Healthy Food Ideas for Very Tight Budget

If you're able to get out to the farmer's market, they have some great deals on produce. Also, the kids will love picking out and paying for what they want. My 3yo is thrilled to pick out two apples and hand the lady a dollar. (I also bought 1/2 peck of apples for $4 and it lasted almost 2 weeks.)

Also clipping coupons and shopping what's on sale saves a ton of money. My subscription to the Sunday paper pays for itself quickly in coupons and the free "customer incentive cards" like VIC and MVP also save money.

There is a website called www.angelfood.com They provide quality groceries at an affordable rate. I love the chocolate or caramel rice cakes for my family. The kids love that they get a "treat" (chocolate or caramel) and I get the peace of mind knowing it healthy. popcorn is also a healthy snack. boneless skinless chicken is amazing as far as healthy. Add a little rice and cream of mushroom soup bake it for 45 minutes throw in some frozen veggies bake another 15 minutes and you got an easy healthy dinner.

I love flylady.com and the sister website savingdinner.com. I recommend signing up. Here is a past email that might help.

Dear Friends,

According to the USDA, the average American family of four is spending
$80 a month more on groceries than they did a mere 2 years ago. For a
lot of families, the upturn in grocery spending does not reflect an
upturn on family income. Clearly something has got to give!

We've all noticed how much food has gone up—I can't think of one thing
that hasn't. And while I cannot control food prices, I can control my
own budget and as it becomes necessary, cut back to keep my food
expenses in line. Here are 10 ways to cut back without sacrificing
nutrition:

1) Eat vegetarian one night a week (rice and beans is a favorite with
my kids).

2) Eat breakfast for dinner one night a week (pancakes and eggs are
way cheap). Light candles and serve juice in wine glasses for fun.

3) Eat greens and beans one night a week (I use frozen collards,
turnip greens etc. on sale to keep the cost down). Give your big guys
Tabasco sauce to bump it up!

4) Eat homemade soup one night a week (try the one below!).

5) Cook with your crockpot one night a week (utilizing inexpensive
cuts of meat and poultry).

6) Only buy meat and produce on sale and/or marked down.

7) Eat from your freezer one night a week (you'd be surprised at how
many meals are in there just waiting to be thrown together!).

8) Buy dried beans and make your own instead of buying canned
(instructions on how to cook them are right on the bag).

9) Make your own chicken broth from your leftover roast chicken (throw
the carcass, an onion, carrots and celery into a pot, cover with
water, simmer for an hour or so).

10) Pack sandwiches, some carrot sticks and waters for dinner the
night you're all running all over the place (nixing the drive thru).
No one will die from not having a "proper meal".

This is all easy stuff and doesn't require a lot of thought. Eating
vegetarian for example, could be combined with eating greens and beans
for dinner or eating soup, or breakfast for dinner. The point is the
thought process of cutting back, making do and using up what you have.
You can live on less than you think, that includes food.

Try some of these suggestions. Go shopping in your freezer and fridge
before you even begin to plan your menu this week. Likewise, check out
that pantry for anything that might turn into dinner this week.

Keeping clutter at bay requires cutting back on unnecessary purchases.
This includes food!

Crock Bean Soup with Kale
Serves 6

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 medium onions, chopped

1 medium carrot, chopped

3 cloves garlic, pressed

1 bunch kale, trimmed and sliced
(or use 2 cups frozen greens)
1 pound cannellini beans, soaked overnight (you can also use white beans)
4 cups low sodium chicken broth
(make your own or buy canned)
1/4 cup tomato sauce

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper, to taste



In a skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onions, carrot
and garlic. Cook until onions are translucent. Add kale and cook till
wilted, about 3 minutes.
In a crock pot, place soaked, drained beans;
add crushed red pepper flakes and the contents of the skillet; cover
with broth (add a little water if necessary, but crockpot should be
3/4 full).

Cook on high for 8 hours, or until beans are tender. Once beans are
tender, add the tomato sauce and salt and pepper to taste.



Per Serving: 349 Calories; 8g Fat; 19g Protein; 54g Carbohydrate; 13g
Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 85mg Sodium. Exchanges: 3 Grain
(Starch); 1 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Vegetable; 1 1/2 Fat.


SERVING SUGGESTIONS: Some whole grain rolls and a big salad.

Love,
Leanne

Honestly, having hours and hours to cook and eat healthy can be a wonderful thing--- if you own a crockpot!

I actually own two, and every night I set up oatmeal in it and by morning it's done. This isn't the quickie mushy oats, start with steel cut oats (also called groats or Irish Oatmeal). Add in milk, honey (or for sugar free try agave syrup or stevia), cinnamon, and a small handful of nuts or dried fruit. Just cook on low overnight and it's nutty and chewy in the morning and keeps you filled up all day. (My son-who could eat every hour on the hour will stay full really long on oatmeal.)

It's also great for cooking your dinner in. Start it in the morning before you leave and by dinner time your food is ready. You can just google "healthy crock pot meals" and it should give you a ton of suggestions.

Eating healthy doesn't have to cost a fortune. The trick is to know HOW to shop. If you are buying pre-packaged foods just to get "healthy" versions, you're spending a fortune. I buy healthy (mostly organic) groceries just by shopping the perimeter of the store and rarely spend more than $250 for EVERYONE in the house. By sticking to the outside aisles, you stick to the least prepared foods (typically the outside of a store is fresh produce, milk/dairy, meat, and bread). The only inner aisles you should be going through are the baking supply aisle (for flour, sugar, and other pantry staples) and possibly the frozen vegetable aisle.

If your daughter is a picky eater, I suggest you have her prepare her own meals. I'm not saying sit her down in the kitchen with a blazing hot stove, but try a "make your own" night for different food types and encourage everyone to prepare their own meals. Suggestions for this might be make your own pizzas/burgers/burritos/nachos/baked potato/sandwiches... (Just set down some rules. My son knows that he has to have 2 veggies and 1 protein on any of his plates.)

Avoid buying things you can make yourself. Homemade cookies, popcorn, french fries, pizzas... etc... these just add up between their prices and their nutritional non-value. Besides, making some of these items can become weekend traditions.

Other fun things to do to eat healthier is to force everyone to eat slower. (This gives the brain time to send an "I'm full." signal to your stomach.) We use chopsticks (which make you pick up one piece of food at a time), long skewers, and even play board games at the table (on certain family nights) to encourage us to take time to enjoy our food.

I hope this helped a little.

Fresh fruits and vegetables make great healthy snacks. I shop what's on sale each week and buy fruits/veggies that I can get a good deal on.

Carrot sticks, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, pineapple, mangoes, apples, oranges, bananas, etc. We like to dip the veggies in a bit of salad dressing for extra flavor (like ranch, french, thousand island, etc). Chunks of slices of fruit make a good snack.

If you want something that doesnt have to stay cold, consider air-popped popcorn (high in fiber, low fat) or pretzels (low or no salt). My son loves microwave popcorn so I give him the 100 calorie mini-bags. We pop it in the morning and he takes it in a plastic sandwich bag for snack at school.

Healthy doesnt always mean low fat, remember that the body does need some fats. Balanced meals with moderate proportions will probably ease the transitions. You should have a fruit (fresh is best, but canned/jarred is good too as long as its canned in JUICE, NOT SYRUP) and veggie with every meal - steamed veggies or raw are best to obtain the most nutrients. An adult meat serving should be roughly the size of a pack of playing cards. Fried foods are obviously not healthy, so try baking meats instead.

I buy foods that I can use in multiple dishes throughout the week. I try to only buy whats on sale and I use coupons (smartsource.com). If I buy Spinach, for example, we will have it by itself as a side dish one night, added to pizza another night, and baked in with maceroni & cheese along with diced tomatoes on a third night. I might also use it on sandwiches instead of lettuce or on tacos instead of lettuce I might buy a pound of apples on sale and slice them up and put the slices in a baking dish with a pork roast or pork chops (add whole cloves to the meat, its very good) and then use a mixer and a little flour and a sprinkle of sugar and water to beat the cooked apples into a thin sauce to serve with the meat. A head of lettuce can be used in the same week as salad, as a topping for tacos (you can use turkey instead of beef for a healthier taco), and thrown in with grilled chicken, peppers, and onions on a tortilla for a chicken/veggie wrap.

Food is expensive, especially when it's wasted. I try to use every bit of it.

here are a couple links with healthy receipes...from EatingWell.com

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/collections/healthy_bud...

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/cooking_for_kids/

I'm a single mom with 4 kids and a tight budget. Last year when groceries started to skyrocket and coupons were no longer for anything I used, I started menu-planning more than I ever had. What I do now is to write down what I need for the week- snacks, school lunches, dinners, breakfasts, everything- and then mix and match. So, 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches, 2 brunches, 7 dinners, and 2 snacks per day. I've been spending about HALF (about $350) of what I used to spend on constantly stocking up my pantry. We eat a lot of typical kid foods- tacos, mini-pizzas, spaghetti, soup and sandwiches, etc. All of those things are cheap and easy. I make from scratch when I can. I buy lunchmeat on sale from the deli instead of the pre-packaged stuff (it really is cheaper). I buy the fruits for the week that are on sale for lunches and snacks. I use my bread machine a LOT. We eat a lot of simple foods like beans and rice (which can be spiced differently for great, cheap meals). I make my own salad dressings for a healthier option. None of this takes a ton of time- just knowing HOW to cook is really the key.

I'm also going to second what the other ladies said- I use my crock-pot (great for beans and soups!), and I don't worry about low-fat so much. We eat healthy and fresh with a little bit of indulgence a couple times a week. Calorie intake is really the primary thing. I've noticed my 8-year-old is constantly hungry and shovels in the food (and while she used to be thin, she's been packing it on), so I've been slowing dinnertime down. My kids have been helping a lot more, too, with dinnertime. And WOW has that been helping me! I don't let the little ones chop veggies yet, but they'll be able to soon. Some of their favorite snacks are graham crackers with whatever kind of nut butter, smoothies (just blend up some yogurt and fruit of any kind), anything they can dip, crackers with assorted meats and cheese, frozen grapes, frozen juice bars (made at home- you can mix in a little extra water for less sugar), yogurt (just started making my own!), our version of rice krispie treats (with almond butter, honey, and puffed rice), and honestly, sometimes just bowls of cheerios.

Good luck!

My family does great eating vegetarian. We eat tofu ($2 a meal) or beans with rice with various frozen veggies. Frozen veggies are great because they are frozen fresh, don't have chemicals from cans, and don't go bad like fresh produce. We also do pasta and sauce and occationally I will buy some frozen unseasoned seafood. We occationally eat some eggs or cheese. We have a thin healthy weight family of 4, with low cholesterol and low grocery budget. We hardly ever eat out and we pack left overs for lunch. Our big splurg is breakfast cereal and healthy snacks like nuts, raisins, popcorn, crackers, cheese and apples or bananas. Avoiding precut produce or prepared frozen meals will save tons of money.

Just recently we have switched all our white foods in the house to brown foods. For example, instead of white bread, we now use whole wheat and instead of white rice, we use brown rice and instead of white pasta, we use whole wheat pasta. My daughter hasn't lost any weight, but she has thinned out. I noticed her jeans that were tight on her about 3 months ago, are now a little baggy in the bottom. She is 11 and if she grows up to be like me, she will struggle with her weight FOREVER! I am at least 80 pounds overweight and my struggle is daily. I cut back on everything and can't lose a pound! I have been tested by doctors, etc to make sure there is nothing physically wrong with me, but my weight won't come off. Since changing our family over to brown instead of white, I have lost about 10 pounds and several inches in the last 7 weeks. Going brown doesn't mean much more money either. I do menu planning and make sure we have healthy whole grain snacks. My kids favorite snack of the moment is taking whole wheat crackers (whatever is cheapest and on sale -- Ritz, wheat thins, etc.) and putting some low fat cream cheese on the cracker and then putting black or green olive slices on them. One olive can make 6 slices and that's 2 crackers! My biggest thing is when they ask for a snack I say, "Sure, go get one out of the pantry and they come back with Little Debbie cakes (yes, I still keep those on hand), but the hardest part is getting up from what I am doing and saying, "Sure, I'll go make you something, or cut up something for you". I am learning that little step will help my kids in the long run make healthy choices. My kids also love to drink soy milk and I will make soy milk smoothies using any fruit, soy milk and vanilla low fat or fat free yogurt. I sometimes add a little flax seed to it and it is wonderful. (Side note == Flax seed is a great way to add omega 3's to your diet without using fish oil. You can add this to breads, pancakes, cereal in the morning, smoothies, etc. My MIL added it to hamburgers and couldn't tell the difference!)

I also try NOT to buy any hydrogenated things. Like my peanut butter. I have switched to all natural where you mix it and keep in the frige. Tastes much better than the other kind and has no hydrogenated oils in it. Also, my margarine. I use Smart Balance. I also do not use Cool Whip anymore because of the hydrogenated oils. I use Ready Whip -- yes, a little more expensive, but your arteries will thank you later!

I really believe the key is your menu planning. I have 4 menus that rotate with shopping lists on my computer. That way we don't have the same things each week or at least once a month. When at the store, stick to you menu and you won't overshop.

Homemade Gourmet is great and kid tested! Many picky eaters have loved the food. Check out my website at www.homemadegourmet.com/Ann19443. We specialize in quick, easy and nutritious meals. We are also able to help meal plan and keep you in your budget. The Basic Sweet Bread is wonderful as you can sneak nutritious fruits and veggies into it and they will never know! Also there are some great dips you can make that they can dip fruits and veggies in. There is much more, but these are just a couple.
Hope this helps!

General rule of thumb for kids snacks: monitor the sugar content.
These are my kids favorite snacks:
Raisins, Apples with peanut butter, Cold oranges, pretzels, homemade granola bars, Nuts, Bananas, dried fruit, popcorn.

We dont do chips, unless they are organic. Tortilla chips and homemade salsa.

Take out of your cabinets any foods that are processed. You'll be amazed at how your food bill will go down and your health will go up. :)

I think that we all struggle with this. Things that I would suggest would be growing your own food (tomatoes, strawberries etc.). I buy a lot of frozen vegetables (store brand) then I take them out of the bag and put them in a pyrex glass bowl. I add a tbsp of olive oil and a dash of sea salt then I put a glass lid on the bowl and put in microwave for 10 minutes and you have steamed vegetables. We have an older microwave - if you have a microwave - the time might be different. We also grill a lot of chicken on our electric indoor grill (Similar to a George Foreman Grill).

The biggest thing is to be more aware of serving sizes. Also you can eat a lot of fruits and vegetables raw. Just wash and serve.

The kids will probably complain about the changes at first, keep encouraging them to try different foods than the foods they are used to.

Also you could plan more play time and activities like going to the park, riding bikes, walking.

Good luck. My children brought their class pictures home from school the other day and I noticed that a lot of the children in their classes have weight issues.

Here is something that I just did two days ago and it was great. Always use whole grain pastas/breads... check for sugar content as this is not a healthy item if it contains too much or high fructose corn syrup. So cook one box of whole wheat pasta.. whatever kind your family likes. Then blanch broccoli(1 sm. head) in boiling water for about 4-5 minutes then plunge in cool/ice water to stop cooking process then chop into smalleer pieces. Dice/slice yellow squash and zucchini(1 each); shredded carrots(1 lg.or 5 baby)... 1/4-1/2 grated or thinly sliced onion(I grate so that it is kid friendly)... chopped tomato(2) or can of diced tomatoes. Once pasta and broccoli are cool then toss all items together in a balsamic vinegrette. Serve as a cold salad the first day. Then add whatever leftover meat you have(diced) and gently warm the salad with the meat for a great and quick dinner. Gosh, I have tons of ideas. I try not to spend much time in the kitchen, but we do eat every 3-4 hours...smaller meals so that we are never gorging ourselves. That's why I tend to cook big things that can be turned into something different the next day. Tons of snack ideas... lowfat cheese/whole grain crackers/fruit slices with small amount of peanut butter/yogurt/veggie slices with lowfat salad dressing.. the list is endless. Email me if you would like more info. Good for you for continuing your education. You are a busy lady. Good luck!

You may want to go check out http://www.moneysavingmom.com/ she's got lots of great ideas. She had a great post about how to save money and cook for kids with food allergies and healthy, and well over 100 people sent in suggestions.

I buy lots of carrots, celery, cucumbers, and any other fruit or veggie when on sale for around $1 a pound. I also buy bulk raw nuts for snacking. I buy a few select snack crackers and pretzels, when on sale, then I mix them in one large container. Then it's mix and it saves storage space.

Also check out this Request: http://www.mamasource.com/request/8687220568266637313. Myself and 30 other moms responded to it.

Also, consider applying for Food Stamps. Many families are eligible and don't know it. For a long time I only got $10 due to income. But it was $10 or fresh produce I could buy. It's truly worth thinking about and looking into. Thankfully, the EBT card, is now like using a credit card when paying at the register. Good luck!

For snacks you could do apple with peanut butter on it or just apple. You could do banana with peanut butter. I usually make my kids a snack bowl and they love it. I put peanuts, raisins, pretzels, marshmallows, bit of dried fruit or even just fruit snacks. You can get store brand pretzels, peanuts, etc for really cheap. You could give her yogurt or peanut butter on crackers with cheese on the side. She can have a bowl of healthy cereal as a snack. Cheap dinners would be stir fry. You just buy the frozen mixed veggies, brown rice, cook chicken, add veggies, add soy or teriaki for flavor. Cook for about 5 mins. You could do chicken strips, it is cheaper than breasts, and make home made fries. Cut potatoes into strips and season and bake. Fish is not too pricey and you can easily season and bake. Add rice. Meatloaf is not much, the price of the meat and the sauce. home made soup is cheap and you can add all sorts of things. You can have soup and salad. A fun dinner for kids is eggs, toast, pancakes! Nice and cheap too! Whenever you do cook, try and double it, it is cheaper to double than to make it again at another time and you can just freeze it. Spaghetti is cheap too! You can add meat or not and it will be cheaper and healthier! Spaghetti O's and grilled cheese on wheat bread is fun too and cheap. Good luck! Just stroll the aisles and take some time too look around! W.

Hi T.,
Check out www.kidseatgreat.com. This is a great website for foods. Some of the websites will guide you to cheap foods, but they contain all kinds of additives which can cause all kinds of degenerative diseases in the future. Fresh fruits and veggies are the best. Stay away from things in a package. You can shop at farmer's markets. We even have a container garden on our deck. Our 8 yr. old daughter loves to go out and pick the fresh cherry tomatoes and pop then into her mouth. Starting kids out young helps a lot. Get them involved!
Good luck. N.

www.angelfoodministries.com provides good quality food for a low cost. Check them out. Lots of veggies and fruits, milk, eggs. Look at the sample menu and they have next months menu available all ready.

As for snacks: apple slices with peanut butter, ants on a log )celery with peanut butter topped with raisins) Make a chex mix, homemade pizza using whole grain english muffins as the crust, pizza sauce, low fat mozzerella cheese and turkey pepporoni.

Sometimes its easier to make a large batch of something and split it up. example meatloaf, but make 3 seperate smaller loafs. Same with Lasagna.

First, I would emphasize what a couple of other moms said here. Buy a crock pot. You can often find them on sale, and get a good one for $15-20. Then go to the library and check out a couple of crock pot cookbooks. You can pick which recipes your family would like. There have been times in my life when my crockpot was a real life-saver in terms of family meals.

Second, as at least one other mom said, buy fruits and veggies on sale. Also, if you can, grow your own. And the farmers' markets should be opening up soon. Check those out.

Another thing. Stay away from those fruit juice containers. I used to buy those for my kids until I read the labels. They are packed with sugar. Now I buy them bottled water for their lunches. Soda is an obvious no-no. I let my kids have it on special occasions, but I've been reluctant to do even that ever since reading articles about mercury content in high fructose corn syrup.

In fact, stay away from corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup as much as possible. That will require you to read more labels, but grocery stores now offer healthy alternatives at good prices.

Good snacks are thing like pretzels, carrot and celery sticks, nuts (if your kids aren't allergic). Try to eat more raw foods or make your own whenever possible--the crock pot will help with this. Once you have one, you'll wonder how you ever got by without it.

I like to serve "healthier" snacks for my kids. I usually give them a fruit for their snack. We also do plain crackers, a piece of bread, or sometimes pretzels.
Good luck!

yeah we did the same thing bought a few cook books and realized that two days of food eating healthy cost what we normally paid for a week! eating healthy doesnt mean you have to go out and buy filet's. frozen veggies are just as good if not better than canned b/c they flash freeze them and it holds more nutrients. try the web site called spark people you can track exercise and food. it also has a ton of great recipes from normal people who just make these up. hey are healthy and are made from ingredients you dont have to drive all over gods green earth for lol. as for snack fruit and veggies easy cheap and you dont have to cook them. if they are wanting something more like a snack try the 100 calorie packs... they have cheese its cookies and even m$ms's good luck hope this helps!

Hi T.,

I'm going to comment more for wanting healthy meals for your daughter rather than budget since you've gotten great info so far.

* Try to purchase whole foods or as close to whole foods as possible. This means fruit, veggies, nuts for snacks rather than prepackaged items that most consider snacks.

* Offer cheese wedges and crackers (triscuts are good & Back To Nature offers a brand of wheat crackers that are tasty although they have sugar added.)

* Read the labels when you shop. If the list of ingredients is longer than your thumb nail...leave it on the shelf. The processed foods are loaded with sugars, high fructose corn syrup, preservatives and artificial ingredients. Avoid anything with those ingredients...especially the added sugars. (I personally believe all the added sugars and the lack of activity with some of today's youth is why we're seeing such a rise in childhood obesity.)

* Stay away from fat free items. Most, if not all, fat free items contain added sugars.

* Avoid items with aspartame...I was browsing the popsicle section in the grocery store the other day and came across a box of sugar free fudge pops. I was curious to know what exactly was in them if they were sugar free and they had aspartame instead of sugar...Aspartame is worse than sugar, imo. http://www.mercola.com/article/aspartame/dangers.htm

* Stop buying soda. If your kids find giving up soda hard purchase 100% fruit juices (read the labels and avoid any with added sugars) and a bottle of soda water. Pour 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of fruit juice and top it off with the soda water. This is by far my kids favorite when it comes to fizzy drinks. They can enjoy a fizzy drink without all the added sugars & caffeine.

* Encourage your kids to drink water. If they need it sweetened, try adding lemon or lime juice, a small amount of 100% juice like cranberry or cranraspberry for taste.

* As a previous poster mentioned, avoid hydrogenated oils & transfats. Purchase natural peanut butter, it tastes so much better and it's healthier for you all.

* Encourage family activities like walks, riding bikes, swimming, kicking a ball around the yard, it-tag, etc. By cutting out the added sugars and increasing the activity levels you'll notice a difference in your daughter's weight.

* If your kids eat breakfast & lunch at school, start making them breakfast before they go and pack them a healhty, well balanced lunch. The school lunches, although they coin them as healthy and nutritious are the worst....highly processed foods with no nutritional value. They do offer fresh fruits & veggies some days though.

* Dr. Michael Roizen & Dr. Oz have great information on weight loss and staying fit. You can rent the video "You on A Diet" through Netflix if you have an account or check them out here. http://www.realage.com/ct/shape-up-slim-down/you-on-a-diet/

Good luck. I believe if you approach this is the direction that you want the entire family to be healthier you will see great results with your daughter.

Peace,
J.

HI T.-I know how it is. I have 5 and a tight tight tight budget. Weight problems-fruits & vegs. I like the canned vegs and fruits from Save-A-Lot. They are cheaper and much better than the Wal-Mart brand. They also offer the no salt added vegs. and lite or no sugar added fruit. Drinks-no sodas...we drink the sugar-free Great Value (Wal-Mart brand) drink mixes. They are cheap and come in a can (like the Crystal Light mixes). Taste great, my kids love them.
Snack idea-we get Nutri-Grain bars (the generic ones) and call them candy bars. Also do plain pop-corn with Ms. Dash or the I can't believe it's not butter spray.
A great crock-pot recipe and healthy too-It's a Weight watchers recipe:
1 lb. stew meat
1 pkg. onion soup mix
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup diet sprite
cook on low in a crock pot while you work, etc.
serve over noodles
It's great! Enjoy

We always keep fresh fruits and veggis around. When my kids were younger I would cut up fruits and veggis and keep them in a sectioned container in the frig. The kids could go and get some whenever they wanted. I kept fruit in one and veggis in another. I would put ranch dressing with the veggis. I usually would get the lowfat/fat free variety. Sometimes I would do a cream cheese dip for the veggis.

As for cooking, we do a lot of boneless, skinless,chicken breast, ground turkey, ground chicken and if I need ground beef for something I always buy the lowest fat content. I also mix half gr. beef with half gr. turkey for meatloaf, casseroles, sloppy joes etc... We also used the crockpot a lot. I was never comfortable leaving it on all day if I was not home so I would cook it all night then just warm it up for dinner. The other thing I do to save time is cook a large amount of ground turkey and/or beef and put it in freezer bags marked with contents,date and amount. Then when you are ready to cook you just need to take it out and put it into whatever you are cooking. Try to stay away from the processed quick prep foods, they cost more and you can usually make a version of it from things you already have on hand. Good Luck!