Take stock. It is the best way to avoid food waste and make sure we use up the ingredients we have on hand before buying something new. Plus, some of the best meals in our house are what I call pantry meals. Put together some combination of whole grain pasta, canned beans, canned fish, a jar of tomato sauce, and some veggies and dinner is done.

For example, my Nicoise Pasta Salad and Lentil Chickpea Vegetable Salad with Feta are made up of mostly pantry, fridge, and freezer staples. Cook in bulk. One of the benefits of thinking ahead and planning your meals is that you can make extra of a recipe, so you have enough for leftovers another night or to freeze for a busy week.

Some of my favorite types of recipes to double or triple and freeze are homemade tomato sauce , soups and stews , meatballs, and burgers.

The little bit of extra time it takes on that day of cooking is more than made up for when I have a defrosted meal on the table in no time. These come in handy for breakfast on rushed mornings and school lunch boxes. Make one meal. Not a separate meal for each child, not one meal for adults and one meal for the kids.

One meal period. This tip will not only help you with meal planning, but also in helping your children learn to eat a well-rounded diet and put an end to picky eating.

I promise your children will not starve! Take a night off. Monday through Friday are the main days of the week that I cook from scratch, with weekend meals consisting of leftovers, one adult night out for my husband and me, and a dinner out as a family.

Cooking is time consuming and as much as I love being in the kitchen and making my own meals, everyone needs a break. Nights off are a great time to use some of those batch-cooked meals you froze, serve some breakfast for dinner, use up leftovers, or splurge on take-out. Involve the kids.

Beyond planning the menu, let the kids help you pick out ingredients at the supermarket and prep meals come dinnertime. Plan theme nights. Theme nights are a lot of fun, especially for the kids.

And it makes planning the menu easier because you know exactly what kind of recipe you need for every night. Some ideas for theme nights: Meatless Monday , Taco Tuesday , Wacky Wednesday eg.

Breakfast for Dinner Night , Pasta Thursday , Fish Friday. It just requires some forethought and the motivation to do it. Sign up for my newsletter to get a free copy plus a 1 week menu plan!

Want more healthy, delicious, and family-friendly recipes? Roasting the chicken and potatoes in one tray means less washing-up to delegate afterwards. This makes a wonderful packed lunch, full of wholewheat noodles, chicken and greens, dressed with a marvellously moreish tahini and soy dressing.

Prep ahead and enjoy cold, topped with toasted sesame seeds. Falafels with a difference — these add edamame to the usual ingredients and are baked, not fried. Add to wraps with hummus, pickled red cabbage and any other veggies you'd like.

Use up leftover falafel from last night's dinner for this bento-style lunchbox — full of grains, veg, salad and hummus. A super-satisfying way to eat your five-a-day.

The meatballs are made with turkey thigh mince, but you could buy a ready-made pack if you're short on time. Put some leftover hummus to good use with these colourful lunch wraps, packed with beetroot, carrot, spinach and feta.

They only take 15 minutes to prepare, freeing up precious morning minutes. If your family loves a korma, this creamy salmon, prawn and almond curry will be a big hit.

Serve with poppadoms or naan bread and mango chutney. Make this tortilla the night before for a quick and easy lunch. It only needs five ingredients, and microwaving the sweet potato means it can be ready in 25 minutes. Pair classic tomato soup with our savoury Marmite and spinach pinwheels.

Use a pack of sheet ready-rolled light puff pastry to make these satisfying savoury bites in no time. Use leftovers from Thursday's dinner to craft a quick and easy lunch. The warming soup is rich and full of flavour. Paired with a pinwheel, it will go down a treat. Our highly-rated twist on fish pie combines two comfort foods into a fantastic Friday night supper.

Who wouldn't love a golden, bubbling plate of creamy, cheesy fish pie mac 'n' cheese? Have fun preparing these puff pastry pizzas with the kids — chop up the veg and let everyone choose their own toppings.

We used sweetcorn, olives, peppers, red onion, cherry tomatoes, spinach and basil on ours. These terrific tacos have five-star ratings for a reason. Pork shoulder is slow-cooked with a heady mix of spices, pineapple, citrus juice and garlic until meltingly soft.

Eat it in tacos with a zesty salsa, shredded cabbage and avocado for a weekend fiesta. Search, save and sort your favourite recipes and view them offline. Join the BBC Good Food Wine Club. Join our Subscriber Club Download our app Good Food Shows Wine Club Recipe boxes Videos.

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Back to Recipes Quick pasta recipes Carbonara recipes Lasagne recipes Bolognese recipes. If your area has a local recreational center, I highly recommend looking into it. Sometimes rec centers even have scholarship opportunities so all families can be included. I also knew I needed to make this recipe fairly quick since I was using the other half of the chicken thighs from earlier in the week.

I started by browning the chicken thighs, removing them, cooking veggies in that same pot, making the sauce, and then finishing by adding all the ingredients back in together.

Moments later, a small construction crew knocked on the door to fix some flooring in the kitchen. I spent the morning playing puzzles, reading stories, and doing a quick workout with the girls i.

I grabbed some apple from the fridge that was leftover, some blueberries, and celery and started getting it onto plates.

By the time I was finished, I was able to use my stove, and I quickly heated some meatballs. By this time, my husband made it home for lunch, and I suggested that he should eat more than just the meatballs, but to each their own! I've gone from never making a slider in my life to being an ultimate fan in a very short window.

What is so appealing to me is that they are extremely easy to put together and they're something fun — which is why I usually make them on Friday nights! Side note: For some reason, I put out a yellow pepper in this picture instead of my yellow onion. I thankfully noticed before I started cooking!

I sliced through the slider buns, put them on my sheet pan, spread the meat mixture on the top, sprinkled the cheese, and that was all it took! About 20 minutes in the oven, and we were eating. One of the parties was a painting party, which I thought was such a fun and unique idea!

My kids absolutely loved it. My middle kiddo came home stating that her next birthday would be the same thing. In a normal circumstance, I would be worried that one slider each wouldn't have been enough for a full dinner.

However, I saw my youngest walking around with a stack of about six cheese slices at the party, so I thought it was probably OK that we kept things lighter. Some of the crepes I filled with jam, and others I did a jam, cottage cheese combo!

Crepes are one of my son's favorite meals, so he was particularly excited. This recipe does call for ground turkey or chicken; however, my ground beef was on sale for half the price, so I went with ground beef instead!

Lunch at home was grilled cheese one more time, and I got to work on planning and shopping for the week ahead of us! The hard reality is that with rising costs of, well Just keep in mind the main takeaway of planning, budgeting, and organizing.

And one last takeaway: Never let anyone make you feel bad for making a budget! People create budgets for all different reasons — necessity, savings, student loans, retirement, investments, and it's something you can feel proud of. You got this!

Food · Updated on Oct 23, by Sydney Martin BuzzFeed Contributor. Sydney Martin. My son's school moved the start time an hour earlier this year, which means I need to make breakfast and pack school lunch as soon as my feet hit the ground, at the exact same time.

Thankfully, one of my family's favorite breakfasts is pretty hands off and quick to prepare: oatmeal! This one was simple with just a bit of brown sugar.

For my son's lunch, I boiled a few frozen meatballs in some broth and put them in the thermal area of his lunchbox to keep warm. I also packed some celery and apples, per his request.

You can completely customize these depending on your family's pancake flavor preferences! Once we got back on track, things came together quickly. I made the pancake batter and then let the kids give it a stir. The recipe states this should make 24 mini muffins, but we ended up having around 36!

It also says you can store these in the fridge up to a week, which was perfect because that's exactly what I intended to do. This recipe was cooked in two phases — first the chicken, carrots, and peppers. Then all the rest! I also ended up having to cut everything into smaller pieces for my daughters.

On a normal day, I do my best to get the kids outside after breakfast. I find that my kids have better days if we make sure to spend a good amount of time outside each day. I ended up having a last-minute lunch meeting pop up once we got home, so my husband and I just reheated the stir fry and I cooked some meatballs on the stove for the kids.

I served these with carrots, apples, and blueberries!

My kids absolutely love oatmeal with just a bit of brown sugar and sometimes a splash of milk. I think its just as easy as a bowl of cereal, but will stick with them a bit longer! I also find that my patience and mental space is better when we start our days outside as well.

Even though a lot of times it ends with me carrying a variety of locomotive toys on the way home. Having a lunchbox with a thermal area is such a game changer and provides the possibility of so many more options! I've tried a few bread recipes and often change it up, but today I decided to try this white bread recipe.

As we were heading out the door, I put the dough in a bowl and set it to proof for 45 minutes. This bread ended up proofing for much longer, as we were at the playground much longer, but it all worked out just fine. Now, if you scroll alllllll the way to the bottom of the recipe , it will state that some people said that this was too big for one large loaf.

I would say I had the same result, but I decided to live on the wild side and go with it anyway. I weighed out the ingredients, and while I boiled the tortellini for 2—3 minutes, I added all the other ingredients into the skillet.

In the end, I realized I was supposed to put the cheese on top and let it melt under the broiler. I ended up mixing mine into the sauce, whoops! I also think my kids just prefer the texture of sprinkled cheese rather than cheese that is a little crisped. Next time, I would play with the seasoning a bit more on this one.

I was expecting my first bite to be packed with flavor, but it ended up being more bland than I anticipated. I wanted to round out the meal a bit, so I quickly tossed just a few eggs in my air fryer degrees Fahrenheit for 12—15 minutes. I wish I had more time to let them cool, but it was a school day — so I had to make a parent sacrifice and give up on having future fingerprints so that I could peel the eggs in time.

I don't recommend this method. As I mentioned earlier, I really try and fill our mornings with fun activities, even if it's just walking to the playground, a small hike, or a structured class.

If your area has a local recreational center, I highly recommend looking into it. Sometimes rec centers even have scholarship opportunities so all families can be included. I also knew I needed to make this recipe fairly quick since I was using the other half of the chicken thighs from earlier in the week.

I started by browning the chicken thighs, removing them, cooking veggies in that same pot, making the sauce, and then finishing by adding all the ingredients back in together.

Moments later, a small construction crew knocked on the door to fix some flooring in the kitchen. I spent the morning playing puzzles, reading stories, and doing a quick workout with the girls i.

I grabbed some apple from the fridge that was leftover, some blueberries, and celery and started getting it onto plates. By the time I was finished, I was able to use my stove, and I quickly heated some meatballs.

By this time, my husband made it home for lunch, and I suggested that he should eat more than just the meatballs, but to each their own!

I've gone from never making a slider in my life to being an ultimate fan in a very short window. What is so appealing to me is that they are extremely easy to put together and they're something fun — which is why I usually make them on Friday nights! Side note: For some reason, I put out a yellow pepper in this picture instead of my yellow onion.

I thankfully noticed before I started cooking! I sliced through the slider buns, put them on my sheet pan, spread the meat mixture on the top, sprinkled the cheese, and that was all it took!

About 20 minutes in the oven, and we were eating. One of the parties was a painting party, which I thought was such a fun and unique idea! My kids absolutely loved it. My middle kiddo came home stating that her next birthday would be the same thing. In a normal circumstance, I would be worried that one slider each wouldn't have been enough for a full dinner.

However, I saw my youngest walking around with a stack of about six cheese slices at the party, so I thought it was probably OK that we kept things lighter. Some of the crepes I filled with jam, and others I did a jam, cottage cheese combo! Crepes are one of my son's favorite meals, so he was particularly excited.

This recipe does call for ground turkey or chicken; however, my ground beef was on sale for half the price, so I went with ground beef instead!

Lunch at home was grilled cheese one more time, and I got to work on planning and shopping for the week ahead of us! The hard reality is that with rising costs of, well Just keep in mind the main takeaway of planning, budgeting, and organizing.

And one last takeaway: Never let anyone make you feel bad for making a budget! People create budgets for all different reasons — necessity, savings, student loans, retirement, investments, and it's something you can feel proud of.

You got this! Food · Updated on Oct 23, by Sydney Martin BuzzFeed Contributor. Sydney Martin. My son's school moved the start time an hour earlier this year, which means I need to make breakfast and pack school lunch as soon as my feet hit the ground, at the exact same time.

Thankfully, one of my family's favorite breakfasts is pretty hands off and quick to prepare: oatmeal! This one was simple with just a bit of brown sugar. For my son's lunch, I boiled a few frozen meatballs in some broth and put them in the thermal area of his lunchbox to keep warm. I also packed some celery and apples, per his request.

You can completely customize these depending on your family's pancake flavor preferences! Once we got back on track, things came together quickly. I made the pancake batter and then let the kids give it a stir. The recipe states this should make 24 mini muffins, but we ended up having around 36!

It also says you can store these in the fridge up to a week, which was perfect because that's exactly what I intended to do. This recipe was cooked in two phases — first the chicken, carrots, and peppers. Then all the rest! I also ended up having to cut everything into smaller pieces for my daughters.

On a normal day, I do my best to get the kids outside after breakfast. I find that my kids have better days if we make sure to spend a good amount of time outside each day. I ended up having a last-minute lunch meeting pop up once we got home, so my husband and I just reheated the stir fry and I cooked some meatballs on the stove for the kids.

I served these with carrots, apples, and blueberries! I've made yeast-free recipes in the past, but I definitely prefer a recipe that includes it!

The first steps of this recipe are to mix warm water, yeast, and sugar. I then used the dough hook on my mixer to combine the rest of the ingredients. I shaped the dough into a loaf pan and set it to rise yet again!

I rely heavily on a well-planned dinner menu because this is where I spend the bulk of my grocery budget plus it ensures I'm not scrambling to find something to serve come 6 p. I'll plan on three easy recipes plus a night of repurposing the leftovers.

Because our evening schedule can be unpredictable, I'll pick up ingredients for a pantry meal that won't go to waste if I end up not cooking one night. Make your own menu or try one of our budget dinner plans.

Lentils, cabbage, beef stew meat, sweet potatoes, eggs, canned salmon, black beans. Easy Vegetarian Chili. Baked Eggs in Tomato Sauce with Kale.

Sweet Potatoes with Warm Black Bean Salad. Easy Chicken Fried Rice. American Goulash. I like to plan snacks and treats based on one or two staples or on ingredients that are already part of the meal plan.

Smoothies are the perfect way to use up yogurt, bananas and frozen berries, and my kids love them as after-school snacks.

Lately we've been crazy about salted roasted chickpeas, the best one-ingredient snack you'll ever make. And none of us can turn down a square of dark chocolate with a schmear of peanut butter after dinner.

Apples or any leftover fruit , peanut butter, canned chickpeas. Apple-Peanut Butter Smoothie. Crunchy Roasted Chickpeas. A number of our meals this week incorporate a few pantry staples that I often have on hand. Here's what I'll rely on this week. Note: I did not include these items in my budget, but included approximate cost per serving for reference.

With a bit of planning and creativity, you can feed your family a week's worth of nutritious meals for a little more than what you'd spend at a restaurant for one meal. Use this healthy meal plan on a budget as inspiration to make the most of your grocery budget without sacrificing taste or variety!

See all of our other healthy meal plans and healthy dinner plans. Use limited data to select advertising. Create profiles for personalised advertising. Use profiles to select personalised advertising. Create profiles to personalise content.

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Healthy Eating Budget Cooking Guide. By Carolyn Hodges, M. EatingWell's Editorial Guidelines. Reviewed by Dietitian Victoria Seaver, M. Victoria Seaver is a registered dietitian and Associate Editorial Director for EatingWell. She completed her undergraduate degree in nutrition, dietetics and food science and her masters degree and dietetic internship at the University of Vermont.

Victoria has been a part of the EatingWell. com team since In This Article View All. In This Article. Low-Cost Healthy Meal Planning Tips. What I'm Making This Week. Grocery List for the Week.

From the Pantry. From the Store. The Bottom Line.

Instructions: Follow the directions on the tomato soup package, which may require stovetop cooking. For additional protein, use milk or soy milk instead of water.

Tip: You can let your family members make their own sandwiches. Tip: To get your kids involved, let them choose the type of vegetables. Instructions: Cook the black beans in a lightly oiled pan with taco seasoning. For additional protein, use plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream.

Tip: While you can use other types of milk , soy and dairy milk have the highest protein content. Instructions: Peel the hard-boiled eggs and cut them into quarters. In a medium-sized bowl, add the eggs, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper.

Using a fork, mix the eggs and condiments. Make sandwiches using the whole wheat bread and lettuce. Place a lid on top and cook until almost all of the kernels have stopped popping.

Watch it carefully to avoid burning. Instructions: While the pasta is cooking, add ground turkey to a large pan and cook it over medium heat. Prepare the vegetables and add them to the pan. Pour in the tomato sauce near the end. Drain the noodles, add the sauce, and serve. Instructions: In a medium bowl, mix the olive oil, red wine vinegar, orange or lemon juice, honey, black pepper , salt, and red pepper flakes.

Set aside. Prepare the veggies raw and stir them into the cooked pasta in a large bowl. Add dressing and stir well.

Instructions: Prepare 4 patties with the ground beef , salt, pepper, and other spices. Place them on a baking sheet and bake them at °F °C for 15 minutes.

Prepare the toppings and place them on a serving tray. Cook the french fries according to package instructions. Cut the English muffins in half, then add the tomato sauce, pepperoni, cheese, tomato, onion, and spinach.

Bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted. Tip: To involve your children, allow them to assemble their own pizzas. Instructions: In a blender, add the water and Greek yogurt. Next, add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.

Instructions: Prepare the brown rice according to box instructions. To make the sauce, mix the ginger, garlic, honey, soy sauce, oil, and red wine vinegar or orange juice in a medium-sized bowl.

In a large, oiled skillet, cook the tofu until light brown. Remove from heat and place on a paper towel. Cook until tender, then add the cooked tofu, rice, and remaining sauce to the skillet.

Instructions: Lay tortilla shells flat and spread avocado or guacamole on top. Next, add one slice of turkey, baby spinach, and shredded cheese to each tortilla. Roll the tortilla tightly and cut in half.

Tip: To keep the roll-ups from falling apart, add a toothpick. Air fryers need a lot less oil to create a deep-fried, crispy crust. Here, chicken thighs are marinated in buttermilk and dredged in a simple breadcrumb coating.

With the help of a little cooking spray, they cook up nice and crispy with a lot less fat. Serve them with your favorite dipping sauce or slice them up to top a salad. This classic beef lasagna recipe is easy to make and will be ready to eat in just over an hour.

These seared pork chops are topped with a rich and creamy mushroom sauce that gets flavored with fresh herbs. Skip the dough and stuff all of your favorite pizza toppings into spaghetti squash boats for a fun and healthy dinner that'll please the whole family. We love the combination of mushrooms, bell peppers, pepperoni and mozzarella, but feel free to mix it up with your favorite pizza ingredients.

You could throw in a bit of chopped cooked broccoli, for example, or add some olives or chopped artichoke hearts. And of course, feel free to omit the pepperoni to make the dish vegetarian.

Round out the meal with a simple salad. Legend has it that toasted ravioli originated with a St. Louis chef dropping the pasta in hot oil instead of water. Here, we lighten it up by baking instead of frying and adding a serving of vegetables in the form of a vegetarian Bolognese-style sauce.

More good news: This easy vegetarian dinner takes just 35 minutes to make. We took the best parts of chicken Parmesan—ooey-gooey cheese, crispy breadcrumbs and plenty of tomato sauce—and spun them into an easy, family-friendly casserole.

A store-bought pie crust, frozen veggies and precooked chicken simplify the prep for this easy potpie.

This healthy dinner recipe is comfort food at its best. These minute quesadillas are a notch above basic with the addition of sautéed peppers and onions. Let the kiddos load them up with the toppings at the table.

Recite your ABCs while you enjoy this kid-friendly soup that you can feel good about serving—it's packed with healthy vegetables. If you can't find alphabet noodles, any small pasta like orzo will work. If you've ever wanted to make a meal from warm spinach and artichoke dip, this creamy pasta is for you.

And here's what's almost as good as the flavor of this comforting dish: the fact that this healthy dinner takes just 20 minutes to prepare. Simplify weeknight dinnertime by transforming leftover slow-cooked chicken into an easy, cheesy casserole.

Frozen fish sticks get a makeover with this recipe for oven-baked fish nuggets. To give them that irresistible deep-fried crunch, we rely on panko breadcrumbs with their lighter, flakier texture. Salsa and some pantry staples give this vegetarian bean burger recipe tons of flavor.

We use crushed tortilla chips to bind the burgers together, making them a great vehicle for using up those crumbs that inevitably fall to the bottom of the bag.

Use limited data to select advertising. Create profiles for personalised advertising. Use profiles to select personalised advertising. Create profiles to personalise content. Use profiles to select personalised content. Chicken every night can get boring really fast.

We try to switch it up with chicken, ground beef, steak, fish, pork, or even go meatless on some nights. We try to go at least 3 days without having the same meat twice.

There are so many side dish possibilities when deciding your meal plan for the week. We have side dishes that can go along with just about every meal.

Click HERE for a list of ALL our side dish ideas! Here are some dinner meal plans for a typical week. For each day we will give six different main dish choices see side dish ideas HERE.

This is essentially six full weeks of meal plans if you decide to make every recipe! Home All Recipes RECIPE ROUNDUPS FREE Weekly Meal Planning for Families.

Emily lives in Meridian, Idaho, with her husband, Beau, a physician assistant, and her three incredible children: a son and two daughters.