1. Spaghetti – It’s easy to quickly boil noodles and simmer some spaghetti sauce. Spaghetti has so many add-ins your family will enjoy: Italian sausage, hamburger, diced vegetables and a variety of herbs and seasonings. For a low calorie meal, use spaghetti squash in place of traditional noodles.

2. Tacos – Olay! If your family likes Mexican food, whip up a batch of tacos for dinner. Use hard and soft shells for variety. For family menu planning, dice the fixin’s ahead of time so you can just pull them out on taco night.

3. Macaroni and cheese – What kid doesn’t like this as a dinner main dish? Spice it up with diced tomatoes, crumbled bacon, sliced hot dogs or hamburger.

4. Pizza – This is not the store-bought or the delivery. Keep several prepared pizza crusts on hand (like Boboli for instance). On pizza night, let the entire family choose which toppings they want on their pizza. Prep time is fun so it doesn’t last long and it takes about 20 minutes or so to bake.

5. Skewers – you can create tasty chicken, pork, seafood or beef kebobs quickly. Skewer the meat and your favorite vegetables and place them in a sealed container until meal day. This is the benefit of meal planning – getting prep work done early. Cook your tasty kebobs on a gas grill or use a grill pan indoors.

6. Hot dogs – Nothing could be easier than throwing them in a pot of boiling water or grilling them up. For the health-conscious family, use light franks or turkey franks by Oscar Mayer or Ballpark.

7. Chef salad – Salads are always quick to fix but they usually lack something in the taste department. With a chef salad you get your portion of protein from lean ham or turkey. The taste comes from the add-ins: bacon crumbles parmesan cheese, tomatoes, shredded cheese, black beans and cucumbers. Use others that your family likes.

8. Grilled cheese sandwich – Dinner doesn’t need to be a four-course meal. For a new taste, add deli meat or a juicy tomato.

9. Tortilla wraps – Create delicious quick sandwiches with your favorite flavor of tortilla. Glaze with mustard or low calorie mayonnaise. Add crunchy veggies and diced chicken, pork or beef.

10. Leftover creations– Use leftovers to create salads, casseroles, sandwiches and soups. Don’t let anything go to waste if it can be used for new meals.

Let these ideas spark your interest in having a great meal with your family.

Family meals can be quite expensive if you don’t plan ahead. For instance, if ground beef is on special this week, buy more than you need and freeze it. Our family has six members, so each meal can be potentially costly. We generally cook spagetti bolognaise once a week as everyone loves it.

But ground beef can be as expensive as $11 per kilo here in Australia. When it’s on special, I buy up big and split the packages into meal sizes so they’re ready when I need them.

Same goes for the spagetti sauce we use. It is often on special at $1 per jar less. So I’ll buy 6-12 jars when that happens. Cheddar cheese is rarely on special, but when it is, I again buy up big. Since cheese has a very long ‘best before’ date, there’s no problem keeping several packages in the pantry.

Plan ahead and take advantage of sales and enjoy massive savings. Your budget will love you for it.

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