During the school year, the craziness never seems to stop. The key to success and your sanity is getting, and staying, organized. So, let’s talk weekday dinners. There’s nothing worse than coming home after a crazy day, to a house full of exhausted family members, and no plan for what to put on the table. We’ve rounded up 10 fast, exhaustion proof meals, that are (mostly) healthy and inexpensive. Have a favorite weekday meal? Please post it in the comments section! Sharing is caring.
Top Ten Weekday Meals
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- Embrace the slow cooker. There are millions of slow cooker recipes out there. Why? Because it’s easy to prep, easy to clean up, and all you have to do is set it and leave. If you’re looking for a few new recipes to try, check out this top ten list we shared. Protip: if you don’t like the way slow cookers soften veggies, add them a few minutes before seving.
- Batch cook and freeze. There are so. many. meals. that are totally freezable. The next time you make spaghetti sauce, soup, calzones, lasagna, stuffed shells, curry, or chilli, triple the recipe. Let the extra food cool and freeze it in labled ziplock bags. The next time you’re running late or forgot to prep dinner, there will be several meals in the freezer ready to be warmed up. Bonus: This keeps you from wasting time, money and calories on take out!
- Sandwiches. There’s no rule that says you have to have a traditional meal for it to be a good, solid dinner. Seriously, throw sandwich night in your meal plan. It’s perfect for nights where you’re driving the kiddos around to practice or don’t have the energy to cook. Looking for something more fun than a PB and J ( we LOVE those by the way)? Check out this top ten list of sandwich recipes we’re digging.
- Roast chicken and salad. I’m not suggesting you cook a chicken. I’m suggesting you grab a rotisserie chicken and bag of premixed salad from a grocery store on your way home, or whenever you do your weekly grocery run. The best part is that you can use the leftovers for sandwiches the next day!
- Stir fry. Wok+ veggies + protien + Soy sauce. Toss it over rice. Done.
- Make pasta a little more interesting. We’re not hating on angel hair and a jar of marinara. We grew up on that stuff! However, if you’re getting a bit bored with spaghetti night, try cacio e pepe or spaghetti with peas and parmesan. Both recipes are suuuper easy and just the thing to shake up a weekday staple.
- Taco Tuesday is the champion of weekday meals for reason. It’s delicious, frugal, and easy. If you don’t already observe Taco Tuesday make this the year to get on board!
- Shakshuka (poached eggs in tomato sauce)- We stumbled upon this easy, tasty recipe last year and can’t get enough of it. It’s also a great brunch dish!
- Sheet pan dinners- They’re the new one pot dinner, guys. Pinterest is losing its collective mind over sheet pan meals. Check it out for yourself and let us know which ones you’ve tried and love!
- Mac and cheese with hotdogs. Seriously. Sometimes you just need to embrace the blue box after a hard day, and hug your kids. Not every meal will be perfect and that’s okay. So keep a extra box of mac and cheese handy and hey, if you’re feeling extra sassy turn the hot dog into an octopus. It’s totaly Pin worthy 🙂
