Meal Planning Saves Money and Calories

The school season is approaching and your calendar is likely filling up. During busy times, getting dinner on the table can be twice as difficult. A little advance planning will help you put easy and nutritious meals on the table for your family. Check out the Recipes Page on CoolSavings for thousands of quick recipes, along with stores where the ingredients are currently on sale.

Here are some ideas to help you serve home-cooked meals every night of the week:

Keep it simple. Sandwiches and wraps, for instance, are easy and usually a hit with the kids. On the Recipes Page I found a Turkey Enchilada recipe which I plan to try. All it calls for are turkey, sour cream, cheese, veggies, tortillas and a couple of spices. You can cut down on the calories by substituting plain nonfat yogurt for the sour cream.

Stick to your menu plan. Following through by cooking what you planned for your dinners each night will help your pocketbook (and maybe your waistline!) because when you know what you’re making for dinner, you won’t be as tempted to stop at the local Chinese or fast food restaurant.

Do some of the prep work ahead of time. This might mean chopping up some veggies the previous night. Meat may need to be put in marinade before you leave for work in the morning.

A tasty-sounding meal that I plan to put together ahead of time one of these nights is Beefy Mexican Lasagna, the recipe for which can be found on the CoolSavings Recipes Page. Once it’s assembled, I’m going to refrigerate it until dinnertime the following day, when it can be popped into the oven for half an hour.

Pull the ole’ crockpot back out. It’s wonderful to come home to the aroma of a fully cooked meal, just waiting to be eaten. Check out the AllRecipes and MyRecipes crockpot recipe pages for tons of great recipes.