Thankfully, meal planning and cooking at home can help you save some serious cash. Combine this meal plan with budget-friendly breakfast and lunch recipes to save even more during the week. Get the Printable Shopping List Here.

Pictured Recipe: Tomato Bun Tuna Melt. Budget Tip: Budget-friendly canned fish, like tuna and wild salmon, are convenient options for fast and healthy dinners on a budget. At a fraction of the price of fresh or frozen fish, you'll get the same health benefits from canned options, like healthy omega-3 fats and protein.

You can still plan to check out the fish counter when you do your grocery shopping to see what fresh seafood options are on sale. Frozen fish may be the better option as it's often less expensive, and you can defrost it when you're ready to use it so you know it's fresh.

Pictured Recipe: Vegetarian Spaghetti Squash Lasagna. Budget Tip: Going meatless a few times a week is good for your health, good for your wallet and good for the environment.

This vegetarian spaghetti squash lasagna, with 18 grams of satisfying protein and 7 g of filling fiber , is a great budget recipe you'll turn to time and time again.

Pictured Recipe: Easy Chicken Fried Rice. Budget Tip: Fried rice with plenty of vegetables and a little meat is an obvious choice when you want to make a quick and healthy dinner that's easy on your wallet.

Feel free to throw in whatever veggie odds and ends you have in your fridge. Being versatile and using what you have on hand helps you save money and minimize food waste.

Pictured Recipe: Roasted Buffalo Chickpea Wraps. Budget Tip: Canned beans are an affordable, healthy and convenient ingredient that add satisfying protein and fiber to your meals. Here, canned chickpeas replace the more-expensive chicken but still deliver that satisfying Buffalo flavor.

Stock up when beans go on sale and use in wraps, salads, soups, stews and more for a healthy, inexpensive plant protein. Budget Tip: Canned black beans, precooked rice and whatever veggies you have on hand are all it takes to whip up this fast and flavorful bean and veggie taco bowl.

Use whatever pantry staples you have on hand to create this low-cost meal and skip an extra trip to the grocery store. Budget Tip: Chicken often goes on sale, so when it does, stock up and keep it in your freezer.

This one-pot pasta uses less-expensive flavorful chicken thighs combined with veggies, dried herbs and cheese for a delicious and creamy one-dish dinner. Pictured Recipe: Slow-Cooker Beef Stew. Budget Tip: Tougher cuts of meat, like the beef chuck used in this easy beef stew recipe, are affordable options that simply need more cooking time to become tender and juicy—which makes them perfect for the slow cooker.

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Use profiles to select personalised content. Measure advertising performance. Do you send out newsletters about your new recipes and ways to save.

At the grocery? hanks for your kind words, Marla! I also occasionally with add in fish since Aldi has the frozen fillets for such a reasonable price. And then I add in ground beef or ground turkey whenever I can find it cheap and the same with bacon, sausage and ham.

I love buying a big ham when they are cheap over the holidays and then I cook it up and cut it into bite sized pieces and freeze it in small portions typically 1 to 2 cups. This gives me a nice supply of ham to use in soups or other dishes too. I do the same with turkeys over Thanksgiving.

Yes, I do send out newsletters semi-regularly. I try to share my new posts in the newsletter as well as other tips and ideas that I think my audience of busy, frugally minded moms might find helpful.

You can sign up here if you are interested! Your email address will not be published. Skip to primary navigation Skip to main content Skip to primary sidebar Home Welcome! Pin 1. Share 3. Easy Vegetable Beef Soup. Healthy Double Chocolate Muffins. Next Post: An Easy Secret for Getting More Quality Family Time ».

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$50/week is a very doable budget for one person. Base your meals around potatoes, legumes, grains, and fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables balla.info › What-are-some-budget-friendly-meal-planning-ideas-fo 1. Rice and Beans: Cook a batch of brown rice and pair it with canned beans (such as black beans or kidney beans). · 2. Pasta Salad: Prepare

$50/week is a very doable budget for one person. Base your meals around potatoes, legumes, grains, and fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables Low-Cost Healthy Meal Planning Tips · 1. Scan the Weekly Grocery Deals · 2. Build a Budget-Friendly Fridge and Pantry · 3. Write in a Few Meatless How to start meal planning on a budget · 1. Take inventory of what you already have · 2. Consider your food budget · 3. Browse grocery sales · 4: Inexpensive meal plans

But all Inexpensive meal plans list the calorie content for Inexpenskve recipe, along with carbs, protein, sugar and Affordable fresh produce subscriptions. Inexpensive meal plans, fresh tomatoes are stuffed with canned tomatoes and neal, bread Inexpensive meal plans, Mfal cheese, and smoked sausage. I mean, do we mainly consume rice and beans with the occasional side of chicken? Lastly, a box of pancake mix and smash bananas up in your pancakes. While the chicken was cooking, I started piecing together the components of the ring. Easy Vegetable Beef Soup. It is good to keep track of your weekly and monthly grocery bills to see if you are staying within a reasonable budget.	Toss and serve warm or cold. Because our evening schedule can be unpredictable, I'll pick up ingredients for a pantry meal that won't go to waste if I end up not cooking one night. When I make this again, I'd add a bit more liquid! While everything else has got more expensive, meal kit subscriptions seem to be getting cheaper. Eggs, canned black beans, brown rice, leftover vegetables from dinner.	$50/week is a very doable budget for one person. Base your meals around potatoes, legumes, grains, and fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables balla.info › What-are-some-budget-friendly-meal-planning-ideas-fo 1. Rice and Beans: Cook a batch of brown rice and pair it with canned beans (such as black beans or kidney beans). · 2. Pasta Salad: Prepare	balla.info › What-are-some-budget-friendly-meal-planning-ideas-fo 10 Recipes For Meal Prepping On A Budget · 1. Egg & Spinach Cups (vegetarian) · 2. Tofu Spinach Scramble (vegan) · 3. Overnight oats (vegan/ Low-Cost Healthy Meal Planning Tips · 1. Scan the Weekly Grocery Deals · 2. Build a Budget-Friendly Fridge and Pantry · 3. Write in a Few Meatless	Budget Friendly Meal Prep ; Smoky Chicken and Cinnamon Roasted Sweet Potato Meal Prep. $ recipe / $ serving ; Roasted Vegetable Couscous Meal Prep. $ 1. A Week of Cheap and Easy Pantry Dinners. Focusing on keeping your grocery budget down by building your meal plan around cheap pantry ingredients, like Here's How I Stretch A $ Weekly Grocery Budget To Feed 5 People And Cover Nearly Every Meal. Chicken, berries, and milk were on sale this
Subscribe here for Inexpensive meal plans weekly e-mails Inexprnsive money saving tips Inexpenslve more! Plxns Goulash. Gardening equipment offers profiles for Inexpensive meal plans advertising. Victoria Seaver is a registered dietitian and Associate Editorial Director for EatingWell. Food that's grown on local farms is less expensive during harvest season. Chicken and asparagus are tossed in an orange-soy sauce and served over brown rice to make a well-balanced weeknight dinner.	Your nine month old could probably eat them too. When I tried Daily Harvest , I loved the interesting smoothie combos such as a chocolate blueberry smoothie with greens, banana and almond butter. I never let the flyer completely dictate what my menu will look like, but I always allow it to provide inspiration. Pin Take it from reviewer Britney who says, "I was skeptical a cheese crust could hold up to the toppings I prefer.	$50/week is a very doable budget for one person. Base your meals around potatoes, legumes, grains, and fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables balla.info › What-are-some-budget-friendly-meal-planning-ideas-fo 1. Rice and Beans: Cook a batch of brown rice and pair it with canned beans (such as black beans or kidney beans). · 2. Pasta Salad: Prepare	Cheap Meal Ideas · Meat/Cheese/Lettuce Sandwiches made with % Whole Wheat Bread; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Frozen Blueberries; Home Canned Peaches · Quick Ham & Missing 1. A Week of Cheap and Easy Pantry Dinners. Focusing on keeping your grocery budget down by building your meal plan around cheap pantry ingredients, like	$50/week is a very doable budget for one person. Base your meals around potatoes, legumes, grains, and fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables balla.info › What-are-some-budget-friendly-meal-planning-ideas-fo 1. Rice and Beans: Cook a batch of brown rice and pair it with canned beans (such as black beans or kidney beans). · 2. Pasta Salad: Prepare
I also mixed up the cuisine types to include Inexpensive meal plans, meat dishes, planss and Economical food items Inexpensive meal plans styles offered plxns the brand. I didn't have all the required ingredients for the exact recipe so I improvised with the leftover blood oranges, yogurt, and orange juice. Coconut Lentil Soup Recipe. Back to selection. This is your chance to overlap ingredients across meals!	Be careful not to overcook it, instead, stir the basil in right before serving. Mix with one cup of cooked rice and a can of beans, plus your favorite seasonings. Your recipes look so easy and tasty! One oversight I made was that I didn't have a wooden skewer. This is plain ordinary tap water.	$50/week is a very doable budget for one person. Base your meals around potatoes, legumes, grains, and fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables balla.info › What-are-some-budget-friendly-meal-planning-ideas-fo 1. Rice and Beans: Cook a batch of brown rice and pair it with canned beans (such as black beans or kidney beans). · 2. Pasta Salad: Prepare	Missing Here's How I Stretch A $ Weekly Grocery Budget To Feed 5 People And Cover Nearly Every Meal. Chicken, berries, and milk were on sale this Dairy: Eggs, shredded cheese, Greek yogurt, mozzarella, milk, cream cheese. Pantry: Oats, cereal, lemon juice, pita, BBQ sauce, taco seasoning	In this seven-day healthy meal plan on a budget, the recipes use cheap, easy-to-find ingredients to create delicious budget-conscious dinners Cheap Meal Ideas · Meat/Cheese/Lettuce Sandwiches made with % Whole Wheat Bread; Easy Homemade Yogurt; Frozen Blueberries; Home Canned Peaches · Quick Ham & EveryPlate and Dinnerly are the cheapest meal kits with most plans clocking in at under $6 per serving. HelloFresh and Home Chef are in the next
One Inexoensive Inexpensive meal plans I Inexpensive meal plans make mezl week was accidentally spending more than intended on the Cheapest food deals cranberries. By Carolyn Hodges, M. The rest of the time it takes to prepare is very hands-off with just baking and cooling. This method makes it easier for my kids to eat without having to try and bite off a large piece with each bite. Thankfully, meal planning and cooking at home can help you save some serious cash. Pictured Recipe: Roasted Buffalo Chickpea Wraps.	See at HelloFresh. High prices make it more difficult for many people to afford nutritious and tasty foods. I take my time to make sure that I get every detail as perfect as possible. Measure advertising performance. I also roasted a few chicken thighs and put the remaining thighs in the freezer for later in the week.	$50/week is a very doable budget for one person. Base your meals around potatoes, legumes, grains, and fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables balla.info › What-are-some-budget-friendly-meal-planning-ideas-fo 1. Rice and Beans: Cook a batch of brown rice and pair it with canned beans (such as black beans or kidney beans). · 2. Pasta Salad: Prepare	Duration Low-Cost Healthy Meal Planning Tips · 1. Scan the Weekly Grocery Deals · 2. Build a Budget-Friendly Fridge and Pantry · 3. Write in a Few Meatless Easy Budget Meal Plan for Two with Grocery List · 2 chicken breasts (+ your favorite seasonings and a pat of butter or olive oil); Green beans	Week 1: Simple Lemon Herb Chicken · Week 1: Pork Fried Rice · Week 1: Stuffed Tomatoes · Week 1: Tomato Basil Salmon · Week 1: Eggplant Sandwiches Low-Cost Healthy Meal Planning Tips · 1. Scan the Weekly Grocery Deals · 2. Build a Budget-Friendly Fridge and Pantry · 3. Write in a Few Meatless Budget friendly meal plans with grocery lists to keep your family full and satisfied! 4 week dinner plans with several menu styles to choose from

Inexpensive meal plans - Here's How I Stretch A $ Weekly Grocery Budget To Feed 5 People And Cover Nearly Every Meal. Chicken, berries, and milk were on sale this $50/week is a very doable budget for one person. Base your meals around potatoes, legumes, grains, and fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables balla.info › What-are-some-budget-friendly-meal-planning-ideas-fo 1. Rice and Beans: Cook a batch of brown rice and pair it with canned beans (such as black beans or kidney beans). · 2. Pasta Salad: Prepare

This vegetarian spaghetti squash lasagna, with 18 grams of satisfying protein and 7 g of filling fiber , is a great budget recipe you'll turn to time and time again. Pictured Recipe: Easy Chicken Fried Rice. Budget Tip: Fried rice with plenty of vegetables and a little meat is an obvious choice when you want to make a quick and healthy dinner that's easy on your wallet.

Feel free to throw in whatever veggie odds and ends you have in your fridge. Being versatile and using what you have on hand helps you save money and minimize food waste. Pictured Recipe: Roasted Buffalo Chickpea Wraps. Budget Tip: Canned beans are an affordable, healthy and convenient ingredient that add satisfying protein and fiber to your meals.

Here, canned chickpeas replace the more-expensive chicken but still deliver that satisfying Buffalo flavor. Stock up when beans go on sale and use in wraps, salads, soups, stews and more for a healthy, inexpensive plant protein.

Budget Tip: Canned black beans, precooked rice and whatever veggies you have on hand are all it takes to whip up this fast and flavorful bean and veggie taco bowl.

Use whatever pantry staples you have on hand to create this low-cost meal and skip an extra trip to the grocery store. Budget Tip: Chicken often goes on sale, so when it does, stock up and keep it in your freezer. This one-pot pasta uses less-expensive flavorful chicken thighs combined with veggies, dried herbs and cheese for a delicious and creamy one-dish dinner.

Pictured Recipe: Slow-Cooker Beef Stew. Budget Tip: Tougher cuts of meat, like the beef chuck used in this easy beef stew recipe, are affordable options that simply need more cooking time to become tender and juicy—which makes them perfect for the slow cooker.

Use limited data to select advertising. Create profiles for personalised advertising. Use profiles to select personalised advertising. Create profiles to personalise content.

Use profiles to select personalised content. The eggs come out flat, which is perfect for stacking on a sandwich, and it allows you to easily assemble a large amount of sandwiches in a short amount of time.

I used the biscuits as the bread component and wrapped them for the freezer for later in the week. My 4-year-old loved this meal. We had to tell her a few times to use her silverware because she kept digging in with her hands.

When I make this again, I'd add a bit more liquid! This could be an alteration needed due to higher elevation, but thought I'd mention it. We are hoping for a prosperous garden this year so that we can rely more on our homegrown herbs and veggies!

I wasn't really sure how the noodles would play out, but I figured the lemon flavors would be a natural fit with the rest of the recipe.

I thawed the chicken thighs I put in the freezer earlier in the week and got to slicin'. Since I was also using the leftover pasta, I wasn't sure we had the full 8 oz the recipe called for. I knew adding in extra veggies would be a good way to bulk everything up!

I was really thankful I used the lemon noodles for this dish, because the bright flavors still shined through! Food · Posted on Apr 22, by Sydney Martin BuzzFeed Contributor.

Sydney Martin. With meal planning, up-front preparation is key — but it's also the most challenging thing. Here are a few tips and tricks that I use each week:.

I always try to have some sort of independent activity ready for my kids while I'm cooking because otherwise, they decide to run in circles around the kitchen — which usually also includes stumbling over the dog waiting for any morsel to fall.

My son actually ended up being the only one that made his meal into a standard burrito, with everyone else opting for a burrito bowl! Once the kids were in bed, I made some dough for two different sourdough loaves.

One plain and one with cinnamon and dried cranberries. The cinnamon recipe actually calls for raisins, but we love cranberries instead!

Rise and shine — time to bake! The very first thing I did when I woke up was get my sourdough ready for the oven. I quickly made some hardboiled eggs in my air fryer for breakfast, and then everyone was able to have a slice of bread fresh out of the oven before heading off for the day.

While the bread was baking, I packed the kids' lunch boxes with leftover chicken burritos from the night before. I added some fresh fruit and veggies on the side!

The day was spent trying to get as much physical activity in as possible and spend time outside because we were lucky to get another beautiful day. Since things were going pretty leisurely, I decided it would be a good time to prepare some yogurt to have on hand for breakfasts and snacks for the week.

My daughters love yogurt and will eat everything we have very quickly, which can be a real budget buster. So instead, I buy a small container of yogurt and some milk. Then I use the Instant Pot to heat, cool, and incubate the yogurt to make it grow into more yogurt!

While the yogurt did its magic, I started preparing dinner. It's prime time for citrus right now in my area, which means excellent sales.

Simple Orange Citrus Salad was the perfect meal to make on such a sunny day, and required minimal attention so I could also multitask the yogurt. I was worried if I told the kids the blood oranges were actually called "blood oranges" that they would stop right there.

Honestly, I can't blame them. I know if I heard "blood oranges" as a child, I would have been STRESSED. Thank you so much for sharing. I can easily adjust to something like this. However, because I have such a picky eater 6yr old we always have spend a little more money.

This does give me an idea on how to work a much better budget. I have a 10 month old at home. Needless to say, it is a life saver! But…I just got a raise of. But I am going to try as hard as I can. Any words of advice and encouragement would be wonderful.

I need it. My husband and I plus our son Joshua were on food stamps. When we just over the income level it was hard. The thing we used to do was lots of soup and grilled cheese. The canned soup at Aldi is cheap not the healthiest but add some canned fruit.

Buy some Pancake mix we did lots of breakfast for dinner. Sending strength and hugs to you and your family. I just lost my food stamps due to a raise. single mom 4 kids.

I do recommend using lentils though! I found a great recipe for a Lentil Tortilla soup like chicken tortilla but with lentils, literally tastes the same and is so filling! Also, home made tomato soup is SUPER EASY! and you can make big batches and freeze them for later.

Hi Kate, hope this will help Steph over at Cheapskatecook. com and Beth at Budget Bytes. com have wonderful inexpensive recipes Merissa at Little House Living as well. We have Farm Share that comes to our area no qualifying also food banks and local churches.

Sending lots of positive thoughts and prayers your way. There are four grocery stores within a few miles of my house. The sales get very predictable after a while.

Here are some examples. The list of cheap foods goes on forever. My foods always tastes good because I rarely rush to cook a meal. I take my time to make sure that I get every detail as perfect as possible. Attention to details can make anything including oatmeal taste great.

Here is another example. Put your glasses in the freezer about an hour before super. At the last minute put refrigerated water in the glasses and serve. I get lots of compliments from my family because I make water seem special with white frost on the glass. This is plain ordinary tap water.

That is great idea with the water glasses. I am not terribly excited when it is just plain glass of water. Thank you so much! This is fantastic!! And as a base set up for you to go on to feed your family, SPOT ON!! I buy any meat on sale.. we at in the backwoods so we hunt and fish frequently so those meats are used prior to buying more.

This has saved us a ton!! This is for real life! My friends keep encouraging me to try meal plans that will RAISE my food budget. This looks doable and would LOWER the food budget! Thankyou for posting this.

We are a family of 7 and find it really hard right now to feed our kids. You can make it through! I signed up for the download a total of three times and no link appeared or did I receive anything in my email.

Hi Diana! Send me an email here: tiffany at dontwastethecrumbs dot com and I can get it sorted out for you! I literally cried when I read this.

Inexpensive meal plans - Here's How I Stretch A $ Weekly Grocery Budget To Feed 5 People And Cover Nearly Every Meal. Chicken, berries, and milk were on sale this $50/week is a very doable budget for one person. Base your meals around potatoes, legumes, grains, and fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables balla.info › What-are-some-budget-friendly-meal-planning-ideas-fo 1. Rice and Beans: Cook a batch of brown rice and pair it with canned beans (such as black beans or kidney beans). · 2. Pasta Salad: Prepare

So I knew I had to be extra strategic about stretching leftovers. When I usually schedule my delivery, I'm able to select a morning or afternoon slot.

But this week, the earliest delivery time available was later in the evening. To accommodate that time crunch, I made a change to tonight's recipe selection and bumped up a different faster-to-make dinner from later in the week.

Meat : Bacon, deli slices, chicken breasts, chicken thighs, ground beef. Dairy : Eggs, shredded cheese, Greek yogurt, mozzarella, milk, cream cheese. Pantry: Oats, cereal, lemon juice, pita, BBQ sauce, taco seasoning, jumbo shells, penne pasta, enchilada sauce, brown sugar, vanilla extract, chipotle peppers in adobo, rice, pretzels, graham crackers.

Recipe: Enchilada Stuffed Shells I Shop The Recipe. This part was a little more time consuming than I had anticipated, but overall this recipe still came together quickly. For some reason, I ended up having extra shells, so I decided to throw them on the side and make a few plain ones in case the kids preferred them that way.

I always empty my dishwasher first thing in the morning so that I can put my dirty dishes directly into it throughout the day.

This means that I'm not left with a huge stack at the end of the day. This recipe turned out really well, and I would make this again. However, even though I bought mild enchilada sauce, it was still a bit spicy for the kids. Next time I would try a different sauce or maybe salsa to help make it a little more family-friendly.

My son especially loved these and kept asking for more! He ended up eating two full-size pockets — and we still had leftovers. Keeping it real! Plus, everyone was still pretty full from the big breakfast we had, and the kids were eager to spend time at the neighborhood pool. One oversight I made was that I didn't have a wooden skewer.

I ended up using toothpicks. This strategy worked out OK, although it ended up falling over in the oven thankfully still on the baking sheet! The recipe says to cook the chicken for 1. I automatically set my timer for 2 hours and didn't check it again.

Next time I would make sure to keep a close eye on it because at the 2-hour mark, my chicken was a bit overcooked. Going into this recipe , I was worried that the kids wouldn't like the plain cream cheese.

But to my surprise, these ended up being pretty sweet. Next time I would use less honey because the graham cracker was sweet enough by itself.

Despite the snarl, these made the cut. All three kids liked these, and I was happy to help finish up any leftovers. Recipe: Strawberry Cheesecake Crackers I Shop the Recipe. I just wanted to acknowledge this because even with the best meal prep and planning, feeding a household and keeping everything else together is still HARD.

As parents, we often need to roll with the punches. And sometimes I need to remind myself to just breathe and do the best I can. All that was required of me ahead of time was to add a can of adobo chiles, salt, and pepper into my unused chicken from the previous night.

The recipe calls for the chiles to be chopped up before adding them to the chicken. Once I tasted them, I decided to leave them whole so the chicken would pull in the flavor as it marinated — but then I could easily take the chiles out once it came time to cook the chicken.

Shop The Recipe. Once I did, I was really impressed with how close the chicken actually looked to being from one of those restaurants. Then I gave it a taste and gave myself and the recipe author a pat on the back! The next time I make this, I would add a few more toppings.

It wouldn't cost much and would have elevated the meal a little more. I added a side of peaches, and the girls insisted on some Apple Jacks as well. My youngest ate up the remaining scrambled eggs that were extra from the egg pockets. Recipe: Fruit Parfaits I Shop The Recipe.

This recipe appealed to me because it had the BBQ flavors we love in the summer, but with the comfort of a good and flaky crescent roll. Pre-bake, I wondered if some of the filling would ooze out of the cracks or if the bottom of the ring would be soggy at all, but it wasn't!

My son thought the chicken was a little too sweet, so next time I might try a BBQ sauce that leans a bit more savory.

This time, I left out the honey. Like I mentioned before, the graham cracker was sweet enough to balance out the plain cream cheese. It was also less messy of a cleanup, so I was completely on board.

One note for feeding spice-adverse eaters, like I am. The recipe calls for 2 table spoons of chili powder. If I fed my kids anything else spicy this week, they were going to turn into little jalapeños! Recipe: One Pot Chicken Fajita Pasta I Shop the Recipe. After awhile I heard my son yell across the park to his sister that it was time to go so they could eat "cream cheese crackers.

I used a simple white bread for this recipe because I thought it would absorb the moisture of the egg the best. I turned them halfway to make sure each side was golden. My 4-year-old loved this meal. We had to tell her a few times to use her silverware because she kept digging in with her hands.

When I make this again, I'd add a bit more liquid! This could be an alteration needed due to higher elevation, but thought I'd mention it. We are hoping for a prosperous garden this year so that we can rely more on our homegrown herbs and veggies!

I wasn't really sure how the noodles would play out, but I figured the lemon flavors would be a natural fit with the rest of the recipe. I thawed the chicken thighs I put in the freezer earlier in the week and got to slicin'. Since I was also using the leftover pasta, I wasn't sure we had the full 8 oz the recipe called for.

I knew adding in extra veggies would be a good way to bulk everything up! I was really thankful I used the lemon noodles for this dish, because the bright flavors still shined through!

Food · Posted on Apr 22, by Sydney Martin BuzzFeed Contributor. Sydney Martin. With meal planning, up-front preparation is key — but it's also the most challenging thing. Here are a few tips and tricks that I use each week:. I always try to have some sort of independent activity ready for my kids while I'm cooking because otherwise, they decide to run in circles around the kitchen — which usually also includes stumbling over the dog waiting for any morsel to fall.

My son actually ended up being the only one that made his meal into a standard burrito, with everyone else opting for a burrito bowl! Once the kids were in bed, I made some dough for two different sourdough loaves.

One plain and one with cinnamon and dried cranberries. The cinnamon recipe actually calls for raisins, but we love cranberries instead! Rise and shine — time to bake! The very first thing I did when I woke up was get my sourdough ready for the oven.

I quickly made some hardboiled eggs in my air fryer for breakfast, and then everyone was able to have a slice of bread fresh out of the oven before heading off for the day. While the bread was baking, I packed the kids' lunch boxes with leftover chicken burritos from the night before.

I added some fresh fruit and veggies on the side! The day was spent trying to get as much physical activity in as possible and spend time outside because we were lucky to get another beautiful day. Since things were going pretty leisurely, I decided it would be a good time to prepare some yogurt to have on hand for breakfasts and snacks for the week.

My daughters love yogurt and will eat everything we have very quickly, which can be a real budget buster. So instead, I buy a small container of yogurt and some milk. Then I use the Instant Pot to heat, cool, and incubate the yogurt to make it grow into more yogurt!

While the yogurt did its magic, I started preparing dinner. It's prime time for citrus right now in my area, which means excellent sales. Simple Orange Citrus Salad was the perfect meal to make on such a sunny day, and required minimal attention so I could also multitask the yogurt.

I was worried if I told the kids the blood oranges were actually called "blood oranges" that they would stop right there. Honestly, I can't blame them. I know if I heard "blood oranges" as a child, I would have been STRESSED. After a nice, long incubation period, I finished off the yogurt by straining it into some storage containers.

We ate a bit for breakfast with some fresh raspberries. I didn't want the leftover guacamole browning in the fridge for too long, so for dinner I chose taco potatoes. I was also able to use the remaining cheese I had already shredded from a few nights before as well. While I baked the potatoes, I browned the meat and got all the various toppings ready.

There are two things my son will not eat: rice and potatoes. Usually, I always put a bit of everything on the kid plates so that they always have an opportunity to try things, but he has been very clear for long enough that he doesn't like them so I no longer serve him those things.

I knew the yogurt needed a little crunch, so I made up a batch of my favorite homemade granola. Being a nut-allergy household, granola is really something we have a hard time buying so this recipe for vanilla granola is a slam dunk. Greek Chicken Kebabs were on my mind for dinner.

Once I pulled out all the ingredients, I decided I would roast the chicken instead of grilling it on skewers, because although we've had a few nice days, I haven't actually gotten the grill ready for prime time after being buried under snow for a few months.

I cut up some tomatoes, cucumbers, and took out some store-bought tzatziki. You can actually make your own tzatziki very easily and pretty cheap, but sometimes, you need to consider your sanity as well!

In the future, I would love to try this recipe with fresh herbs instead of dry. I recently got the cookbook Meal Prep Magic by Catherine McCord, and when I saw this rice pudding recipe, I had to give it a try!

Although the recipe I followed was from the book, there is a similar recipe here. I put everything into a storage container and placed in the fridge to set. Once the chaos of mid-day was over, I wanted to make a quick snack.

The rice pudding had me thinking of childhood treats I loved, and I remembered an at-home Orange Julius recipe we loved to make. I had a free window of time that afternoon — and decided to knock out a few prep-and-go meals for later in the week.

First, I used my sourdough starter to make biscuits. The ingredients were few, and steps were minimal.

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