If your family likes soup, Fall is the perfect time to start experimenting. I love soup because I can make enough for more than one meal and it most freezes well. There is so much variety -- minestrones, chowders, lentils, etc. and you can usually modify the recipe to suit whatever you have on hand. If soup isn't your style, try stews or beans instead. Add a loaf of good bread and you have a delicious, healthy meal with leftovers.

I like the recipe website Epicurious -- good search engine, loads of recipes and lots of reviews from home cooks. There are many other good recipe websites where you might find inspiration. Give it a shot!

The main thing that makes it difficult is having a vegetarian be one third of the eaters. If she's a standard lacto-ovo vegetarian, that means she can eat anything but some of the proteins. Good proteins are essential for good health, and you can't really substitute fresh vegetables, even legumes, and have a sufficient amount, so I'd start with the proteins first, and plan dinners around them, unless your daughter is getting plenty at meals she doesn't eat with you.

As to the rest, if you eat out and have done Hello Fresh, surely you've learned what you all like to eat. That's the place to start looking for recipes. If you like burgers, okay, find a good way to make them at home. Substitute seitan + soy sauce for your daughter, or other concentrated vegetable protein, or eggs (egg burgers are actually good). If you like grilled chops, those are dead easy, and grilled vegetable protein can be delicious and also easy.

Find a recipe for something you like with a possibility to sub something your daughter will like and eat, and learn one recipe. Fill in other days with things you already know how to do. Then learn another recipe. It'll be a heck of a lot easier if you add one recipe per week to your repertoire, rather than trying a whole new program and getting overwhelmed.

I would go with your instinctive Meat, salad and a side......and if your daughter is vegetarian not vegan, make sure there is egg, cheese and some beans in the salad
Things like grilled chicken, green salad with some garbanzo beans and quartered sliced egg and a balsamic vinaigrette...Oven "fried" salmon ( will she eat fish?) and a salad of black beans corn, tomatoes, avocado, onion in a light vinaigrette.
Add some lentil soup and corn bread ( the amino acids in beans and corn combine to make a complete protein) with a green salad.
Cheese/egg strata is a great meat free meal..
Corn chowder with out the ham, tomato basil soup....
And in a pinch you could cook up some tofu.

I think of a dinner as a vegetable, a starch and a protein. So just look at the store and decide what is in season and looks good that you want to cook. For a starch, I learned to cook potatoes to please my father. Every dinner had to include potatoes--baked, mashed, fried, au gratin, boiled, parslied, etc. But also in the starch category are noodles, rice and other grains, pastas, and even starchy vegetables like acorn squash or corn on the cob. For a protein, check out the meat department--beef, pork, poultry, fish. Then also consider eggs and cheese. An omelette works for a dinner for me as does a quiche. Vegetables can be cooked or even a nice salad, keeping in mind that lettuce is not a particularly nutrition loaded food, so add other things to the lettuce.

We use Home Chef, and really like it for the reasons you like Hello Fresh.

After 40 years of cooking, I was tapped out. Seemed like we were eating the same meals week after week.

We started using Home Chef when I had knee surgery and I couldn't stand or shop, thinking we'd only use it for a couple of months. We've used it for a year now, we order 4 or 5 meals every week. Interesting ingredients, interesting combinations and the food is fresh, and good.

There are four of us eating and we can get by with a two person meal plan because we don't eat a lot of meat, and the meals easily feed two adults and two children. It sure saves money and we don't waste food.

I do keep some staples on hand, like potatoes, tomatoes, rolls, and seasonal fresh produce.

All the menus and recipes from Home Chef are online and downloadable, I would suspect the same is true for Hello Fresh. Since you already have an account, you should be able to browse their menus and download the menus and recipes for meals you'd like to try, and double or triple the recipes for leftovers.

I downloaded a couple of our favorites and made them when I was on vacation.

There are online sites that provide menus and shopping lists. Some are free, some require a small subscription.

Eating Well

eMeals - $5 a month for a 12 month subscription

Whole Foods offers menus and meal plans

There seem to be a lot on Pinterest, too.

Bon appetit

I agree, there are many resources on line. Depending on what you like, there will be sites available from places like Vegetarian Times, Eating Well, even the Mayo Clinic. Many sites also have sections that are vegetarian, like Epicurious (which I also like) and Taste of Home. All these are free of charge and I just checked the Eating Well site, they have various menus available, including vegetarian. There are many more sites which will provide a menu for you for a fee. None of the free ones that I am aware of will give you a shopping list, only the recipes and the menus. I haven't used any of the others, so I don't know what you get from them.

As has been said, you know what your family likes, so expand on that knowledge. You've done some cooking (as evidenced by your HelloFresh experience) so that's a good place to start. I used to make my daughters sit down every weekend with cookbooks and each was responsible for 3 days worth of dinner. I then took my "menu", made my grocery list and did the shopping. You might have your daughter help with menus, since she's the only household member who is vegetarian, and she may have some very specific ideas and requests.

Good luck! Since you don't enjoy planning meals, and don't enjoy/have time for grocery shopping, I don't think this is going to be a particularly enjoyable experience for you. I can only hope that you actually like it more than you think you will, or at least find it tolerable not such an egregious chore as you fear.

Annie

There are recipe books out that, for example, only use 5 ingredients per meal to make it simpler. Check out Jamie Oliver's latest book.

You need to elaborate a bit more on your cooking arrangement. Looks like there are three adults in the household - do they all have a share in the cooking? What kind of vegetarian is your daughter? Are all meals vegetarian or is she responsible for supplementing her meals accordingly?

DH doesn't cook (but he does all of the cleanup). DD has only been here a few weeks and we've been pretty much cooking and eating separately. She eats eggs and dairy, but no fish, poultry, etc. DH doesn't mind an occasional vegetarian meal, but I do--it's hard for me to get enough protein without meat.

We have planned some specific meals for this coming week (DH will be gone most of it). We bought cheese tortellini and both regular/veggie meatballs, so we can eat together. She's never made a portabella burger before, but I have a HelloFresh burger for this week, so we'll have burgers together.

I'd never heard of Freezer dump meals for the crockpot before but they sound like a great idea for us. When the kids were younger, I did the 'cook all day' and fill the freezer thing with a monthly meal plan. I can't seem to get myself motivated--and my tastes have evolved :-). Perhaps I need to follow Annie's advice and just do it. I always told the kids (and tell myself)--you don't have to wanna--you just have to do it.

That sounds like a good idea, the meal plan, cook all day, fill the freezer, just do it. Once you get going on it (you can use different recipes for your evolved tastes!), you'll only have the onus now and then. If you can get it on a schedule of every ten days or so, once you have a base built up in the freezer, you can take more advantage of seasonal foods and specials.

There isn't much protein in mushrooms, including portabella, so maybe make it a cheeseburger?

Perhaps, you can make and freeze a bunch of basic pieces, and your daughter can prepare fresh produce for everybody to complement the meal?

Beth, I had to smile, I used to tell my youngest daughter "You don't have to wanna-you just have to do it". She argued with me a lot. I won. (grin)

When I was working and short on time, I used to make everything a "double batch". Instead of one pan of lasagna, I made two and one went in the freezer. Same with soup, muffins, pancakes, meatloaf, scalloped potatoes, whatever. I also made a lot of "muffin tin" portions of things like mashed potatoes and then one could be removed from the freezer and rewarmed by one of the kids, or I could thaw four and make a topping for shepherd's pie. That worked for spaghetti, mac and cheese, meatloaf, I found that crustless quiche freezes really well, without the crust, and stuff like cookie dough was frozen in portions but uncooked, so I could pop a dozen in the oven and have fresh cookies if company came.

Anyway, making double batches meant I only had to cook half as much of the time, and if I had a real time crunch I knew I had that "bank" of meals to use. I lived in a very small town a long way from anywhere and so did not have the luxury of fast food or pizza, and there was only one restaurant in town, so you didn't want to eat there every. single. day. I remember how excited I was when the grocery store expanded and got a DELI!! Yes, I could buy macaroni salad and sliced cheese and fried chicken, it was so exciting. (snicker) That wore off about the second time I bought the greasy fried chicken kept under the warmer...

Annie

Thanks everyone for the encouragement!

I put together a monthly calendar (now through the end of the year), filled in all the known calendar stuff, and then filled in some meals for September--especially next week. (Oh--DD and I had a lot of fun making the calendar pretty)

I've made a list of crockpot dump meals for the freezer. I'll make the shopping list this week (or have her do it, since she's still job hunting) and we will go grocery shopping after the Farmer's Market on Saturday. Then we'll make the meals (7 for me, 4 for her).

Before we go shopping, I'll plan out the next empty week--and see how following a plan goes.

Side dishes are hard, though :-(

That's a good idea, Beth. I especially like the entry on the 10th. 'Ice Cream'. My kind of woman, plan dessert first, or just have dessert for dinner! (grin)

Annie

I have noticed in my own life, that there are two schools of thought, and both work OK, both have their down sides. I follow one, SO follows the other. My school of thought is like what has been discussed, cook up a big passel of food and then use parts of it for meals the rest of the week. Things like a roast on Sunday or a big pasta dish, enchiladas or stir fry. Roast chicken on Sunday, leftovers for sandwiches or to add to salads or pasta, and then big pot of soup for the carcass. Lots of good vegetarian canned or boxed soups to have on hand for your daughter in a pinch. Freeze what you can't fit into the freezer for quickie "poof" meals, (Pull it Out Of the Freezer). I often make soups, pastas or stir frys to use up bits and bobs of what is languishing in the fridge. I'll make a batch of muffins and then have them for a snack all week, etc. The downside of my way of doing it is sometimes your brain and body is just too tired to pull it off.

We try really hard to save money by not buying a lot of the "convenience" foods, but if your pantry is bare and you end up eating out, you're not really saving money. So I have broken down and started to use baking mixes, salad mixes, canned baked beans, canned seafood, and jarred pasta sauce, and frozen vegetables. They are wonderful and still save you money over buying the whole thing already made by someone else.

SO's school of thought is having a few standard meals that he really likes, very simple, and putting them together quickly for a meal. So his version of a chicken dinner would be a boneless chicken breasts well-seasoned and cooked in a pan, the perfect amount of a vegetable side either steamed fresh or some frozen version, and a starch like potatoes, rice or a roll. Salad sometimes too, made just the perfect quantity in individual bowls. He might do pasta and top it with the chicken or sausages. He will make just enough for the two of us. He's a big believer in seasoning mixes, like Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb. I on the other hand, have a pantry full of spices, most of which are too old to be any good! SO is efficient, I am expansive! The downside of SO's way of doing thing is you never have any leftovers, so lunches have to also be made from scratch and sometimes you're just too tired for that whole gig too. So when you have the energy it pays to make something big and freeze. A mix of styles.

We also use the crockpot a lot. The best use for that is some well seasoned type of meat, and root veggies. Very nice to have a hot meal ready ahead of time! I'm putting a chicken in to stew today before I go off to work, for example. Another one of our "poof" meals, (this time Pull it Out Of the Fridge") is braised cabbage, onion, carrots, maybe celery if I have it, and sausages. I use a mix of kielbasa for SO and fake kielbasa for me, since I am not a huge meat fan either. Or use some Italian seasoned stewed tomatoes in with the mix and Italian sausages. Or you can poach some eggs in the stew and that could be for the vegetarian.

Over the years, I have found a lot of good recipes in the "Cooking Light" magazine. Quite a few duds too, but when they are good they are usually really good. SO never uses a recipe, but makes the same things he knows he likes over and over. Hey, if it aint broke, don't fix it! Most of the world eats like that and so did we before all these new markets were created for fru fru stuff. So together our cooking is a mix of his solid, tried and true, and me throwing caution to the wind and mixing it up a bit from time to time. The best thing for you is to find a system that works most of the time for your tastes and energy level.

I wanted to thank everyone again for encouraging me--and share my successes/plans.

First off, DH has been gone all week and DD and I have not gone out to dinner once. That's a huge success. And DH and I only went out once last week--a date night. That's also a success--we were going out 4-5 times a week! I even had a "don't feel like cooking" night when he said "then we can go out" and I said "no--we have food in the house". (Didn't wanna--but I cooked)

I have meals planned for the next week, a list made out for the farmer's market for produce and then another list for the grocery store. I have a list of crockpot freezer dump meals to make up (and the ingredients are on the shopping lists). DD is going to add to the shopping lists for her entrees and to make some of her own crockpot freezer dump meals. (I have a crockpot collection--there's no shortage of crockpots)

I'm also trying out HomeChef, but only intend to keep one of HomeChef and HelloFresh (or keep them both but skip one of them every week)

I'm pretty excited about my updated calendar and actually having a Plan!

(On the negative, I've really slacked off on my Spanish studies)

Wow, you are organized! My notes just got jotted onto a notebook, then I hoped I didn't misplace the notebook.

Hooray for a week without restaurants. I think all of us have "don't feel like cooking nights". Fortunately my husband likes to cook too, so occasionally he cooks. Other times I open a jar of home canned soup and we have egg sandwiches or put together a big plate of nachos. Somehow I can't seem to make a small batch of soup...

Congratulations on your good start. Cook some Mexican food and maybe it can double as new Spanish words. Carnitas, arroz con pollo, carne asada, salsa (roja and verde). Piquante! Caliente! Comida! I can't speak a second language but I can sure talk food. (grin)

Annie

Excellent progress! The calendar looks good. Enough to keep your plans in order without being boring or rigid. Shopping lists are the best. It's so much easier to cook if your ingredients are just right there. Super congrats on the "no, we have food". Getting back into the rhythm of cooking (or putting together the meal from predone pieces) is the hardest part. Being waited upon is relaxing. Preparing meals can be fun, but is still work.

Re the Spanish studies, perhaps use some apps? Like if you need to read a text, have an app read it to you while you're working? Then when you go to read it, it'll be more like rereading and go faster. Or use an app to drill you on vocabulary, or whatever. For general use, try playing a Spanish TV show with subtitles, or even without if you're fluent enough to get half the words. I have tertiary language interference and it's been a long time since I had to use a lot of Spanish, and was only moderately fluent to begin with, but I find I can understand TV dramas pretty well (not telenovelas where they emote all over with a lot of fast dialog, but mysteries or historicals where there's more action than verbiage). The subtitles will give you that one important word that you've never heard before. Just don't look at them and cut at the same time. :)

So, I'm another week and a half in since my last update.

We haven't eaten out for dinner. Wow. I'm getting in the habit of cooking. Tonight I made a way-too-big ham/potato casserole (lots of leftovers). I've been making the meals from the delivery service. I have a bunch of dump meals in the freezer and we've had two of them. Both could have used more seasoning but were good. I got most of the recipes from whoneedsacape.com and I think they're more family/kid friendly, so perhaps a heavier hand with the spices is called for. My daughter said hers was good, too--she made some vegetarian ones.

I've started my shopping list for next week--I'm going to try a recipe that I pulled from Home Chef--it was the only one that sounded good to me for that week, so I didn't get it--but I'm going to buy the ingredients and make it.

I'm getting lots of support from my kids--they're both glad I'm cooking more from fresh ingredients and am eating at home more.

I would also recommend, simple meals....like grilled chicken breast...or hind quarter and a baked potato and a steamed vegetable....and you could grill a smalls teak, pork steak or chop, a salmon steak....fix a side of rice....or quinoa or couscous or pasta and a simple vegetable....all meals don't have to be a "recipe". Sprinkle some salt and pepper and grill away.
Or oven fry....put those meats into a 475 oven on foil on a pan and cook that way.

Good for you, Beth. You're saving money and probably eating a lot more healthy foods. I just get tired of restaurant food, it all seems to taste the same after a while.

I need to get myself organized and make some freezer meals myself, now that canning season is winding down. I'm sure I won't be as organized as you, though, with calendars and spreadsheets. I should do that more too, and end this last-minute-what-shall-I-cook-for-dinner issue.

Annie

Annie, if you private message me with your email address, I'd be happy to send you my calendar document to use as a template.

Thanks, Beth, but I've already found one, now I've just got to use it. (Well, actually my step-son found me one, he's head of IT for a big utility company, and solves all my computer issues for me, LOL) My problem is that I farm, have my own home raised pork, beef and chicken, canned and frozen vegetables and fruits from rhubarb to kale. But, somehow or another, I never have anything taken out of the freezer and thawed for dinner. If I could convince myself to think even one day ahead, I'd be ready!

Annie