Tip of the Week:

This weeks tip seems like an obvious one at first, so let’s unpack this because there’s so much more to it than you might think.

Always Double The Recipe.

I know, doesn’t sound like much of a tip, right? But I’m a busy mom, and any time I can take a shortcut that saves me time in the kitchen, I’m definitely going to do it. Cooking extra is one of those shortcuts, and for me it is the foundation of a lot of good things.

First, I think leftovers are what makes the world go ‘round.

We often eat leftovers for breakfast and lunch, I love having healthy homemade foods in the fridge that my family just needs to heat up. Some of my kids prefer having warmed up leftovers for breakfast instead of more traditional breakfast foods. My husband works from home, and I’m still here homeschooling one kid, so it’s really nice to not have to make lunch every day. And we do a clean-out-the-fridge leftover night once a week. It gives me a night off from cooking.

Second, some of our favorite home cooked meals take a bit of mess and time to make.

But it’s not twice as messy or twice as time consuming to make twice as much. So double that recipe. Make enough meatballs for two dinners and stick half in the freezer. Prep an extra bag of marinated chicken. Make an extra meatloaf. Cut up extra meat for that sheet pan dinner. Freeze all these things and so many more.

Future you will be so happy to already have some prepped meals in the freezer during those weeks when the family schedule gets out of control, If you prep extra at the same time that you’re cooking that dinner then you can fill your freezer one meal at a time without having to spend a whole weekend afternoon on meal prep.

Third, making extra is one of my keys to lunch packing success.

When I say double the recipe, I’m not just talking about dinner. I’m talking about everything.

If you’ve browsed my lunches you’ll see that a lot of them are based on homemade items - I pack muffins, pancakes, pasta, meatballs, quesadillas, pizza, even cheeseburgers, and so much more. All of these things can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge or freezer.

Lunch packing is quick and easy if you have healthy homemade items ready to just grab and go. I even pack just straight up dinner leftovers directly into lunch containers instead of putting them away in bigger storage containers. I make several dozen muffins at a time, mountains of pancakes and waffles. I make extra sandwiches if I’m making them for lunch at home, also extra quesadillas.

Especially as kids get older, having a stack of pre-made sandwiches in the fridge is great. Now that I’ve got a mix of kids at school and at home, when I’m making a sandwich for my homeschooler I always make a few extra for my high schoolers for lunch the next day.

Fourth - Cooking extra of popular kids foods is really helpful if you have a picky eater. I talk more about this in my post about meal planning with a picky eater, so you’ll definitely want to click on over to read that post.

Have a Question?

Ask me anything. Do you need lunch packing advice or meal planning suggestions? Or do you have other food or family management related questions? My goal is to be your resource for tips and advice - from a mom who has been there, and done that.

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Wishing you a delicious and stress-free week ahead!

– Lisa