Meal Planning for the Poor and Lazy

We eat pretty healthy around here.

That being said I'm SO EXCITED TO BE ABLE TO GO BACK TO DAIRY!!!!!! Thank you Legan for maturing your system for me.

But we're also big on saving a few bucks as well as getting meals done ASAP.

Legan thinks eating shoes is fine though, so we won't trust his opinions too much

So we have a basic recipe that we use for most meals, and it's super simple. We make "glop" aka stir fry type food the overwhelming majority of the time. Occasionally we mix it up with a casserole, stew, roast, chili, or something but frequently this is how it goes.

• First pick a protein source
• This is super simple. We do a lot of ground beef, but if you're not on a regular workout and don't need that much red meat, ground turkey works, or just cut up boneless skinless chicken breasts (much much cheaper option than ground turkey). For super cheap and easy (and only SLIGHLY less healthy) you can use canned beans. If you want to save yourself the salt, you can pre-prep a few pounds of dried beans ahead of time (or less if you aren't big eaters!) so that you have the cheapest protein ever available to throw in whenever. What you use isn't important at all. Just pick one. 
• I don't recommend fish to be cooked up as a stir-fry - check out my fish statement later.

In this case, we wanted a bigger batch, so ground beef was cooked first, then set aside to use pan for veggies.

• Throw in some veggies
• Again, super simple. You can either buy frozen cuz they're cheap and toss them into the pan as is, or use fresh for the most healthy option. Even fresh you have some option here - either a large amount of one type, or you can do a smaller mix of a few different veggies - just try to make sure to either get stuff that cooks in roughly the same amount of time or stagger when you throw them in so you don't have rocklike carrots with total mush zucchini or something. Chop them up. 
• You can use canned veggies in a pinch too - I just wouldn't make a habit of this as you lose a little nutrients canning, but mostly you can a lot of salt. Too much salt is not the best idea for every day meals. Some weeks though - you gotta do what you gotta do!
• Add a starch
• This is some peoples' favorite part. Also - please remember carbs fuel your brain, cutting out all carbs isn't helpful. Some of my favorite starches are: corn, potatoes, PASTA, rice, bread, etc...OK, so I love starches. LOVE starches. Moderation is important, but using some starches to round out your diet is good for your kidneys (if you over protein they work too hard), good for your wallet (starches are usually cheaper than either meat or veggies), and they help you feel satisfied which is really the most important part of eating for me. Mix it up sometimes, try out different starches. Some grains are higher in fiber or protein than others, so rotate. You can also use a corn or flour tortilla to wrap up the rest of your food. 

Some of our seasonings. Nope, we didn't use oatmeal in this dish, but it lives there on the counter.

• Then you have to cook. 
• Our methods are simple. Moderate to high heat in a pan (or low/moderate for beans). Throw in your protein first, add some seasoning of your choice. I recommend a little cooking oil of your choice to keep from burning or sticking the outside to the pan. Once meat is mostly cooked through toss in your veggies, with a little more seasonsing. You can add any marinade or sauce type seasoning at this point too. Mix it up, make it different every time!
• If you're doing rice, pasta, potatoes, or bread that needs cooking as your starch - start that first. I like potatoes started in the microwave for speed. Real rice takes a while if you don't have a rice cooker/Instant Pot too. Pasta you can usually start with your meat in a separate pot of course. 
• Tortillas can be heated very last thing in your frying pan or nuked up. Simple. If you just like plain bread as a side, this takes no prep other than potentially slicing and/or buttering slightly. 
• If you do corn as your starch, just add it in with your veggies if it's not on the cob. On the cob just ends up on the side after you cook it however you like.
• 
  

Yay for seasoning once we put the beef back in!

• Once veggies are just slightly softened, YOU'RE DONE in my book. If you like them softer - cook 'em longer. If you REALLY like having a sauce base do that now.
• For sauce, just a little bit of water (if you cooked pasta in water this is a great time to use a little of that before draining your pasta!) with a little dry seasoning and some sauce based too. I do different things each time and experiment. We keep some Asian based and Mexican based sauces, plus Caribbean Jerk, BBQ, etc in the fridge always. So put that in your tiny bit of water. You can add a smidgen of flour to thicken it up if you want. That adds needless calories mostly. Think like 3-4 quarts of food will need maybe 1 cup of water and 2-3 tablespoons of whatever sauce you add in order to flavor it all without being a goopy mess.
• Then either pour your protein/veggie stir fry over your rice/noodles/potatoes on your plate, or wrap it up in a tortilla, or whatever. 

Pouring over pasta is the easiest

Super simple meal that covers all the bases. Have some fruit for dessert. Now you're totally well rounded.

Mixed up and half eaten so far. Good stuff.

Finish off with a post dinner walk and you're a freaking health nut!

Fish statement: Fish doesn't stir fry well. Best options for fish (real fish, not tuna. Canned/pouched tuna can be added in the last 30 seconds with your veggies.) are as follows. First: put all your seasoned veggies in a lightly oiled baking dish, lay seasoned fish on top. Bake at 350 for roughly 25-30 min depending on what fish and the thickness. Cook your starch separately. Bam! Second: pan fry your fish in a closed oiled pan on a low/medium heat with a lid while stir frying your veggies. Do whatever you're doing for starch. I love to add in fish when we can, the baking option usually goes best for us. Bonus tip: if you have a larger toaster oven and a metal tray for it you can line tray with aluminum foil and do your veggies and fish in that pan. Makes clean up easy, and cuts your preheat time in half. Plus doesn't heat up your whole house in the summer.

Egg statement: eggs make a great quick low cal protein source. I like to basically scramble them in a pan with no additives at all. Then scoop them out, set aside, cook your veggies, then toss in your cooked eggs at the end to mix in the flavor. Done!

Legan gets to have some of our dinner with some puffs, and some added fruits or veggies too. He loved this stir fry and left his cucumber till last.

Granted, he eats everything nowadays....

It's all yummy when your teeth hurt apparently!