Everyday Food for Busy People
Fall is here!
My taste buds are set for anything with apples, cranberries, caramel, or pumpkin. I’m ready to eat soups and stews and chicken pot pie.
In fact, I just couldn’t stop thinking about all of the recipes I love to make at this time of year. So, I’ve gathered them all up into one big, gigantic list of deliciousness that is Autumn!
I hope you find some inspiration here. Make something and celebrate these crisp fall days with your family. [Read more...]
Judging from the comments, this is a series that hits close to home for many of you. Juggling kids, activities and dinner can be difficult. But it can also be done, with a bit of planning.
So far, we’ve covered packing meals, grocery store meals that can be put together in a quick buzz through the store, and rockin’ the slow cooker.
Today, we’re talking super-quick meals you can cook in just minutes.
We all have meals we can make quickly. You know the kind. Your family likes it and you can make it with your eyes closed.
Make a list of those meals. Post it in a visible place, like the inside of your pantry door. That way, when you come in with hungry, frazzled kids you know exactly what you can fix. Minimal thinking required.
Be sure to keep all the ingredients on hand for those meals. If you know you’ve got the makings of a 15 minute meal at home, it will be much easier to drive right past the fast-food places.
One spin through a fast-food restaurant sets my family back at least $20, often a bit more. And that’s with sharing fries and only ordering water to drink. I can make dinner at home for less than half of that and often have enough leftover for lunch the next day.
Once a week = $80 per month = $960 per year!
Twice a week = $160 per month = $1920 per year!
Have you been trying to save for a big ticket item? Are you eating your vacation/new furniture/debt reduction little by little each month?
My fastest meals can be found in my ebook, Feast in 15.
Meals like Garlic Lime Shrimp and Italian Nachos are fast to fix, but taste like you spent lots of time cooking.
Much better and cheaper than drive-thru.
Want to save a little bit more? Use the code DrivePlayFeed for a 20% off discount, bringing the price to just $3.99!
Whoever invented the slow cooker should be held in high esteem, right up there with the inventor of the Ziploc bag.
You can make your slow cooker work even harder for you by choosing the perfect recipe to coordinate with your day. What do I mean by that?
Well, some days you may only have 5 minutes to throw food into the slow cooker.
Some days, you need the recipe to cook all day long. Not every meal will hold up to that.
And some days, not only will you not be home to cook dinner, but some members of the family will need to eat before you get home. I’ve found on nights when Jim or the older kids are going to have to fix it themselves, it needs to be ready to go. No veggies or rice or pasta to cook to go with it. It’s got to be simple and done.
With all of that in mind, here’s a list of meals to fit each category. If you want to check out all the slow cooker meals on my site, click the recipe box at the top of the page.
Last week, we talked about packing food to eat on the sidelines. Or in the car. Whatever works, right?
But there are times when packing just isn’t going to happen. When you didn’t make a plan, didn’t have time to think about it, forgot to look at the calendar (please tell me I’m not the only one!).
You still have to eat, but it doesn’t have to be drive-thru. Here are some grocery store meal ideas. Print this list and keep it in your purse or glove box of your car. It will only take a couple minutes to run into the store and grab dinner.
Don’t miss the tips below that will help this plan run smoothly. With most of these meal ideas, you will have leftovers that you can take home and eat later. [Read more...]
It’s that time of year! Fall sports schedules, combined with school starting can lead to lots of drive-thru dinners (and an empty wallet) if you’re not careful.
In my family, the sport of choice is soccer. We often find ourselves on the sidelines, watching a game during the dinner hour.
And even if it’s not game time, practices usually run at dinner time. It’s hard to cook when you’re not home to do it. But with a plan, it is possible to get everyone fed without resorting to the drive-thru.
That’s where this new series comes in. Tuesdays in August, you’ll find lots of ideas and tips on dealing with dinner, when you’re in the car, on the sidelines or coming home late after a long day.
Here’s the series schedule:
Instead of the usual weekly menu and grocery list, I’m participating with several other bloggers doing a series about Stay-cations. Tomorrow I’ll have links to the other posts for you. If you’d like to print a menu + grocery list, please check out the “Menus and Planners” tab at the top of the site.
Raise your hand if you have a stay-cation planned this year. With the price of gas and everything else, it makes a lot of sense to stay close to home and take in the local activities. After you budget for all the fun stuff you want to do, it’s time to think about feeding everyone. Boy, can that add up quick!
It is possible to eat at home on vacation without feeling like you’re slaving away over a hot stove. And it’s the best way to save money. We’ve been known to take our food on vacation with us, even if we’re traveling long distances. Lots of people do this if they are camping or going to the beach, but we’ve even done it in Disney World. So I know it’s possible to do it at home, make it special and keep it simple all at the same time. [Read more...]
Raise your hand if you have a new graduate this year!
A year ago, I was planning my oldest daughter’s high school graduation menu. I’ve noticed quite a few people searching for ideas for recipes to serve at graduation parties, so I thought I’d put together a list to get you started.
There are so many ways to celebrate a graduation. I’m not even going to try to cover them all. Casual is what I’m most comfortable with, so this list will include foods that can be served buffet style, can be fixed ahead of time, and serve a crowd.
This is a guest post from my friend, Andrea at The Green Backs Gal. I asked if she would share with us some of the ways to save money on organic produce.
One of the toughest areas to save at the grocery store is in the produce department. This is particularly true during the winter when the growing season here in Colorado is dormant. So how can you pinch pennies but still enjoy fresh and delicious produce? Buy seasonal, buy local and buy organics when it makes sense.
Buy Produce in Season
Why Buy Produce In Season? By purchasing and eating food that is in season, you will not only be saving on your budget, you will be eating better tasting food! Produce that is not in season is grown somewhere else in this world, picked too early, and then is transported to your grocers. That cost is passed on to you! By eating seasonally, you might be eating grapes only in the Fall when the prices are low. But the beauty is, once you have kinda had it with grapes, the oranges will be sweet and cheap! We are all very used to getting what produce we want when we want it. But, if you are serious about saving money, you’ll find eating seasonally will definitely save you on your budget each month. Check out what is in season this month – with Spring here, there are some tasty choices! [Read more...]
Table Talk cards are a free resource made available through my church. We love using them around our table. Some of the cards are serious. Some fun. Each month has a different focus. This month is Humility. In the past, the cards have covered: [Read more...]
It’s April!
Spring weather has to be getting closer, right?
Our focus for April here on EaH is going to be everything earthy. We’ll talk gardens and gardening, vegetables, farmer’s markets, meatless dinners… Not every post will follow this topic, but many will.
If you’ve been reading this blog very long, you know I don’t tackle these topics often. Not that I don’t have meatless and vegetarian meal recipes, and we do eat vegetables, of course. I’ve even got a few posts on square foot gardening. But this topic isn’t the most natural (pun intended) for me to write about.
So, I’ll be turning to some folks who can help out. One of those people is Katie from Kitchen Stewardship. She knows healthy foods like I know my slow cooker. [Read more...]
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