Cheap Healthy Meals for ADHD Kids

Does the food our kids eat affect their behavior?

Many studies have been done to try to find a link between certain foods and ADHD symptoms. Some research points to preservatives and sugar as exacerbating symptoms, others have found little link between food and symptoms.

We are going with a common sense approach here: The fewer processed, chemical laden foods our ADHD kids eat, the better.

What are “Healthy” Meals for ADHD Kids?

For our purposes, Healthy meals are meals made from whole nutrient dense foods. They are anchored with high quality protein and include as many different fruits and vegetables as possible.

Healthy meals avoid preservatives, genetically modified foods, additives and food dyes.

We take the “Shop the perimeter of the grocery store” quite literally. If there are ingredients in something your grandmother wouldn’t know about or you can not pronounce, it’s a really great idea to not put it into your cart.

One big caveat: NO ONE IS PERFECT. If you follow this line of thinking 80% of the time, you are doing an awesome job. Birthday parties happen, trips to friend’s houses, etc. There is a balance – it’s just the “balance” should be tipped way in the favor of whole, foods.

Other smart Stuff to Consider For An ADHD diet

• Complex carbs such as apples and sweet potatoes raise serotonin levels without the crash.
• Drink plenty of water. The brain is 80% water, so keep it happy with lots of plain water.
• Choose organic when you can. Glyphosate(Round Up) is increasingly shown to be linked to the rise in ADHD.  The destruction starts in the gut – which we know is really our second brain. 
• Steer clear of GMO’s. Genetically modified food is bad news.  I do not want scientists creating my food, when mother nature does such a great job. 
• Choose real food over processed. When you eat real food, you automatically avoid all the chemicals used to process and keep food shelf stable.  Who wants to be eating things they can not even pronounce?
• Up your vegetable and fruit intake.Fruits and veg are filled with all sorts of great fiber, vitamins, minerals, and probiotics to feed your good gut bacteria
• Take great supplements  to ensure you are getting all the vitamins and minerals you need.

Special Instagram Series: Follow along as I show you exactly what I spent on groceries for a whole month!

Awesome Healthy Food Resources:  

Here’s a few awesome resources that make following an ADHD Diet so much easier!!

Kitchen Stewardship cookbooks by Katie Kimball are the BEST.  I own all seven of them and have used them weekly for literally 10 years and counting.

Imperfect Produce – this company delivers organic produce weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, to your door. It’s how I stay on budget and get great organic produce.  Use this link to get 10 bucks off (and give me a credit at the same time, thank you!!)

I have had this chopper for 14 years….seriously one of my most used kitchen items! Plus my kids love to use it – and I can use all the help I can get!

Great Websites for Healthy and Cheap Meal Ideas

The Loopy Whisk has great gluten free baking ideas. I have made her gluten free sandwich bread with great success.

Gluten Free on a Shoestring has wonderful dinner recipes, like gluten free meatloaf and this breakfast casserole. Nicole is a wealth of knowledge about gluten free cooking and baking and has a ton of great informational content on the site, as well.

Cotter Crunch has been around for a long time! They have tons of gluten free and dairy free recipes. This post about cheap, weekday meals is a great place to start.

Eating Bird Food has so many amazing high protein, allergen free recipes. Brittany specializes in tasty, veggie-full recipes, too.

Kitchen Stewardship is one of my favorite sites to get allergen free, easily modified recipes. Katie has a ton of free content and also amazing recipe ebooks.

97 Cheap, Healthy meals ADHD Kids Love

I am categorizing these meal ideas by our staples: eggs, pasta, potatoes, oats, almond/coconut flour, ground beef and fruits and vegetables.

 We often mix things up…dinner leftovers for breakfast, eggs for dinner….I believe good tasting, healthy food can be eaten anytime of the day.

***Save time and just follow my ADHD Diet Pinterest Board***

Links are provided when they are not self explanatory. Raw fruit and veg are on the table for every meal.

Cheap, Healthy Meals made with oatmeal:

• Oatmeal and Chia Seeds with Fruit
• G-free, Dairy Free Oatmeal Muffins
• Overnight Oats – Peanut Butter and Jelly
• Oatmeal Casserole (Our cool weather standby)
• Peanut Butter Energy Balls
• Peanut Butter Baked Oatmeal
• Superfood Overnight Oatmeal
• Healthy Sticky Bun Oatmeal Casserole (great for dinner!)
• Protein Power Oats – adding egg whites to microwave oatmeal is brilliant.
• Breakfast Brownies – great in lunch boxes too. I always add more superfoods to this recipe and an extra egg or two!

ADHD Diet Faves made with EGGS

• Scrambled eggs and bacon
• Scrambled eggs and bacon on toast
• Egg muffins with pepperoni and olives and fruit
• Egg and Banana pancakes – we use these like bread later in the week with nut butter for school lunches.
• Sweet Potato and Egg Pancakes
• Hardboiled Eggs and Frozen Blueberries(not mixed! Just two yummy and easy separates that we’ve eaten for countless breakfasts.)
• Easy Egg Bake with Veggies – scramble 12 eggs and throw in any veg in your fridge. Bake at 350″ until brown on the edges. Soo easy!
• Avocado Egg Salad – clever way to make this favorite really creamy.
• Toad in the Hole – a childhood favorite of mine and now of my kids!
• Turkey Sausage Egg Bake – so hearty and protein packed

ADHD Diet Faves With Sweet Potatoes

We mostly eat sweet potatoes( great for gut health, brain function and immune system) and eat the white version every once in awhile….but my kids love the white potatoes so much that I sometimes mix them in with the sweet to satisfy us both. 

• West African Peanut Stew – pictured above, it’s a family favorite even though my kids tend to pick out the kale!
• Apple and Sweet Potato Hash
• Roasted Sweet and Plain potatoes with onions, carrots and sausage
• Potacos – this is our concoction. We add ground beef, salsa, and shredded lettuce on top of roasted white potatoes. Hands down my kids favorite – I make a huge batch and we eat this two nights in a row at least every other week!!
• Mashed Potato Bowls – Mashed sweet, regular potato and cauliflower (equal parts of each) topped with sausage or ground beef and whatever veggies I have on hand.
• Vegetarian Quinoa Chili(I add diced sweet potatoes) from Kitchen Stewardship
• Black Bean and Sweet Potato Bake – one of my favorites. I take leftovers to work.
• This Lentil Shepard’s Pie can be made with sweet or regular potatoes

Easy, Homemade Protein snacks

These protein snacks are easy to make in big batches and keep on hand for rumbling tummies.

• Candied Pecans from AllNaturalMom
• The Ultimate Energy Ball Guide
• Banana Peanut Butter Parfait
• Crunchy Protein Bars
• Protein Cookies
• Tiramisu Chia Pudding
• Black Bean Brownies
• Flourless Pumpkin Muffins
• Protein Hot Chocolate
• Corn Free Cowboy Caviar

Super Easy, No Prep ADHD Diet Faves

• Hummus on toast, topped with sunflower seeds and olives
• Hummus on toast with walnuts and green olives
• Sun butter and apple slices
• Peanut butter and raisin sandwich
• Dairy-free yogurt and fruit
• Nut butter on gluten free bread
• A big chunk of grass fed butter on toasted gluten free bread
• Gluten Free Granola  (look at CostCo for the cheapest store-bought version) with almond milk
• Veggie burgers atop a salad or sometimes with Gluten free buns, lettuce and tomato
• Left over oatmeal topped with fruit, nut butter, raisins, coconut….like a sundae!

ADHD Diet : A Month of Groceries

ADHD Diet Faves Made with Nut/Coconut flour

• Chocolate chip Banana Coconut Flour Muffins
• Lemon Chia Muffins
• Almond Flour Pancakes
• Cowboy Cookies and Nut Butter
• Coconut and Almond Flour Blueberry Muffins
• Carrot Cake Banana Bread
• Blueberry muffins
• Banana Bread Cookies 

ADHD Diet Faves made with pasta

• Our favorite gluten free pastas are from Aldi, Trader Joes and Amazon.
• Pasta, Pesto(Aldi), and Frozen Broccoli
• Pasta, Olive Tapenade(Trader Joes) and Frozen Broccoli
• Super Easy Spaghetti Carbonara – my kids freak out over this.
• Pasts and Veggie Salad– a salad my kids LOVE.
• We add cooked pasta to our favorite boxed soups to give them more bulk.
• Lemony Spaghetti (use Gluten Free noodles)
• Avocado Pesto Pasta – a great way to get avocado into my kids!
• One Pot Taco Pasta – a fave of my boys. We omit the corn.

ADHD Diet Faves made with fruit and veg:

• Breakfast hummus and fruit
• Sunflower Caviar from Plan Simple Meals
• Easy Roasted Veggies with Tumeric
• Broccoli and Kale slaw
• Chickpea Kale Sandwich Spread – like hummus, only better
• Salad Bar – set out washed lettuce, chopped tomatoes, cukes, salsa, nuts, seeds, raisins, chicken, chopped peppers, whatever stuff you like on  a salad. 
• Rice bowls – We do this A LOT.  I’ll cook a batch of brown rice on Sunday night and just keep using different stuff from the fridge to top the rice with. My kids love to add salsa to anything!!
• Broccoli and Cauliflower Sunbutter salad – soo yummy and you can customize with your favorite raw veggies( we skip the cauliflower, altogether.) 
• Banana Splits for Breakfast(we use coconut yogurt)

ADHD Diet Faves made with grass fed ground beef

• Mini meat muffins
• Meat bowls – We start with ground beef and add any leftover cooked veg we have in the fridge. I’ll open a can of black beans to add and maybe frozen peas, too. 
• Sweet Potato and meat bowl – here is a good recipe that includes yummy spices.
• Easy, InstaPot Chili
• Super Easy Sloppy Joes – we just halve the sugar and serve over rice or with g-free buns. 
• Kitchen Stewardship Hamber Helper Substitute(we skip the cheese)
• Hamburger Soup – super easy and I can make a huge batch to eat for two or three meals.
• Sloppy Joe’s from ZenBelly – little more complicated than the first recipe, but love the spices – and I don’t always use them all. 
• Beef Taco Casserole – great for two nights in a row!!
• Mexican Beef and Potato Stew from Cheapskate Cook

ADHD Diet sweet treats

• Banana Blueberry  Vegan Ice Cream – amazing!!
• Chocolate Chick Pea Brownies 
• Bean Brownies from Plan Simple
• Superfood Dark Chocolate Energy Balls – these are packed with some of our favorite superfoods for ADHD.
• Banana Bread Balls from Real Everything
• Chocolate Chip Chick Pea Cookies – weird sounding, very delish!