This blog will find recipes and meal planning tips that can teach you how to eat healthy when you have a big family.
A big family can be a challenge when it comes to healthy meals. This blog is all about how you can eat healthy when you have a big family. You’ll find recipes and meal planning tips that can teach you how to make delicious family meals on a budget.
Recipes that can make your big family eat healthily
With a big family, it’s important to have fast and easy recipes that everyone will enjoy. I’ve been cooking for many years, and I’ve found some delicious and healthy recipes that can feed my entire family of eight at one meal. It’s hard to find tasty, nutritious, and easy to make, but the following recipes fit all three categories.
Tuna Noodle Casserole
For years, this recipe has been a family favorite. The noodles are cooked in butter, with milk and cheese added, and then a flavorful tuna sauce. It’s well served over rice or mashed potatoes.
Chicken Cordon Bleu
Chicken breasts are rolled around cream cheese and ham, then covered in seasoned breadcrumbs and baked in the oven until golden brown. Serve over hot egg noodles with a side of steamed veggies.
Eggplant Lasagna – eat healthy family
Eggplant slices are layered with ricotta cheese and spaghetti sauce, then baked until bubbly and browned on top. A little Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top is an optional final step. Serve this dish with garlic bread for a complete meal. Also, you can read our previous blog about does eggplant have protein.
Creamy Chicken Pot Pie
This recipe has been passed down through generations in my family. The chicken filling is similar to chicken noodle soup, but the pie crust is different.
Freezer casseroles
These dishes can be made ahead of time and frozen until needed. They typically have vegetables hidden in them so that you can serve them as a healthy side dish without much extra work. Just set them on the table and let everyone help themselves.
Frozen veggies
You can buy bags of mixed veggies or single servings of your favorite veggies and heat them. This is especially easy if you have a microwave oven or countertop grill.
Frozen fish
Frozen fish fillets are hard to mess up and make cooking easy. However, make sure you buy your fish from a reputable fishmonger who has kept it fresh. If you have concerns about mercury levels, avoid swordfish, king mackerel, and tilefish.
Related: What are good foods to eat to lose weight?
Tips on how to plan your meals when you have a big family
Planning meals for a big family is a challenge. Not only do you have to plan out how much food to cook and when you also need to decide what to cook.
Trying to come up with meal plans the week before or even a day before is not an option. When you plan out your meals in advance, you will save money while eating healthier.
Here are some tips on how to plan your meals when you have a big family
Plan your weekly menu – eat healthy family
Take a look at what you already have in the house and what is in season. You can use this to plan what to cook and eat over the week that won’t cost too much. Then plan out each day’s meals to know exactly what you are making for each dinner.
Buy groceries
If a recipe calls for something that you don’t have, you can buy it at the store and save it for another meal or use it for another recipe later on down the road. Before you go shopping, look online for coupons. There might be some good deals on items you need for your meals.
Cook ahead of time – eat healthy family
It is good to cook enough food to have some leftovers from dinner. You can then use this to make lunch or dinner the next day or freeze it so that you can use it at a later date when money is tight again. It is a great way to stretch your money and not waste food during the week.
Information about healthy food storage
Food safety is a growing concern for many consumers. The longer food sits at room temperature, the greater the chance of bacterial growth and food poisoning. Understanding good food storage techniques can help you prevent the spread of disease and keep your family safe.
The proper way to store food is an important consideration when buying groceries. Fruits, vegetables, and meat should be properly wrapped to protect them from the air, moisture, and other contaminants. Keeping your refrigerator at the right temperature will also help preserve the flavor and freshness of all your foods.
To ensure that you’re storing your food safely, follow these tips:
- Place leftovers in a sealed container or wrap them tightly in plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate foods within two hours after preparing them.
- Never defrost frozen foods on the kitchen counter — use the microwave or the refrigerator instead.
- Store raw meat below cooked meat so that juices from bacterial growth don’t drip onto other foods.
It’s important to keep your refrigerator at 40 degrees Fahrenheit; below this, the risk of food poisoning dramatically increases. This 40-degree temperature will kill most types of bacteria; you should use a refrigerator thermometer to be sure that this is the case. When defrosting meat, for example, chicken, make sure it doesn’t contact raw meat or dairy products.
Related: What Are the Food Poisoning Symptoms from Chicken
Information about food budgeting for a family
Food budgeting is essential to most families in the U.S. Whether you are just starting or have been at it for years, everyone needs to know how to plan for food expenses if they have any financial security. The following article will explain how a person can go about setting up a proper budget that includes food costs.
- Learn how to shop around at different stores in your area and compare prices on common food items. This is a great way to see where you can get the best deals on things you need, and it also helps stretch your dollar even further.
- Always keep an eye out for the specials at local restaurants, both near and far. Some restaurants offer discounts for certain days of the week or month, so take advantage of them when you can.
- Shop with cash only. When you’re paying with money, you’ll be less likely to overspend since you won’t have your credit card available as a backup source of funding.
- Stay away from processed foods and shop for fresh produce that can be used in homemade meals instead. Processed foods are expensive and will break your budget quickly, but by cooking with fresh ingredients, you’ll be able to improve your health and minimize costs.
Final Thoughts about eat healthy family
If you’re struggling to eat healthy with a big family, then the tips we shared above can help you do just that. You have a few options to choose from, so if these aren’t right for your family or situation, don’t be afraid to shop around. You’ll find plenty of other ideas in places like cookbooks and websites devoted solely to eating well on a budget.
