Quick and Easy Week Night Meals

It’s that time of the year when kids are going back to school and life is getting busy.  Cooking for your family is probably the last thing you feel like doing, yet you can’t wait around for mom to make dinner because guess what?  You are the mom!  That’s why today I wanted to share some of my favorite quick and easy meals that I like to make for my family. 

There used to be a time when I enjoyed cooking, but now with a toddler, a full-time job and a blog that I like to keep up with, cooking is my least favorite thing… just behind cleaning my house.  The problem is, we don’t like to eat out all the time.  It can be really expensive and it’s not that healthy to always eat out in restaurants.  Not to mention, going to a restaurant with a 2-year-old is not very enjoyable for us right now.  We do go out to eat once or twice on the weekends, but most of the week we eat at home. 

Every weekend, I try to put together a meal plan for the week.  I typically go to the same 3 grocery stores every week.  For my everyday shopping needs, I like Smith’s, because I’m familiar with the store, it’s convenient and they have great prices.  I use their app to load up my mobile coupons and save extra on almost everything I buy.  I also like to do my big weekend grocery shopping trips at WinCo. WinCo is great because they have great prices, unique local brands and ethnic foods.  The only downfall for me is that WinCo doesn’t accept credit cards, which I earn cashback rewards for shopping at grocery stores, so I have to forfeit my points when I shop at WinCo.  The last grocery store that I regularly shop at is Trader Joe’s.  I look forward to my Trader Joe’s trips because I love that store!  I usually spend a little more when I do a trip to Trader Joe’s, but it’s worth it, because they have so yummy frozen meals and premade meals, that they keep my family fed for a while. 

Today, I want to share 6 quick and easy meals for you.  No difficult recipes, just simple meals for you and your family.

This is a go-to meal for me.  The frozen bag of Clam Linguini is really yummy and it takes under 10 minutes to cook.  I always like to have a salad with my pasta and bag salads are the best to go with weeknight meals.  I love this Chopped Mediterranean salad from Taylor Farms, but I usually just buy whatever is on sale.  I usually make some garlic toast to go along with our meal, because my husband always likes it.

After making these Trader Joe’s meatballs, I don’t know if I’ll ever make homemade meatballs again.  Well, maybe one day if I have a lot of free time, but these meatballs are delicious!!  I just microwave them for 2 minutes and I serve them with angel hair pasta and marinara sauce.  Again, I like to serve my pasta with a bag salad and some garlic toast.  Since it’s only my husband and me who eat the salad, I split the bag so it will last us for more than one meal.

Avocado pasta was one of the first Pinterest recipes that I ever tried.  I love avocados and this is the perfect way to use them in a pasta.  I’ve been making this meal for so many years that I have simplified my recipe.  In my hand blender measuring cup, I add 1-2 avocados, depending on the size, 2 Tbs of Olive Oil, 1 tsp of minced garlic, a splash of lemon juice and some Morten seasoning.  I blend it all up with my mixer and serve it over whole wheat spaghetti noodles, with salad and bread on the side.  It’s an easy way to get kids to eat a vegetable too!

I love Mediterranean food.  This wrap is the perfect fix when I feel like some sort of chicken wrap.  I buy all the ingredients at Trader Joe’s.  This pre-cooked chicken breast is the best.  It’s all-white meat, fresh and perfect for wraps and salads.  I use hummus to line the pita with, then add chicken, feta, and tabouli.  It makes for a nice fast summer meal.  Plus there is no cleanup since there is no cooking involved.

I love fish tacos and these fish tacos are so easy.  I buy the fish nuggets at Trader Joe’s.  For a topping, I buy some kind of slaw in a bag.  This Tahini, Pepita and Apricot Slaw Kit from Trader Joe’s was the perfect veggie toppings with these.  For cheese, I usually like to use feta with fish.  I made my tacos on a corn tortilla, but my husband prefers flour, so you can use either or depending on your preference.

Bean and Rice Burritos

This meal is pretty much poor college student food, but it’s so easy and it tastes good too.  I use refried beans, Spanish rice, cheese, avocado and salsa.  For this meal, I grilled my burrito, but if you want to make it really easy, you can just pop it in the microwave.

So there you have it.  Those are 6 easy meals that you can make for your family within 30 minutes.  Let me know if you try any of them.  For more quick and easy meals, follow me on Instagram and watch my instastories where I will share more recipes as I make them.

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