So one of our GooRus, Emily (she’s in charge of making everything we do more beautiful), cooked a whole chicken this week. She’s gonna clean it all up, freeze some, and then make a broth out of the bones. It inspired us and made us wonder what you’re all doing for meals out there. If you’re staying at home with kids, cooking may be a part of the day that’s fun family time, or it might be kind of stressful with everything else that is going on.
So we thought sharing some recipes that are quick and easy would be a good way to help each other. In particular, most of these are meals you can freeze and cook later too, so that if your day has been long and you don’t have the energy to make a meal, you can just reheat them. Most of us haven’t been doing the stay-at-home thing for very long and we can’t speak for everyone, but some days are . . . more challenging than others.
Carving out some time to cook meals on the weekends can pay big dividends the following week. Doubling recipes so you can freeze your leftovers is a great trick too. Then there are recipes where all you have to do is prep the ingredients and throw them in the oven or crock pot once dinner time is near. We love those! We prefer to thaw frozen dinners by dropping them in the fridge the night before or in the morning, but you can also put them out on the counter a couple of hours before your next meal if you forget. Now, on to the yumminess!
Casseroles and soups are pretty easy to make ahead of time and then freeze
Black Bean Taco Soup
Here’s a black bean taco soup recipe from Six Sisters that’s pretty easy. If you double it, you can have some now and enjoy it again later.
Broccoli Cauliflower Casserole
This one seems a touch more complicated, but we drooled when we saw the picture of the final product so we’re adding it in. It’s from the Daily Meal and you can find the recipe here.
There are a ton of Italian meals that are easy to cook and freeze up nicely
Here’s a Smoked Pork Stuffed Pasta recipe we found on Southern Living’s website that we cannot wait to try.
These Pizza Meatloaf Cups are easy, you can freeze them, and they can be used for snacks too. Taste of Home has the recipe, and we like how easy it would be to modify this with different sauces.
Don't forget breakfast
This Sausage and Grits Quiche is perfect for a brunch meal if you’re going to be busy in the morning. There’s some spinach for added vitamin E too. Check it out on My Recipes.
And if you’re a veggie lover, you’re in luck! We found an Overnight Veggie Lover’s Breakfast Casserole that you make the night before. It takes about 30 minutes to prep and just a bit more than that to bake. Read the full recipe and instructions on the Pilsbury site.
Honorable Mention
We couldn’t leave this Shepherd’s Pie out of the blog. Looks just like mom used to make it. Mmm mmm good.
We found a few lists to get you started if you’re looking for even more ideas
Karrie over at Happy Money Saver seems totally full of joy and she’s got some pretty great freezer meal ideas. Check out her whole site for tips and tricks, but start with these 15 easy freezer meal ideas.
And this list at Taste of Home had us making the yummy sound more than once. There are 150 easy recipes on the page and no annoying galleries to click through.
Now we’re hungry . . . also, as good as this list is, there aren’t any recipes on here from Grandma’s cookbook or from our mom’s stack of one-pagers that are in those plastic sleeves. Did your mom do that? So what we really want now are your favorites. What’s your go-to easy meal? Which recipe do you always double? If you’re cooking on the weekends for the following week, how do you organize things so that it’s as easy as possible? How do you get the kids, roomies, or significant others involved? Let us know in the comments. We’re gonna go find a snack. : )