Someone recently asked me this question and it made me reflect on the first few months of my healthy journey when I was the only one in my house who was doing it.
I’m going to make a confession to you, I don’t really like to cook. Yes, I cook because I have to, but I don’t always enjoy it and anytime I can avoid cooking, I do so. There, I said it – please, don’t judge me. So, trying to cook two meals to satisfy my husband and son wasn’t going to work. Flat out.
So, I got a little creative with the way I handled dinner time. I simplified the way I cooked to save money and time. Instead of trying to cook meals with a bunch of different ingredients, I stuck to simple foods. I’d pick out a healthy meat that everyone was going to eat. Then I’d add a side dish that my family liked such as macaroni and cheese and I would make a vegetable dish that I would eat instead.
For example, I’d fry some fish coated with coconut and almond flour mix instead of regular flour. I might add some hushpuppies for my family and then make some healthy coleslaw with either a homemade mayo or a healthy organic mayo (you can find organic mayo in stores such as Whole Foods).
In other words, rather than cooking a whole separate meal, I just made sure I had a healthy option that I was going to eat.
Sometimes, I’d cook a whole meal for my family and then I would just eat a salad or steamed/roasted veggies. It depended on how much time I had available and which ingredients I had on hand.
Eventually, my husband saw my progress and asked me to stop making him the unhealthy sides and just give him whatever I was eating. Since he’s not really a salad eater due to a severe allergy to spinach, I shifted my salads to lunch time, and for dinner I usually steam or roast some mixed vegetables and just add that to baked, grilled, or fried chicken or fish.
So think of it like a template: choose a meat, pick some veggies. Your meals can be different every night.
Here’s some more examples:
- Baked Salmon with Brussels sprouts (add pasta salad for family)
- Fried whiting with healthy version of coleslaw (add hush puppies for family)
- Fried chicken with cauliflower, broccoli and carrot mix (add macaroni and cheese for family)
- Baked Lemon Pepper chicken with asparagus (add mashed potatoes and gravy for family)
- Grilled chicken with spring mix salad (add barbecue sauce on the chicken and baked beans for family)
- Ground turkey taco salad (add nacho or tortilla chips with salsa for family)
- Sautéed shrimp and broccoli (add rice for family)
That’s a week’s worth of simple meal ideas that only require you to add a side for your family and for you.
But consider this, I didn’t give my son an option not to eat the vegetables. Unless your kids are allergic to something or really just don’t like it, I would recommend that they eat the vegetables, too. If they are overweight, I wouldn’t offer any seconds of anything except the veggies.
Of course, my husband had an option because he’s an adult and can make his own choices about whether or not he wants to be healthy. My son, on the other hand, doesn’t know any better, so I’m responsible for his health. I need my son to healthy, also. He had gotten a little chunky and his doctor didn’t want him gaining any more weight. So I stopped giving him a choice about whether or not he was going to eat healthy foods. As a result, he ended up slimming down, too. From time to time, I still allow him to have a treat, but it’s more of a once a week or every other week thing instead of everyday thing.
Eventually, your goal could be to get everyone in your household on board with healthy eating. But until that becomes a reality, I hope this simplified meal planning strategy makes things a little easier for you.