Need Meal Ideas..

I was a stay at home mom for 9 years and loved being able to be home so I could make my family "real" food. But I remember that when you have little ones, things don't aways go as planned. So I always had a rescue meal, something easy and mindless that I could throw together so if one of the kids was sick or a trip to the museum ran long, I could still get dinner on the table. The kids loved the rescue meals since they were kid friendly fare...hot dogs and canned corn, grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, and tacos. Maximum time for the rescue meal should be 20 minutes start to table.

The biggest thing I learned is to plan what you want to eat. Other people on the forum have mentioned Flylady and she definately taught me to plan out my meals so I was never tempted to say, "Oops, forgot to take something out of the freezer...guess we have to go out tonight." Each week I would look at my schedule and plan longer meals for days I would be home, and shorter ones for when we had afternoon playdates. The rescue meal for the week was also put on the dining schedule. I only worried about dinners, breakfast and lunches weren't a problem for me. But you may need to plan those out as well.

You can freeze almost anything for a couple months. Past that point it starts getting freezer burned. I freeze batches of homemade cookies, speghetti sauce without meat, and soups. I few of my favorite casseroles freeze well, but I didn't like buying the disposable pans and didn't have enough 13x9s to be freezing them. Canning jars are great for the sauces and soups, and Ziploc freezer bags work okay too, as long as it's only a month or so.

As far as saving money goes...the more you do yourself, the less you spend on food. I still manage to get three meals out of a roasted chicken. First night we eat the breasts with a couple of side dishes, second night I pick most of the meat off the bone for chicken tacos, white chicken chili with cornbread, pad thai, or some other recipe. The third night we have soup and fresh baked bread. I would love to be able to just buy chicken breasts, but it just doesn't fit in our budget. I used to get four meals out of one chicken, but now my 9 year old has decided to get in touch with his carnivorous side so he eats more meat.

If you have good side dishes, you can cut back on how much meat you need on the table.

If you want recipes for homemade and semi-homemade dinners...let me know. I have a ton of them.

M.

Here are a couple meal ideas:
in the crockpot
Pinto beans (I usually make about 4 cups) with 1/2 onion and a small amount of bacon or salt pork (usually about $2). Cook for several hours, they'll turn red. You can make a large crockpot full and freeze some. Ways you can use: serve over rice with grated cheese and crackers; Fry it up for refried beans in burritos or tacos; serve with cornbread; When my husband and I were both out of work years ago (no kids at the time) we could only afford to use smoke flavoring and a 1/4 stick of butter for the fat content.
On the stove or in the oven:
Also, get chicken legs or thighs instead of breasts. You can put them in soup with carrots and celery (be sure to remove bones after the meat comes off) or roast in a large cake pan on 350 for 2 hours with veggies and potatoes a little olive oil and spices. I made this last night and had a meal for three then, left overs for today and could freeze a meal - the legs only cost $5 for a large pkg at Walmart.
At the same time I cooked the legs I had a soup going with some prior frozen chicken breasts (you could use some of the legs here too or instead of), one cabbage, some left over snack veggies that were on their last leg, and the other half of the onion. This made ALOT of soup and if you chop up the chicken you can distribute well over several freeze bags full.
I admire your desire to cook ahead - I'm trying that this year too! I've committed this year to only eating out 2 days a month and the kids and I will take our extra money and save for something.

Hi R. -

You might want to look into something called 'Once a month cooking'. The idea behind it is that you spend 1 day cooking and you end up with 30 meals (for the freezer). I try to do it every few weeks, but I only do about 12 meals at the most b/c my freezer is only a small chest freezer and I can't get much more than that in there. I also use my warehouse membership to get some of the bulk items that I need to make the meals.

A couple of the cookbooks that I use are 'Dream Dinners' and 'Don't Panic, Dinner's in the Freezer'. Both have meals that are designed for the freezer. I also use '30-minute Meals' - you can get this either in either book format or electronic (computer software) format. I am also a part of a yahoo group called 'Frozen Assets" and their focus is freezer cooking.

The downside is that you have to rememeber to take things out of the freezer to thaw, and for me it often takes a couple of days in the fridge for some of them. Some also take an hour to cook, so I have to cook them the night before we want them and then just reheat the next day (if I had to wait an hour after we got home, we would be eating VERY late).

I also use 'Angel Food Ministries' to get groceries some times. I am not always in town for the pick up dates, so I can't always do it. They are not income based, so anyone can purchase. The food is good quality (what I have had) and is very inexpensive ($25 for a base unit). You can find a site near you at www.angelfoodministries.com.

Good Luck!!

J.

I've actually done the same thing this past year and i found that www.bettycrocker.com has TONS of recipes! Or you can just type in easy receipes and the computer will give you a ton! Have fun cooking!

My family always likes Chicken Parmesan--VERY easy and kid friendly!

1 box thawed chicken patties
1can Ragu or fav. sauce
Shredded parm or motz. cheese

Lay chicken in 9x13 pan and top with sauce. Cook at 350 until bubbly, then top with cheese and put back in oven until melted.

Serve with garlic bread and veggie or salad!

Hope you enjoy!

When I think of Inexpensive meals I think of Rice and or Beans. Both are extremly cheap, and stretch the budget because of their versatility and nutritional value. You can replace more expensive meat with beans in many many recipes (my family loves meatless chilli for example) Rice can be used in place of pasta in many dishes, eaten for breakfast and desert (with add ins of course)

check out http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/ for recipes and tips on how to cook cheaply yet healthfully for your family.

If you're into the crock pot, here's one:

2 cans corn
1 can black beans
about 1 cup of salsa
3 chicken breasts
1 cup of shredded cheese
sour cream

Mix corn, black beans, 1/2 cup of salsa and put in bottom of crock pot. Put chicken breasts on top, salt and pepper them, and cover with remaining 1/2 cup of salsa. Cook on high for about 2 hours (depending on how much chicken you use). When chicken is cooked, sprinkle cheese on top and let sit for 5 min. Serve with sour cream, chips, whatever.

I know it sounds weird, but it is really good.
M.