I have a large family!  My children are 8, 6, 3 and 8 months, thankfully they are all good fruit/veggie eaters.  I am looking for some good dinner options for us - main dish wise - that can feed all of us and still be healthy with out breaking the budget.  My hubby is big on things like lazagna (I know i can't spell), and spag, does anyone have any healthy ideas for these (we all ready swiched from ground beef to ground lean turkey)?  Any help would be great!

 The good thing is you can buy the whole wheat, whole wheat blend or Barilla, or Ronzoni smart taste noodles.  My favorites are the last 2, they are high in fiber.  I don't go for the turkey much, I usually get the very low fat ground beef.  Either 93 or 95% fat free. You can use a mixture of fat free and reduced fat cheeses.  Just make sure you include all your ingredients to get an accurate total.

There is also a very good recipe posted using Chicken breast and low fat croissants.  It is great.  good luck!

 Hi ALW,

Not only do you have a large family, but you surely must be a busy gal.  So not having to make something separate for you must also be important. I have the opposite problem.  It's just me and the hubby at home, so my problem is waste.  I've learned to cook once, use multiple times.

Chicken is your friend.  It's relatively inexpensive.  You can use the leftovers for so many of your own meals.  Chop it up, weigh it and portion it out in baggies so you can make a quick chicken salad or wrap.  Or go ahead and make chicken salad for you and the children to have for lunch.  Low fat mayo wouldn't be a bad idea for them either.  Add some chopped celery, lemon pepper.  I don't buy all of the possible breads on the menu.  I have one at a time in the house; i.e. WW bread or WW English Muffins or tortillas or pita bread.  You can exchange those.  No pita?  Use a slice of WW bread.

Pasta?  Sure!  Just switch to WW pasta if you can.  And when you go to the store, read labels, read labels, read lables.  You won't believe how much difference there is in fat grams and sodium in jarred sauces!  I wouldn't go to lasagne quite yet for yourself, but it's so easy to cook 3 oz of WW rotini for yourself while you're making the lasagne.  Use the same sauce for yourself, being careful of fatty meats.  Use low fat mozzarella and sprinkle some on your plate of pasta and broil for a few seconds.  Yum!  Garlic, parsley, basil, oregono are all zero calories.  Go to town with flavor, not fat.  Have a nice green salad on the side.  It's very satisfying.  You can use some of that leftover chicken to put on top of any kind of pasta, low sodium sauce, add any kind of veggies.  I really like pasta primivera.  Steamed veggies of any kind, low sodium or fresh tomatoes, lots of garlic.  Delicious!

PB&J on WW English Muffin or WW bread is a good, quick breakfast.  I can't tell the difference between reduced fat PB and regular.  Your children will benefit from having less fat as well.

Make a dinner fritatta.  Better than Eggs brand egg substitute tastes just like real eggs to me once I've added herbs, maybe some cubed red potatoes, and chopped tomatoes.  If the egg substitute is expensive where you are, you can use regular eggs and simply dispose of some of the yolks.  That's where all the fat is.  Once you scramble up say 8 whites and 3 yolks, looks the same, smells the same, and has the same texture of 8 whole eggs, but much less fat.

Be creative.  Alli food plan is very flexible.  You can do a lot of substituting to fit your taste as well as your budget.

Best of success,

Mary

 I have taken so many of my old recipies and changed them for this plan. Including many passed down to me from my mother and grandmothers. I also have a family of 6 (kids 13, 9,8,6) so preparing individual meals for me and a big family meal for them is not an option. So 3 meals a day are eaten with my family. I have changed to whole wheat pastas, breads, lowfat milk, and many lowfat options in my meal planning. We eat alot of chicken and ground turkey instead of beef. Lately I have been trying many new recipies out on the family. Since my kids are older my rule is they fix their own plate and must try everything- if they absolutely hate it then they are allowed pb&j sandwich for the night and that is it. Rarely do they hate it enough to go for the sandwich but instead try to eat the meal with the family.

A few simple ideas for meals:

Bake chicken breast, when it is done put bbq sauce on it and sprink with cheese and sit back in oven for few secs. serve with fresh veggies.

Wheat rice with low fat cream of chicken soup and onion soup mix mixed in, top with chicken breast and bake.  (you can alternate wheat elbow pasta instead and add can of chicken broth too)