Hi, friends!
I received a few emails from readers asking about healthy, quick meals that we make during the week now that we have a little one. We don’t have a ton of time to cook anymore, so these five dinners below have become our go-to favorites and appear quite often on our weeklyΒ menu. They’re awesome because you can throw them together in no time at all and most of them make enough for leftovers for lunch the next day.
MEAL PLAN
Monday: Cheesy Garlic & Herb Brussels Sprouts with Sausage
Tuesday: Turkey & Spinach Sweet Potato Hash
Wednesday: Sweet Potato Quesadillas
Thursday: Potato and Chorizo Dobladas
Friday: 5-Minute, Protein-Packed Vegetarian Stir Fry
GROCERY SHOPPING LIST
- 10 ounces Brussels sprouts – $2.29
- 12 ounces of chicken sausage – $4.49
- 5 wedges of The Laughing Cow Light Garlic & Herb cheese – $2.99
- 1 16-ounce bag of frozen stir fry veggies – $1.89
- 1 15-ounce can chickpeas – $0.69
- 1 15-ounce can of black beansΒ – $0.69
- 1 12-ounce bag frozen shelled edamame – $2.49
- rice (I used boil-in-bag brown rice) – $2.79
- 2-3 medium/large sweet potatoes (approx. 2 pounds) – $1.98 ($0.99/pound)
- 1 medium onion – $0.59
- 1 pound ground turkey – $3.99
- fresh spinach – $1.89 (8-ounce bag)
- 2-3 medium russet potatoes (approx. 1.5 pounds) – $1.98 ($0.79/pound)
- 15-ounces ground Mexican chorizo – $3.99
- 10 6-inch flour or corn tortillas – $1.99
***Prices based on onesΒ from Stop & Shop
PANTRY STAPLES
- soy sauce
- extra virgin olive oil
- cinnamon
- garlic powder
PREP TIPS
- I suggested an order in which to make these meals above, but feel free toΒ switch them around based on your own personal preferences and time available during the week. The notes below are based off this order.
- If you want to do all of your food prepΒ in one day, say Sunday, here are some ideas to make mealtime more efficient during the work week: slice Brussels sprouts, slice and cook chicken sausage, chop sweet potatoes for hash, mash sweet potatoes for quesadillas, cook and mash potatoes for Dobladas. Everything else can be cooked or assembled fairly fast.
- When you cook the Turkey & Spinach Sweet Potato Hash, be sure to save about 1/3 of the sweet potatoes for the Sweet Potato Quesadilla the next day.
- If you decide to cook as you go (I know some people prefer freshly cooked meals), the Sweet Potato Quesadilla night is a good timeΒ toΒ do a little food prepΒ since this meal can be thrown together in a matter of minutes. Cook the potatoes for the Dobladas and rice for the stir fry, so you can just throw together dinner for the next couple of nights.
- You will probably have leftover black beans after making the quesadillas, so feel free to use them up by throwing some in the Dobladas and/or stir fry. Or nix buying the black beans all together and use some of the chickpeas (for the stir fry) in the quesadillas instead.
Happy eating!
23 Comments
I’ve found that ever since eating high fat, I’ve been saving money because I don’t need the same quantity of food anymore, so I eat less and save more. π
Great ideas! Love the turkey & spinach sweet potato hash!
I love that most of these were vegetarian. Perfect for me! Thanks for sharing π
Thanks for this post! Right now, I am menu planning for the week and have been trying to keep my grocery bills in check. I’m not eating meat or dairy these days, but am now inspired to see which ingredients can carry over from one meal to the next. Thanks and Happy Sunday!
Great meals and a good post showing you can eat healthy (dinners/lunches) with little time and little prep! That Brussel sprout dinner with chicken sausage looks good. Must try!
Those meals sound delicious and affordable which makes it even better. Great suggestions. Thanks for sharing!
Great meal ideas! I always try to make sure I use leftover ingredients. This way I’m not wasting food or money!
Awesome ideas! I plan on making those Sweet Potato Quesadillas sometime in the near future. They sound so easy and delicious.
This post comes right in time because I will have more time to cook this week. Thanks for the inspiration!
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I love your Turkey and Sweet Potato Hash, and my kids love it too! I added some apples to the mix too (since we have way too many and don’t know what to do with them) and I use turkey sausage instead of ground turkey. One of our family’s favorite meals!
I just wanted to say that the turkey sweet potato hash is SO GOOD! One of my good to recipes since you posted it awhile back.
I made your sweet potato quesadillas and now they are a staple π Love them!
Good meal ideas! I try to keep my dinners simple because with prep and clean up each meal takes a little bit of time.
Thanks for writing all the meals out as a plan with a shopping list! So easy!!
We love those dobladas…once I found a good chorizo. I have a quickie soup for you to try. I made it Sunday trying to use up the last of my farmers market veggies. I had 1 zucchini, 1 yellow squash, 2 carrots, 1/2 of a red pepper, 1/2 head of broccoli, random green onions and leeks plus 1 small onion, I sauteed the onions in a bit of olive oil with minced garlic (seasoned with garlic pepper) until soft, added the other veggies (all quickly chopped) with 1 carton of chicken broth. Let that simmer for 20 – 30 minutes until the vegetables were cooked. I put in 3 wedges of Laughing Cow spicy pepper jack cheese and stirred to combine then I used immersion blender. I will have it for lunch all week..it turned out well.
Yum! That sounds awesome!! Γ°ΕΈΛβ
I have been poking around your blog trying to find where you mentioned that brown leather tote/purse you carry but have been unable to find it. Could you link it for me? I remember really loving it and now I am looking for a brown leather large purse. I like having lots of side zipper and slip pockets to keep things handy – does your bag have those things? It is holding up well?
Thank you so much for these! I will be using them this week for our meal preps! I needed some cheaper options (but still packed with a healthy punch) due to the holidays coming up, and this is just perfect!
Love that! I try to make massive quantities of meals so that I can have at least two dinners and two lunches out of every meal (one each for me and the bf). I think that ends up saving us a lot of money!
What is your favorite kind of tortilla to buy? I never know which ones to buy!!
Thanks for sharing! I love the spinach and sweet potato hash recipe! I’m saving it to try now. I have such a hard time coming up with healthy and quick meals, so this is great!
I love this – thank you! This may be one of my favorite posts yet π