Sarah from Sarah’s Deals shares with us how you can have quick meals without a lot of planning!
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I Don’t Really Menu Plan…..I Plan Quick Ways to Make a Meal
Okay, I’m going to attempt to better explain the way my family eats. I don’t menu plan. Never have. We are also not a casserole family….not often anyway. Several years ago I put a lot of time into researching methods for quick, easy, balanced meals. I utilize my freezer and pantry space to the max to make this work for us. Some families prefer to cook from scratch and I’m sure that there are ways to make that easier too….like an afternoon of preping and freezing every couple weeks.
What I’ve come up with works well for us, this will not be the case for everyone. Each family is different, but maybe one or two meals a week planned this way will take some of the strain off if you are time crunched and always seem to be behind. I’ve managed to make this work for us after several years. It didn’t happen overnight, but with this as a guide, maybe you can make something work for you.
I do some prep work and have my freezer and pantry set up for 20 minute and under meals. Dinners typically include a meat, a pasta or bread, and one or two veggies. Lunches are usually a meat/cheese, bread/pasta and fruit or veggies. Breakfast is usually cereal/pop tarts/toast and sometimes fruit. Snacks throughout the day are sometimes junk food, often fruits/veggies/pretzels/tortilla chips/granola bars.
This hamburger can be quickly added to many things without the time to cook it. Some of my staple hamburger uses:
Hamburger Helper
Spaghetti (meat dumped in sauce to warm up)
Taco Meat
Goulash Sloppy Joes
Added to the few casseroles I do make
Chicken is typically purchased in bulk on sale, then put into bags with the marinade, then placed in the freezer. When we are having chicken for dinner, it comes out of the freezer in the morning, is placed in the fridge to thaw through the day and the meat marinates as it thaws.
I purchase 5# of precooked and pressed ham at Walmart for $7.88. I have the deli thick slice it for me (they do this as a free service), and I take it home and package it for individual meals. I get 8-9 meals worth of meat out of each package. These can thaw in the fridge, or since they are precooked, I can dip them in warm water and have them just thawed enough to pull part for cooking after 2 minutes!
I detailed the meat above because that is the largest amount of my prep/planning time most weeks. To go along with the meat, we keep on hand:
Canned/frozen/fresh veggies
Canned/fresh fruit
Boxed/fresh potatoes
Boxed/bagged pasta
Canned/jar sauces
Frozen/fresh/packaged rolls/bread
Canned soups
For smaller meals and snacks I keep on hand:
Chicken nuggets/fish sticks
Frozen pizza
Frozen fries/potatoes
Chips/pretzels
Salsa/dips
Cheese sticks
Hot dogs/balogna/smoked sausage/lunchmeat
Mac and Cheese
and much more!
I take a visual inventory of my pantry every week. When I’m beginning to get low on something, I start watching for it to go on sale again. I often have enough alternatives that we can eat well even if we go without one particular item for a couple weeks. We are often just as happy with plain buttered noodles instead of Pasta Roni.
So, what’s for dinner? Whatever we want….and it can usually be prepared in under 20 minutes and many times about 10.
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I’m a part time working mom of two who’s been married for 10 years. I was raised in a low income household and try to live economically through sales and coupons. I’ve called Michigan home for my entire life and want to share the deals with all who find me. You can find Sarah at Sarah’s Deals
