Night 1:

Costco rotisserie chicken, steamed or roasted broccoli, doctored up pouch mashed potatoes (cook to package but add butter, milk, sour cream to make them creamier)

Night 2:
Frozen Turkey meatballs, jarred pasta sauce, pasta, Texas toast garlic bread

Night 3:
Scrambled eggs, sausage or bacon, those little Dutch pancakes from Trader Joe’s

Night 4:
Pork tenderloin with teriyaki sauce, a bag of steamed jasmine rice or a bag of fried rice from Trader Joe’s, steamed green beans with garlic, frozen gyoza

Night 5: any leftovers or sandwiches

Night 6: order pizza

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For me easy dinner includes easy cleanup, so my recommendations are:

Rotisserie chicken, fresh bread/biscuits, salad or quick veggie

Frozen burgers, baked beans, salad or quick veggie

Chicken or shrimp, veggies, jar of simmer sauce, rice (can use the frozen microwave kind if you want really low effort)

Grilled cheese with tomato soup

Gyros-I use Trader Joe’s packaged gyro slices, with pita, tzatziki, and veggies. Can add fries if you want more substance to the meal

Can you give this inexperienced cook some specific recipes for the simmer sauces?
- How much shrimp? What kind of veggies? What kind of simmer sauce? How long to cook?
- Chicken thighs? Breasts? Diced? Rotisserie? What veggies? What sauce? How long to cook?

+1. Any suggestions? I've been eyeing these bottles at Traders.

Tikka masala or butter chicken from trader Joe's, or Patak brand at other stores. Use 1 pound of chopped or shredded chicken, or a can of garbanzo beans and/or broccoli crowns . Follow directions and serve over basmati or jasmine rice. Not authentic, but it's pretty good.

Chicken should be cooked in advance.

I was the original simmer sauce poster, and I use raw chicken with no problem. Breasts or boneless thighs. I cut in small pieces, throw the sauce over it and let it cook. You just need to cook it longer than if you're using cooked chicken (which is also totally fine). If you're using shrimp, I just get a bag of frozen shrimp, quick thaw it, and throw it in once the sauce is boiling and any veggies are cooked. That only needs 3-4 minutes.

If you read the jar, it usually says 1 lb of chicken for a jar. I usually do 2 jars and maybe 1.5 lbs of chicken plus veggies. For veggies, choose whatever you like best. You can also just serve veggies on the side if you don't want to have them sauced. I do carrots, chickpeas, cauliflower, peas, zucchini, whatever. Not all at the same time--just whatever I have on hand and am in the mood for.

We usually do butter chicken/tikka masala (similar) or a korma sauce. I have a kid who is very anti spicy food--so we only do the mild sauces. Patak's are fine, the Harris Teeter brand isn't terrible either. I'm hit or miss on the Trader Joe's ones personally, but I do like their frozen naan!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For me easy dinner includes easy cleanup, so my recommendations are:

Rotisserie chicken, fresh bread/biscuits, salad or quick veggie

Frozen burgers, baked beans, salad or quick veggie

Chicken or shrimp, veggies, jar of simmer sauce, rice (can use the frozen microwave kind if you want really low effort)

Grilled cheese with tomato soup

Gyros-I use Trader Joe’s packaged gyro slices, with pita, tzatziki, and veggies. Can add fries if you want more substance to the meal

Can you give this inexperienced cook some specific recipes for the simmer sauces?
- How much shrimp? What kind of veggies? What kind of simmer sauce? How long to cook?
- Chicken thighs? Breasts? Diced? Rotisserie? What veggies? What sauce? How long to cook?

+1. Any suggestions? I've been eyeing these bottles at Traders.

Tikka masala or butter chicken from trader Joe's, or Patak brand at other stores. Use 1 pound of chopped or shredded chicken, or a can of garbanzo beans and/or broccoli crowns . Follow directions and serve over basmati or jasmine rice. Not authentic, but it's pretty good.

Chicken should be cooked in advance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For me easy dinner includes easy cleanup, so my recommendations are:

Rotisserie chicken, fresh bread/biscuits, salad or quick veggie

Frozen burgers, baked beans, salad or quick veggie

Chicken or shrimp, veggies, jar of simmer sauce, rice (can use the frozen microwave kind if you want really low effort)

Grilled cheese with tomato soup

Gyros-I use Trader Joe’s packaged gyro slices, with pita, tzatziki, and veggies. Can add fries if you want more substance to the meal

Can you give this inexperienced cook some specific recipes for the simmer sauces?
- How much shrimp? What kind of veggies? What kind of simmer sauce? How long to cook?
- Chicken thighs? Breasts? Diced? Rotisserie? What veggies? What sauce? How long to cook?

+1. Any suggestions? I've been eyeing these bottles at Traders.

Tikka masala or butter chicken from trader Joe's, or Patak brand at other stores. Use 1 pound of chopped or shredded chicken, or a can of garbanzo beans and/or broccoli crowns . Follow directions and serve over basmati or jasmine rice. Not authentic, but it's pretty good.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For me easy dinner includes easy cleanup, so my recommendations are:

Rotisserie chicken, fresh bread/biscuits, salad or quick veggie

Frozen burgers, baked beans, salad or quick veggie

Chicken or shrimp, veggies, jar of simmer sauce, rice (can use the frozen microwave kind if you want really low effort)

Grilled cheese with tomato soup

Gyros-I use Trader Joe’s packaged gyro slices, with pita, tzatziki, and veggies. Can add fries if you want more substance to the meal

Can you give this inexperienced cook some specific recipes for the simmer sauces?
- How much shrimp? What kind of veggies? What kind of simmer sauce? How long to cook?
- Chicken thighs? Breasts? Diced? Rotisserie? What veggies? What sauce? How long to cook?

+1. Any suggestions? I've been eyeing these bottles at Traders.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just rotate carb protein and veggies! That’s what I do for my picky kids. First night big box of salad greens top it with grilled chicken. Hard boiled eggs, blue cheese bacon and vinaigrette- Cobb salad. Second night- lentil soup, buy a packet of frozen mirepoix sauce it with EVOO add washed lentils, garam masala and chicken stock. Third night- bake salmon spray with EVOO salt pepper, cook orzo or fusilli on the side, steam broccoli. Fourth night, sauté ground beef with zucchini and potatoes and Mexican seasoning, serve with rice and tortillas. Fifth night, bake chicken thighs covered in teriyaki sauce, add asparagus to sheet pan for last 10 minutes, serve over quinoa. Sixth night- bake tilapia filets with lemon slices on top, serve with rice and a salad. Seventh night- steak, sautéed spinach, baked potato. Follow me for more great tips!!!

Your kids are not picky. My kids would eat none of this. Jealous!

Well a ton of their dinners are the basic ones- lentil soup, salmon with pasta and broccoli, chicken with rice and asparagus, and so on. I have worked so so hard at it and they thwart me at every turn but I never give up. Rotating the carbs and veggies and having one thing they love like pasta or rice helps. It’s a marathon.

I'm a picky eater (born this way - my brother was fed the same way and he's not) and would choke down lentil soup unhappily, and not eat: asparagus, blue cheese, vinaigrette, garam masala, zucchini, Mexican seasoning, lemon, sauteed spinach.

No-frills nachos - layer chips, re-fried beans, and shredded cheese on sheet pan and bake a few minutes. Serve with store-bought pico, sliced avocado, pickled jalapenos. Can also add a protein like shredded chicken or ground beef if you'd like.

1. Salmon, veggie, bagged salad
2. Chicken pieces premade bbq sauce, veggie, salad.
3. Ground Chicken, Turkey or beef tacos and flour toritllas add what ever you have in the house from beans, cheese etc, maybe repacked rice.
4. Trader joes is your friend from Gyro meat to beef kabobs in the frozen section, Tazidki sauce premade with some veggies, and prepackaged rice
5. Leftovers or pizza.

OP kids can use flour torillas to make quesadilla or small pizza's out of anything you have in your fridge or cabinets.

Or pizza dough, most stores sell it add jared sauce and toppings done.

https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a53449/cheesy-spinach-pesto-flatbread-recipe/

^This is very tasty and truly takes me 3 minutes to assemble, and then bakes for 13 minutes. I serve with Rao's marinara for dipping and fruit on the side.

https://www.mccormick.com/recipes/main-dishes/easy-chili-recipe

^Also incredibly quick and easy, and surprisingly good! Serve with typical chili toppings.

Those are my easiest, yet still good, weeknight dinners.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just rotate carb protein and veggies! That’s what I do for my picky kids. First night big box of salad greens top it with grilled chicken. Hard boiled eggs, blue cheese bacon and vinaigrette- Cobb salad. Second night- lentil soup, buy a packet of frozen mirepoix sauce it with EVOO add washed lentils, garam masala and chicken stock. Third night- bake salmon spray with EVOO salt pepper, cook orzo or fusilli on the side, steam broccoli. Fourth night, sauté ground beef with zucchini and potatoes and Mexican seasoning, serve with rice and tortillas. Fifth night, bake chicken thighs covered in teriyaki sauce, add asparagus to sheet pan for last 10 minutes, serve over quinoa. Sixth night- bake tilapia filets with lemon slices on top, serve with rice and a salad. Seventh night- steak, sautéed spinach, baked potato. Follow me for more great tips!!!

Your kids are not picky. My kids would eat none of this. Jealous!

Well a ton of their dinners are the basic ones- lentil soup, salmon with pasta and broccoli, chicken with rice and asparagus, and so on. I have worked so so hard at it and they thwart me at every turn but I never give up. Rotating the carbs and veggies and having one thing they love like pasta or rice helps. It’s a marathon.

Anonymous wrote:Make a big pot of soup, lasts all week if you change it up. Start with plain vegetable on Sunday, on Tuesday add chicken and rice and more veg, on Thursday add tomato and beans and make chili. If most of the chicken is gone throw in some beef too or add more chicken for chicken chili. Have sandwiches or salad available if that’s not enough.

Haha this post made me laugh. This is exactly what I do too! If you have soup you have dinner for days and can change it up enough as needed!!

Anonymous wrote:Just rotate carb protein and veggies! That’s what I do for my picky kids. First night big box of salad greens top it with grilled chicken. Hard boiled eggs, blue cheese bacon and vinaigrette- Cobb salad. Second night- lentil soup, buy a packet of frozen mirepoix sauce it with EVOO add washed lentils, garam masala and chicken stock. Third night- bake salmon spray with EVOO salt pepper, cook orzo or fusilli on the side, steam broccoli. Fourth night, sauté ground beef with zucchini and potatoes and Mexican seasoning, serve with rice and tortillas. Fifth night, bake chicken thighs covered in teriyaki sauce, add asparagus to sheet pan for last 10 minutes, serve over quinoa. Sixth night- bake tilapia filets with lemon slices on top, serve with rice and a salad. Seventh night- steak, sautéed spinach, baked potato. Follow me for more great tips!!!

Your kids are not picky. My kids would eat none of this. Jealous!

I'm really into the "three C's" for dinner. Carrots, couscous, and chicken. I serve the carrots raw (though we also like them cut into skinny sticks and drizzled with EVOO and salt and then roasted - they taste like sweet potato fries), either stirfry or bake the chicken and the couscous cooks during that time. Very simple.

Breakfast for dinner (scrambled eggs, sausage, toast, fruit)
Pasta with jarred sauce, bagged salad on the side
Charcuterie/snack dinner
Pulled pork or chicken in crockpot (serve with buns and bagged cole slaw kit)
Loaded baked potatoes (top with sour cream, scallions, cheddar, bacon bits, and/or canned chili)
Trader Joes orange chicken with broccoli (can roast in the oven with the chicken) and rice

If you have time to prep this weekend, maybe make a pot of chili (or prep it — brown ground beef, dice onions and peppers, then dump it all in the crock pot on Monday morning). Spaghetti one night. If you want to go above jarred sauce, you can do it with lemon/garlic, and some frozen shrimp. Add some salad greens and toasted French bread. Breakfast for dinner one night — either make omelets or pancakes. If you do the latter, buy a few types of berries and bananas to put on the side and balance out the carbs. Pick up a bag or two of frozen Chinese (PF Changs something at a regular grocery story or the TJs options) and steam some rice and broccoli. Friday night order pizza.