24 Meals for $180

I have been meal planning/freezer cooking for the last 6 and a half years, y'all. With no breaks. No exceptions. I always, always have meals in the freezer. Until the plague of 2019 hit our house and I wasn't able to escape it. We went TWO WEEKS without meals. Kids were sick. I was sick...like reeeallly sick and I just couldn't get it done. Can I just tell you how much that affected my mood? I'm not kidding, once I placed the 24th meal into the freezer, I did a little happy dance because I know evenings will run much smoother after I've prepped.

Every time I'm getting close to meal prepping, I ask my family what they'd like for dinner (they know mama's system) and they're requests were homemade pizza, burgers, tacos, and salmon. The husband requested lasagna and chili. The rest came from the heart and also, Instagram input. So here it goes...

MENU |
Burgers
Sausage Bake
Fajitas
Ranch Chicken
Chicken & Dumplings
Dirty Rice
Lasagna
Homemade Pizza
Spaghetti & Meatballs
Teriyaki Salmon & Veggies
Sweet Potato Chili
Tacos

I made 2 of each meal, shopped at Winco and my total was $180, which comes in at about $7.50/meal to feed my family of five (plus leftovers).

GROCERY LIST |

Meat:
2 packages of sirloin burgers (we really like the ones at Winco and I have no shame calling this "a meal"
2 smoked turkey sausages
3 3-lb. bags of chicken breasts
3 lbs. ground beef
2 lbs. ground Italian sausage
2 lbs. carne asada meat
1 package of pepperoni
2 bags pre-made meatballs
2 bags of salmon filets

Produce:
2 red bell peppers
2 yellow bell peppers
2 orange bell peppers
1 sweet onion
1 2 lb. bag of baby carrots
1 bunch asparagus
Brussel sprouts
4 large sweet potatoes

Freezer:
2 bags of broccoli florets

Refrigerator:
2 containers of biscuits
1 container ricotta
Shredded mozzarella (2 small bags, 1 large)

Canned Goods:
4 cartons of broth
2 cream of chicken
8 jars marinara
2 cans diced tomatoes
4 cans tomato sauce
2 cans kidney beans
2 cans black beans
2 jars pizza sauce

Dried Goods:
3 lbs. of brown rice
2 packages lasagna noodles
2 packets of yeast
Flour
2 spaghetti noodles
2 boxes hard shell tacos
2 boxes of cornbread

Bakery:
2 packages of hamburger buns
2 packages of small tortillas (fajita size)
2 packages of breadsticks

Seasoning:
Yoshidas Teriyaki
Cumin
Chili powder
Cayenne powder
Garlic powder
S&P
Oregano
Ranch seasoning
Thyme
Montreal Steak seasoning
EVOO

Other:
Gallon Hefty bags
Slow cooker liners
2 foil trays

Here are the first things that need to be done to make this round go smoothly:
1. Label Bags
2. Boil lasagna noodles
3. Brown all ground beef and carne asada
4. 3 lbs. of brown rice in the rice cooker

Then just work through each bag.

Burgers

Throw these bad boys in the freezer. Who doesn't love a zero-thinking night of, "let's throw some burgers on the grill."

Freeze the buns too.

Sausage Bake

And another one. Freeze this with the broccoli. To prepare this meal, thaw and slice sausage, add broccoli and potatoes, sweet potatoes and veggies, drizzle with EVOO and season with S&P, garlic, basil and bake at 425 for 45 minutes.

Fajitas

1.5 chicken breasts
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 orange pepper
Season with oregano, cumin, chili powder, Cayenne (according to taste), salt and pepper

Thaw and grill or 8 hours on low in the crock pot. Serve on small tortillas with your favorite toppings.

Ranch Chicken

1.5 chicken breasts
Season with ranch season

Thaw and grill, bake or pan fry. My kids like it when I cut this into strips, dip it in an egg wash and then flour or bread crumbs and pan fry. So good.

Chicken & Dumplings

1.5 chicken breasts
1/2 sweet onion, diced
1 lbs. chopped carrots
2 cartons of broth
1 can cream of chicken
Season with salt, pepper, garlic (to taste)
1 1/2 tsp thyme

8 hrs on low. 1 hr before it's done, use the biscuit dough stored in the fridge and cut each biscuit into 6ths and stir into soup. These will be your dumplings.

Dirty Rice
1.5 cooked brown rice
3/4 c cooked ground beef
Drizzle with EVOO and season with montreal steak seasoning (to taste)

Warm in a skillet. You can also add peppers and onions to this if you're feeling frisky.

Lasagna
1 box lasagna noodles, cooked
1 lb. cooked ground Italian sausage
3/4 c cooked ground beef
2 jars marinara

Layer in foil pan noodles, ricotta, sauce + meat, mozzerella, repeat 3x

Homemade Pizza
Freeze cheese and toppings (pepperoni)
Store yeast, flour, and sauce in pantry

I use this pizza dough recipe and then I add my toppings. The kids have been begging for this.

Spaghetti & Meatballs

2 jars of marinara sauce
1 bag meatballs
1 bay leaf

Store noodles and cook when ready to eat. 7 hrs on low.

Teriyaki Salmon & Veggies

Bag 1: 1 bag salmon filets, 1/4 cup Yoshidas teriyaki sauce
Bag 2: veggie (brussel sprouts or asparagus)

Thaw, place on sheet pan. Drizzle oil on veggies and season. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes.

Sweet Potato Chili

2 large peeled and cubed sweet potatoes
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
2 cans tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
2 tsp chili seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
S&P
Cayenne to taste

8 hrs on low. Make with cornbread stored in the pantry.

Tacos
1 lb. carne asada meat
1/2 taco seasoning packet

Warm in skillet, serve in hard shell tacos stored in pantry.

VOILA! 24 meals for $180. Now go live your best meal prep life.