Meals to Put on Repeat During Busy Seasons

Time feel short when it comes to meal prepping? Here are the meals I’m putting on repeat during this busy season.

We are in a busy season. Not sure why I was surprised? But, I was taken aback when I realized that my kitchen routine has dropped off the face of the earth.

Getting people fed (usually at the last minute and late at night) has been the name of the game. Couple that with the fact that all the kids are getting their spring school and work routines in gear and yes…

We are in a busy season.

Weirdly, there have been some nights when I’ve made childhood comfort foods that take more time than I really had for prepping dinner on a night, but dang that was good. I’m already scheduling a day to make 4x the casseroles to freeze for a later date.

Anywho, for the duration we’ll be leaning on easy meals and the meal prep items included in the Time-Savers Toolkit.

Here are my meal plan themes for the coming weeks:

Crockpot Dinners

On Mondays I don’t get home until close to 7, so it makes a lot of sense to put something in the slow cooker before I leave at 9. Chili always works well, but so do shredded meats to put in sandwiches, wraps, or bowls.

I plan to have a rotation of slow cooker chili and something like pulled pork since it’s a cheaper protein than beef.

Pasta Night

Instant Pot Mac and Cheese is the easiest and the cheapest, but that usually requires an additional protein to really satisfy the peeps. Tuna Pasta Bake is something I can make ahead of time and even freeze.

The Fam really loves this Bolognese, so we’ll work that in as well. Either way, having meal plan themes makes meal planning and grocery shopping really easy.

Taco Night

No one says no to tacos at our house. Lately, I’ve been skipping the crunchy shells and just rehydrating corn tortillas for the best soft tacos.

Since it’s a budget protein, I’m using ground turkey instead of beef in my taco meat.

Pizza Night

Grilling pizza is one of the highlights of B’s week, typically on Friday, but I’ve been leaning on quick pizzas midweek, like French Bread Pizza, pizzadillas, and English Muffin Pizzas.

Burger Night

Burgers are easy. And while I’d rather let In-n-Out do the cooking, we just can’t afford it. It’s better to make our own turkey burgers.

Rice Bowls

Rice bowls are something my kids can all easily get behind. It’s actually their own go-to recipe. When it doubt, make rice in the instant pot or bake it or cook it on the stove.

While their default is some type of Asian toppings, I know we can take it in a myriad of flavor directions so that we can use what we have.

So, that’s my meal plan on repeat for the rest of the month!

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