Hellobee Boards

So, DH has a bunch of dietary intolerances (dairy, crucifers, dark greens, mushrooms) that limit the universe of foods he can eat. He also needs to lose some weight, so he's watching his carbs, so that limits his universe even more. I then have two toddlers who are 2 and 3.5, and I am personally on a low-carb, high fat diet. I am the only cook in the house so I totally feel you.

I've shared this several times on the board now, but it really has saved my sanity the last month or so. I bought a chip and dip platter that has 5 sections in it and I fill it with different foods for kids every day. 2 sections have different kinds of cut fruit, 1 section has raw or steamed veggies, another has proteins like hard boiled eggs, cubes of cooked meat, salami, pepperoni, string cheese, and nuts. The center well is usually something crunchy, like chips or pretzels, kale chips, pork rinds, etc. Whatever the entree is, they get what they get and then they are welcome to serve themselves out of whatever I put in the platter that night. My platter has a lid so I can do it ahead of time or put it back in the fridge after a meal and since its just assembling, it doesn't take much time. DH will often eat out of the platter too.

When we do taco night, I will eat taco salads with meat and cheese and salsa and guac. DH will eat the same, but perhaps with black beans added. The boys will have cheese quesadillas and will dip chips into salsa and serve themselves out of their platter, which will include some of the chicken or steak I've made cubed up. For your vegetarian son, I imagine this could be beans.

For pasta night, we might serve sauce over zoodles for me and DH, pasta for the kids. For your case, I'd do a low-sugar marinara and then add frozen meatballs or sliced sausage on the side.

In warm weather, we do a lot of entree salads. Greek, Taco/Fajita salads, Cobbs, etc. I just put the components in the tray for the kids, they might get some pitas or chips to dip in salsa/hummus/yogurt dip, and let everyone have at it.

We eat curries a lot. Thai or Indian coconut curries with paste, a can of coconut milk, a bag of stirfry veggies can easily have a piece of rotisserie chicken added on the side or some chickpeas tossed in at the last second. DH and I might eat the curries with some salad on the side and the kids get a steamer bag of rice.

Basically, I cook a cut of meat, make sure there's a ton of fruits and veggies on the table for the kids, and then make a small of low-effort starch (bread, rice I've already made in the rice cooker or from a steamer bag, crackers, chips) and call it good. If I had to factor a vegetarian, I would focus on a vegetable based sauce/stew/curry and then just batch cook a lot of meat and keep canned beans, tofu, and cheese on hand to augment someone's meal on a given night.

I prep a lot of different foods on Sunday, we all eat difference versions of it throughout the week. Makes supplementing or swapping an item from one of my "planned meals" easy.

Example:

-Two kinds of protein (usually chicken and a fish)
-Starches (potatoes baked, rice cooked, quinoa cooked)
-Lots of roasted veggies, simple with olive oil and sea salt.

Lots of high flavor low calorie add ons, herbs, salsas, etc.

Avocado and fresh ground nut butters (our store has grinders) are my go to's for good fats.