Meals can eat up a lot of time in the day. Not being the biggest fan of freezing and thawing meals or an owner of a large freezer, I look to save time and money by following a general theme for the week based on a main ingredient or two. This allows me to purchase what’s in season or on sale.
I meal plan based on “planned-overs”. One set of leftovers morphs into a new recipe the next night with not much work.
Let me be more specific….
The local farmer’s market provides the freshest produce as well as most of the ingredients for my weekly meals.
One simple chicken thrown in the crock-pot on Sunday night can bring you the base of many meals for the rest of the week.
Chicken in the Crock-Pot
I throw a chicken, carrots, celery & onions in the crockpot to cook overnight. In the morning I unplug it and let it cool. Draining the chicken stock into a container I throw it in the fridge. Then comes the least favorite part of mine ~ take the chicken off of the bone.
Fresh Salsa
From these staples I add an ingredient or two and pick a few of these for the week:
Chicken & Dumplings (adding fat-free half & half, carrots, canned biscuits & garlic)
Chicken Nachos
Chicken, Noodles & Mushrooms to head a different direction try this unique lasagna recipe.
Chicken Bruschetta (using french bread, salsa recipe & chicken chunks)
Chicken Tacos
Wet Burritos
Cold Rice Salad (using salsa, cold long cook rice cooked, feta cheese & optional chicken)
What main staples can you make into a new meal later in the week? Any favorite recipes to share with me?
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Great ideas. I do this with spaghetti sauce. Make it -have spaghetti, pizza, lasagna, etc.
Oh great with Spaghetti sauce! Thanks! Maybe I’ll add that to my spinach salad, spinach quiche week!
First off-meal planning my strength…but my husband really likes Mexican food. So I keep corn chips, tortillas, black beans, corn, salsa, sour cream stocked. We tend to improvise-especially since Bryce is so picky and Lee tends to eat a salad for dinner. Thanks for the ideas!
My husband and I both are - as you can tell by our plan from the week above
What do you serve Bryce with him being so picky? (As I am dealing with my own semi-picky eater 
He likes meat-usually steak, hamburger, or chicken breast (or bacon or sausage at breakfast). Sometimes I create meals like beef stroganoff and separate the meat from the pasta/sauce for the kids. He doesn’t eat pasta, rice, soups, casseroles…but he likes bread and I make sure its whole wheat. We also push whatever fruit he’s into (apples, applesauce…pretty limited at the moment!) and dairy.
His weight is on the low end so we really need him to eat something at mealtime. He likes incentives-so by him eating 5 bites of corn he can have ice cream after dinner. It doesn’t work on everything though, and we’ve also learned not to push, say for example, at a grandparent’s house or at a restaurant
I think that’s great advice is not pushing when away from home. My husband and I struggled with our daughter up until a few months ago. Now I just let it go. It’s stressful for everyone and I know she’s getting her healthy things at home so a meal or two will not wreck her
My daughter has just decided that blueberries are no longer her favorite fruit - now she doesn’t like them at all. WHAT? 
We put cheese or mustard on the strangest things and my daughter will eat them. & how excited am I that my son just at greens in his salad. It’s nice to hear that we’re not alone with mealtimes and kids.