Great ideas! A couple more…brown rice, whole uncooked beans, and learn how to use a pressure cooker (you can get one cheap at the thrift store). As poor hippies, back when dinosaurs roamed the planet, we would pressure cook up a big container of rice, a big container of beans and put them in the fridge. For dinner a quick roast of a handful of seeds (sesame, sunflower) set aside, a stir fry of carrots, onions and bell peppers, or any other veg you fancy, maybe a little chopped meat but not necessary, mix the cooked rice and beans and seeds in, season with soy sauce, thyme, cumin, pepper, garlic (great when chopped and sauteed with the veg). Low heat until hot. Easy, quick, nutritious, filling. Encourage the kids to chew, helps digestion and feeling full.

Lentils are cheap, lentil chicken soup with the veg, soy sauce or miso, curry powder for both dishes. simply wash the lentils in pan, cover with water two finger joint or so above beans, bring to boil and then cover, turn down to simmer. Saute veg and meat, chicken is great, add in after beans have cooked for 30 min or so. let it all simmer and gain flavor, make sure lentils are very soft for digestion. Hearty, tastes great, full of vitamins and minerals. If you use miso mix a hearty tablespoon or two with the hot broth and mix back in with the soup to steep. The old “involuntary Macrobiotic”;)