Dinner ideas for the whole family: healthy, easy and inexpensive dishes

How many times are you home in the afternoon and you think, "now what do I do for dinner ? " It happens to me day yes, day too. When I was not a mother, everything was easier: I would cook something on the grill and complement it with a tunea bag salad. Now I have a young son who is very hungry and has an increasingly demanding palate.

If you are looking for dinner ideas for the whole family that are healthy, appetizing and easy to make, I am going to propose a few. Oh, and fast, because it's not a matter of spending two hours in the kitchen, right? They are suitable for adults, adolescents and children of any age (from one year old and who are used to eating in pieces, yes).

The keys to a healthy family dinner

An easy way to keep your dishes healthy is to use the Harvard Plate Method. That is, half the plate is made up of vegetables; a quarter, preferably whole hydrates; and the other quarter, for healthy protein.

The dessert should always be fruit or natural milk without sugar (yogurt, fresh cheese, curd, kefir …). If you or your family accompany the meal with bread, try to make it whole and of good quality.

When the family grows, expenses increase and it does not hurt to choose affordable food. Buy seasonal vegetables and fruit, which are always much better priced and are also more sustainable. Do not dispense with fish because it is expensive: there are cheap and very healthy options: fresh cod, sardines or anchovies, horse mackerel, maira, mackerel, pomfret …

Planning your weekly menus is another key to saving time and money. You will avoid improvising and ending up pulling precooked items.

Here you have dinner ideas for the whole family that are healthy, easy and that everyone will like.

The keys to a healthy family dinner

Planning your weekly menus is another key to saving time and money. You will avoid improvising and ending up pulling precooked items.

Here you have dinner ideas for the whole family that are healthy, easy and that everyone will like.

Fish battered with beans or peas

Battered fish tends to delight the little ones. Any white fish that can be made into boneless fillets will work well. Accompany it with some beans or peas sautéed with garlic (they can be frozen). Here we explain step by step how to coat the fish and make it look good.

Green beans with potatoes and grilled chicken

I make a recipe for green beans with potatoes that even my one and a half year old son eats without question. First I boil the potatoes and beans in pieces, drain well. I cut a chicken breast into small pieces and sauté it with a clove of garlic. When it's almost done, I add the potato and beans for a couple of minutes. If your sucker doesn't mind the taste, you can sprinkle a little paprika from La Vera before it finishes cooking. Tasty!

Pasta salad

Pasta salad is a dish that everyone loves and there are also plenty of ingredient options to combine. The one in the photo is made of spirals with cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, cucumber, red onion and black olives. Here are 5 options:

Bows with avocado, apple, fresh cheese and walnuts
Macaroni with grilled vegetables and chicken nuggets
Spinach tortellini with cherry tomatoes, mozarella and strawberries
Spirals with mango, avocado, cucumber and goat cheese
Bows with cherry tomatoes, pepper, tuna and hard-boiled egg

You can boil the pasta on the weekend and then you can make the salad in 10 minutes. Carme del Vado, the editor-in-chief of CLARA, has told me a very useful trick so that the salad is to the taste of all the members of the family: put the ingredients in separate bowls, so each one gets what they want.

If the salad is for children under 4 years, do not put nuts; if you do, let them be ground into powder.

Spanish omelette with salad

It is another of the dishes that you can prepare in advance, for example on Sunday, and have it ready for one of the dinners of the week. Here is the step-by-step recipe to make a delicious Spanish omelette. Accompany it with a green salad with tomato, diced white asparagus and sliced green olives.

Cuban rice with grilled egg

Who doesn't like Cuban rice? Prepare the tomato sauce yourself with this ultra-quick recipe. Cut a kilo of ripe tomato into small pieces. Crush it together with a clove of garlic. Pour plenty of olive oil in a pan, add the tomato, salt and pepper and let chup chup for 15 minutes, until it reduces.

The grilled egg is very easy to make: pour a little oil in a non-stick pan, put the egg, cover and cook until it is at the point you like.

You can complete this meal with a green salad.

Chicken noodle and egg soup

Take note of this easy recipe to cook a vegetable and chicken broth. Dice turnip, potato, carrot, celery, onion and parsnip. Sauté in a pot with a little olive oil for a few minutes, do not let the vegetables toast. Cover with a liter and a half of water, add a bleached chicken breast (it is made by boiling it alone in water for a minute and then rinsing it), cover and simmer for an hour.

Then strain the broth. If you want the broth to have more consistency you can crush a little of the vegetables and add it. Now you can boil the noodles. When they are almost done, crack an egg and stir with a wooden spoon. You can also add the shredded chicken breast. If you prefer, you can serve the egg cooked separately and finely chopped.

Take advantage of the leftover vegetables to make a vegetable puree, it will serve you for another dinner. Here are more ideas for soups and creams.

Chicken croquettes with zucchini cream

You are going to love this croquettes recipe. They are made without bechamel and without frying.

Ingredients for 4 people:

180 g of chicken breast
100 g of cottage cheese
700 g potatoes
Salt pepper
Olive oil
2 eggs
200 g breadcrumbs
A few leaves of parsley

Cook the potatoes in pieces. Mash them until you get a puree. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and grill. Let everything warm and then shred the chicken. Now you can mix the potato, chicken, cottage cheese and a beaten egg. Salt and pepper and add the parsley leaves. Let the dough cool in the fridge for two hours. Take the dough and go making the croquettes with your hands. Pass them through beaten egg and breadcrumbs. Arrange the croquettes on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper. Cook them at 190º for 30 minutes, until they are golden brown.

Accompany these delicious croquettes with a zucchini cream.

Baked fish with vegetables

Every week I cook some fish in the oven because it is super easy, it is done by itself and you do not mess anything. I cut potato or sweet potato into slices, zucchini or asparagus and onion into julienne strips. I put it in a baking dish with a parchment paper underneath –that's easier to clean it later–, sprinkled with oil and seasoning. I cook in the oven for about 20 minutes at 180º. Then, I put the fillets of the chosen fish (salmon, cod, hake, mackerel …), add oil again and season with salt and pepper and bake for 10 more minutes (until the fish is done).

If your family likes the taste, the fish is very good if you spread it with mustard before baking.

Healthy snacks

Sandwiches are a great option for dinner on the weekends, for example. The key is to choose a good bread, preferably whole wheat, and healthy ingredients. Here are several delicious combinations:

Chicken breast with Emmental cheese, dried tomatoes and lettuce
Guacamole with tomato sliced and sprouts
French omelette, avocado and watercress
Bonito in olive oil with roasted pepper, onion and olives
Hake burger with tomato and cheese

Pizza

My family loves to have pizza for pizza on Saturday nights, it has become a kind of ritual that gives us a lot of happiness. Of course, always homemade, the dough too! And with healthy ingredients. By the way, accompanying the pizza with a green salad is a very healthy habit that prevents us from eating too much pizza and getting stuffed.

Sometimes I make this easy dough recipe, but if I don't have yeast and I don't feel like waiting for it to be light either, I prepare a very easy dough that you are going to love. More than a pizza dough, it is a coca, but it is equally delicious. Since I discovered it on the El Comidista website , it has become my main mass.

Quick and easy coca mass

Ingredients for 3-4 people

250 g flour
125 ml of beer (it does the function of yeast and do not be scared that later it does not taste like beer)
65 ml of extra virgin olive oil
a pinch of salt

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and knead for about 5 minutes. Roll into a ball and then spread on a baking sheet with a parchment paper. Go flattening and stretching the dough into the shape you want with your fingers. You can make mini pizzas or a large round or square one. Leave it as thin as you can, but you don't need a rolling pin. You already have it ready to fill with the pizza toppings of your choice.

Some of my favorite ingredient combinations:

Tomato, mozzarella, thin slices of zucchini and sweet ham
Tomato, mozzarella, thin slices of artichoke and bacon
Tomato, sliced edam cheese and green asparagus
Escalivada. In this case, I just put a thin layer of fried tomato and on top of it the roasted vegetables, without cheese. It is also very good if you add cold tuna after baking.
Tomato, leek in small strips, corn and goat cheese. Add the goat cheese in the last few minutes of baking to make it perfect.