Do you struggle to prepare delicious and healthy meals during the week?? We understand that life these days is busy; there is something on ALL the damn time and it makes it harder to really nourish your bodies.
With just a few tips and tricks, you can improve your meal-hacking skills and be putting delicious healthy meals on the table night after night, without a big drama or hours spent in the kitchen slaving away over the stove!
Read on to discover a few simple tricks to improve your meal-hacking skills as well as be in the draw to win a $50 supermarket voucher!
// Be Prepared
Put some time aside to create a meal plan for the week (it doesn’t need to be hours, even half an hour can be plenty of time). Decide what you will have for each meal ahead of time and you won’t have that ‘what the heck are we going to have for dinner tonight’ moment that often hits us come 5pm. Pop in meals that won’t take long to cook on days when you are pressed for time and add in new recipes on nights where you have a bit more time to be creative.
// Create a Grocery List
Now that you’ve decided what you are going to have for each meal of the week, you can easily put together a shopping list that will ensure that you not only purchase everything you need, but that also means that you can avoid purchasing things you do not require. This will save you both time and money in the long run as you will just go to the aisles you need and only purchase what you need.
// Meal Prep Time
Now you know exactly what you are going to have for your meals for the week you can put some time aside to do some meal preparation for the week. I personally find that Sunday is a great time for this as it really sets you up for the week, but find a time that is suitable for your lifestyle. Spend an hour or so preparing food for the week ahead, chop your meat up and store it in the fridge. Chop your vegetables up and have them ready to use in the fridge. Prepare any snacks into portion sized containers or bags, ready to grab and go for the week. Do a big roast on Sunday night with enough extra roast vegetables to last a few days. All these small things add up and mean that you will be more likely to reach for the healthier homemade option since all the hard work has already been done for you.
// Stock up on staples
Make sure your pantry, fridge and freezer always have the staples you need to make a quick, easy and healthy meal. For us this means things like coconut cream, rice and tomato puree along with herbs and spices in the pantry, meat and frozen vegetables in the freezer and eggs in the fridge. Add a few packages of My Main Course in a flavour of your choice and you’ll be set should you need a meal in a hurry.
// Have Easy Go-To Recipes on Hand
Every household should have at least four or five different easy go-to recipes. These are the recipes (you don’t even have to follow a recipe) that you can throw together with a few ingredients in a short period of time that are tasty, healthy and easy to create when time is short. For us we often do things like a chicken or beef curry (generally in the crockpot): simply chop the meat, add a tin of coconut cream and some curry paste and let it cook. Pop on some frozen vegetables and we have an easy dinner when we get home from bootcamp.
// Jazz it Up
Jazz up your basic meat and vegetable meals with different herbs and spices. Our dinner most nights is some variation of meat and vegetables and sometimes a carbohydrate source (generally either a starchy vegetable like kumara or rice). You’ll soon get bored of chicken, rice and vegetables so use different herbs and spices or, our favourite, the My Main Course meal bases to make completely different tasting dishes from the same base ingredients. We often coat chopped chicken in burrito seasoning and add coconut cream with a touch of cumin and paprika to our green beans, it completely transforms what would otherwise be a boring dish.
~~ WIN ~~ – Competition now closed, winner has been contacted.
To be in the draw to win a $50 Supermarket Voucher (the winner can let me know which supermarket they would prefer) thanks to My Main Course simply comment below and let me know your best meal hacking tip OR your favourite go-to recipe! (NZ Entrants Only)
This post was made possible thanks to My Main Course, the easy way to prepare fast and healthy meals – as usual all content and opinions are my own.
create a shopping list with meals planned each week 🙂
I need to prepare crunchy veg (e.g. carrots or celery & nuts) to snack on ready for when I finish work – just to get me through the cooking dinner stage 😀
I often do a large batch of curried vegetables when there are lots of root vegetables in the winter and have it for lunch with rice , then freeze the rest in meal sizes and it can be taken out later to have with chicken tenderloins, sausages etc
I love making spaghetti bolognese because it is so easy to make & with extra veges in with the mince, it is nutritious 🙂
I usually do some slow cooked meals what I can put in the freezer, then reheat easily to save time during busy weekdays.
I think the best hack and probably the most simple is just to always make extra for another meal combined with bulking out everything with lots of vegetables if you can then you have two meals! Or just make extra of them main part and then chuck it in a salad the next day also works well in summer!
I make up big pots of home made passata and pesto etc and bottle them as well as jarred pickled veg from the garden. These mean that I can whip up quick meals that are still all homemade and wholesome without the major effort on busy nights. Adam liaw’s Zen Kitchem has some amazing Japanese pickling recipes for preserving produce 🙂
Make spaghetti bol and freeze the bol in batches. It’s good for nachos (just add beans), good for lasagne, good for anything. So versatile, and it’s my go to meal for lazy nights
I always have eggs in the fridge to whip up a quick and easy frittata using mixed frozen vege and cheese!!! Also great way to create another dish/meal using up leftovers like stirfry or roast vegetables!
I always makes whats called ” A PLATE OF THINGS” this usually uses up any leftovers, or things like cucumber, and tomato, and salami, and carrots…. or anything you have small amounts of.
I put everything on to a dinner plate – similar to a platter, and its a filling variety – mini buffet!
Its fun and yum 🙂
I prefer using the slow cooker. I have more time in the mornings because my job doesn’t start til 10:00 whereas by evening the last thing I want to do is cook. Mostly hubby cooks though & his go-to meals are homemade burgers or homemade pizza. Both good for utilising bits & pieces that may be left in the fridge!!
meal plan is a favorite in our house always have a menu board up with what our weekly meals and difentily meals that are children friendly less waste 😊
I take hubby with me and a list – he gets very grumpy without a list and if we “browse”…win win, only get what we need on list and happy hubby 🙂
Always wrote myself a shopping list so I get what I need
Double batch and freeze so you have easy go to meals for lazy nights and don’t resort to takeaways!
I love making a quick yummy smoked fish pie. Buy smoked fish flake into a white sauce and simmer for five mins into a casserole dish add mashed potato and cook in the oven for 20 mins serve with salad coleslaw etc quick yum and reasonable healthy 🙂
My meal hack is to add a heap of frozen veggies to whatever I’m making. Easy way to get those good things into your meal and if there’s sauce then it’s even better 😛
I love cooking up a good chilli base recipe then I can have it in lots of different ways – nachos, chilli con carne, on a baked kumara, in tacos.
Make sure you dont go to the supermarket hungry like most of us do then you wont over spend
Plan in advance and buy lots of local produce
Been wanting to try the pulled pork, was actually just talking bout it today. There a so many meal hacks out there, which is epic when ur on a budget. I love Pataks butter chicken, 500g chicken breast and one and a half cups of rice. A meal for 4 for $10 when chickens on special
Yes meal planning is good, to help with the shopping and oh dear what’s for tea?
I make a big pot of passata when all my cherry tomatoes come in, roasting my tomatoes with herbs and onion the blitzing, and then during the weeks after I can pull together parmigiana, lasagne, spag Bol, moussaka etc with not much effort and it is homemade and delicious!!!
My “go to” is pizza made with a bunch of leftovers from the fridge. It’s quick, yummy & there’s no waste of food <3
i make a shepherds pie with all the leftover vegies in the bottom with mashed potato/pumpkin nice
Freeze left over meal portions…instant meal for those no time nights
My biggest meal hacking tip is to buy vacuum pack and freeze meals ahead so on busy nights you can just pull it out and heat it up.
my fav go-to recipe is Alison holst’s lazy lasagne – all ingredients go in raw … and come out nicely cooked n tasty 🙂 it’s great!
When I do a roast there always lots of leftover meat and veges. I chop it all up and make a fritter batter and add the meat and veges. The kids love it.
Always make extra size dinners and put some aside as you serve up (so u don’t eat more than u should). Then u have ready made leftovers for lunch the next day or have a good base u can turn into the next nights main meal 🙂
Thank you the encouragement of this blog. I think a lot of us struggle because we think that what we do is boring as we cook the same meals all the time. Your phrase “go to meals” remind3d me that we all do exactly that. Thank you
I think my most favourite meal hack is preparing the basis of a salad lettuce, carrot, sprouts etc so I have it ready in the fridge. Then all I do is add all the stuff best left til last like yummy seeds and nuts, tomatoes and onion. The list goes on. It makes dinner prep with a busy 1 year old a little less stressful. A supermarket voucher would be so amazing. We shop at pak n save and countdown ❤
Keeping it nice and simple so the kids will actually eat it! We’ve started using fresh pasta & that small change is my trick haha, everyone eats any pasta dish I put up now!!! Wooohooo
Use dental floss no kidding if you want nice straight lines on your cake as you cut it into however many pieces !
When I’m working long hours i always make enough so i can freeze some servings so I don’t end up skipping dinner after a long day at work
The old saying if you have an Egg in the House you have a meal in the house, so true.
Leftovers always make great meals what we refer to as YMCA
Cooking for just two – becomes a lot easier, if we double up and have left overs for the following nights. Saves meal prep and the best bit DISHES!
No matter what I make, I clean up as I go so I don’t have a big mess at the end.
I cook 2 meals then can heat up a second day the next day or delicious food if Johnny Depp shows up for dinner
I love making fritters with any left overs and veges I can find in the fridge for a quick and easy healthy meal or snack. Grated zuchinni, carrot, kumera etc with some spring onion, left over rice, or noodles, grated cheese or crumbled feta, eggs and a tbsp flour, plus whatever herbs n spices I feel like – yummy and my son loves them too. An easy way to get veges into your kids.
I love to use my slow cooker or I get meat out the night before to defrost. I don’t see cooking as a chore and it rarely takes more than 30 min but then I don’t have children to deal with yet!
I love keeping extra pasta in my pantry, that way if I have leftover from the previous night meal I can mostly use it to make a quick slap up pasta dish for that nights meal 😀
When i cook freeze-able dinner meal (casserole, soup, pasta….or anything else posible)i always do double batch….
One to eat not now and the rest to freeze for next time when you crunch for time but still want good nutritious meal
My easy go food is salad from whatever I find in our garden:)
My regular food hacks include cooking a bigger meal and freezing left overs for work lunches, keeping the water I boil any veges in and use it for stock for the next meal or freeze it in an ice cream container and when it’s full I make a big pot of minestrone soup. I also keep my vege peelings and ends when preparing fresh veges and cook them up in a separate pot for more stock. I keep an eye on specials at the end of the day at the supermarket and grab cheap meat for the freezer for future meals. When I have too many carrots in the fridge I grate a pile and put them into small ziplock bags and when I make a stew/soup type meal I just empty a bag into it… adds a vege and bulks it out a bit too.
My back is to be prepared, I do a menu for the week before going to supermarket. I shop at pak n save.
Nacho chips are a go to meal in our family we love it, also to help save time during week I prep crockpot meals& any leftover overs I put into a quiche for lunches
I would live to try the Mexican chicken omg yeesss pleaseee Amanda ,x
We bulk buy vegetables at the markets when they’re in season and cheap and bottle, pickle and make sauces. They’re easy and tasty additions to meals and take the work out of making from scratch on weeknights. I also make double batches of things like chilli and stew and freeze half. Wih pastry or rice or other additions, you can get several meals out of them with ease.
dahl or beans…decisions, decisions.
single girls cooking solution
Mine carbonara with philidelphia slow cookig cream with bacon and spring onions super easy ans cheap 🙂
I keep an eye on all the supermarket specials and other deals eg at Mad Butcher, and do my weekly meal planning accordingly, to make the most of the deals. I also buy in season food as much as possible, because it’s cheaper. And I cook twice as much as I keed and freeze the leftovers for days when I can’t be bothered to cook.
I love all those tips. I always prep sometimes for the week. Im not so good at shopping with a list so the menu and rhe list are excellent reminders foe me. Thank you
I make a huge ham and egg pie (large roasting dish size) every 2 or 3 weeks for dinner. There is always enough left for lunches the next day which is helpful..
Also brush the bottom pastry with tomato or plum sauce before putting ingredients in. Adds a little something
Oops I forgot add would love to try the Thai Chicken Curry but the Savoury Mince would go down a treat with the children so that would be my pick 😊
Try a new recipe each week or but something you haven’t tried before. I want to try the green lentil dahl, not sure what my family will think but so often they surprise me!!
Pasta mince in a saucepan do big batch freeze the rest
Shepherds pie always good
Slow cooked in pot means
Fab blog with heaps of wonderful ideas to stay on track with healthy eating. Healthy, fast and easy meal ideas are always greatful accepted too. Once you slip that biscuit, sweet, chip etc becomes 2, then 3 …… The less you slip the less you slip the more you stay on track……
Green lentil dahl looks good
Make a large serving in the crockpot, and either freeze a serving for another night or turn the rest into a pie for another meal
Make extra roast veggies on a Sunday and turn it into e beautiful roast veggie frittata for the rest of the week and that is lunch done. The Dhal and the Chicken Curry look AMAZING
I love the slow cooker and make enough for 2 meals and freeze one for later. When I do veggies for a roast I always do extra and use them in a slow cooker curry, yummy!
i have coeliac disease – and my favourite go to easy meal is those Watties steam fresh Veges. They have ones with potatoes in them and they are sooo easy with kids and do quick 😍
My vegetarian daughter would like the green lentil dahl.
I d love to try the green dahl. My cookings become a bit hum drum lately . This week ie lifted my game making sushi n spring rolls . Quick n easy mimimal ingriedents n healthy
My fav quick meal we usually have ye day after a roast. Ill make a fritata and use all the left over roast veges and meat with some spinach and feta bake for 20mins in the oven and its done. Super easy and super yummy.
My kids love wraps. We have loads of in season veges and pan fried chicken in our wraps. The kids are more willing to have lots of salad in a wrap
I love my chicken pasta salad. You can have it hot or cold and its easy to heat up on a cold winters day or nice and cool for a summers lunch
I always plan my meals a week or so ahead so I can do the shopping list and make sure I’m prepared with healthy choices.
My favorite family meal is home made mince chow mein you can throw what ever left over veges you have in your fridge in to it.
I’m a pak save shopper, my kids are enjoying ME blitzing their veges to mush and adding them to ‘yum’ things like nacho mince or taco mince. You can literally hide anything!
Preparation is so important, I need to plan meals and let my husband know what the plan is well in advance
This may sound silly but i like pretending I’m on a cooking show and prepping all my ingredients and arranging them in little bowls so they’re ready when I need them. More dishes but more fun and easier for my brain to multitask with!
This would have to be fried onion, shallots, carrots, mushroom, capsicum, garlic, s&p with dashes of balsamic vinegar topped with seared chicken and diced tomatoes with water covered oven roasted, Delish. Preferred supermarket is Island Bay New World, Thanks
I chop up veges that I don’t think I’ll use before they go bad and chuck them in zip lock bags in the freezer so it’s easy to grab the right amount when I use them at a later date
I love to make my own pasta sauces etc but often don’t have time do when I do, I make lot and freeze it in single meal portions.
My favourite go to for chicken roast left overs.
Fry some mushrooms. Add left over chicken (works great with all the meat left on the carcass) and fry again to heat chicken. If you have some of the chicken stock left over from the roast add now or add a stockpot. Add mixed veggies and left over rice (are fresh). As soon as veggies are cooked, serve.
I make stuffed capsicum with pork mince. At the same time I make extra with the pork mince and create either rissoles or meatballs for a couple of other meals. Usually spaghetti and meatballs, and rissoles with salad or hamburgers!
The green lentil dahl looks like something I would like to try
Favourite go to recipes are nachos or spaghetti bolegnaese
I make sure I’ve always got soup in the freezer and a mince for easy crock pot dinner nachos.
I always make enough dinner so that I have leftovers for my lunch the next day
Lentils are my favorite! Love it with Chicken and a slaw… yummy.
I love cooking with mince as you can hide all sorts of veges in it!
Spaghetti Bolonaise is my meal that i can easily whip up for my family even if i dont have all the ingredients 😊
Awesome idea elanor mathews, spag bol always a hit at our house too
My quick go to meal is butter chicken or macaroni and cheese! Would love to try these they sound amazing!
I’ve been going crazy making soups lately. I can’t believe how quick, easy and healthy they are! I make one every day. Hubby loves to ask what the soup of the day is today lol.
With living on my own, I find it easier to use my slow cooker to make a big batch of chilli con carne or chicken chasseur or stew/ casserole and freeze most of it for future meals.
Definitely planning ahead with a menu and a shopping list is what makes meals easier for me.
My fave go-to meal is Pumpkin soup. I use a whole pumpkin and roast it first with garlic – hack is i use any other veggies in the house that need using, roast them all, put it all in the slow cooker all and blend. You would never know the extra veg are in there – nutritious and delicious
Plan plan plan. I often spend sure day arvo doing prep for the coming week.
Spicy chorizo and bacon pasta salad.
Chorizo, bacon, penne pasta, red onion and spicy tomato pesto. Add some fresh coriander and diced brie. Yum.
A little mint sauce can change the whole flavor of a bland meal!! I use in my stews and casseroles to give a bit of a zing. Also a dash of lemon and or lime juice can absolutely change up a meal.
I try and use any leftover tea as the basis for lunch the next day. Salad gets chucked into a container, some ham and olives added. Roast vege can be added to cous cous and dressing etc.
Thai chicken curry!
An easy healthy dinner for us would be frittata with left over veges 😀
I love cooking up big bathches of mince to prep for the week ahead, super versatile and goes well with so many dishes!
I like to double or triple a triple and freeze extra meals.
I needed to read these tips today!
Put left overs in freezer to have for the days can’t be bothered to make decent meal for dinner.
Cooking extra so we have leftovers for lunch the next day
Our meal hack tip that we have been doing for years is to cook more (especially mince dishes) and then we have lots of leftovers ready for lunch or dinner the next day. It makes my life so much more easier as a stay at home mum of 3. Also my favourite right now is cooking 3-4 chicken breasts and keeping in the fridge ready for chicken, avocado and salad sandwiches for lunch everyday 🙂
In the winter, I make Chilli Con Carne in the crockpot, buy a punnet of coleslaw and a bag of cornchips on the way home, and cook some brown rice (20 minutes in the microwave rice cooker) when I get home. Dinner in 25 minutes, and enough for lunches (I also freeze portions of rice + chilli for reheating for lunches at Uni) the next day. The Chilli can also be used as a base for heaps of other dinners as well, and making a big batch and freezzing it in dinner portions cuts down even further on time later on.
Great read
Thai green curry 😀 my fav 👌
This sounds so yummy is making me hungry.
I like Mexican Chicken. It is delicious.