Stress Free Christmas: Easy Meal Planning

Stress Free Christmas: Easy Meal Planning 

With all of the craziness of the Christmas season, it’s very easy to spend extra money on eating out because you’re just too busy to think about meal planning.

Here are a few ideas to keep dinner on the table and keep your family away from the fast food drive-through.

1. Plan

The first step to Easy Meal Planning is actually to have a plan . You can print meal planning forms here and then fill in your meals for the next two-three weeks. Keep the menu posted on the fridge so you can easily see it.

You can also print a grocery list here to make sure you purchase all the ingredients for your meals ahead of time. Print the blank monthly calendar pictured above here.

2. Use Bulk Cooking

The basic idea of bulk cooking is to buy a large quantity of meat (or other food), pre-cook it and stick it in the freezer for easy meals.

GROUND BEEF PLAN

Brown ground beef with onion, salt and pepper and freeze it plastic zipper bags (watch my video here).

Meals:

Easy Pasta-Add precooked beef to a jar of spaghetti sauce and heat on the stove for a few minutes. Serve this sauce over your favorite pasta with a side of bagged salad and garlic bread.

Tacos-Place precooked ground beef in a skillet, add mexican seasoning (recipe here to make your own) and heat through. Serve with taco shells, shredded lettuce, diced tomato, shredded cheese, sour cream and salsa. Add some minute rice.

Beef Enchiladas-Combine precooked beef with enchilada sauce, heat through. Place meat in the center of a flour tortilla (use corn to make this gluten free), roll up tortilla, top with more sauce and shredded cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve with corn (frozen corn kernels are easy).

Chili- Add precooked ground beef, chili powder, canned tomatoes to the crockpot (recipe here). Cook on low for 6 hours. Enjoy with tortilla chips.

CHICKEN PLAN

Click here to read the details of my Chicken Easy Meal Plan here. I will be using a similar plan this week for the following meals:

Chicken Stir Fry- Cut chicken breasts into strips and marinate with Italian salad dressing. Saute stir fry vegetables in oil until almost tender. Push vegetables to the sides of pan and add chicken. Cook until done. Serve over rice.

Chicken and Black Bean Chili- Add precooked chicken (from the freezer) to the crockpot with canned tomatoes, black beans, corn and seasoning (recipe here). Cook for 6 hours on low. Serve with corn chips.

Chicken Enchiladas-Combine 2 cups precooked chicken (from the freezer) with 1 1/2 cups salsa (we like black bean and corn salsa). Spoon chicken mixture into center of tortillas. Roll up and top with shredded cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees or until enchiladas start to brown. Serve with steamed green beans.

3. Plan Super Simple Meals

Another idea is to plan very simple meals that require little preparation. Here are a few examples to get you started:

Grilled cheese and canned soup

Quesadillas with refried beans, raw veggies and ranch dressing

Hot dogs and baked beans

Scrambled eggs and toast

Pizza bagels with baby carrots and ranch dressing

Waffles and sausage links

What are your favorite quick and easy meals?

You May Also Enjoy:

More Easy Recipes

Meal Ideas

Holiday Page!

For more menu ideas, visit Org Junkie.