I kind of hate to say it.
I’d much rather find my way back to my beach chair with a good book and the ocean breeze.
But the truth is…it’s that time of year again.
Back to school.
Time to get ready and get organized.
Tomorrow, I’ve got a solution I think you’re really going to love. Hint: It will help you with meals, schedules, cleaning and more.
And today, I’ve got a list of dinner solutions for you. I’ve pulled my best posts together for you in one place. These are the posts that I go back to when I need a mealtime solution.
The Menus
All of the Print, Shop, Cook menus are a big time-saver for me. Although, I sometimes shop without a list nothing beats printing the list and heading to the store. No planning or thinking required.
Here are a few special menus that are a big help at back to school time:
Year 3, Week 28 – All Slow Cooker Edition
Year 1, Week 28 – Fill Your Freezer
Year 2, Week 17 – Fill Your Freezer
You can find more menus with at least 4 slow cooker recipes here.
You can browse all the menus here.
Slow Cook It
How do families survive without slow cookers? There’s nothing more satisfying than knowing your dinner is fixed by 10am and you can check that off the daily to-do list.
Rock the Slow Cooker! – This post breaks down the recipes by 5-10 minute prep, all day cooking, and no sides required meals.
Summer Slow Cooker Meals – Soup weather is coming, but until then here’s a list of hot weather recipes.
Freeze It
Spending a little time stocking your freezer is a great way to prep for back to school. Use one of the freezer menus above, or try some other recipes from the freezer category.
Tips for cooking a lot of meals in just a few hours.
Everything you ever wanted to know about storing foods in the freezer.
How do you get ready for back to school?
This post is linked up at The Organizing Junkie‘s Back to School post.
Thank you for the links and menu plans! I am a kindergarten teacher, and I am doing 2 small freezer cooking days before I go back…five recipes each, both doubled, will give me 20 meals. I know we’ll break that up with other easy stuff and probably going out the very first day of school. But I’m also doing this because a brand new teacher at our school is due with her second baby this week, but still plans to be ready to go when inservice hits in 3 weeks…so I’m hoping to stock her freezer, too!
Now that I have more inspiration and plans, maybe I’ll get a couple more things stocked away than I had planned!!!
You asked how do families survive without a slow-cooker. My mom had a pressure cooker that she made practically everything in–even her homemade spaghetti sauce.
Awesome! I don’t have any children but I do work 2 jobs and I believe the crock pot is the greatest invention of the 20th century. Since money is so tight this year, I have also become very good at freezing foods too. Thank you for this post. I am so happy I discovered Eat at Home via Pinterest!
We are not going back to school in the traditional sense this year, as our youngest son is off to college in a couple of weeks (gulp!). But, I am still in back-to-school mode (so many years of practice!) and have been cleaning and organizing my freezers and pantry this week. I hate when they get out of control, and love when they are organized and I know exactly what I have on hand. We are trying to eat very healthfully (not sure that is a word) this summer, and that requires a bit more planning and preparation. So knowing what I have and where to find everything makes life a lot easier for me. And, youngest son’s college is close by, and oldest son is living at home while he works on paying down his student loans, so I still hope to have many opportunities to cook for my kids!
Gaye