<img src="http://www.mercyisnew.com/wp-content/uploads/Meals-For-Moms-Who-Hate-Cooking.jpg" alt=
“Meals for moms who hate cooking” /> I
should tweak the title a bit: 20 Meals for Moms Who Hate Cooking… But they still want to prepare healthy, frugal meals for their families! Of all the people, I shouldn’t
share recipes with you! I’ve shared a recipe here and there… But I’m not a cook, and usually the recipes I share are quick and easy. I never come up with my OWN recipes… and I don’t like spending hours in the kitchen!
But, whenever I mention menu plans or easy meals that we have, I always, ALWAYS get messages, comments, or emails asking what easy meals do you DO?!?! Some of you are quite desperate. Maybe as desperate as I am. 🙂
So, I’m sharing my secret. I choose about 20 meals and keep a list in my fridge. I buy all the ingredients for these meals and therefore *most* days I can choose any from this list and have a good, healthy meal on the table in LESS than 30 minutes.
I know it’s a common misconception that because we homeschool we should enjoy baking bread or just be in the kitchen in general. To be honest, if we have a good school day, it usually means the house AND kitchen have been neglected. Having these meals has saved my sanity time and time again.
No, they are not elegant. No, they will never be found in a cooking magazine. But, at this stage of the game, my goal is to SAVE money by having meals on hand and eating more HEALTHY options. See 10 ways we save money without coupons in this post.
So, here are the meals that we have regularly in our home. Every once in a while, if I see something exciting on Pinterest, I’ll try something new and add it there, but we usually only have something from this list!
20 meals for moms who don’t love cooking
- lasagna (I try to make 3-4 at a time to stick them in the freezer!)
- Only golden meat, diced tomatoes, dark red beans and chili seasonings
- White chicken Chili
- Chicken + 1 BBQ jar, served grated in buns) Lemon chicken in Crockpot (
- I only use 1/2 of ONE lemon, The recipe requires much more).
- Roast with potatoes, carrots in Crockpot
- Baked spaghetti or baked Ziti (same dish, different pasta
- sour cream, homemade chicken cream – see below – and crackers/butter for top
- Chicken pie (with Bisquick or store-bought cake crust to cover)
- Eggs, Breakfast with bacon/sausage ~ Pancakes, Bacon/Sausage
- Quiche
- Creamy Chicken
- Noodle Soup Lasagna Soup (2 changes to this recipe: whole grain meat first, also add 2 times more pasta as the recipe requires
- use the fried rice recipe on this page, not the orange chicken)
- Tacos ~ shredded crockpot chicken or beef
- Potato soup (only potatoes, chicken broth, milk and seasonings! top with cheese, sour cream, etc.)
- Crockpot whole chicken (we use the bones, pour water over them to continue cooking crockpot for broth, see link below
- Pizzadillas or Quesadillas
- Pork or fish chops (Salmon, if I find a good deal
Chili (
)
BBQ Chicken in Crockpot (
) Chicken casserole (chicken,
)
Breakfast ~
Creamy
) Fried rice and chicken (I only
)
)
Some notes
: Soup cream: Whenever you see “cream of” soup,
- I use this recipe (with regular, non-low-fat milk) for my own homemade “cream of” soup, Much healthier! And so easy!!
- Accompaniments: We have a salad or fresh vegetables and sauce for most meals. I’ll also make roasted broccoli, roasted sliced carrots, or rice fairly regularly.
- Chicken broth: I use this method from my friend, Ami, and buy whole chickens when they are on sale! I have quarts of broth usually in my freezer at all times.
- no longer arrange muffins/bread to accompany every meal. *I try* to make grain-free meals whenever I can, but my kids lacked lasagna, so I put it back in there. And really, a handful of times a month for dinner, I agree with that.
- Have your kids help and bake in the kitchen at a YOUNG age! My 10 year old daughter can now make bread alone! Recipe coming soon for grandmother’s 100% wholemeal bread… Check back in a few days.
- Here are my Pinterest boards related to recipes where many of these recipes come from! Recipes for main courses, desserts, breakfasts, soups, side dishes and delicious drinks
I
So, friends, tell me… What are YOUR favorite ideas of SIMPLE and HEALTHY meals? If you have one to share, I’d love for you to leave it in the comments section!! Also, questions about any of these foods? I will reply to you in the comments and leave more notes in this post if I have omitted something important. 🙂
