ingredients (I'm just starting with the spices and it's only on my chicken).

Any suggestions for me?

Replies

  • amgreenwell
    amgreenwell Posts: 1,268 Member
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    CROCK-POT IS YOUR FRIEND...

    1. Chicken breasts and bbq sauce, on low for 6-8 hours, shred it up and serve with slaw
    2. Roast, potatoes, carrots, onion, celery, peppers, cut all up and mix one cup of water and french onion soup packet or pot roast packet (find at grocery store in spice aisle) 8 hours on low and then serve
    3. whole turkey, water and a french onion soup packet. 8 hours on low then pull off the bone, I use this for thanksgiving ...it is amazing!
    4. black bean soup- blend large can of black beans with jar of salsa, put that and a can of whole black beans in the crock pot with chicken broth and season to taste. I throw in some jalapenos for spice. Cook for about 6 hours on low...You could double the recipe for large family...serve with cheese and/or sour cream
    5. taco soup- browned ground beef, chicken broth or water, black olives, onion, corn, black beans, pinto beans salsa and a taco seasoning packet- 6 hours on low and then serve...can use sour cream/cheese

    I also LOVE casseroles and they are easy to make ahead of time and pop in the oven after work. dinner is ready in less than an hour and clean up is quick and easy. Good luck!
  • Jennloella
    Jennloella Posts: 2,287 Member
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    There's six of us, and there's no way a crock pot would hold enough dinner......I'd have to use two. I have a giant wok and do lots of different stir fry recipes. The kids love tacos and burgers with turkey meat. I'm in maintenance but my husband is on a cardiac diet, I make everything to keep his sodium in check. We do different salads - chicken salad, pasta salad, green salad, crab salad. We use the barbecue a lot and do shrimp or chicken kabobs so the veggies are right there.....
  • theredhead77
    theredhead77 Posts: 35 Member
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    Cooking is not hard. Baking is a science. Don't be afraid of cooking, if you can read and follow directions, you can cook.

    Chiliis super easy and fairy quick to prepare on the stove. Pick up a packet of chili spices at the store (with the rest of the McCormik envelop seasonings) buy what it says and cook. You can use ground turkey, ground beef or add extra beans and make it vegetarian. Don't be afraid to use black, pinto or other beans beyond kidney.

    Chicken and rice with cream of mushroom soup. Yea, I'm one of those people who cooks with cream of ___ soup. You need enough chicken breasts (or thighs) to feed your family. 2 cups rice, 4 cups water (or 1 c. rice, 2 cups water depending how much rice you want). Preheat oven to chicken cooking temperature. Spray a baking pan with some cooking spray. Add rice, water and some salt. Stir to spread evenly along the bottom. Add chicken, put soup on top, spread over top of all the chicken. Baked uncovered for 45 minutes or so, until chicken is done.

    If you're a fan of the green bean casserole that is popular around Thanksgiving make that and add a couple cans of tuna to it.

    Tacos- need ground beef or turkey, packet of taco seasoning, taco shells or taco sized tortillas, cheese, onion, tomato and salsa.

    For the crock-pot a simple pot roast. Buy: a pot roast, onion, carrots, potatoes, celery, dry onion soup mix, can of cranberry sauce with whole berries. Chop all vegetables in to large chunks and put at the bottom of the crockpot. Put the meat on top the vegetables. Take a packet of Lipton onion soup mix, pour on top of meat. Take the can of cranberry sauce and put on top of everything. You can "chop" the sauce up but it doesn't need to be.

    Cook per your crockpot directions - usually 5-6 hours on high (for mine, mine is old and doesn't work that well anymore).

  • jasonallenross
    jasonallenross Posts: 15 Member
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    Pick up a copy of Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything". The recipes are well-written and easy to follow. Ingredients are generally easily found at the grocery store, and for a "family" of recipes he starts with a very straightforward preparation and then provides variations on the same theme. For example, roast chicken starts with something really straightforward (salt/pepper, put it in the oven for ~45 minutes) easy to do and then ramps up to a roast chicken with herbed butter cooked in white wine.

    Also keep in mind that with five kids I'm betting some are old enough to plan out a meal and do most of the cooking. Now that school's out we told our daughters (10 and 7) that they are going to be responsible for one meal a week, and that it needs to be "healthy", we can't have mac and cheese with hot dogs and cereal all the time :smile:

    Noodle bakes (lasagna / baked ziti / casseroles), homemade pizza (gets the kids involved -- roll out the dough, put on some sauce, put on some cheese, other toppings they like), pulled pork (on the smoker or in the crock pot) are generally big hits in our house.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    How old are your kids? What sort of food does your family like?

    I get so many recipes off of Pinterest, some are good and some are not so good. http://www.skinnytaste.com/ is a popular site for "healthy" recipes, and I've heard good things about http://www.skinnymom.com/ but I haven't tried any of her recipes.

    I second the recommendation for crockpot recipes and find a lot of good ones on http://www.crockingirls.com/

    Lastly, there is a site called Weelicious that has a lot of suggestions for trying to get the whole family to eat the same thing. http://weelicious.com/

    Some of my family go to meals include:

    Pasta
    Stir fry
    Tacos
    Breakfast for Dinner
    Pizza night (everyone can make their own)
    Paninis (or just grilled cheese and soup)


    A simple recipe that I really like is to take 6 chicken breasts, cubed red potatoes, and a bag of fresh green beans, lay those in three rows longways in a 9x13 baking dish. Sprinkle a packet of Good Season Italian Dressing mix (dry) over the whole thing, then melt a stick of butter and pour over the whole thing. Cover it in foil, bake it for 45 minutes in your oven at 350. Looks like this:

    c617cb574468684522fa734bd8b294d5.jpg


  • sdraper2014
    sdraper2014 Posts: 81 Member
    edited June 2015
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    Kids can be tough, but cooking can be really easy. Nothing wrong with grilling your food on a BBQ if you have one, Campbell's soup had lots of 4 ingredients or less recipes, I have a whole cook book of them. I find those meals are high in sodium, but kids usually like them. At the end of the day my mom used to give us stuff like spaghetti, grilled cheese and tomato soup, burritos, fajitas, (made with packets of seasoning, really easy), eggs and toast, hamburgers, grilled chicken, stir fry. Tortellini with ham and broccoli in a low fat Alfredo sauce (again from a packet).
  • mistikal13
    mistikal13 Posts: 1,457 Member
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    Cooking is really not that hard. Google "easy dinner recipes" etc and you will find lots of manageable recipes!
  • mkakids
    mkakids Posts: 1,913 Member
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    polish sausage broccoli bake. My kids love it!

    Slice up 1 polish sausage per person, cook it in a skillet with a lid (add about .5c water and let it cook for 10ish minutes until heated through). Dump a bag of still frozen broccoli into the pan and put the lid on. cook until broccoli is steamed. Drain off any excess water. Top with shredded cheese (I like cheddar but any type will work) and put the lid on just until the cheese is melted.

    Super Yummy, not too bad calorie wise, one pot, and goes from fridge to table in 15 minutes.
  • mkakids
    mkakids Posts: 1,913 Member
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    jasonallenross wrote: »
    Pick up a copy of Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything". The recipes are well-written and easy to follow. Ingredients are generally easily found at the grocery store, and for a "family" of recipes he starts with a very straightforward preparation and then provides variations on the same theme. For example, roast chicken starts with something really straightforward (salt/pepper, put it in the oven for ~45 minutes) easy to do and then ramps up to a roast chicken with herbed butter cooked in white wine.

    Also keep in mind that with five kids I'm betting some are old enough to plan out a meal and do most of the cooking. Now that school's out we told our daughters (10 and 7) that they are going to be responsible for one meal a week, and that it needs to be "healthy", we can't have mac and cheese with hot dogs and cereal all the time :smile:

    Noodle bakes (lasagna / baked ziti / casseroles), homemade pizza (gets the kids involved -- roll out the dough, put on some sauce, put on some cheese, other toppings they like), pulled pork (on the smoker or in the crock pot) are generally big hits in our house.

    I love this book!

    Also, depending on how close in age her kids are, they may not be able to cook just yet. I have 4 kids (and had a still birth, so 5 babies total) in 6.5 years. The oldest is now 7 and she doesn't cook anything but the most basic of things yet.
  • brendak76
    brendak76 Posts: 241 Member
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    Buy a bigger crockpot! I bought one that would hold enough food for 10+ people. It is double the size of my older one. I cook with it all year, especially in the summer. I can put it to cook in the cool basement and we get s hot meal without hearing up the house.

    I make salsa chicken and pulled pork and split pea soup all the time in the crockpot. Tonight I made homemade chicken noodle soup (super easy recipe) on the stovetop. Other easy recipes we like: salmon burgers, tuna noodle casserole, black bean soup, egg/ham/potato bake. It takes some planning and googling recipes, but there are lots of easy things to feed a large family. I've also taught my 14 year old how to make some meals as well.
  • MickyMo
    MickyMo Posts: 48 Member
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    I am printing all of this out so I can make notes!!! Thank you all so much. (my kids are 15, 13 (x2) and 10 (x2)

    Mick

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  • Maries_wine_calories
    Maries_wine_calories Posts: 152 Member
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    Crock pot is your best friend as said above :)
    3lb Pork loin with a cup or so of low sodium chicken broth, minced garlic, pepper, celery salt, onion flakes or finely chopped, plus your favorite bbq sauce on low for 4-5 hours, shred with a fork and serve over rice or on a bun with shredded cheese!
  • theredhead77
    theredhead77 Posts: 35 Member
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    MickyMo wrote: »
    I am printing all of this out so I can make notes!!! Thank you all so much. (my kids are 15, 13 (x2) and 10 (x2)

    Mick

    Your kids can definitely help and take turns making something too. Now would be a great time to learn to cook [healthy] as a family.

    Searching for recipes online can be super overwhelming. I'd suggest picking up something like the Betty Crocker cookbook (the old skool red checkered one) and look it over with your kids. It's pretty basic and will give you some good ideas without being completely overwhelmed.

    Eggplant and Chicken Parmesan are both super easy to make (I think eggplant is easier). I got my recipe out of that Betty Crocker cookbook :smiley:

    Good luck and don't hesitate to ask questions! You're gonna do great!

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