A few weeks ago I referred to a conversation with someone about parenting not being simple, but we can make other parts of our life (such as our homes & meal plans) simple.
Today's lunch was just that! Leftover berries from breakfast, oven roasted potatoes, a bag of frozen green beans, and chicken thighs seasoned & cooked in the air fryer. I'm alway surprised when a delicious (& colorful) meal comes together.
Many people prefer menu planning, but I prefer shopping my freezer & pantry. (I'd like to say I shop the sales, but I shop Aldi & Walmart so there aren't really sales.)
True confessions: I tried one of those meal service plans, like Hello Fresh, but it didn’t work for me, because I had to babysit a recipe for 30 solid minutes, doing tasks the whole time. In my life these days, I need to spend 1-2 minutes putting things in the crockpot, instant pot, air fryer, or microwave. That’s what works for me, and so these recipes work well for us.
My current menu plan is SIMPLE. I use my air fryer 80% of the time.
1) Salmon (frozen from Aldi) in the air fryer. A bag of frozen broccoli in the microwave. And rice. (Rolls for the rest of the family. Can add salad, too.)
2) Chicken thighs, a bag of frozen vegetables &/or salad, and a starch.
For a starch, I rotate oven roasted (or air-fryer roasted) potatoes, rice, sweet potatoes, tater tots, hash browns, instant mashed potatoes, quinoa or (more rarely) baked potatoes.
3) Sloppy joes, buns, veggie sticks
4) spaghetti, salad, green beans, garlic bread
5) hamburgers with buns & toppings
6) chicken patties with buns
7) pork chops with frozen vegetables & a starch
8) Pork burgers, veggies, starch
9) Li’l Cheddar Meat Loaves, starch, veggie
10) Tacos or nachos (I'd like to try Lawnmower Taco Casserole)
11) Chicken Enchilada Casserole (I use canned chicken)
12) Garden Loaf (Quaker Oats Salmon Loaf Recipe)
13) egg roll in a bowl, Egg roll in a bowl can be ground turkey, pork or chicken.
For recipes that typically call for ground beef I often use ground turkey.
This post started out in response to a friend's request for quick & easy recipes for her young adult son. I added:
Most of the recipes I listed can be made in advance, and frozen. So one Saturday you could make chicken thighs & pork burgers. Freeze them. Alternate eating one/day. The next Saturday make lil cheddar meat loaves & sloppy joes. Now you have 4 options to choose for each day.
Aldi has ready-to-eat quinoa cups: I take them to the ball field instead of eating concession stand food. :)
My favorite meal to take using those containers … string cheese, a cutie orange or apple slices, veggie slices (peppers or cucumbers), a boiled egg [that’s another tip - boil a bunch of eggs once a week, and you’ll always have a quick and easy cheap protein in your fridge], maybe some rolled up deli meat, an individual serving of mini-guacamole (sold in a box of 5 in the produce department) and some tortilla chips or pretzels or nuts.
What's your favorite quick & easy meal?
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