Quick Meals

Although cooking from scratch is the ideal way to feed your family, busy lives occasionally get in the way. It does take extra preparation and time to do it all. I like to keep some quick and easy basic items on hand for those days when life comes at you fast.

Here are some things I keep on hand, and in my food storage:

kraft mac n cheese, canned foods (chili, soup, beans, tuna, chicken, spam, corn, peas, olives, diced tomatoes, along with basic ingredients used in recipes) store bought pasta, ramen noodles, pasta sauce, and salsa. And then, of course, there are all the things I haven’t learned to make from scratch like crackers, granola bars, breakfast cereal, and fruit snacks.

I also have a freezer full of basic ingredients and quick meals including store bought chicken nuggets, otter pops, and homemade waffles/pancakes.

We package leftovers to use for lunches, but a few times a week we designate dinner as a time to clear out the leftovers. On occasion I will freeze the leftovers to use as quick meals at a later time; which is a good way to keep healthy homemade food easily accessible.

If you have a lot of freezer space it works great to double the recipe for your meal and freeze the extras. Or, when you have a less busy day, just spend some time cooking food specifically to freeze. Think about the frozen packaged foods you normally buy and have on hand. Try and replace as many of those with homemade instead; one recipe at a time.