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Home » How to Start » Meal Planning

10 Dinners Your Middle Schooler Kids Can Cook - Part 2

Being at home these last few months has had some positives, including more time for my kids to get back in the kitchen cooking dinner! This is something we started years ago (as I shared in my first installment in this series), but every so often life gets busy and something's gotta give, so we "fall off the wagon" in this department. But, not long after the world shut down, I reinstated their responsibility to choose and cook dinner once a week, and it's been GREAT!

Having your kids be completely in charge of a meal helps them build confidence and also learn a super important life skill. How can they eat healthy as adults if they don't even know how to use the stove? Or the oven? So, ask the tweens and teens in your life to choose a meal from the following ideas, get them the ingredients, and get started! Your kitchen might be a mess when they are done, but I PROMISE the outcome will be worth it in the end. Try these Easy Dinner Ideas too!


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How to Teach Your Kid to Cook

Doing is learning when it comes to cooking in the kitchen! But if you aren't sure where to start, then you'll love Camp Kitchen, a downloadable, at-home "camp" with five themed cooking days including all the recipes, structure, and shopping lists you'll need to breeze right through a variety of fun meals with your kids. Developed by our very own Kiran (food blogger and mom of four), this PDF would be the perfect jumping-off point to get your kids comfortable in the kitchen and asking for more!

10 Easy Dinners Your Tweens and Teens Can Make

1. Whole-Wheat Spaghetti and Meatballs


2. Asian Balsamic Sheet Pan Chicken and Veggies

Asian Balsamic Sheet Pan Dinner on 100 Days of Real Food

3. Super Quick and Easy Fried Rice


4.Chicken and Cheese Tostadas


5.Creamy Shrimp Pasta with Lemon

Creamy Shrimp Pasta with Lemon

6. Sheet Pan Sausage and Peppers


7. Easy Salmon Curry (a one-dish dinner!)


8. Creamy (Whole-Wheat) Mac and Cheese -> add frozen peas for a complete meal.

10 Real Food Recipes Every Cook Should Know! 10

9. Grilled Meat & Veggie Foil Packets

Grilled Meat and Veggie Foil Packets

10. Tortilla Soup

Does your middle (or high) schooler already cook dinner for you and have some go-to favorite recipes? If so, please share in the comments! I’d love to hear. :)

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About Lisa Leake

Lisa is a wife, mother, foodie, blogger, and #1 New York Times Best-selling author who is on a mission to cut out processed food.

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Welcome!


Meet Lisa! Lisa is a best-selling cookbook author, wife, mother, and passionate home cook. Lisa began blogging in 2010 and has created a community of millions of people who share her love of healthy living, real food ingredients, and family recipes.

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