Directions: |
Directions:I always make a menu, buy the groceries then when I get home, I PREPARE all the veggies and get them into baggies so I can just grab ingredients. Another thing I do........if I know I'll be having chili and spaghetti in the same week, I'll prepare the ground beef and divide it and store it. I like to have all my prep work done on the weekends so during the week, I just grab the stuff and get something made in a snap. I also hard boil a batch of eggs for just grabbing. I also make soups and chili and divide it into glad storage containers so we can have some for the freezer. That way, John can just grab a container out of the freezer or the fridge and take it to work. He keeps bread, peanut butter, jelly, condiments and crackers at the shop. I usually pack him a lunch but if I don't feel like it, he just grabs something already made in the freezer.
The make ahead thing that I always loved to have on hand when the kids were little was french toast. I'd make the whole loaf of bread into french toast on the weekend and put a piece of waxed paper between each piece and load it back into the bread bag and freeze it. Then in the morning, they'd get up and throw (from the freezer) two pieces into the toaster. The same for waffles. I'd make them on the weekend and freeze them for during the week. I'd make a big batch of oatmeal and put it in the fridge. It's easy to scoop some out, kinda mush it up with some milk and nuke it. It's perfect. Regarding the oatmeal and french toast, I always sweeten during prep with vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Into the oatmeal when I'm reheating it, I put in craisins or slice an apple into it and put in nuts. I still do this stuff but have added grilling a whole pack of chicken to my repertoire so I can cut it up and add it to a salad or make it into chicken salad or just eat it plain.
Chicken soup is a snap as you've probably found out. Some of the already grilled chicken or a rotisserie chicken from the store, some low-sodium chicken broth or stock, and any veggies you want. Throw some cornbread or crackers at it and it's YUM..... Tonight, I grabbed baby spinach from the fridge, rice (pre-prepared......I forgot to mention that. I pre-prepare jasmin rice and brown rice and keep it in the fridge for when I need it.....I have a rice cooker.), almonds, fresh blackberries and strawberries and made a YUMMY fruit salad. I also had 1/2 piece of whole wheat pita bread with hummis (garbonzo beans, garlic and lemon......tangy, weird but I'm acquiring a taste for it and using it instead of mayonnaise because it's a natural food). I found the Fresh and Easy store in Yucaipa and swear by it now!!! Anyway, as you can tell, I had a meal tonight that I would have paid $8 in a restaurant. It was a treat and I still have all the fixings in the fridge that I can throw together and make entirely different meals with it. |
This recipe for Make Ahead Smarts is from