Recipes

You can eat anything and lose weight as long as you stick to your calorie goal (so track accurately); variety is important for health (because we need a lot of different nutrients every day and different foods provide different nutrients in different proportions); if you eat a varied diet and food you like, it's less chance of getting bored or feeling stuck (and getting bored and feeling stuck is the main reason for giving up a weight loss/management project).

So I suggest starting with what you and your family already like, and if necessary, tweak that. Don't do a major overhaul fast, but adjust over time so everybody can get used to a change before you make another. If you are eating readymeals often, just switching to homemade versions, will improve nutrition. Cooking from single real food ingredients is easy. You don't need any special foods - just buy meat, fish, starches, vegetables and fats; this is normal food that you can get everywhere and you can use normal recipes found in cookbooks and online, and make anything. For the person who wants to lose weight, reducing starch and meat somewhat and increasing vegetables will often help with satiety while sticking to allotted calories. You can sneak in more vegetables by chopping them finely and mix into almost anything, or try mashing them completely with a stick blender (makes creamy soups). Onion, canned tomatoes, beans, these can go with lots of dinners. If you deep fry a lot, try baking, grilling, str-fry. Reduce, but don't cut out, sauces, oils, condiments.

Make sure the rest of your meals through the day complement your dinners so that you aren't wasting your effort.