Need help with meals!!

YOu can download thousands of free recipes off the internet. The quickest easiest meals are often the healthiest and the cheapest to make. Cooking really isn't difficult - it only becomes difficult when you try to make it more complicated than it needs to be. Put a chicken in the oven and set the timer for 1 hour. When the bell rings, take the chicken out and you'll have roast chicken. That's not difficult. Boil spagetti and set the timer for 7 minutes. When the bell rings your spagetti is cooked. Add some bolognaise sauce and you have spagetti bolognese. Chop up whatever vegetables you have in the house (carrot, celery, potato, pumpkin, beans, peas) and put them in 4 cups of chicken stock. Set your time for 20 minutes and leave the mixture to simmer. When the bell rings you have vegetable soup. If you prefer, you can add two chopped tomatoes to the mix and a 1/4 cup of elbow pasta and you have minestrone instead. None of these things require anything difficult or tricky - and none of them involve you standing over the food stirring and mixing and getting bored.

Number one: DO NOT worry about what will appeal to a 12, 6, and two year old, Instead worry about whats healthy (like you obviously are), I'm serious, that's the most precious gift you can give them right now is to make them eat what they need to and not what they want too, They will be healthier and happier when they get older because of it. Here is an Uber cheap meal my mom use to make when I was a kid, I hated it because of the tomatoes, but hey, other than that it was pretty good, and cheap. There are no amounts, because if you can make chicken pot pie, you should have a "feeling" about how much is needed (sorry if that's confusing) Ingredients: Pretty much what you have, usually: Beef (ground usually, but It has been made with venison) Corn, tomato sauce (Usually in the form of watered down tomato paste) , elbow macaroni noodles, and Diced tomatoes (you know, from a can :P)Salt, and Pepper. My dad called this "slop" and he did love it, Dad was weird :P Most healthy cheap meals, you really just need to get a feel for, the biggest part in making them "frugal" Is learning how to use what you have, If your neighbor just gave you an armload of broccoli, use it :P It really is about what deals you can get and whats already in your fridge, as to healthy? As long as its honest to God homemade, It will usually be healthier than what a lot of Americans eat. For recipes to use what you have, I would recommend recipezaar.com and doing a search by ingredient, I hope this post didn't sound rude at all, because looking back it might sound a bit rude, but I really didn't mean it that way. I just don't know where to fix it O.o May God bless you (and your children :P) in all your journeys :)

I don't want to risk repeating the great information you've already been given but I would like to suggest the Kraft website for great recipes that are usually "kid friendly": http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/Pages/home.aspx Most of what they feature is easy to prepare, using items you probably already have on hand and they will also email you recipes of interest, if you want. They have an online recipe box on their site that can be handy and of course they have special information relating to the various holidays as they come up. A lot of things are really fun for the kids. Beyond that, if you are focused on your children eating healthier, you can do this as much with snacks as with meals. Maybe get them going on raw veggies and dips (I actually use low-fat ranch dressing for them a lot of the time and they are happy with that) or fruit that is already cut up (tends to be more interesting to kids). An appliance that I swear by is my steamer. Almost all our veggies are steamed and the kids eat them readily. They stay tasty and I've learned the right timing so they don't come out mushy *grin*

what i would suggest is to go visit your local library and see what sort of recipe books that they have there. my library has a ton of books for different occassions, different types of diets, all sorts of ideas!

Will your kids eat vegetables? Here's a quick meal that's easy to fix. It originally came from the nursery school I attended as a kid. Mish Mash Brown hamburger. Add drained mixed vegetables and cheez whiz. Cook and stir until heated through.

I don't know how to cook so I don't know how helpful this post is, but I just thought of something. Crockpots! lol! I know odd! Search for crockpot recipes, those are usually cheap, and can be made and ate for a few days. Spaghetti is another thing that can be made and ate for a few days. Taco's without as much beef, or with leaner beef, chicken taco's, chicken noodle soup and cheese toast, tomato soup and cheese toast! I hope those suggestions worked! Sign up for frugal newsletters, I have! I haven't gotten any yet, but I signed up, and the sites are amazing. Search : Penny Pinchin Grandma ... to pinch in other ways to save money! Wow, I sound like a sales rep, woops! Happy Mylotting!

i brt if u ever knew how to cook it will come back to you. never saw a kid that didn't like spaghetti. homemade soup is good & nourishing. meatloaf, creamed poatoes & a veggir would be good. i love english peas w/ creamed potatoes. i have been cooking for boys for sures, i have 2 of my own & they all liked to come to my house & eat.

Honestly, I don't cook myself either. I was too much relying on my parents cooking. I want to learn about cooking too, but I never have my heart to it. You might search online for some useful cook books for the children. Pick the best meals they like the most.

There are some great cookbooks out there for children to learn to "cook" simple things. If you are going to be home with them all day you will want to have meals at regular intervals with a midmorning snack and another in the afternoon so they don't bug you about being hungry. If they are good about eating fruits and vegetables your job will be very easy. do your kids like pasta? There are a multitude of possiblities for one pot meals with pasta that make your life easier. Make big pots of things like beans on the weekends and freeze some for later meals. At Thanksgiving you have all that left over turkey that can get reinvented into salad, soups, casseroles etc. Start planning your meals with items you can reuse and reinvent the leftovers in the same way. Also, make a menu for the week and put it on the fridge and use it to do your shopping so you have everything you need and no one has to bug you about what's for dinner.