If your family is bored of eating store-cooked chickens, try flavorful yet elegant, low-prep, 1-dish kid-friendly family chicken dinners. The same basic ingredients are used to create every meal with only a few additions, for distinctively different low-prep, easy-eating family meals.
Kid-Friendly Family Dinners with Minimal Ingredients
Get creative with an oblong-baking pan, a whole chicken (thoroughly rinsed off) with inexpensive boxed, flavored rice, pasta, or potatoes poured directly onto the pan bottom, along with the corresponding cheese or seasoning packets. Include several cups of water, as stated on box instructions, place the chicken on top, add a few additional ingredients, and then bake it all together in the oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
The uncovered chicken bakes effortlessly into a golden, sizzling crisp-skinned chicken, with moist, tender meat that falls off the bone, plus a perfectly cooked side dish, all in a single pot. Keep in mind you can also use your garden-fresh (or dried) herbs, fruits, and vegetables, as recommended in “How to Grow an EMERGENCY Garden”, along with the seasonings your family prefers.
Kid-Favorite 1-Pot Americana Family Meals
1. Cheesy Chicken with Broccoli Pasta
Simply add fresh or frozen broccoli tops or spears right into the mix of macaroni, cheese packet, milk, and water, beneath the chicken. Do not add the required butter, as the chicken fat will serve the same purpose, but do add garden-fresh cherry tomatoes for nutrition and color. Bake, and cool before serving.
2. Hawaiian Chicken & Teriyaki Rice
Combine 1 cup frozen peas, and a drained can of pineapple chunks (save juice to pour over chicken) with rice, and Teriyaki seasoning packet. Add several drops of Teriyaki (or soy) sauce with the drained pineapple juice, and pour over the chicken and rice before baking. Cook, cool, and serve with optional chopsticks for added table fun.
3. Oven Roasted Potatoes & Glazed BBQ Chicken
Wash and cut 6 large potatoes and 1 onion into 1″ cubes, place directly into the cooking pan, adding ¼ cup water, and sprinkling with sea salt. Add the chicken and pour an entire bottle of barbecue sauce over the chicken and potatoes, for a yummy barbecue glaze. Bake, cool completely, and then serve with an optional, nutritious veggie tray, to keep with a casual backyard-barbecue theme.
4. Apple-Cinnamon Wild Rice & Chicken
Wash, core and slice 3 apples, and an onion to combine with the wild rice mix, and spice packet. Add the recommended water, per box instructions, and then shake approximately 2 teaspoons of cinnamon into the rice, including ¼ cup of chopped walnuts or pecans. Position the chicken, and sprinkle with a light dusting of cinnamon before baking. Cook and remove from heat, allowing to cool completely before serving with a spoonful of Greek yogurt on top of the rice.
5. Country Chicken with Roasted Potatoes & Corn
Wash and cut 6 large potatoes and an onion into 1″ cubes, and place into the baking dish. Pour a can of corn (with liquid) over the potatoes, and sprinkle with sea salt. Add the chicken, bake, and allow to cool, before serving with cherry tomatoes on the side.
6. Orange Chicken with Sweet & Sour Rice
In the cooking dish add Teriyaki rice with suggested water (per box instructions) to the seasoning packet, along with 1 cup of frozen peas, adding the chicken over the rice. Juice 3 oranges and pour it over the chicken, then sprinkle with sesame seeds, and bake. Allow to cool before serving with fresh orange wedges on the side.
7. Rainbow Pasta & Chicken
Cover the rainbow pasta completely with water, and then place the chicken on top. Pour an entire jar (or can) of spaghetti sauce over the chicken and surrounding pasta, and then bake it. After removing from the oven, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and black-pitted olives. Serve with optional seasoned-bread sticks.
8. Chicken with Beans & Rice
Just add a can of pinto, kidney, or black beans, along with the herb rice, spice packet, and water (as called for on the box instructions). Pour an entire jar of mild-red salsa over the entire chicken, before baking. Cook, and cool completely before serving, with cherry tomatoes, and optional shredded lettuce, with taco shells.
Shopping Guide
For minimal shopping, and ease-of-preparation you will need to buy:
8 Whole chickens (with or without the gizzards inside)
Different boxed varieties of seasoned rice mixes and macaroni with cheese – Teriyaki rice, herb rice, wild rice, and mac & cheese
Bags of – rainbow vegetable-enriched pasta curls, sesame seeds, and walnuts or pecans
Cans of – corn, black-pitted olives, chunk-style pineapple, and pinto, red kidney, or black beans
Containers of – cherry tomatoes, and Greek yogurt (unsweetened)
Jars of – salsa, and spaghetti sauce
Bottles of – Teriyaki or soy sauce, and barbecue sauce (any variety except hot & spicy)
Shaker containers of – Parmesan cheese, and ground cinnamon
Frozen bags of – peas, and a bag of frozen broccoli tops
Fresh bags of – potatoes, yellow onions, apples, and oranges
Optional: veggie-tray, breadsticks, chopsticks, shredded lettuce, and taco shells
Each 1-dish chicken dinner will serve a family of 4 to 6, in 1 hour. Also see “6 Weeks of Extreme-International 1-Dish Chicken Dinners”.