Meal Ideas

[itlw8]

while we can help Dave out with meals that are easy to cook this would help all of us.

What are some time saving meals you prepare. How do you get variety, save money etc.


I use my bread machine to make small pizza crusts I prebake them until firm but not brown then top and freeze . Or freeze plain and the kids top their own. My boys ate them for breakfast when they were teens. Better than a bowl or sugar cereal and gave them protein.

I buy turkeys when they are cheap. I thaw one out enough to cut it apart. That night we roast the leg quarters. I take the breasts off and cut into filets and refreeze on a cookie sheet then bag when frozen. They carcus is them boiled and the meat is taken off the bone. I make soup ,pot pies, stew, what ever you would use chicken for. You can freeze cooked poultry but it needs to be in a sauce or it gets tough and nasty.


Freeze the broth to make soups and gravies.

[bluemoose_mom]

I make a crock pot full of spaghetti sauce, then freeze into meal appropriate sizes (one for my family, the rest for daycare).

I freeze several different hot dishes into daycare sized lunches. I also do this with home made pancakes, waffles, cookies, and muffins. I make ham once every two months, and freeze two child portion sizes in a baggie.

The rest of my meals are sandwiches, pizza, hotdogs, scrambled eggs, sausage, etc.

It takes me less than 30 minutes from start to finish (cooking, thawing, dishing up, cooling off, etc) to make a meal. I also have a menu that I follow (sometimes I don't make that meal on the right day, but I always follow it for the week) that I have a grocery list corresponding to for every week. Makes it very simple, and easy to tell what I need for the week.