If you often wish for more hours in the day, you are not alone. Most busy moms feel like they have endless to-do lists that involve chauffeuring kids all over town, running errands, working inside and outside of the home and trying to feed everyone reasonably decent meals. It’s enough to make even the most organized moms pine for 48-hour days.

Speaking of meals, while you would love to serve healthy and delicious dinners every night to your starving brood, some nights you just don’t have it in you to cook, and you end up ordering pizza or making a fast food run. While take-out food can be delicious, it is not super healthy; in addition to being full of fat and sodium, these meals can also make quite a hit to your monthly food budget.

Here’s some great news: it is possible to cook meals for your family that are easy, fast, healthy and tasty. Here are a few ideas.

Quick and Easy Paella

If your kids love rice, paella is one of those crowd-pleasing meals that cooks up in one vessel. While it might be technically possible to cook paella in a regular Dutch oven or other pot, it’s so much easier and turns out even better when prepared in a true paella pan. Once you have your pan, find your favorite quick and easy recipe. MommysHomeCooking.com features a swift and simple paella recipe, along with many other great dishes.

Prep time is a quick 18 minutes and cooking time is 20 minutes more, so in 38 minutes you can have a tasty and healthy meal on the table. Picky kids or adults in your home can avoid any ingredients they do not care for; and since it contains tomatoes, red pepper, and peas, you can be happy knowing you are feeding your family some veggies.

One-Pan Meatball and Pepperoni Pasta Bake

If you are hesitant to cook on busy nights because the lists of ingredients in most recipes seem too long, take heed: Five-ingredient recipes are easy to find online and in cookbooks. Pillsbury is a treasure trove of fast meal ideas, including this one for One-Pan Meatball and Pepperoni Pasta Bake. The prep part is especially fast and your kids will be sure to love this.

One-Pot Lemon Herb Chicken and Rice

Another lovely one-pot meal with a small number of ingredients can be found at Le Creme De La Crumb; the One-Pot Lemon Herb Chicken and Rice takes a mere 5 minutes to prep and 25 minutes to cook. It involves boneless and skinless chicken breasts, butter, some herbs and spices, rice, chicken broth and lemon, and can cook right on top of your stove. Serve with a side salad and some garlic bread that you can bake from frozen in your oven and you are all set.

Enjoy the peace of mind that comes with home cooked meals

If you are frustrated with spending your hard-earned money on takeout food, it is reassuring to know that you can buy budget-friendly ingredients and quickly combine them for tasty and healthy meals your family will enjoy. You can also involve your kids in the planning process; have them look at some cooking sites with you and bookmark quick recipes with a handful of ingredients that you want to try. You’ll have a good number of easy and tasty meals in your rotation list in no time.