A week of coming home to dinner that’s already half done sounds like a dream come true. Some weeks are just so busy, we wonder how we can fix any dinner at all. Our evenings are booked solid! Going through fast-food drive-thru windows for five nights in a row is NOT the best solution. Instead, you need to prepare your own “fast food”.
This is my method of making my own “fast food”:
Saturday – Plan meals and grocery shop.
Sample meal plan:
Monday: Shredded chicken BBQ sandwiches, sweet potato fries
Tuesday: Hamburgers with lettuce, tomato, onion, mac-n-cheese
Wednesday: Grilled or baked chicken, baked potatoes, vegetable
Thursday: Baked fish (enough for two meals), rice, vegetable
Friday: Fish tacos, spanish rice
Saturday: Meatball subs, fresh cut-up veggies
Sunday: Lasagna, salad
Write your list of ALL ingredients needed for ALL meals. Remember to add spices, condiments, freezer bags, aluminum foil, and index cards for labeling. Then shop for everything you’ll need.
Sunday – Prep Day
A lot of us stay home on Sunday afternoon, so it’s the perfect time to work in the kitchen on meal prep for the week. You can even do this while helping kids do homework. You won’t be able to cook an entire week’s worth of dinners, but you can do a lot of the prep work.
Here is how I would prep for the sample menu above:
- Make lasagna, put in freezer, and label with date and instructions.
- Make mac-n-cheese.
- Make hamburger patties and freeze for hamburgers later in the week.
- Make meatballs for sub sandwiches and freeze.
- Cook chicken breasts in slow cooker, then shred for BBQ sandwiches.
- Prep/chop veggies such as lettuce, sliced tomatoes, sliced onion for hamburgers. Chop onion, green pepper,lettuce, tomatoes for fish tacos. Put all veggies in plastic containers or ziplock bags.
- Label everything.
- Put pre-made entrees in freezer on a designated shelf. Put other dinner ingredients in refrigerator on a designated shelf. Keep chopped/pre-cut veggies in vegetable bin in refrigerator.
- For a time-saving bonus, premake sandwiches for lunches and cut up celery sticks, carrots, and fresh fruit and put in one section of refrigerator for easier mornings.
Eact night, plan the next day’s dinner entree, put in refrigerator with all other side items and ingredients. If you can delegate the first person home to start dinner, just list the step-by-step instructions on the entree with side items that go with it.
It sounds like a lot of work for one day, but on busy weeknights, you’ll be so glad you did it. Dinner will be easy and done in no time! Please leave comments and let us know if this helped and let us know some of your great tips for making easy meals. Happy cooking!