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A LITTLE HELP MAKING HEALTHY MEALS....aka COOKING WITH MY SON

This is a completely common scenario. You only have so much time to get dinner together before you have to be out the door again, everyone is “starving”, etc.

Or, in my son's case, you're a young, broke recent graduate learning to cook more because (shocked Pikachu-face) mom was RIGHT, and it IS cheaper to cook meals at home.

(also forgot to get a picture while we were cooking dinner, so added this one instead!)

But I digress....

You’re torn.

YOU’RE trying to eat healthy, the kids need something at least semi-healthy, and your spouse may or may not care either way.

What do you do?

There are so many meal kits, pre-packaged meals, frozen dinners, etc., that you can heat and eat, or throw together in a minute. And when you’re also trying to save money or cooking on a budget, these meals are USUALLY still cheaper, per person, than eating out.

However, when your budget is super tight, even those convenience foods can be too expensive. You may not have the time to cook cheaper foods (rice, beans, etc.) from scratch, or you forgot to set out something to defrost like the on-sale chicken from last month. 

Or, again, in my son's case, you don't really know HOW to cook from scratch.

But either way, you gotta do something.

Everyone has their own tastes and preferences, which I totally get. I think one of the biggest things that can sandbag a budget meal is the extras. For example, it’s fairly economical to make tacos, depending on what filling you’re using (beef, chicken, ground turkey, pork, etc.). There are several ways to make those tacos stretch (adding beans or veggies to the meat or just making bean and veggie tacos), but there are also several ways to increase the cost of them as well (extra sour cream, cheese, salsa, avocado, fresh herbs, other sauces).

My goal is always to stretch the meal as far as I can since we have a lot of big eaters in the house, especially when my sons are visiting.

Last night, we made Jambalaya from a boxed rice mix. One of my sons helped because he’s trying to learn to cook more. We chopped up an onion and a bell pepper. I had a leftover grilled chicken breast, chopped it up, and into the pot it went. Added a package of smoked sausage. Then added two boxes of rice mix (I picked up several while they were on sale one weekend). Added a tablespoon of bouillon base, 2 teaspoons of creole seasoning, and a teaspoon of garlic powder.

Honestly, it turned out delicious! Everyone LOVED it.

I’ve seen recipes to do this with Ramen Noodles, where you add extra veggies and meat.

I’ve seen it with boxed pasta dinners.

And I think one of the biggest tricks is when you combine the ingredients together as a “skillet meal”, as opposed to serving each item individually on the plate or bowl. Maybe it’s a simple trick of the mind, but it LOOKS like there’s more food and it’s more filling, even when you’re using the EXACT same amount of each ingredient when cooking.

It’s okay to take shortcuts. I’m looking into more healthy shortcut meals for our family as we enter into a very busy summer. I’m looking at healthy snacks and travel meals, as well, and will be posting about those as we go through the summer.

There’s really no right or wrong way to do it. Taking something EASY for your family (a frozen pizza) and adding healthy extras (veggies and lean meat) is a great way to save yourself money, get nutritious food in their bellies, and still make it to practices, games, or whatever’s on time!

www.thehiddenpoweroffood.com 

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