Making life easier, one bite at a time
Hi Busies! Pork is a relatively new addition to my cooking repertoire. I always told myself that I didn’t like it, so I refused to try it, until Drew ordered it while we were out to eat one night and insisted I try a bite. …
Hi Busies! If you’ve already read my Big Bite post about meal prep, you understand the basic idea that meal prepping will save you time and money. But how can you save even more time and money? Follow the tips below! Freezing food – The quicker food freezes, the …
Hi Busies! Even though this is a bean salad, I’m going to start with a rant about how amazing TOMATOES are right now! ? ❤️ There’s nothing better than a ripe, juicy tomato, and I had the perfect one to include in this summer bean salad that I made for a barbecue with some of Drew’s colleagues. I get irrationally excited by finding the perfect tomato – you know, the one that is just the right amount of squishy, and when you pick it up you can just tell it’s bursting with juicy tomato-ey goodness?! I was very tempted to slice it up, sprinkle it with sea salt, and eat it all myself, but for the sake of this salad, I somehow restrained myself.
The beauty of a salad like this is that you can add or remove whatever you like. Something delicious in season that you found at the farmers market? Add it! Hate onions? Leave them out! Adding 1 cup of cooked quinoa turns this into more of a standalone side dish (or even a healthy, filling lunch!), or leave the quinoa out and serve with tortilla or pita chips as more of a dip. Bonus points if you have leftover slow cooker black beans to use instead of canned!
start by draining and rinsing the beans…
…add in the chopped cilantro, onion, and dressing…
…stir in the avocado and that’s it!
Bean salads like this are my go-to summer side dish, especially for bringing something to an event. They’re easy and quick to throw together, and make a healthy and colorful addition to any spread. What’s your favorite way to use tomatoes in the summer?
Hi Busies! If you’ve read my meal prep tips page, you know I can ramble on about different ways to cook most efficiently. Just in case you haven’t had enough yet – here’s a great example! To make 4 servings of my Spanish Rice, the directions specify …
Hi Busies! Kale is having a major moment right now, and prepping a base of kale and brown rice is like putting on dark jeans and a white shirt – you can style it so many different ways depending on how you accessorize, or in this …
Busy Girl’s Guide to Meal Prep (printable guide)
Hi Busies! The biggest reason I’m writing this blog is to share my meal prep ideas with all of you, in the hopes that sharing my ideas can help make your busy life a little more manageable. Included below is everything you need for the first round of meal prep: my meal plan, shopping list, and links to each individual recipe post. Warning, this isn’t just “meal prep Sunday” where you make 1 dish and eat it the whole week. This plan takes it to the next level – you prepare 2 months worth of meals at once, so that you can have more variety throughout each week and spend less time in the kitchen! Think about cooking a full YEAR’s worth of dinners in just 6 weekends, spread throughout the year. That’s 46 weekends that you’re now free to do whatever you want, not to mention regaining lots of Sunday and weeknight time!
The short answer – so that you can make healthy, delicious meals while saving time and money! With a little upfront cooking, these meals are even more convenient than picking something up on your way home from work or trying to throw something together at the end of a long day. You can make satisfying, varied meals that don’t compromise on quality or nutrition, and cooking ahead saves you valuable time during busy weeknights. I don’t know about y’all, but most of the time my afternoon snack just doesn’t cut it and by around 5pm my stomach is begging for dinner. Add in the drive home during rush hour and then having to spend an hour cooking dinner…let’s just say I was spending a lot of nights as a very hangry cook. Just imagine regaining all that valuable weeknight time, and having a hot meal just minutes away from when you get home!
For each round of meal prep, I try to use ingredients that I can buy in bulk, while also varying each individual week’s worth of meals so that we don’t get tired of eating the same thing over and over. There are websites that will sell you shopping lists and recipes and plans, but I’m going to provide you all that for free, in the hopes that we can forge on this journey together! I’ll be sharing with you the same lists that I use to do all my shopping, cooking, and planning, and I can’t wait to hear how your rounds of meal prep go and talk about how the meals turn out! It takes some practice to shift your methods from cooking 1 meal at a time to cooking a bunch of different things at once, but with this guide you’ll be chopping, sautéing, baking, boiling, and roasting all at once in no time.
I know this can seem a little overwhelming at first, but I promise, you can do it! The most time consuming part of this is the planning, and that’s why I’m here – I’ve done all the planning for you! Just print my Busy Girl’s Guide to Meal Prep (this includes my shopping list and recipe plan) and head straight to the store. And if you look at the meal plan and have commitment issues (after all, sometimes at the end of the day all you want is a big slice of pizza, and there’s nothing wrong with that!), just start small. Meal prep just 1 or 2 weeks worth of meals, and build up from there. You can always shift around meals or keep them in the freezer for an extra week if your plans change (or if that pizza is just calling your name).
Aside from basic kitchen equipment (a few pots, pans, and cooking utensils), the most valuable tools you can have are:
, which will help you do double duty by “prepping” 2 meals at once
Watson, always keeping an eye on me in the kitchen!
After you’ve downloaded my free Busy Girl’s Guide to Meal Prep (printable guide), and done all of your shopping, pick a time you can start the cooking process. I like to pick a weekend and do a little bit of cooking on each day, starting Friday night. Take a read through the recipes and check out my quick tips page for how to make the cooking process go as quickly and smoothly as possible. Lastly, check out each individual recipe post, which are linked below, or you can find them tagged as “Round1” using the search bar on the right. I make 4 servings of each meal since it’s just Drew and me, and we eat the same meal twice during the week I make it. The recipes are easy to adjust to a family of any size and can also be packaged into individual portioned bags/containers for great ready-to-go lunches.
If you follow my plan, you’ll spend between $300-350 on food, some of which (spices, sauces, etc.) you’ll still have extra of to re-use for the next round. If you make 4 servings of each meal, this comes out to 80 servings, at around $4 per serving. When you compare this to a meal delivery service ($10-15 per serving) or eating at a quality restaurant ($15+ per serving for a dinner entree), you can see how the savings add up! And y’all, imagine it with me: coming home from a busy day and having a healthy, home-cooked meal ready & waiting for you!
How did your bulk shopping go? How did your first round of cooking go? Have you ever meal prepped before? How did this version compare? Let me know in the comments below, or share the results with me by tagging @busygirl_bites and #busygirlbites on Instagram!
Happy meal prepping, Busies!
Hi Busies! Today I’m sharing a modified version of a Blue Apron recipe I tried last year. This is not a Blue Apron sponsored post, but I will say that giving them a try helped me expand my palate and become a bit more adventurous …
Hi Busies! I hope everyone is having a great week! Today I’m sharing one of my favorite meal prep recipes. But before I get into that, I just need to say one thing. Earlier this week I found a spider web on my stove. Yes, …
Hi Busies! I’m going to try to refrain from singing the praises of my crock pot too much (unlike in my post about black beans), because I could go on all day. If I did that, I’d miss my chance to get this roast going in the crock pot in time for dinner tonight, and I won’t let anything get between me and those potatoes.
This is one of the few meal prep recipes that actually requires NO meal prep, because it really is that simple. You can buy the roast during your meal prep shopping and stick the whole thing in the freezer until you’re ready to make it, or just wait and buy it during the week you’re going to make it.
Just sprinkle all the dressings on and mix them with your hands as you rub them into the meat – no need to dirty an extra bowl!
The savory brown sauce soaks into the meat until it’s fallaparttender, perfectly complemented by slow roasted carrots and potatoes. This is my mom’s recipe that she’s been making for as long as I can remember. The canned whole potatoes I use are just about the most comforting thing in the world for me! I’ve tried cutting up fresh potatoes but there’s a certain nostalgia about the canned potatoes that keeps me coming back for more…and more…and more!
I like to finish off with salt, pepper, and a little parsley to serve. These seasonings can get lost with the long cooking time if added at the beginning, but adding them at the end helps enhance existing flavors that we’ve built, while waiting in hungry anticipation.
Oh, and did I mention this is even better as leftovers? #bonuspoints #thepointsdontmatter #butthetastedoes #andthistastesamazing
What was your favorite comfort food growing up? Let me know in the comments below!
Note: if you are using Yukon Gold potatoes, these should be washed, quartered, and added to the crock pot to cook for the full 8 hours. If you are using canned potatoes, add them to the crock pot approximately 1 hour prior to serving and stir so the gravy covers them.
Hi Busies! *Sigh* This week has just been one of those weeks. Playing catch up from a trip home to Cleveland last week, lots going on at work, rain has kept the dogs inside and restless, and my head is just all over the …