Busy Night Quick Meals

With spring in full swing we have gotten pretty busy around here. I don’t know about you, but being busy in the evenings makes dinner time more of a hassle than a pleasure.  I have recently made a decision that we need to cut down on fast food and “eating out” as an excuse. If we are going to spend the money and eat out, then it is going to be a conscious choice and not because it was easier than cooking.

Food $ense has a great lesson called “Quick Meals”, they have some great suggestions in the lesson for dinner such as Spaghetti with Meat Sauce and Veggie Quesadillas.

We use variations of both of those meals for some of our quick dinners. We have spaghetti at least once a week here, 1. Because my kids like it,  2. Because it is fast and easy and 3.With the exception of the ground beef (which is kept in the freezer) everything is from the pantry and so I don’t have to worry about not having something on hand. We add our green salad and it ends up being a dinner that takes less than 10 minutes (since I am not a “simmer” kind of girl) and I can feel good about serving it to my kids.  

Our variation of the Veggie Quesadillas (these are in the My Plate Lesson) is something called “leftover burritos”. I realize when I type that it sounds just horrible, but it is actually pretty popular here at our house. It starts with emptying out the fridge of anything that we have left over – sloppy joe meat, pot roast, chicken, if we don’t have a leftover vegetable I will heat a bag of frozen “southwest style” vegetable which is really just corn, black beans, onions and peppers.  Then we make quesadillas and add whatever anyone feels like. Since they have to be cooked individually the kids get to choose what they each want in their own and I don’t feel like a short order cook.  We have had some pretty interesting experiments that turned out to be favorites.  You really can put just about anything inside a tortilla.

There is no shortage of people online and on tv trying to help you prepare quick and fast meals, there are shows and cookbooks galore all trying to help you make dinner with less than 5 ingredients and in 30 minutes are less. The trick to making this work for your family is to know what fast and easy meals work for you. – What do you personally have planned for that night went soccer practice went longer than usual and you have a meeting in an hour and the kids are screaming for burgers in the backseat.  The key to not stopping at the drive through is know that you have something at home that you can make that is fast, easy AND healthy.

Here are my 5 go- to recipes that I try and have always on hand for just such an occasion.

1.       Spaghetti

2.       Macaroni and Cheese (with S.O.S. Mix)

3.       Potatoes and Kielbasa (this all lives in the freezer and my kids Adore it!) 

4.       Grilled Cheese Sandwiches (I add soup on a cold day, green salad other times)

5.       Chicken and Rice – This becomes super-fast because I used canned chicken.

I think most of us end up eating fast food and junk food because we just don’t have a plan. Knowing that you have something to make even in a pinch can end up saving a lot of money and feeding your family so much better.  Also, when you menu plan, being aware of your family’s schedule can save you a lot of hassle.  I don’t plan big dinners on Tuesday nights because everyone has somewhere they have to be that night.

I don’t know if you remember watching the old G.I. Joe cartoons when you were little, but at the end they always taught a little lesson and finished with, “Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.” And now you can make a plan and since you will know what to make for dinner you won’t be caught unarmed and unprepared in the battle against hungry kids wanting hamburgers.