Hello Mamas,
Today I have 21 days of ideas for meals to feed your family. I am a family of six but our youngest two don’t eat as much right now, however, I always make use of leftovers for lunches throughout the week. Since my youngest is still a newborn, I don’t have time for fancy gourmet meals and many of the options below are store bought. I almost always buy my veggies frozen and steam them, because let’s face it, fresh ones go bad in my fridge. If you need cheap, quick, and easy meals, I’m your gal. If you see an idea and want to make it from scratch, do whatever works best for you and your family. But this is how I will be feeding my family for the next 21 days, with sleep deprivation and frugality in mind ($150 weekly budget), so I thought I would bring you along for the ride. I exclusively shop at Aldi’s, Sam’s Club and Costco and will mention where the ingredients are from below. I have also made a video on my YouTube channel “Life and Lilacs” linked below that will have the details of the meals as well.
| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 |
| Pigs in a blanket (hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls) with Mac and Cheese and Steamed Cauliflower | Spaghetti Squash with Meatballs | Salmon with Rice and Broccoli | Naan bread Pizza | Stuffed Peppers with Turkey and Rice | Baked Kielbasa and Potatoes | Crockpot Chicken Tacos with Queso |
| Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14 |
| Fish Sticks, Peas, and Sweet Potato Fries (Store Bought – Costco) | Raviolis with Marinara Sauce and Texas Toast (Store Bought – Costco) | Baked Lasagna (Store Bought – Costco) | Alfredo Spaghetti with mixed veggies and garlic rolls | Potato Soup with corn | White Chicken Chili or Skinny Taste Pumpkin Chili Serve with cornbread | Crockpot Barbecue chicken, corn, Sweet Potato Fries and applesauce |
| Day 15 | Day 16 | Day 17 | Day 18 | Day 19 | Day 20 | Day 21 |
| Chicken Nugget (Costco – Panko breaded) wraps with shredded cheese, ranch and lettuce and tomato | Roasted Red Pepper tomato soup (Costco) and Grilled Cheese | Breakfast for dinner: Waffles and scrambled eggs | Beef tacos with refried beans, and Pico de Gallo | Pizza- Store Bought | Beef Stroganoff | Crockpot Chicken Tikki Masala with rice, broccoli and sweet potatoes |
Potato Soup with corn
Ingredients:
- 5-6 Large Potatoes peeled and chopped into chunks, optional vegetables celery and carrots, frozen corn.
- Milk
- Butter
- Parsley flakes, salt, pepper to taste
- Sour cream and shredded cheese for toppings
Directions:
- Boil potatoes like mashed potatoes until barely fork tender and then drain water. Put any vegetables in 5 minutes after you put the potatoes on.
- Mash up the drained potatoes and add 1/2 to 1 stick of butter. Then add milk until soup-like. Add salt, pepper, and parsley flakes to taste – usually about a tsp each.
- When mix is a soup like texture, remove to eat. Add sour cream and shredded cheese to finish.
Spaghetti Squash with Meatballs
How to bake Spaghetti Squash:
- Preheat the oven to 400° F.
- Cut the squash in half length wise.
- Scoop out the seeds.
- Rub with a little olive oil and sprinkle on salt and pepper.
- Place cut side down on a baking sheet.
- Cook for 30-45 minutes depending on the size of the squash. It should be fork tender when ready.
Salmon with Rice and Broccoli
How to bake Salmon:
- Preheat the oven to 375° F.
- Prepare baking sheet with a layer of foil – twice as much as you need so that you can fold over the extra to make a little pocket.
- Add a layer of oil / butter / cooking spray to the foil.
- Slice up lemons and create a layer a little larger than the cut of salmon.
- Remove the skin if needed.
- Rub a little bit of Olive Oil on the salmon.
- Add seasonings – salt, pepper, garlic powder, [No Salt Seasoning] Be generous with these.
- Place prepared salmon on the lemon slices.
- Fold over the foil and crimp the edges together with your fingers to create a pocket around the food. It doesn’t need to be tightly sealed, but should be closed enough to reduce the amount of steam that escapes.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes depending on the cut of salmon. Some cuts are thicker and will require a little more time. Some are thinner and will cook more quickly. You want to cook until the salmon is more of a light white peachy color and all the pink sections are gone.
- Prepare the broccoli and rice in the microwave. I do most all of my veggies frozen so they won’t go bad. Heat up the broccoli in a microwave steamer with 2 tbsp. of water and a couple slices of butter, salt and pepper. I steam about 2 cups of frozen broccoli in the microwave for about 4 minutes. Depending on your microwave, you may need to stir and add more or less time.
- To prepare the Aldi’s instant chicken flavored rice packets, you simply rip open and place in the microwave for 90 seconds. Of course you could always make rice from scratch, but I told you I like easy.
Naan bread Pizza
How to make Naan bread Pizza
- Preheat oven to 400° F. Buy premade small or large Naan bread from Aldi’s and spread out on baking sheets on your table.
- I like to brush the crust with a little olive oil mixed with garlic powder.
- Take a store bought jar of Marinara ( I use Costco brand) and spoon out some in the middle of each Naan bread.
- Top with Mozzarella Cheese and desired toppings. My kids like Pepperoni, Cut up pineapple, tomatoes, mushrooms and I like green peppers. Get creative and let them top their own pizza.
- Place Naan bread in the oven and cook until cheese has melted. Usually about 12-15 minutes. Enjoy!
Stuffed Peppers with Turkey and Rice
- Preheat oven to 375° F.
- Cook ground turkey in a skillet until browned.
- Add 1 can diced tomatoes and one can mild Rotel (tomato and green chili mix) to skillet.
- Stir in 1 cup minute rice and amount of water needed to for the rice.
- Simmer in skillet until rice is cooked
- Cut the tops off of peppers and fill with cooked mixture and shredded cheese.
- Place in oven and bake until peppers are soft 20-30 minutes.
Crockpot Chicken Tikki Masala
- Add 1 lb frozen or thawed chicken breast (1 large or 2 small) to crockpot with 1 jar of Aldi’s Tikki Masala sauce and 1-2 cubed sweet potatoes. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or high for 4 hours.
- Once chicken is cooked, gently remove the chicken onto a plate and shred. Drain some of the liquid from the crockpot – it will be watery. Add the shredded chicken and a new jar of Tikki Masala sauce back in to the crockpot. Cook for about 30 more minutes.
- Serve with rice and steamed broccoli.
Crockpot Chicken Tacos with Queso
- Add 1 lb frozen or thawed chicken breast (1 large or 2 small) to crockpot with 1 cup salsa, 1 chopped onion, 4-5 chopped cloves of garlic, 1 tbsp taco seasoning sprinkled on top of chicken. Optional (add chopped fajita peppers for additional flavor) Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or high for 4 hours.
- Once chicken is cooked, gently remove the chicken onto a plate and shred. Add the shredded chicken back in to the crockpot. Cook for bout 30 more minutes.
- Serve shredded chicken on taco shells with toppings of your choice.
- Easy crock pot Queso directions
3 Ingredient Queso
- Crumble and Cook 1 lb Breakfast sausage (mild or medium to desired spice level) in a skilled until brown.
- Reduce heat to low and add 1 lb of cream cheese (2 oz blocks). Stir until the cheese is melted.
- Add 2 – 10oz cans of Rotel and mix.
- Serve with chips.
Beef Stroganoff
Ingredients:
- 1 pound ground beef (Costco multi pack)
- 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced (2 1/2 cups)
- 1 medium onions diced
- 2 garlic clove, minced
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 1/2 cups beef broth
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour1
- 1/2 cups sour cream
- 3 cups hot cooked egg noodles
- 1 bag frozen peas
Directions:
- Bring pot of water to a boil and cook noodles. Strain and set aside.
- Cook mushrooms, onions and garlic in butter in skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until onions are tender; transfer mixture to a bowl.
- Cook beef in same skillet until brown. Stir in 1 cup of the broth, salt and Worcestershire sauce. Heat to boiling. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.
- Stir remaining 1/2 cup broth into flour – mix until clumps are gone and then stir into beef mixture. Add onion mixture and frozen peas. Bring back to boiling, stirring constantly.
- Then stir in sour cream, heat until hot (do not boil). Serve over noodles.
