Here are some foods my kids love to eat that are fast, easy and inexpensive:

BREAKFAST

Pancakes

* Box mix that takes only water

* Frozen berries

* Whip cream

* Powdered sugar

Buying box mix that doesn't take butter, eggs or milk frees your money up for simple extras you can use as toppings. We very rarely use syrup because it's so messy.

Oatmeal

* Quick Oats

* Brown Sugar

* Raisins

* Milk

There are many ways of cooking oatmeal. You can eat it plain, or mix in some flavorful favorites. The good thing about oatmeal is you can make it in the microwave in just a few minutes.

Cinnamon Toast

* Bread

* Cinnamon sugar

* Butter

This is a good choice for discounted bread that isn't always so fresh. Preheat oven to 350. Spread butter on slices, and shake with cinnamon sugar. Bake 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how crispy you like it. This is a great side to serve with oatmeal, or with hot chocolate.

Jiffy Mix Muffins

Jiffy Mix makes a thousand varieties of muffin and bread mixtures. Most of them don't require a lot of ingredients to be added, and they're very inexpensive.

LUNCH

Potato Slices

* 3 to 4 large potatoes

* 1/4 cup Butter

* Rosemary

* Thyme

Preheat oven to 375 F. Wash and slice potatoes into rounds. Spread them over cookie sheet. Melt butter in microwave, add generous sprinkling of spices, pour over potato slices and bake 30 - 40 minutes. Extra benefit? Makes the house smell lovely.

Hotdogs

These can be cut up and used in a number of ways to stretch other foods - like Mac n Cheese or a monster-size can of baked beans. Most of those dishes allow you to sneak in other foods as well, everything from peppers to carrot pieces. However, these are some of my favorite hotdog lunches:

Wiener Winks

* Hot dogs

* Cheese slices

* Bread/Readymade croissant dough

Preheat oven to 350 F. Wrap hot dog in cheese and then either bread (5 to 10 min) or a ready-to-bake croissant (see can directions for time). You can also try to slip in some tomato slices, depending on how your kids react to those kinds of things. Otherwise, this is a great food for dipping in ketchup or mustard.

Corn Dogs

* Jiffy Mix (or similar) cornbread mix

* Hot dogs

* Cooking oil

Put oil on stove. Whip up cornbread mix. Cut hot dogs into smaller pieces, dip in cornbread mixture and deep fry. Though far from the healthiest meal, it's a good flavor for introducing stronger-tasting vegetables like asparagus. Also great with finger fruits like orange slices.

BBQ Buiscuits

* Readymade biscuit dough

* 1 lb hamburger

* 1/2 cup bbq sauce

* 1/2 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F. Brown hamburger. Drain. Mix in sauce and brown sugar. Press biscuits into muffin tin, fill with mixture and bake for 10 - 15 minutes. It's pretty easy to sneak onions or beans into the mixture, but other vegetables tend to take away from the taste. You can also top with shredded cheese.

SUPPER

Cowboy Stew

* 1 lb hamburger

* one can creamed corn

Brown hamburger. Drain. Stir in creamed corn. Yep. It really is that easy, and it's very good. This is one dish I wouldn't mix extra veggies into because it overwhelms the corn. However, most vegetables make good sides, and you can make it a fun "western" night by adding in cornbread with honey.

Spaghetti Surprise

* Angelhair pasta

* Cheap sauce

* Vegetables

It takes all of four minutes to boil the spaghetti. I cook the veggies in the microwave then stir them into the sauce. The kids have fun figuring out what they're eating, and they're getting a meal that's nutritious. This is one of my favorite things to make, and a good use for the end of a bag of vegetables. So what do you do with the extra sauce? Make...

Ravioli

* frozen Ravioli (I like Rosetto, no preservatives and usually under $2)

* sauce

Empty the bag into a microwave safe container, add 3/4 cup of sauce and 1/4 cup water (or 1/2 and 1/2 if you'd like it more like soup). Microwave according to package (8 minutes in our case). Viola! Yummy, fast, nutritious and inexpensive. You can serve with garlic bread (buttered, sprinkled with garlic salt and baked 5-10 min. at 350) and french-cut green beans for a nice sit down meal.