Like many of you, our weeknights can get pretty chaotic around here. With three growing boys, trying to get dinner (and a healthy one at that) on the table while keeping the peace among tired and sometimes cranky kids is no easy feat. Don’t worry this post is going to help you find some easy weeknight meals that are healthy AND don’t take forever to prepare.
It took me a while to get into my groove for cooking on crazy busy weeknights. I love trying new recipes, but the thought of finding them for the whole week (along with sides) and coordinating all the ingredients I needed was a little overwhelming. I started searching online for recipe databases or meal plans I could use for to make the process a bit easier. A few of my favorites include the Fresh 20 and E-Meals.
The Fresh 20 Meal Planning
I found the Fresh 20 a few years ago, and it has single handedly saved our weeknight meal routine. The meals do not take more than 30 minutes to prepare and every Friday around 3 pm EST the meals are up on the website for the following week– how great is that?!
In each downloadable packet you get an overview, complete with things you can do ahead of time for meal prep, nutrition information, recipes, and a shopping list with all ingredients. Best of all, I waste A LOT less food, since you only buy 20 new ingredients each week that you use for the 5 meals.
The meals include seasonal produce (which is often on sale) and are very very healthy, while tasting good! They always get the seal of approval from both boys and my husband (who is quite the foodie!).
EMeals – Meal Planning Made Simple
Lately, I’ve also been using Emeals. This meal planning service has a great app for the iPhone that not only provides recipes, but also creates and finds the items in Instacart for you to add to your shopping list! There are a bunch of different filters you can apply when deciding on your meal plan, and I chose 30 minutes or less. I can happily report that this is accurate and the whole family has loved the meals I’ve made from the plan (Chicken Sausage Jambalaya is a fan favorite in our house).
So go ahead and check out the Fresh 20 for some weeknight meal inspiration and also E-meals. In the meantime, here are a few of our favorite easy weeknight meals:
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