Reply to Please share your go-to easy weekly meals, especially ones that can be made in advance!

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, you could be me :).  DH and I both work full time, and have a 2yo and a 5yo.  One thing that really helps me is having a PLAN before I get home.  If I stand in the kitchen thinking "what am I going to make for dinner??", then all bets are off.  I try to spend 10-20 minutes the night before organizing a few things, pulling something out of the freezer if necessary.  Weekly meal planning is ideal, but doesn't always happen.

Some staples that I like to make ahead in big batches, and freeze single-meal-size portions: ground beef, rice, chicken (poach a bunch of breasts, or roast a whole chicken over the weekend - freeze & shred the leftovers), meatballs (bake a huge batch in the oven).  Combine these with fresh veggies to make meals throughout the week.

Some of our weeknight favorites:

- Tacos: chop the veggies the night before, and pull a bag of frozen ground beef from the freezer.  When you get home, combine the ground beef, a can of diced tomatoes and your favorite taco seasoning in a skillet.  Let that simmer while you and the kids set the table.

- Skillet chicken: Pound skinless/boneless chicken breasts flat, or slice and butterfly.  They should be around 1/2 inch thick, otherwise they take too long too cook.  Heat 1-2 Tb olive oil in a large skillet; season the chicken with your favorite herbs or spices; pan-fry in the olive oil.  Sometimes I add about 1/4 cup of water or broth and cover the skillet to poach the chicken; it ends up milder in flavor and more moist. My favorite seasonings: Italian herb mix; garlic powder & lemon pepper; see the Penzey's thread for other ideas.  While the chicken is cooking, steam some veggies (broccoli is a fav in our house) and/or make a salad, and warm up a bag of frozen leftover brown rice in the microwave.

- Seafood.  It generally cooks much faster than chicken or beef, and is yummy and healthy too!  Costco has bags of individually-wrapped Sockeye fillets that are actually quite good.  I pull 2-3 out of the freezer the night before.  Then grill (on a sheet of foil with a bit of olive oil, lemon juice and garlic) or roast in a 450-deg oven for about 10-15 minutes.  Stir together some ginger, garlic, soy sauce and brown sugar; use that to baste the salmon in the oven.  Cook up some veggies and garlic bread while the salmon is cooking.

- Meatballs: If you don't have cooked ones in the freezer, make up a batch of meatball mix the night before.  My fav recipe is: combine a slice of bread and 2-3 Tb milk in a bowl; add 1 egg and mix with a fork; add 2 cloves minced garlic, 2 thinly sliced scallions and 2 Tb Italian seasoning; add 1 lb ground turkey; mix to combine.  Store in a bowl in the fridge overnight.  Then, heat 2 Tb olive oil in a deep skillet.  Add a bunch of chopped basil, 2-3 Tb tomato paste, and a can of crushed tomatoes.  Bring to a simmer.  Form the meatballs, drop into the tomato sauce, cover, and simmer for about 10-15 minutes until cooked through.  Serve with pasta and veggie.  My kids love helping to make the meatballs.

-Dinner salad: when all else fails, chop some lettuce and a variety of veggies, add some of the shredded chicken from the freezer (thaw overnight, or in the microwave), may a couple of chopped hard-boiled eggs or diced ham if you have any handy.  My kids prefer having the items separate on their plate, with a puddle of dressing for dipping.

Sorry this got to be so long, I love thinking about food :).  Hope it helps.[/quote]

I love all your ideas, what freezer bags or containers do you use? The ones I get seem to always end up with frost in them[/quote]

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