Skip to main content

Pandemic Cooking: 26 Meals for $240


When I did my last round of meals I was so thankful I had meal prepped right before the quarantine started and thought surely it'd be over by the time I needed to go again. 

Alas, here we are. Still cooped up. Still social distancing. Still eating too many snacks and over scheduled with Zoom calls, figuring out how to home school our kids, and making a million meals each day.

Meal prepping has continued to be incredibly helpful for us since we're avoiding going to the grocery store every five days. This round is not the cheapest. It is not the healthiest. But it was incredibly easy to throw together when I got home. (Only took me an hour!)

Menu | Make 2 of each unless otherwise indicated

California Burritos
Spaghetti
Orange Chicken and Broccoli
Tacos
Pulled Pork on Pretzel Rolls
Cajun Smoked Sausage and Rice (make 3)
Baked Ravioli
Roasted Red Peppers & Sausage on Texas Toast
Mesquite Lime Chicken Flatbread Wraps
Chicken Fajitas
Steak Fajitas (make 1)
Sausage & Shrimp Skillet
Teriyaki Chicken

Grocery List |

Produce:
2 sweet onion
3 red bell peppers
3 orange bell peppers
3 yellow bell peppers

Meat:
2 2-3 lbs. carne asada roasts
2 bag meatballs
5 lbs. ground beef
2 3 lb. pork loins
5 smoked sausage links
2 lbs. ground Italian sausage
3 3 lb. bags of chicken breasts
2 bags peeled shrimp

Canned:
6 jars marinara
3 cans black beans
2 jars roasted red peppers
2 cans tomato sauce

Seasoning:
4 packet taco seasoning
Bay Leaves
Brown Sugar
2 bbq seasoning packet
Cajun Seasoning
2 Mojito Lime or Mesquite Lime seasoning packets
3 Fajita seasoning packets

Marinades:
1 bottle orange sauce
1 bottle Mr. Yoshidas

Refrigerator:
2 packages of ravioli
4 cups shredded mozzerella

Freezer
2 bags of frozen french fries
2 bags popcorn chicken
2 bags broccoli florets
2 boxes of Texas toast
2 bags of veggie stir fry

Dried Goods:
2 packages of spaghetti noodles
6 2 lb. bags of rice
2 boxes taco shells

Bakery:
2 packages of burrito sized tortillas
2 packages of rolls
2 packages of flatbread
3 packages of small tortillas

Other:
Slow Cooker Liners
2 disposable trays (for baked ravioli)
Hefty Gallon sized storage bags

When you get home, unload (and disinfect...ha) your grocery. Start cooking the five pounds of ground beef and two pounds of ground Italian sausage, separately.

Then label your bags according to what meal they will contain. Smoked sausage & shrimp, Cajun rice, and orange chicken are meals I will prepare the day of so those items can just slip into the pantry or freezer.

Then just start dumping.

Recipes |

California Burritos
2-3 lbs. carne asada
1 packet taco seasoning

8 hours on low. Cook French fries to package instructions and serve in tortillas with cheese and pico de gallo

Spaghetti
1 bag meatballs
2 jars marinara
2-3 bay leaves
1 Tbsp. brown sugar

7 hours on low. Serve over your choice of noodles.

Orange Chicken and Broccoli
1 bag popcorn chicken, cook to according to package instructions
Steam 1 bag of broccoli
Add orange sauce

Serve over rice.

Tacos
2 lbs. ground beef
1 taco seasoning packet

Warm in skillet. Serve with taco shells stored in pantry.

Pulled Pork on Pretzel Rolls
3 lb. pork loin
1 bbq seasoning packet

8 hours on low. Shred. Serve on rolls.

Cajun Smoked Sausage and Rice
1 sliced smoked sausage
1 can black beans
2 cups brown rice, cooked
Drizzle with EVOO and season with Cajun seasoning to taste (~1 Tbsp)

Warm in skillet

Baked Ravioli
1 package ravioli
2 jars sauce
Top with mozzarella

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Roasted Red Peppers & Sausage on Texas Toast
Texas Toast
Roasted Red Peppers
1 lb. Italian sausage
12 oz. tomato sauce

Warm sauce and bake toast according to package instructions. Serve sauce on top of toast.

Mesquite Lime Chicken Flatbread Wraps
1.5   lbs. of chicken breasts
Mesquite Lime seasoning packet.

Grill and serve on flatbread

Fajitas
1 sweet onion
Yellow and Orange bell peppers
Steak strips or 1.5 lbs. chicken
Fajita seasoning mix

8 hours on low. Serve in small tortillas.

Burgers and buns + French fries

Sausage & Shrimp Skillet
1 smoked sausage
Shrimp
Cajun seasoning
Serve with rice

Teriyaki Chicken
1.5 lbs. chicken breasts
Teriyaki sauce
1 bag stirfry veggies

Thaw and grill chicken. Steam veggies and serve over rice.
 And that's it! We are good to go for another six weeks or so. Hopefully by then I'll be able to hug more people. ;)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

30 Gluten-Free Crock Pot Meals that Won't Break the Bank

In honor of my dad, this round of crock potting is gluten-free. Over the summer my dad was diagnosed with Celiac Disease and when I found out, I cringed for him. My dad, like me, loves food - all kinds of food but especially pastas, pizzas, bread. How on earth could we take out so many delicious foods that fall under the category of "gluten" and still be satisfied? Apparently it's not as hard as I thought. These recipes are REALLY good, completely satisfying, super easy, and very affordable. I did 30 meals for $168 (this includes a strainer I needed plus disposable trays for the two freezer meals). Keep in mind these recipes are NOT Paleo or AIP. They are simply GLUTEN FREE. That also doesn't mean fat-free or calorie-free. Sorry, folks! ;) You also won't find any cream of whatchamacallit or seasoning packets. Not because I'm completely opposed to them (though I do know they are highly processed and not good for us), but because most, if not all of them...
41 comments
Read more

How We Painted Our Cabinets {and Totally Transformed Our Kitchen}

About 9 months ago I took the plunge and painted our kitchen cabinets. I feel like this is the DIY project that most people are afraid to tackle because, hello! It is the kitchen. So much time is spent in the kitchen and it really is the focal point of the home – if it’s done sloppy, wrong or doesn’t turn out as expected it would be a huge headache and a lot of money to fix. However, this is probably the best DIY project our family has done. Not only did it make a HUGE impact on our home and main living space but it was extremely cost effective at only $150. Once upon a time, our kitchen looked like this: Now it looks like this: It was pretty yellow before. Maple was everywhere. Maple cabinets, maple floors. I walked in this room and it felt like it was constantly glowing (even after I painted the walls a beautiful shade of “perfect greige”). Anyhoo, I knew I wanted a white kitchen. I feel like white cabinets appear decade after decade. They are timeless and cla...
7 comments
Read more

A Humble Encourager

"Going from 2 to the 3 was the absolute hardest ," say so many mamas to the mama pregnant with her third baby with a plastered smile on her face. And it makes sense - you go from man-to-man defense to zone-defense. You run out of hands that can grab on to kids. The parents are officially outnumbered. I get it. It's a fair warning. I don't mind people telling me this because I think it's probably true. I don't think people purposely say it to instill fear or anxiety but sometimes I think people (myself included) can get so hung up on the hard, worn-out and exhausting parts that we forget to glorify the good stuff and give credit to God. Last week I was reading Titus. It is a tiny book squished in the middle of the New Testament. Chapter 2 is about teaching and it breaks it down into groups: older and younger men, and older and younger women. Verses 2:7-8 says: "In your teaching show integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech that cannot be cond...
3 comments
Read more