Meal Prep #3: Stocking your freezer and Fridge

Let's do a checklist first! 

• Comfy shoes on (check), 
• Plan of action ready to go (check), 
• Recipes gathered & you have previously shopped for all ingredients (Check, Check), 
• You have them all laid out on the counter and grouped together according to types
• Dishwasher &/or strainer is emptied and sink is filled with HOT sudsy water 

(Check, Check, Check & Check!!) 

You are NOW ready to proceed with your plan!

Budget Friendly Easy & Quick Family Meals: Sept 29-Oct. 5, 2014

Phweeee! We just had one of the busiest weeks yet! 

Most days we had 3 events in 

3 different cities on the SAME day!!

Thankfully this week is decidedly slower with only 4 events spread out over the entire week. Our budget has gotten tighter so we really needed to buckle down on the fast food runs...so hard when you are all the state and you have kids to feed lunch and snacks. Not only does it get costly it is void of any REAL nutrition, so I had a ton on prep work on grocery day that paid off!

Here are some tips on road trip lunch & snacks*

• Good eating starts with GOOD PLANNING! Plan your snacks and all other meals so you have good tasty options PLUS you won't go back to the store and spend extra $ on things you inevitably will purchase along with those snacks for the kids.
• Look at the prepackaged snacks for inspiration! They have some nifty ideas that you can duplicate at home for nickles on the dollar!
• As soon as you get home from grocery store scrub, clean, dice, peel, slice, & package produce for a quick "grab & go" snack
• Designate a "lunch/Snack Grab & Go" area in your fridge and pantry. I remove all dry snack items from boxes and place in a bin in the pantry to save space and allow easy viewing of supplies. Maybe it's only my house, but it never fails if I leave snacks in the boxes, I will think we are fine on snacks bc of ALL those boxes still in the pantry...HA!  Empty boxes...Ergo, all snacks are REMOVED from boxes, neatly arranged in their bins & boxes are PROMPTLY placed in recycling bins.
• Freeze drink boxes, they will help keep food cold until lunch time and will thawed but icy cold in a few hours! BE sure to wrap in strong paper(cloth would be best) napkin. This has double duty: #1- will hold in moisture from thawing juice box and prevent soggy sandwiches & #2- you will be have a nice moist towel to wipe that jelly off your fingertips and face!

*More on this on a future post-will link here once posted! 

Breakfast Choices:
cold oatmeal cereal, Pancakes, Toast w/Jelly, Smoothies, Fresh Fuit, Cold Whole grain Cereal, Biscuits and Sausage Gravy, Bacon and eggs of choice.

Lunch Options:

• Left Over zucchini patties & carrots with dippings, 
• pizza-dillas w/ applesauce & chopped salad
• Fish-cakes on whole grain w homemade tarter sauce and dilled potatoes with grilled asparagus, 
• Cheese, Crackers, Veggies munchies w/dip and fresh fruit, Chopped Veggie Salad w/chilled fruit cup
• PBJ on toasted rounds with veggie chips and fresh fruit
• Grilled Cheese and Tomato soup
• Grilled Veggies, hummus, Felafels on homemade pitas, and fresh fruit

Supper Selections:

Meatless Monday:
Zucchini Patties w/Tahini Sauce, Mushroom Quinoa Pilaf
Tomato & Cucumber Salad
 
Tuesday:
Beef Stroganoff over Noodles w/Mixed Greens Salad

 
Wednesday:
Crunchy Coated Chicken w/Tomato & Basil Cream Sauce over Pasta, Mixed Greens Salad, Fresh Fruit Cup 

Thursday:
Kielbasa Sausage Links w/Romanian Cabbage, Mac & Cheese and Jello Cup

Fish Tacos w/Honey-Cumin Cilantro Slaw & Chipotle Mayo

Fish Friday:
Fish-Tacos w/Honey-Cumin-Cilantro Slaw and Chipotle Mayo on Homemade Puffy Tacos (Seriously? YUMMY!)

Saturday:
Homemade Pizza & Calazones w/homemade Pizza Sauce, Fresh Salad Green w/Balsamic Vinegar, Grilled Nilla Banana Pudding Boats.

Sunday:
Crock Pot Carribbean Jerked Chicken, Artichoke Hearts w/Herbed Couscous, & Chilled Fresh Fruit. 

Snacks Offerings:
Salted Caramel Greek, Vanilla or Peach Yogurts, Cottage Cheese, String Cheese, Puddings, Jellos, Chunk Cheese, Grapes, bananas, Peaches, Apples, Cucumber Spears, Carrots, Broccoli florets, Cauliflower, whole grain crackers, Dip, popcorn, applesauce, juice boxes, water, Hard boiled eggs, peanut butter crackers, dried fruit, & granola bars.

Linked to Menu Mondays!