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Everyone has days that are packed so full you don’t have time to cook a decent meal. The normal solution is to grab some fast food. I’ve done it when we could afford it, but it wasn’t the healthiest alternative. We’ve already talked about some mixes to have on hand for viable alternatives to eating out. And there are some easy recipes that come together in about 15 minutes if you keep the right pantry ingredients on hand.
When I’m stressed, I can usually get a main dish on the table, but sides dishes are another story. I found some coping strategies that help me fill our table in no time.
It helps to have a lettuce salad always prepared and ready to put on the table. Check out this post for how to make it last:
Other fast side dishes I keep on hand are: frozen veggies (just warm to serve), cottage cheese, home canned unsweetened applesauce, pineapple in juice, and whole wheat day old buns kept in the freezer (butter, sprinkle with garlic salt and parmesean or mozzarella and broil for 2 minutes for fast garlic bread.)
Here are some main dish pantry meals I always have on hand for a fast meal:
Spaghetti (just whole wheat pasta and jarred sauce. Warm and serve.)
Tacos (I keep homemade taco seasoning ready to go, shredded cheese, lettuce, tortillas (in the freezer), and salsa.) It’s just brown and season the meat, warm the tortillas throw everything on the table and eat!.)
Grilled Burritos: When my freezer is filled with sale priced or homemade tortillas, there are lots of options! I also keep canned refried beans on hand for emergencies, though like to make my own. Here’s a post about how to make these yummy burritos fast.
Mackerel Patties: Inexpensive but super healthy canned fish star in this fast dish! There’s even a how to video at the post here.
While dinner is often the eating out monster, breakfast can be tough too. Click here to read about how to make perpetual breakfast batters to always be ready to cook and eat on the run.
And if you are partial to Egg McMuffin Sandwiches, you’ll love the 90 second breakfast recipe here.
Oh, these look really y ummy. My dad and I have made our own muffin sandwiches for breakfast. So easy and pretty cheap, too, when you can find the stuff on sale, especially the meat 😉 🙂 Those are really filling, too!!! Thanks for all the linkies 😉 🙂 Love and hugs from Oregon, Heather 🙂