Whether schedules change or you just have a long day planned, having a meal that is ready to heat and eat can be a game changer, helping you ensure you are getting the nutrients you need.
General tips to help with making meals quicker at night:
Write it out. Write out what your main dish and sides are. If you know you are making a teriyaki chicken dish, also write out rice and the salad or roasted broccoli or other vegetable that you are having with it. This allows you to batch prepare throughout the week, if you have another recipe that calls for rice you can then make rice once and use it for both meals.
Prep your vegetables. This generally takes the most time in a recipe outside of the actual cook time. Cutting up and preparing vegetables ahead of time also helps you commit to making those meals.
Communicate with your family. Getting everyone on the same page with dinner plans decreases the chances of the plan being derailed. This is also a great step to help delegating tasks with both the prep and making the dish.
Make double. When you find a recipe that you like, save future you some time and double the recipe so that you can freeze half of it. There are plenty of recipes that include freezer instructions, start stocking up!
Here are a few of my favorite make-ahead meals that hold up well.
Can be done in the instant pot or crockpot
Can also be prepped ahead of time and stored in the freezer:
These can cooked ahead of time, refrigerated, then eaten cold or warm
Cut everything ahead or freezer meal
there are instruction below the recipe if you want to create a layered casserole instead.
I recommend adding in beans and rice to the mix to bump up carbs for your athlete.
For a little cheat, I have also used a bottle of salsa verde instead of making my own. While not as delicious, it was a time saver.
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