Dinner Foods

On really lazy days, I pick up a store roasted chicken and steam in bag frozen veggies. This weekend I made a pot of pumpkin soup with pork. I made it more savory, I don't really like sweet soup. This should last me 2 more meals. I also like making stews and chili on the weekend and reheating during the week.

Usually Monday though Wesdnesday we will eat food that I prepared on Sunday. We grilled a ton of chicken, but sometimes we will make a roast or steaks that we can eat on for a couple of days. I will supplement those with salad or raw vegetables, or even wrap everything up in a tortilla. If I have a little extra time I will roast the veggies, only takes about 25 min at 425.

Later in the week I will do a thin cut of meat or fish that cooks quickly, cocktail shrimp with a vegetable or breakfast for dinner. When it's hot in the summer I will do a plate with fruit, cheese, veggies, nuts and hummus that doesn't heat up my kitchen at all.

Fridays usually mean it's smorgasboard night and we get the refrigerator cleaned out.

Another good way of using leftovers is to make mini, crustless quiches in a muffin tin. I can make a dozen with different ingredients in about 20 minutes in the oven.

My typical weeknight meal rotation includes Honey Sriancha Pork Stir Fry with rice, tacos (grilled chicken or shrimp), tandoori chicken, grilled salmon, chicken or steak with any 2 of these veggies on the side. Frozen steamed broccoli, frozen Brussels sprouts roasted with garlic, baked sweet or regular potatoes, cinnamon roasted sweet potatoes, oven fries. In the summer we may also have corn on the cob and depending on prices, roasted asparagus.

With fall and winter coming I'll add soups like tomato tortellini, or baked potato and some chili to the rotation.

None of these require more than 45 min to prepare and you could easily make enough to have several meals for future days. Check out Budget Bytes, the blog I linked to. It has lots of fairly easy recipes.

Fish cooks quickly and so do thin slices chicken and pork chop tenderloin cuts. I use those a lot during the week. Also ground turkey. I also prep a lot on Sunday as someone else mentioned it helps quite a lot.

crock pot is your friend. you put it in when you leave for work and its ready when you get home. I make taco soup, black bean soup, chili, bean soup, lentil soup etc. all in the crock pot.
If I'm cooking in the evenings I'll roast a turkey breast and cut it up using it on a big salad, saving some for the next day to make a muffin sandwich with some cheese and eggs.
I love pork tenderloin, with sweet potatoes, black beans, or a salad
Baked potato with broccoli and cheese and butter is yummy
black bean quesadillas are quick and easy