Easy Weeknight Meals For Busy Families: Part 2

Sep 13, 2015|Posted byauntbee@auntbeesrecipes.com|3 comments |

Last week, Michaela and I brought you part 1 of our Easy Weeknight Meals For Busy Families. It is full of 44 recipes that can be made in 30 minutes or less or with 5 ingredients or less! We have had so much amazing feedback and are so happy that you all are liking the recipes! We split it up between the 2 posts so it wouldn’t be TOO much all in one and to give us each a chance to talk with you a little bit about how our busy families make it work! Trial and error, my friends, trial and error. 😉

Obviously, every family is different, but no matter what type of ‘busy’ my family has been, either with both parents working or kids in several different after school activities or sports or whatever the case, the one thing that I have learned that has ALWAYS helped us is a weekly meal plan. Failing to plan, is planning to fail or something like that. When we first got married, I had a real hard time sticking to our weekly food budget. Then I realized one day that we were spending just as much money on eating out a month as we were on groceries!!! I was floored. We cut out the fast food and eating out on ‘busy’ nights and I was able to raise our grocery budget! We eat lots of fresh, organic, fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy and are spending less than we did before. I don’t coupon but I do pay attention to the sales and try to plan my menu around whatever meat is on sale.

When I meal plan for the week, I look at our calendar and try to plan accordingly. I have an appointment every other Wednesday in the afternoon, so that is almost always a crock pot day. My daughter has tests for school every Friday so I usually plan a one dish casserole on Thursdays that I can prep ahead of time then just pop in the oven so that I can help her study while dinner bakes. I do a short slow cooker recipe before church on Sundays because my kiddos are STARVING when we get home and can’t wait a single second to eat. They aren’t dramatic at all either 😉 My husband works 2 jobs AND goes to school so there is quite a balancing act going on over here.

My point is, in order to make this work. To make dinners at home around the table happen in between life, to avoid blowing our food budget, and eating gross fast food 3 times a week, I have developed an arsenal of different recipes to fit different types of categories, one to fit every type of busy: Freezer meals, crock pot recipes, easy casserole dishes, quick sandwiches ( A lot of them utilizing leftovers or crock pot prepared meats!), Family Favorite meals that I can make with my eyes closed, or while calling out spelling words 😉 and even recipes that I can prep the night before or morning of and stick in the oven as soon as we get home. A few years ago when I had surgery, I prepped a few WEEKS worth of freezer meals and it helped with my recovery so much!

Michaela and I put together 66 of our favorite recipes, that fall into several different (and important!) categories so that no matter what type of recipes your busy family needs, you will be able to find it!

Stress Free Slow Cooker Recipes

Slow Cooker Beer Sausage Dawgs

Slow Cooker Beef Enchilada Soup
Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup

Slow Cooker Pot Roast
Slow Cooker Rotisserie Chicken