Just starting out. feeding a family of 7...any ideas

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crullmd
crullmd Posts: 11 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I started this journey a few days ago and my family has all joined in so now, I find myself needing to fix healthier meals with no recipes under my belt! I tried to fix healthier meals a year ago, but it ended up being a disaster because I used these recipes with lots of spices and the such, so my family hated them.

Does anyone have simple and somewhat inexpensive meal ideas that are healthy.

Thanks to anyone that can help!!!

Replies

  • cramernh
    cramernh Posts: 3,335 Member
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    Perhaps a trip to your local Barnes and Nobles.. or perhaps Amazon.com might be helpful...

    Why not as a family, get together and make a list of the types of foods you would like to have... or theme-nights where each night it could be a dish from a foreign country...

    Monday-Mexican
    Tuesday-Thai
    Wednesday - Middle Eastern
    Thursday - Italian
    Friday - french

    Just an example..

    This can be alot easier than you think....you just gotta put forth the extra effort to do the meal planning...

    Get your kids AND husband involved...
  • ishallnotwant
    ishallnotwant Posts: 1,210 Member
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    Hi! I have 5 children and a 6 foot 9, 330 pound husband. If you'd like to add me maybe we can support each other in healthy eating. :flowerforyou:

    You're welcome to check out my food journal for some ideas...and I post about what i'm cooking a lot on social sites too lol. It's not too bad once you get the hang of it. I also don't cut anything out of my diet, I eat everything in moderation and I have at least 2 cheat meals per week.
  • cantobean
    cantobean Posts: 287 Member
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    Hmmm, I'm not a mom, but you can't beat a whole roasted chicken, steamed broccoli, and roasted sweet potato wedges. I also make panko-breaded chicken tenders--a healthier alternative to chicken nuggets. I make spinach or swiss chard quiche and serve with salad. Stirfry can be good, and it doesn't have to be too spicy. I find Hoisin sauce is a good mild, almost sweet sauce for stirfry.

    Also, you may not need to completely scrap the meals you were making before and start over. Maybe there are small adjustments you can make to the meals your family already likes. What are some of your favorites?
  • aircantu1
    aircantu1 Posts: 55 Member
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    It would probably be a good idea to make a list of things your family likes and that you cook often then find ways to "healthify" your recipes. There are TONS and TONS of food blogs out there. I find the problem is more that I have TOO MANY recipes to choose from. I feel like I'll never have time to try it all!
  • LindLTailor
    LindLTailor Posts: 15 Member
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    I make a lot of lean grilled meat such as chicken breasts with veggies on the side. Whole wheat pasta with a veggie based sauce and salad with light vinaigrette based dressing. Lots of beans, Eggs. There's a couple to add to your list.
  • horror_hamster
    horror_hamster Posts: 278
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    my recommendation is get a big ol' slow cooker. With 7, i'm sure you dont have a TON of time, and you can do deliciously tasting huge meals in the slow cooker. I have a few recipes on my blog (www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/horror_hamster) that you can easily double/triple to your needs. They're inexpensive (because i dont have much money) and always less than 300 calories per serving. Otherwise, i'd recommend googling it (i know this is kind of a cop-out answer) but that's what I do.

    Feel free to add me! I dont have a big family (just me, my bf and our dog) but I COME from a big family so i know how to cook for them.

    Best of luck!!!
  • Josee76
    Josee76 Posts: 533 Member
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    Eating Well is a great website with loads of family friendly nutritious/healthy recipes. They have sections on the website where you can find 12 superfoods for under 1$. They have loads of crock pot recipes, kid friendly recipes and eating on a budget recipes. Check it out, it's a fabulous resource, it cost nothing and you'll keep going back!
  • tbranch3634
    tbranch3634 Posts: 32
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    i am a mom of 5 children( 4 which are teenagers) and we still eat hamburger helper and pizza but I buy healthier versions. I buy 95/5 lean ground beef and I buy ground turkey when I can sneak it in like chili, spaghetti and mexican dishes. I buy whole wheat pasta and make my own spaghetti sauces. I try and buy the freshest ingredients that I can to make the healthiest meals I can. When making pizza buy the small flour tortilla and bake them in the oven for 2 minutes on each side and then pull them out and add spag sauce and let the kids add their own toppings and rebake. Just like making a personal pizza!
  • Wolfena
    Wolfena Posts: 1,570 Member
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    Hi! I have 5 children and a 6 foot 9, 330 pound husband.

    I had to read this twice.... at first I read it as a 6 foot..... 9330 pound husband! :laugh:

    (ok - back to regularly scheduled thread answers now.....)
  • ishallnotwant
    ishallnotwant Posts: 1,210 Member
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    Hi! I have 5 children and a 6 foot 9, 330 pound husband.

    I had to read this twice.... at first I read it as a 6 foot..... 9330 pound husband! :laugh:

    (ok - back to regularly scheduled thread answers now.....)

    He's big, but he's not quite that big...it's a good thing, too, it's hard enough finding clothing for him already! :laugh:
  • KandieLantz
    KandieLantz Posts: 424 Member
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    Check out skinnytaste.com Fantastic low cal recipes using REAL food! Good luck to you!
  • karleen
    karleen Posts: 260
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    cant go wrong with taco soup on the crock pot!!

    pound of ground beef [or turkey!], can of corn, can of black beans, red beans, two cans diced tomatos, packet of taco seasoning and packet of ranch..

    brown the meat and then put in crock pot dumping in all other ingredients and stirring after each. cook on low for 8 hours or high for about 4..

    made this ALL the time before going raw vegan..
  • themommie
    themommie Posts: 5,010 Member
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    I have a big family and I make marinara over whole wheat pasta, turkey chili, lots of homemade soups ( chicken noodle soup, black bean, taco soup, potatoe are my standbys) , I also like grilled chicken and sweet potatoes with a veggie or salad. 1/2 of my kids dont like sweet potatoes so I bake reg potatoes and sweet potatoes at the same time, easy. I also make frittatas alot. I do burritos alot then i can put what i want on mine or make taco salad out of mine. I also do turkey loaf that is really good. also making your usual recipes lighter just adjust some of the ingredients. Hope this helps
  • LJGmom
    LJGmom Posts: 249 Member
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    I have 5 kids too, we eat a lot of veggies, and plain meat...it's really simple. I make at least one soup a week, we like chilli, chicken tortilla, a
    Or broccoli cheese, which work great for leftovers as well. I do make potatoes, but I just skip them. We still eat pizza, just in moderation. Well ave a salad first, and just 2 slices, instead of eating until we are stuffed. I ALWAYS. Plan my menus. It makes it a lot easier, and helps stick to the plan. That way you don't end up eating really bad bc that's all you could grab last minute.

    Basically we eat the same as before, just smaller portions, and more veggies.
  • stef_3
    stef_3 Posts: 173
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    I started my weight loss journey almost a year ago and my husband is the cook of the house. We made a plan to pick what meals we want to eat each week then we go grocery shopping. We usually do 2 nights of grilled chicken with a rice side and veggie one night and a mac and cheese side and veggie the other. We do spaghetti, chicken tacos, pork, wings, my husband is a steak eater so we have a steak night too. I always measure my meat and sides so I can stay within my cals. My boys are young and aren't big veggie fans so we replace there side of veggies with fruit. Good luck!!
  • sauci
    sauci Posts: 94 Member
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    me too!
  • sailorsiren13
    sailorsiren13 Posts: 460
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    I grew up in a big family and have the opposite problem we always have a ton of leftovers. You could try eatbetterAmerica.com or Hungry Girl website. I have a cookbook that is geared for healthy comfort food called Taste of Home. Good Luck to you usually once we find something we change to taste as well :wink:
  • adams4101
    adams4101 Posts: 44 Member
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    Hi, I have a big family only 6 though. I also have been transitioning them into healthier eating, i've changed things gradually over the past year or so. I cut out all types of drinks, they drink almost nothing but water. I will occasionally buy some orange juice or a soda on a special occasion. Oh, and they drink milk. Right now it's mostly whole milk because I have a baby under two, but before he was born I had them drinking 1% just fine. I changed to wheat rice. I haven't found a wheat pasta yet that I like, I did buy the whole wheat hamburger helper and it was good. I don't buy chips or cookies. I buy a lot of fruit and yogurt for them to snack on, as well as, nuts and seeds. The main thing I tried to do was reduce the sugar intake and increase the whole grain intake. I found little steps are the easiest, one thing at a time. Don't try to change everything overnight. I still let them have things like, candy, cookies, soda, just only in moderation. Its much easier than you think especially when you are the one buying all the food!! LOL I also agree with the lady about the slow cooker. A friend of mine bought me one for my birthday last years, and I absolutely love it. Sometimes I will modify things a little for the kids. Mine don't seem to like there stuff all mixed together, so I will seperate things for them, but other than that they eat what we eat. Hope this helps. :)
  • soniaa777
    soniaa777 Posts: 126 Member
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    broccoli or spinach topped with parmesian cheese. measured 1 tbsp per plate

    chicken tenderloins: baked with a dry seasoning you might want to try: mccormick grill mates montreal chicken. (4 bucks at cosco for a big container or 2.50 at safeway)

    its simple and tastes good. and is cheap- my 3year old will eat it.

    wash the chicken and put in pan damp than add seasoning and bake at 300 for 30 minutes or until chicken is done.

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