What are your favorite time saving meals and recipes?

[Anonymous]

I work a lot as I am sure most of you do. I do all of the cooking and cleaning in my house too. I would love to stop eating out as much but it seems like I never have the time or energy to cook a meal or clean up afterwards. Dishes end up sitting in my sink for a couple of days because I'm too tired to clean them. Anyway, I would love to hear some time saving tips, meals and recipes!

[Anonymous]

You sound really busy. I would try and keep things simple. We grill chicken breasts or buy some rotisserie chicken, and it lasts for 2-3 meals. Add different vegetables, rice and pasta, corn, etc. You can serve a quick salad one night and pasta the next - make extra so it lasts a couple days so you're not always cooking from scratch. You can make tacos one night, order pizza one night, and have eggs one night. Weekends can be more relaxed and complicated.

[Anonymous]

My husband grills a big batch of veggies on the weekend and then we used them for quick meals the next couple of days that make me feel like we're eating really well. Plus, all of the below only need one pot or pan:

- grilled veggies + cheese + bread = paninis
- grilled veggies tossed in pasta and canned tomato sauce or olive oil and parmasean
- grilled veggies with in a pan with beaten eggs and cheese poured on top = fritata

Bacon works really well in any of those too, and can be made ahead of time.

[Anonymous]

I really like these one-pot meals:

http://www.budgetbytes.com/2013/01/creamy-spinach-sausage-pasta/

http://www.budgetbytes.com/2014/04/one-pot-sausage-mushroom-pasta/

I make all kinds of variations, substituting different kinds of meat, using spaghetti squash, beans, or other veggies, seasoning it with mexican/italian/Mediterranean flavors, etc.. One pot makes it much easier to clean up and makes for good leftovers too!

[Anonymous]

My two easy meals lately are:

spaghetti sauce, turkey meatballs, spaghetti noodles

cooked pasta, pesto sauce, rotisserie chicken mix together, maybe add in cherry tomatoes and a few dashed of red wine vinegar for flavor

I also try to double up recipes and make 2 on sunday, then do another crockpot meal during the week.

[Anonymous]

I can eat the same thing for lunch every day, but dinner needs to be different. I crave the variety. And neither DH nor DD like salads, so serving the leftover chicken or beef on top of a salad is a no-go for dinner.

Dinners in our house are generally an animal protein (beef, chicken, pork, fish, shellfish, lamb...) and a vegetable. Although I grew up with main + hot veggie + starch + salad, that is too complicated for two working parents, so I keep it simple.

If the meat is cooked inside, it somehow becomes my responsibility, thus we grill as much as possible. Veggies are usually roasted, sometimes steamed or nuked. Clean up from grilling and roasting is also pretty easy and quick.

Latest addition to the rotation that doesn't really fit the model is tacos. DD has decided that she loves them. With bagged lettuce and salsa fresca instead of diced tomatoes and onions, it is super quick and easy, too. We've been making them with ground turkey.

Once a week I will try to do something in the crockpot. Nothing that takes too much prep, as I don't have the time in the AM either. BBQ pulled pork or chicken, split pea soup, black bean soup, pot roast, stew, "salsa chicken" are the go to items. They make a lot, so I try to do it early in the week so we can eat the leftovers for lunch.

[Anonymous]

Baked potatoes! Top them with loads of veggies, cheese and butter. Always a hit!

[Anonymous]

We keep it super simple during the week and try to cook ahead on weekends. I make sauce in the crockpot, freeze and thaw during the week for spaghetti, and we do breakfast for dinner at least once a week too. I love the crockpot.

[Anonymous]

We've been making and freezing meal components. For instance, cut up onions and bag them, cut garlic and put it in oil in ice cube trays, cook and cut a protein all in portion sizes hat you want then pull out what you need on the day of and throw it into a stir fry. It works great and tastes good too. I thought it was such a silly idea until I tried it (how hard can it be to chop an onion, right?) but it was so much easier to get dinner on the table this way.

[Anonymous]

Rice and beans is an easy dish we rely on once a week or so. We also buy a quart of soup at our farmer's market for one night a week. Another simple thing that feels homecooked but is also easy - we buy slightly higher end pasta from the Italian deli in Cleveland Park (the anglionotti) and then make a quick sauce to go on top of it (sauteed broccoli, tomatoes, some wine). Those are our three *quickest* meals. We also grill veggies like the other poster and use them throughout the week.

[Anonymous]

When I have a little extra time to cook a complicated meal I try to at least triple the recipie. After dinner I immediately freeze the left overs. I divide the portions (if I tripled the recipie the. I divide the left overs in half etc) and label them with the date. This way if I know it will be a busy week I can put a frozen potion in the fridge the night before to defrost and just warm it up the next night.

I also started freezing extra onions once I start chopping!

I recently bought frozen, pre- chopped garlic from Trader Joes.