@Jodi1980 this past Saturday I spent 3 1/2 hours making 18 freezer meals. That was start to finish! I used www.iamthatlady.com - she provides all the instruction and shopping list, super organized, all 18 meals at once type of thing. I've done two different crockpot dump meal plans by her and the meals are really tasty! Highly recommend (you do have spend about $8 for the printable paperwork, but well worth it!)
Totally agree with this!! I'm doing her grilling freezer meal plan. I got it for $2.99 and well worth the money.
Trying to get the most meals for your money can be tough since meat can get expensive. Meals with beans can be a great substitute for meat in soups and sandwiches. I love making sloppy joes with 2 beans instead of ground beef or turkey!
Doesn't constitute for dinner but I just had the BEST salad in a long time for lunch! Peach and grilled chicken with spring mix lettuce, candied pecans, blue cheese, cucumbers and champagne cider scallion vinaigrette dressing. OMFG, I devoured it!
-Blackened Chicken and arugula alfredo stuffed spaghetti squash. -Sausage and kale stuffed portabella mushrooms with gruyere -Apple Cider Braised pork loin with Apple, onions, and cabbage. - Shaved ribeye sandwiches on sour dough with balsamic, blue cheese, red onion, and arugula. -Roasted butternut squash with Brussels sprouts and red onion.
I roasted halved spaghetti squash until it could be "noodled" (scraped with a fork). While it roasted I sautéed chicken that I chunked with blackening seasoning. Took the meat out and made an alfredo sauce. I added the chicken back in and some arugula. And stirred it until the greens had wilted. When the squash was done, I topped each half with the sauce/chicken mixture and shredded mozzarella cheese. Then I baked it until the cheese was melted and golden. There are lots of recipes on Pinterest if you need exact mesasurments. @shaylalr
Spaghetti and garlic toast for one tonight, DH's grad school schedule is brutal so he's home late every night and we just majorly slashed our budget, so I'm trying to be creative and cheap on food right now! Add that to LOs dairy allergy and it's been pretty boring over here. Ha. I did make pasta with sautéed veggies and cauliflower sauce yesterday, that was pretty good! Anyone have a favorite soup recipe? I think lots of soup is in our immediate dinner future!
Married 6/1/13
BFP #1 7/2013 MMC 9/17/13
BFP #2 5/2014 MC 6/15/14
BFP #3 11/13/14 (Found in ER with ruptured cyst) Diagnosed MC 11/15/14
BFP #4 4/2015 MC 7/1/15
BFP #5 10/21/15 EDD 7/3/16 Praying for our rainbow!
Here are 2 of my budget friendly soup favorites. Not sure if you have an Aldi near by but they sell 1 pound frozen ground turkey chubs for under $2! So I use that in both of these recipes instead of ground beef. Hope this doesn't come off offensive to anyone, I LOVE searching for "depression era and poor" recipes on Pinterest. So many budget friendly ideas.
You guys... dinner tonight was a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of orange juice. How do you find the time??
Food is my hobby so most nights, I don't find it hard to do. I enjoy it. I meal plan according to our schedule, prep things on weekends/my days off that'll take too long to do after work (like peeling and chopping my veggies to be roasted). M loves being worn, so as soon as she's eaten, I put her in my Tula or wrap, and start cooking. Cooking is therapeutic to me. That said, if it's not a good day or we're having a rough night, I have zero problem asking my husband to get sushi or saying it's a leftover night.
I do similar things as @LDSJM123 : plan out what i want to make for the week before i go foodshopping.. prep veggies or things that need to be chopped ahead of time.. with rice and potatoes i try to make enough for at least 2 dinners so i dont have to make rice say each night. I usually try to have Declan fed before that and i will put him in his bouncer in the kitchen to watch mommy cook. I still have to try our bjorn carrier!
I do the same. Plan and prep on the weekends. Make pasta or rice for more than one night. I also use my crockpot regularly. It's great for those longer meals like roasted chicken or pot roast. I also have my days planned (Monday is 'Mexican monday', Tuesday is Italian, Friday is Pizza, Saturday is a Linner out of the house, Sunday is a big meal for lunch leftovers (lasagna, ziti, pot roast, etc...).
I have made just about all of them. They are all very tasty. Not Guarmet, but tasty. For a super quick dinner, I love getting the uncle ben's steamer rice bags that get microwaved and a bag of frozen veggies. Active time in the kitchen, maybe 15 minutes. And that includes getting the food in the crock pot in the morning and plating. https://thefrugalgirls.com/5-ingredient-or-less-slow-cooker-suppers ;
A favorite of ours is I take frozen bone in, skin on chicken quarters, season them up with whatever sounds good but add some paprika, gives the chicken a beautiful color, and put foil wrapped whole potatoes on top ( you can "bake" potatoes in the crock pot. It's awesome!). Let it cook on low ALL day. I leave the house at 730 and at 530 dinner is perfect. Pair it up with a veggie and it's done.
Does anyone have an Instant Pot? A few of my friends do and they love it! There is a large Instant Pot Facebook group with great recipes. I'm asking for one for Christmas since my crockpot is dying. Last week I made bone broth in my crockpot and the handle on the lid broke off. After cooking for 8 hours DH asked where the screw was to hold the lid on. I'm like, screw? Crap. It cooked in the broth that whole time We still ate it.
I got an Instant Pot on Cyber Monday! So far I've made perfect hard boiled eggs, rice, beef stew, chicken pho, a whole cut up chicken, rice pudding and today is pulled pork and mac and cheese. It's awesome!
I made turkey and black bean low carb tortilla enchiladas last night. Loved by all! Including the husband haha! I saved some of the filling to use I L's quesadillas later on.
Re: What's for dinner?
https://therealisticorganizer.blogspot.com/2014/01/organized-slow-cooker-freezer-meals.html?m=1
This was another:
https://http//whoneedsacape.com/2012/11/crockpot-freezer-cooking/
Trying to get the most meals for your money can be tough since meat can get expensive. Meals with beans can be a great substitute for meat in soups and sandwiches. I love making sloppy joes with 2 beans instead of ground beef or turkey!
A few favorites lately:
-Blackened Chicken and arugula alfredo stuffed spaghetti squash.
-Sausage and kale stuffed portabella mushrooms with gruyere
-Apple Cider Braised pork loin with Apple, onions, and cabbage.
- Shaved ribeye sandwiches on sour dough with balsamic, blue cheese, red onion, and arugula.
-Roasted butternut squash with Brussels sprouts and red onion.
Tonight is sautéed eggplant and tomato over pasta with Riccotta and Parmigiana cheese
tomorrow, I'm pulling out the crockpot for some butternut squash soup
@ldsjm123 tell me more about this arugula alfredo stuffed squash! It sounds amazing.
Last night was grilled filet mignon..steamed carrots and roasted potatoes (used onion soup mix)
Also a big fan of beef enchiladas with rice and beans
Beef stew in the crock pot!
https://allshecooks.com/poor-mans-soup-2/
https://www.themagicalslowcooker.com/2015/02/10/poor-mans-stew/
@winnie1122
Plan and prep on the weekends.
Make pasta or rice for more than one night.
I also use my crockpot regularly. It's great for those longer meals like roasted chicken or pot roast.
I also have my days planned (Monday is 'Mexican monday', Tuesday is Italian, Friday is Pizza, Saturday is a Linner out of the house, Sunday is a big meal for lunch leftovers (lasagna, ziti, pot roast, etc...).
Do you by chance happen to still have those 4-5 ingredient "dump" crock pot meals? I would so appreciate them!
I have made just about all of them. They are all very tasty. Not Guarmet, but tasty. For a super quick dinner, I love getting the uncle ben's steamer rice bags that get microwaved and a bag of frozen veggies. Active time in the kitchen, maybe 15 minutes. And that includes getting the food in the crock pot in the morning and plating. https://thefrugalgirls.com/5-ingredient-or-less-slow-cooker-suppers ;
A favorite of ours is I take frozen bone in, skin on chicken quarters, season them up with whatever sounds good but add some paprika, gives the chicken a beautiful color, and put foil wrapped whole potatoes on top ( you can "bake" potatoes in the crock pot. It's awesome!). Let it cook on low ALL day. I leave the house at 730 and at 530 dinner is perfect. Pair it up with a veggie and it's done.
Edited- we ate it not are it.
-Herb Pork loin
-Pioneer woman lemon butter garlic Shrimp (AMAZZING!)
-Pasta Fagiole with pull apart garlic cheese bread.
My husband is home so I can finally cook a legit meal and not something that takes 10 minutes.
@TiffRox81
. @setosh