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Disease and Virus-Fighting Healthy Meal Planner

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In the United States, on average 5% to 20% of the population gets the flu and more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from seasonal flu-related complications. That’s a whole lot of sick time for those of us who get sick. Yes, getting the right amount of sleep and minimizing your stress levels are the keys to some aspects of your health, but ultimately it boils down to what you eat when it comes to determining your physical and mental health. The first step to a healthier you is making a meal planner, then filling it with superfoods that will help you ward of disease.

What is a meal planner?

A meal planner is a device that helps you plan out all of your meals. You can make a calendar or written meal planner if you feel more comfortable writing out your meal plans. If not, try finding a free downloadable meal planner online in which you can fill out your favorite superfoods and superfood meals.

Superfoods and Supermeals for Your Meal Planner

If you want to create a healthy meal planner that helps you keep your immune system strong, put some of these great, go-to superfoods on your grocery list:

  • Almonds: According to the University in California, the fiber in nuts may prevent the body from absorbing fat while speeding up weight loss. Almonds are also high in antioxidants, which may help reduce the risk of cancer. Put sliced almonds on your salad to create the ultimate supermeal.
  • Sprouts: This veggie has plenty of vitamin A and vitamin C. Additionally, sprouts offer a phytonutrient that can help clear carcinogenic substances out of the body.  Put sprouts on your sandwich to add some greenery and some phytonutrients.
  • Strawberries: Make sure to include strawberries in your meal planner, too. These berries are anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and heart-helpful. Strawberries also guard against rheumatoid arthritis, liver cancer, atherosclerosis, and other diseases and ailments. Make yourself a yogurt parfait with sliced strawberries or just eat them whole as a snack.
  • Garlic: Studies suggest the same sulphur compounds that cause odour may also stop cancer-causing substances from forming in your body, speed DNA repair and kill cancer cells. I guess we can live with stinky breath if we’re taking in cancer-causing garlic! One 2003 review of several garlic studies concluded that some compounds derived from garlic “have been found to retard the growth of chemically induced and transplantable tumors in several animal models. Therefore, the consumption of garlic may provide some kind of protection from cancer development.” Implement garlic into your healthy meal planner by putting it on pizza, cooking with it, or infusing your olive oil with roasted garlic cloves.
  • Broccoli: Health experts constantly discuss the health benefits of broccoli. “Broccoli is the best source of this particular compound,” says scientist Jed Fahey of broccoli’s sulphoraphane count. Sulphorane may reduce cancer risk by detoxifying harmful substances and operating as an antimicrobial agent by attacking various bacterium. Additionally, the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research contend that broccoli and its sister veggies are most protective against cancers of the mouth, oesophagus and stomach. Eat broccoli in a casserole, salad, or as a side with grilled chicken.
  • Exotic Berries: Berries like acai and gogi berries are full of antioxidants, which have disease fighting compounds that scientists believe repair or prevent the stress of oxidation, a process that occurs naturally during normal cell function. Therefore, antioxidants may reduce chances of heart disease, neurological diseases, and even cancer while increasing immunity. Implement antioxidants into your healthy meal planner by putting gogi berries and acai berry powder (below), and other berries in fruit smoothies and drinking them up for breakfast.

Eat these supermeals with disease-fighting superfoods to stay strong and healthy. These superfoods will make great additions to your healthy meal planner and may even cut down on your sick days.

Making Cheap Family Meals: Getting Organic for Less

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Do you buy your apples organic? A recent screening from the U.S. Department of Agriculture found pesticide residue in 98% of apples, the highest rate of all the produce it examined. The numbers are shocking! To us, it’s clear: organic is healthier, safer, and overall better for us, our families, and the environment. While we would prefer to feed our little ones apple slices that aren’t contaminated with pesticide residue, organic isn’t exactly the thriftiest option. However, there are ways to get organic for cheaper. You can still make cheap family meals with organic ingredients. All it takes is a little bit of  brain power and prioritizing to make organic fit into your budget-friendly family meal plan.

  • Shop seasonal: Shopping seasonally will give you the most bang for your buck when it comes to organic, and you can often find seasonal ingredients on sale, too!
  • Go for the off-brand: Both regular and all-organic supermarkets frequently provide organic versions of big-name organic products. When you’re at a supermarket, pick the store brand over big-name organic products.

  • Shop at farmer’s markets: Most of your buys will be cheaper and fresher at the farmer’s markets. If you don’t see a sign that says organic, be sure to ask. Most farmers at the markets are making the transition into organic farming, but haven’t earned the necessary funds to get officially certified. Just because they’re not considered organic by the USDA, doesn’t mean that they’re not farming using organic, sustainable, and healthy practices. The best thing about farmer’s markets? You can haggle! Try to land a deal with the farmer for misshapen produce, or for bulk purchases. With a little bit of swindling, you could land yourself a deal.
  • Buying clubs: A buying club is a great way to get the organic food you want for cheap. Buying-club members purchase food and other organic products in bulk and then split the stash. In a buying club, you may be able to get 30 percent to 40 percent off the retail price.
  • Grow it yourself: We may not all have a green thumb, but growing small herbs, fruits, and veggies could give you a little bunch of produce for a fraction of the retail price. Best of all? It’s right in your backyard! If you’re a beginner, try growing a small indoor garden with plants like spinach, carrot, kale, basil, and rosemary, which will give you plants all year round.

Know what you should and shouldn’t buy organic: You don’t have to buy everything organic, necessarily. Plants with a husk or thick rind often go unpolluted by pesticides because of their thicker skin. Produce that usually goes pesticide-free includes avocado, pineapples, cantaloupe, kiwi, watermelon, grapefruit, and onions.

If you’re trying to keep your meals cheap but healthy, keep these tips in mind! When you buy organic you’ll taste and feel the difference, while feeling better about the meals that you’re serving your family.

Healthy Family Dinners That You Can Make Ahead

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It can be tough cooking an entire meal every single night. The grocery list, grocery shopping, the cooking, the serving the cleaning, we’re getting exhausted just thinking about it! Instead of suffering through the dinnertime chaos, always have make-ahead meals waiting in your fridge. If you think that all easy dinner ideas have to be unhealthy, think again. You can make healthy family dinners that can be popped out of your freezer and be prepared in no time. Here are some ideas for make-ahead, healthy family dinners that will wow the whole family:

  • Vegetarian chili: Vegitarian chili is a great meal that freezes suprisingly well. Add edamame for an added boost of protein and some reduced fat cheddar cheese for taste. The calorie count should clock in at only about 345 calories if you’re using white kidney beans and edamame.
  • Spanish chicken and Rice: Chicken is a great source of lean protein and some brown rice with spices will provide plentiful amounts of fiber. Cooked chicken will last anywhere from 4 to six months, depending on how it’s packaged. Package in an air-tight ZipLock back for maximum freshness. Slightly undercook the rice you want to put in the freezer, then thaw it in boiling water when you’re ready to eat.
  • Black bean chili: Unlike vegetarian chili, this chili is made in a slow-cooker and uses black beans as its base. Include mushrooms and chipotles to create a fuller flavor. Serve with cilantro, reduced-fat sour-cream, and a tiny bit of cheese. This stew will last about 2 months in the freezer.
  • Ravioli soup: Frozen ravioli can be whipped up into a dilectible soup in under 20 minutes. All it takes is some garlic, bell peppers, red pepper, tomatoes, vegitable broth  and a bit of basil to make a ravioli soup that packages well. Soups and stews generally hold for about 2-3 months. This soup, in particular, gives you about 60% of your daily value of vitamin C and you’ll get tons of antioxidants from the tomatoes.
  • Sweet potato tart: Sweet potato tarts are a great dinner, providing us with tons of vitamin A. To prep for the freezer, wrap your sweet potato tart tightly and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 6 months. Do not thaw your sweet potato tart when you’re ready to start eating! Instead, throw it right in the oven with a foil cover, so you don’t lose too much moisture. Remove the cover after about 15 minutes then heat for the remaining time (about 5 minutes, give or take) on 350 degrees.
  • Sausage, Mushroom, and Spinach Lasagna: Next time you want to make a nice, make-ahead meal, prepare a healthy lasagna full of vegetables and some hearty sausage for flavor. A balanced dish in itself, a sausage, mushroom, and spinach lasagna is perfect to have for lunch during the week. This lasagna will last a month or two. Try not to store your lasagna in aluminum foil as the metallic taste sometimes sticks. Instead, use greaseproof baking paper. When you’re done baking, lift the paper and pop the food in plastic, freezer-friendly bags.
  • Frijoles Negros with Rice: Turn the Mexican staple of refried beans and long grain brown rice into a healthy make-ahead meal. All you need to pick up at the grocery store is some whole wheat tortillas and cheese and have yourself a Mexican night. Black beans are great for sugar regulation, digestion, and cardiovascular health.

You can use healthy make-ahead meals to make dinnertime easier than ever. Just remember to seal your foods correctly, date your freezer bags, and defrost correctly and you’ll have great freezer meals ready-to-go.

 

Tips for Creating Great Sunday Supper Recipes

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We’ve all heard the benefits of eating with the family. One survey done by the Obesity Prevention Program at Harvard Medical School found that 9-14 year-olds who ate dinner with their families frequently ate more fruits and vegetables and less soda and fried foods. Additionally, researchers at Brigham Young University conducted a study of IBM workers and found that sitting down to a family meal helped working moms reduce the tension and strain of long hours at the office. While sitting down for dinner helps kids eat healthier and moms alleviate stress, family dinners are also fun and a great opportunity for the whole family to spend some time together and catch up. Instead of ordering in this Sunday, have a traditional Sunday supper. Here are some tips to create the perfect Sunday supper recipes:

  • Plan in advance. You don’t want Sunday to roll around and have no idea what you’re going to cook. Additionally, braving the grocery store on a Sunday afternoon can sometimes be a nightmare with frenzied mothers and children running amuck. Avoid the lines and grocery store and do your meal planning, recipe selecting, and grocery shopping beforehand.
  • Keep your Sunday supper classic and stick to recipes that everyone will love. Think of suppers that your mother or father used to serve you, like classic roast beef with home fries and gravy, lemon rotisserie chicken with fresh rolls and honey butter, or maple glazed pork roast with garlic potatoes. Once you find a menu you love, you can create your own family tradition.
  • Keep it simple. Don’t spend your entire Saturday and Sunday cooking and cleaning. Make as much as you can beforehand (like desserts, in particular) and try to save time by buying sauces at the grocery store rather than making them at home. Minimal cooking means minimal stress.
  • Get your family to lend a helping hand. This isn’t a one-woman show! Get everyone involved, from the chopping and peeling, to the cleaning. Normally, non-cookers get dish duty.
  • Pick a filling meat as the entree, like pork, beef, or chicken. These hearty meats are the anchor and soul to any Sunday supper.
  • Sneak in veggies if you have to and make it healthy. You don’t want to associate Sundays with pigging out and unhealthy eating. Instead, give your kids a positive example of what a meal should look like, with a balance of healthy carbohydrates, protein, and plenty of veggies. A side salad or grilled asparagus could add a little green to your supper recipes.
  • Make a dessert. Every supper recipe deserves a dessert for the special meal. Cheesecake, carrot cake, or even something as simple as Jello and some fruit are great complements for a Sunday supper. Try and prepare something that pairs well with your entree.
  • Pick a standard time to eat supper every week and stick to it. This will assure that everyone in the family keeps their schedules wide open for a wonderful, relaxed suppertime meal.

If you keep all of these tips in mind, you will surely prepare Sunday supper recipe to remember. Just beware: after one, your family will want a Sunday supper every week!

 

Tips for Cooking Quick Easy Recipes for Dinner

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Seven percent of Americans say they never cook and 30% say they only cook three times a week. One thing is certain: we don’t cook as much as we could. Why? Cooking is intimidating and time consuming! Learning how to cook, takes a bit of time and patience — two things that working moms and dads may not have a whole lot of. That’s why it’s important to pick quick easy recipes for dinner to practice cooking. Quick and easy recipes give you the perfect opportunity to practice the basics of cooking. Here are some quick easy recipes for dinner that can help you basic cooking techniques.

Blanching

If you’re cooking dinner several nights a week and you want to add some healthy side dishes to your dinner, you gotta learn how to blanch like a pro. Blanching is a tactic used to preserve color and texture of the vegetable or prepare veggies for freezing and it’s often said to be the healthiest way to cook vegetables because they don’t lose too many nutrients when blanched. It’s important to know how to blanch if you’re making healthy kitchen sides like broccoli salad. To blanch, make sure you cut your broccoli into uniform pieces so that they evenly cook. Add salt to a pan of boiling water and make sure that your using ample amounts of water (you may need a deep pot if you’re blanching a large number of veggies). After about 30 seconds, test for doneness and after about 1-2 minutes the blanching should be complete. Dunk your blanched veggies in ice water to stop cooking. To complete your broccoli salad, toss with crumbled bacon, onion, craisins, and a bit of cheddar cheese. Stir well so that cheese melts. Broccoli salad is a great green side and pairs well with grilled chicken for a complete easy dinner that only takes about 20 minutes to prepare. You can use the blanching technique for other salads, crudite, sushi, stir fries, spring rolls, or simply eat blanched veggies on their own, making for an easy side that’s ready in an instant.

Cooking Rice

Cooking rice may be a breeze, but few people know that cooking brown rice requires different techniques. Brown rice takes a little more water and time than regular rice. However, if you want to serve the healthier option of brown rice with some lemon shrimp, you have to learn how to cook this versatile side to perfection. To make brown rice, first measure out a cup and keep in mind that long-grain may need a little extra water. Rinse rice until water runs clear, add 2 1/4 cups of water, then bring the water to a simmer. Cover tightly and turn the heat to low until the rice has cooked for about 45 minutes. Make sure there’s no more water in the pot, and serve! All you have to do to make a complete meal is sauté some shrimp with lemon, butter, and garlic, then mix the sauté in with your brown rice. Now, that’s an easy dinner.

Sautéing

Sautéed mushrooms make great additions to your burger or frittata, but they’re especially handy if you want to make a creamy, wild mushroom sauce with browned mushrooms. However, you have to know how to sauté before you make this easy dish. Though mushrooms are easy to make after you have the technique down, many people end up boiling their mushrooms instead of sautéing them. Mushrooms aren’t supposed to be slimy. To make perfectly sautéed mushrooms, first get your pan hot and don’t be shy with the oil. You have to have heat to get your browning. Layer all of your mushrooms evenly on the pan and let them cook without provocation. When they look a bit brown on the cooking side, flip them over until the other side is completely brown. Most importantly, don’t salt until the end–it draws water out of the mushrooms. Just sauté minced garlic and onion (with your newly found sautéing techniques) and add mushroom stock, cream, and a bit of cheese to make an undeniably delicious wild mushroom sauce that can be served over pasta. This whole dish only takes about 30 minutes to make.

Next time you feel a little bit intimidated by the kitchen, just keep these key tips in mind to make dinners with sautéed mushrooms, brown rice, or blanched vegetables. You can use these techniques for countless ingredients, so feel free to show off your new culinary skills.

Creating Great Meal Ideas for Dinner

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We all know the typical, mealtime song and dance. Chicken goes with pasta, hamburgers go with fries, soups go with bread and butter, etc., etc., etc. So what if you want to get a little creative and stray from these typical meals? It’s incredibly easy to come up with great meal ideas for dinner if you know the basic building blocks for a meal.

#1 Meat or Protein: A protein is typically the main part of any dish. Yes, there are the exceptions, like in pasta dishes and stir frys, but generally a main course is a portion of protein accompanied with sides. This protein serving can be anything from chicken to lobster. If your main protein is an expensive cut of meat, try not to drown it out with a heavy sauce. Instead, let the flavors speak for themselves. Pick your protein wisely, as it will dictate the rest of your meal.

#2 Vegetable: Next comes the veggies. While vegetables aren’t critical to every meal, they do contribute to a healthy and wholesome diet and should be considered as you’re preparing meals for your family. Lobster pairs well with lighter-colored vegetables, like squash and zucchini, while a filet or steak is strong enough to bolster something a bit heavier, like grilled onions and mushrooms, or grilled asparagus. The grilled vegetables go well with the smoked tastes of a steak hot off the grill.

Another contributing factor to your vegetable selection could be the season. Pick vegetables that are in season for your meals so that you can get the freshest produce at the supermarket. There are plenty of info graphics online that can tell you what’s in season in your area.

#3 Starch: You can add further depth to your dish by contributing a starch to accompany your vegetable and protein. Corn tastes great with a lobster dish, jasmine rice looks elegant next to a cod or mahi mahi, and chicken goes with, well, basically anything. Shorter pastas, like penne, are versitle and can be sauced or spiced to go with nearly any main dish.

#4 Sweet: You can’t end a meal on a sour note. Instead, pick a sweet and lovely dessert to end your perfectly balanced meal. You can analyze the characteristics of your protein to decide on an adequate dessert. For example, if you’re dining on a filet mignon, you’ll want to end with something equally rich, like a chocolate-based dessert. If you’re preparing an American-style chicken, like one marinated in a honey-dijon sauce, you can follow it with an equally American dessert, like apple pie with some vanilla ice cream. For a main dish marinated or complimented with citrus, like seafood, a dessert with citrus, like a sorbet or a lemon merengue could be perfect.

There are several other factors you should keep in mind when you’re creating a meal. For example, color is crucial to any dish, so make your meal look appetizing by adding color through vibrant vegetables or garnishes. A well-arranged dish is also more appetizing than a dish that is haphazardly assembled. Try not to get too messy in the kitchen! Also remember that a salad or bread served before the main course may not necessarily account for your vegetable and starch, so serve all three factors (protein, veggie, and starch) all on the same plate, even if you’ve already served a preliminary course. You don’t want your protein to be lonely on the plate, all by itself. When in doubt, look to the category of the main dish’s preparation (American, Italian, Indian, Chinese, etc.) and choose your side dishes from there. You can’t go wrong.

Picking the Best Cookware for Your Easy Dinner Meals

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Every chef has horror stories about their cookware. Muffin tins rust, pans warp, and cheaper Dutch ovens have been known to crack open, spilling pounds of chili all over kitchens across America. That’s why we need sturdy cookware when it comes to our cooking adventures. If you’ve ever wondered what type of pots, pans, tins and tools you should keep your eye out for, here’s your guide to selecting the crème de la crème of cookware:

  • Pans: Choosing a great sauté pan is tough, but you can narrow down your search by looking for ones with sloped sides and a dense bottom that spreads heat evenly. Also keep your eyes peeled for a decent sized pan that can cook multiple items simultaneously. Nonstick pans are fine, unless you love to make sauces, in which case you should use a regular pan. Regular pans allow sauces to coagulate more effectively to attain a creamy texture. Meat and caramelized ingredients are also best left to regular pans. A great pan could help you make dinners that use eggs, spinach, sautéed onions, mushrooms, sautéed fish or chicken, and numerous other foods.
  • Pots: Find a soup pot with a heavy bottom to prevent burning and make sure the pot has sturdy handles for easy transport.
  • Dutch oven: The best way to avoid a potential cooking disaster is to buy a sturdy Dutch oven made out of either a sturdy metal or an enamel-coated metal. If you pick up your Dutch oven and it feels weighty, you’ve found a good piece of cookware. Also check the walls and bottom of the Dutch oven, which should be thick and strong. Want to use your brand new Dutch oven for an easy dinner meal tonight? This cookware is great for beans, pasta sauce, and even bread or yogurt. Yup, the Dutch oven can pretty much do it all.
  • Baking Pan: Like the other cookware items, look for sturdiness when shopping for a baking pan. If you want to cook meals like lasagna or other acidic dishes, opt for a stainless steel roaster or ceramic or stoneware dish. Metal pans or silicon cookware are great for baking cakes and breaded chicken. Choose a glossy finish on your ceramic dishes for an easier cleanup and make sure that your ceramic dishes are completely smooth on the bottom (some unfinished bottoms can scratch up your tables).

Next time you’re doing your meal planning, consider the dinner that you’re about to prepare and make sure you have the right cookware for the job. Cookware can greatly affect the taste and success of your dinners.

 

Preparing Easy Family Dinners Using Base Sauces

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Studies show that Americans are now working longer than anyone else in the industrialized world. After a long, hard day at work, the last thing we want to do is cook a gourmet meal for our family. However, you don’t need a feat of magic to get dinner on the table in a flash. Dinner can be whipped up with little effort if you have a basic sauce to work with. That’s why you should always have basic sauces at hand (or in the freezer), so that you can make an easy family dinner in a flash.

Sauce-Based Easy Family Dinners

You don’t necessarily have to know how to saute, bake, and blanch to make a great dinner that the whole family can enjoy. Just pick a meat or veggie (depending on your personal tastes) and whip up and store one of these sauces as a base for the entire meal:

  • Spaghetti Sauce: Spaghetti sauce can be used on spaghetti, with meatballs, or as a base for Italian-style soups. Whether you buy a spaghetti sauce at the store, or make it from scratch, always have this basic sauce in your pantry or in your freezer so that you can whip up a delicious Italian meal in an instant.
  • Alfredo sauce: Alfredo sauce is another flavorful Italian sauce that goes great on just about everything, from pasta to cooked spinach. All it takes is butter, garlic, milk, and parmesan cheese. Add a half a package of cream cheese for an extra, cheesy kick.
  • Gravy: This southern staple can add some sustenance to a dinner that needs a little pizazz. Gravy is great for everything from biscuits to fried chicken. Add a dash of cayenne powder or ground chili to give gravy a little bit of a kick if your prefer spicier dishes. Luckily, gravy is one of the easiest sauces to make with minimal ingredients and cook time.
  • Creamy white wine sauce: Simply pick up chicken breasts or some scallops, boil pasta, and pour a white wine sauce over your dishes for a meal to die for. Heavy whipping cream, white wine, flour, salt, and parsley are all it takes to make a heavier sauce. This sauce only takes about 10 minutes to prepare, making it perfect for an easy family dinner.
  • Peanut sauce: Great for spring rolls, salad, dipping, pasta or noodles, or stir fries, peanut sauce is versatile and delicious. If you feel like doing something a little different this dinner, whip up a peanut sauce for a Thai-style feast.

Next time you’re exhausted after a big day, just grab one of your pre-made sauces and add to some pasta or a stir fry.  You’ll have dinner on the table in minutes. Just remember to defrost that morning, and your family dinner will be almost complete.

How to Prep Your Kitchen and Make 30 Minute Meals

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According to the National Restaurant Association (NRA), 133 million Americans eat out every day. Michael Donohue, spokesperson for the NRA, contends that, “The typical adult eats at a restaurant nearly six times a week.” While this is great news for restauranteurs it may make budget-minded moms and pops blush with shame. So why do we eat out so much? Time is partially to blame. The grocery shopping, the cooking, the prep, the cleaning — all of these things take time that we, as working Americans, really don’t have. Luckily, however, there is a way to get in and out of the kitchen in a flash. There are plenty of chefs and cookbooks that have proved to us that having dinner out in under 30 minutes is achievable.

Tips to making your kitchen 30 Minute Meal-Worthy

You can’t just throw together 30 minute meals if you’re in the midst of a filthy or unorganized kitchen. You need to be adequately prepped to churn out meals in a flash. One way to prep for a 30 minute meal? Practice what chefs like to call “mise en place,” or “to put in place.” The basic premise of mise en place is that if you put everything out in front of you before you start to cook, you’ll be able to prepare a meal quickly and efficiently. Get your mise en place set up by doing the following:

  • Make sure you have all of your ingredients in front of you
  • Have plates ready so you can put the meal on the plates and serve it while the dish is still hot.
  • Have stations set up for different phases of the meal. Arrange a washing, chopping, and seasoning station.
  • Put all of your herbs or different chopped ingredients in bowls so that you can easily grab and use them. The bowls can be quickly thrown in the dishwasher after use.

Apply this technique to all of your meals to churn them out as quickly as possible.

Examples of 30 minute Meals

Thirty minute meals usually include elements like a meat that can be cooked in a skillet in a flash and simple recipes without hundreds of ingredients. Meals that you can cook in under 30 minutes include:

  • Steak with herbs: Steak is so easy to just throw on a cast-iron skillet and cook. All you need is herbs like rosemary, parsley, and oregano to really make a rib-eye taste delectable in only about 8 minutes!
  • Lemon Garlic Tilapia with Spinach: Just sauté some spinach and throw a tilapia filet on the skillet with garlic, lemon, and butter for a delicious dinner that only takes about 20 minutes.
  • Parmesan Chicken Tenders: Bust out your olive oil and get ready for some quick frying. You can bread your chicken tenders in rosemary, shredded parmesan, red pepper flakes and garlic cloves. Then, just fry up your breaded tenders and serve with a pasta salad and some leafy greens for a great meal.

You can make the time to cook for thirty minutes each night. Just start planning your meals out, and open your mind to the possibility that cooking could actually be enjoyable.

Budget Family Meals: 10 Meals for $10

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Our salaries and rent are set, however, when it comes to food, studies show that we have a huge amount of decisions to make. Brian Wansink, the director of the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University estimates we make 227 decisions about what to eat every day. These decisions include questions like, “Should we have leftovers tonight or just order takeout?” and “Should I buy the expensive, imported cocoa for the cake or the off-brand?” Research shows that these seemingly infinitesimal decisions add up. “The average American household spent $3,778 on groceries in 2009, and another $2,736 in restaurants and bars,” according to a study by Bundle.com. The truth is, we could do better. While we might use coupons or resist urges to eat out more than once a week, we could still save more. If you are looking for a challenge, try making satisfying dinners for only $10 a pop. You never know, it could be easier than you think. We’ve already thought of 10 meals for $10 and under that could kick off your budget family meals challenge:

  1. Fresh Lemon Trout with Couscous: For only $9.74, this meal is both satisfying and delectable. Trout provides an amazing amount of healthy, omega-3 fatty acids, which can reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke and help reduce symptoms of hypertension and depression, according to WebMD.
  2. Mexican Night: Try hosting a Mexican night, cooking rice and beans with guacamole and salsa, which can easily come in at less than $10. Don’t be surprised if $10 is enough to give you a good hunk of leftovers, too!
  3. Macaroni with Sausage and Bacon: You can’t go wrong with this American classic, and for $2 a serving, the price is right.
  4. Chicken lettuce wraps with Peanut sauce: For anyone who likes Asian-inspired cuisine, chicken lettuce wraps are a healthy option. Season 1 lb of chicken tenders with chicken broth, soy sauce, lemon, ginger, and green onions and wrap in a large lettuce leaf for a crispy, filling dinner. Don’t forget the peanut sauce, which you can make out of peanut butter, chicken broth, lemon, brown sugar, and garlic. All of this will only cost you about $2.46 per serving.
  5. Spicy Shredded Beef: Art Ginsberg of MrFood.com recommends slow cooking beef, seasoned with tomato sauce, chili powder, onion, and garlic, then serving it on rice or on a roll to make a meal that only costs about $2.40 a serving.
  6. Lentil soup: While we may not think of soups as conventional meals, lentils are extremely filling and make for a hearty dinner. You can take this classic soup and for only $6 for 4 servings. Lentils provide you and your family with an incredible amount of fiber, iron, and vitamin C.
  7. Quesadillas: No one can turn down a quesadilla and at only $9.57 for four servings, we’re starting to crave some warm, spicy cheese over a buttered and browned tortilla. Add salad, refried beans, and fajita-style chicken, all for under $10.
  8. Spinach Salad with Chicken and White beans: Bagged spinach is one of the most affordable, healthy foods out there, at only $3 for a huge bag. Just add grilled chicken breast, a simple vinaigrette (combining olive oil with salt and pepper from the pantry) and a can of white beans, all for $9.03.
  9. Spanish Chickpea Stew: Celebrity chef Jose Andres presented a meal for NPR’s “How Low Can You Go” family dinner challenge that brings a little bit of Spanish flavor to the table for only $9.71. Use dried chickpeas, which are cheaper than canned and taste better, too. Simmer your chickpeas (hydrated overnight) with saffron, paprika, spinach, ground cumin, olive oil, and garlic, and make a “bread paste” to give the stew some texture.
  10. Frittata: While a frittata may sound a little fancy, you can easily make this open omelet with all of your leftovers in the fridge. You can do the same with a quiche Lorraine, which CNN notes as a great “recession recipe.” At $10 for 8 servings, a veggie quiche or frittata will give you plenty of food for less.

So, how low can you go? Just do two $10 dinners a week and you could save thousands of dollars over the course of the year. Keep your eyes peeled for budget grocery list ingredients at the grocery store and you’ll have a bit of savings for a rainy day.