Dropping this here for when I revisit this video in my time of need: 1:00 -tortellini and dip sauce 2:16 -Chick-fil-A at home 4:09 -chicken teriyaki 5:30 -buffalo boneless chicken "wings" 7:35 -Arby's roast beef sandwiches 10:01 -take-n-bake pizza upgraded 11:40 -Italian sandwiches 13:20 -two ingredient tomato soup and "cheater" grilled cheese 14:36 -pulled pork tacos or nachos 16:28 -gyros at home
Head's up for people coming out of nowhere like me, the wings part is mostly an ad. That immediately sounded good & I was waiting for the wings tip 😂 Back up to the previous thing, and the wings sauce is the alternate version of it (the first 30 seconds of the wings bit). Sorry 🤭 I was just waiting for her instructions on wings😂
Meatball subs. Hot dog buns with butter & garlic salt toastes at 375 for 8-10 minutes. While they toast, put frozen meatballs in skillet to brown (we like 4/bun), and jar of pasta sauce. Once buns come out add the meatballs with a spoonful of sauce. Top with mozzarella, pop into broiler for a couple minutes to melt cheese. Enjoy!
I make these with frozen meatballs and red sauce in the instant pot for 0-1 minute! My hoagie buns and provolone in the toaster oven at the same time. If I'm feeling on top of things I might saute some peppers and mushrooms, while I wait, or I might just leave it at that.
Ahhhhhh yesss, the 5 for $5 lol. My old man would bring home the 5 sandwiches and *no* *sides!!!* 😂 "We got chips in the pantry son!" I didnt complain, it was nice to have a break from cornbread 😂 •Cornbread and milk •Pintos and cornbread •Chili beans and cornbread (from the beans from the night before) •Fried vegetables and cornbread (okra, squash, tomatoes, etc) I definitely could keep going! There wasn't a day of my childhood when there wasn't a cake of cornbread on the counter. We weren't poor. Just *"frugal."* 😂
I remember the 5 for $5!!!! I grow up poor in a family of 6, so when that deal came around we got to eat out and eat well!!! My parents would pick up the sandwiches and we would have sides (chips, fries etc) prepared at home! 😁😁😁 I also remember the McDonald’s Friday night fish!
My daughter recently remarked on the $0.39 burgers @ Get ‘em & Go. They loved those burgers with the 1/2” extra bun all the way around 🤣. Truth be told…. I did too😎
Working at “ Litt* Cea$ars” as a teen all crazy bread is pizza dough ran once through the sheeter to flatten into an oval and cut. Once through oven it just has garlic margarine brushed on. All is in the spread, garlic and spices. Our local bulk store sells the exact spread. It can be easily made from scratch too. 🇨🇦👍🏻
A quick stir fry--cook ramen noodles. While they are boiling, stir fry frozen veggie stirfry mix in a large skillet about 4 minutes. Add cooked chicken or pork (from Aldi's ready shredded packs), add cooked noodles, and some Aldi's General Tso's sauce. I like to throw in some cashews, too.
Tostadas. Canned refried beans, chopped lettuce, salsa, shredded cheese on tostadas shells. About $8-$11 or ingredients depending on where you live and for our family of 5 it hits the spot every time 😊
My family loves to make French Bread Pizza! Walmart $1 French loaf, $2 pizza sauce and some $2 mozzarella cheese. Easy and under the broiler in 10 minutes. That and a salad kit I can feed my family of 4 for around $10. Everyone is happy!
I make my own pizza sauce so it can be low sodium and no added sugar. One small can no salt tomato sauce one of tomato paste, lots of garlic and onion powder and as much Italian seasoning as you like. It might stiffen up from the spices absorbing moisture so add a touch of water if needed. Excess keeps for a couple weeks and it freezes nicely.
I'm working on losing weight right now, so one thing that's been working for me is -- I made a bunch of rice at once, then divvy it into 1 cup portions and freeze on a tray, then transfer to freezer bags. It's super easy to grab rice puck out of the freezer with a big pile of frozen veg in the same bowl, give a little splash of water and seasonings, put a plate on top and microwave it for 5 minutes. If I'm super hungry I'll add canned beans or a boiled egg, etc. When it's almost heated through I measure out 4-6oz of chicken thighs (I do a lot of pressure canning, so I pop open a pint jar, but it could be canned, rotisserie, or those individually frozen pieces, whatever). Then I top it off with 30-50 grams of whatever kind of sauce I'm feeling. P. S. The Asian stirfry sauces from Aldi *Do Not Miss*, y'all! So good!
Plus rice,potatoes,pasta end up being low / no starch once refrigerated overnight .A chemical reaction happens that changes the starch compounds so it's a def WIN -WIN, especially when trying to loose wt.
Instant subscribe. Seriously, this is the very BEST quick meals video I have ever seen and as a busy professional working single mom with three foster babies under 10 and an adult bio child who visits home often, I am always watching for quick meal tips and spend time searching them out. These were genius and kid-friendly. Thank you!
my youngest loves the bowls we replicate from KFC.. mashed potatoes, chicken (nuggets or breast cut up) corn, cheese and chicken gravy.. tastes the same and you get more when you do it at home.. easy quick meal
@@sharonwilson6465I made crunch wrap supremes for my friends a few months ago. The next week they told me they'd ordered some at Taco Bell, and as they were eating they looked at each other and said, "🫤This sucks." 🤣
I am feeling a bad respiratory demon attacking me and all I want is hot soup but too tired to go get it and too cheap to have it delivered. Solution: half a pack of Shin spicy ramen, small can of white chicken breast, bit of chopped white onion, fine minced serrano pepper, clove of garlic, water to cover. Cook untill done then add a big spoonful of peanut butter and some sesame oil. Hit the spot and soothed my throat.
Breakfast for dinner! Even quicker than pasta. Cook some bacon/sausage/whatever, scramble some eggs, and toppings of your choice to make breakfast burritos
lol...we were so poor when my moms said we were having pigs in a blanket for dinner. I was like 10 years old and said BREAKFAST!!!! for dinner.(guess what I went to bed w/o dinner that night)...lol.....now in my 50's I love me some breakfast for dinner eat it all the time.
I used the “breakfast for dinner” idea way too much. One morning when I was fixing a (rarely prepared) hot breakfast, my daughter came into the kitchen and exclaimed “Why are we having dinner for breakfast?!?”
We live in po-dunk area with none of the larger shopping or fast food places. For my 'don't have time to cook' days, I tend to 'over cook' quantities - ie - if I am making egg rolls, I make enough for 3 meals and freeze 2; if I am cooking taco meat - I make about 2 lbs and divide into meal size containers and freeze (microwave when needed). Even my 'Texas Toast' - get french loaf and slice & spice how you like, freeze individually then put back in the bag. Your Arby's idea is perfect! I noticed recently our little store is trying Arby's curly fries in the freezer .... (Arby's is my dad's favorite stop when we go to a bigger town).
We used to live in a tiny town, maybe 80 miles from a stop light/ fast food/ walmart.. the hot dogs the boosters would sell on game days at the high school was the only fast food. Oh, and a gas station outside of town sold warmed up burritos. It was funny to see folks go to "town" and buy a big sack of Arbys to take home. Like 10 or more sandwiches. Its a wonder those poor teens didnt starve to death.
On the note of the Arby’s dupe meal, since the sandwiches don’t require the use of your air fryer, you can get a bag of curly fries from the freezer section at your grocery store and then you’ve got the full Arby’s experience. Those $4 salad kits also make excellent sides for several of these meals btw. Lots of different flavor combos to pick from, they come together really quickly, and they’re a cheap & healthy addition to meals.
When my 3 kids were little, l used to make "deconstructed salads". I would put the lettuce in one bowls, then put out separate bowls of cut up tomato, cucumber, mushrooms, olives, or whatever l had, and then one or two proteins, like cheese cubes, shredded chicken, shrimp, lunchmeat, etc. Everything went on the table with a few bottles of dressing, and they got to fix their own dinner exactly the way they wanted it. Eventually, they tried everything and grew up loving veggies (although one hates peas, one hates beans, one can't digest meat). Using a salad kit may be quicker, but this was fun and easy and led to a lot of interesting conversations.
Sesame peanut noodles. Boil some Asian noodles if you have them, otherwise linguini or spaghetti. In a bowl, mix together a good scoop of peanut butter, some chili oil, a little sesame oil and some of the pasta water. Drain the pasta well and mix with this sauce until it's thoroughly coated. Add a little more chili oil if you like it, sprinkle over some sesame seeds, and chop a couple green onions and throw them over the top. If you want to add more protein, chopped up leftover chicken works great.
This was great, thank you. The comments section is a gold mine as well....keep em coming people 👍 i plan on checking back in a couple days armed with a pen and paper (yes, i still use those)
Another quick meal tip: use mini Naan to make individual pizzas. Set out a variety of sauces, toppings and cheeses, like a pizza bar, and then you just bake them at 400 for 10 minutes or so. The Naan makes an AMAZING crispy crust and this is quick and SO fun. Try the garlic mini Naan at Aldi for an extra pop of flavor.
Oooh. We do this. It’s DIY pizza night with random things from the fridge or pantry. I even keep naan in my freezer for this purpose. If we don’t have any jarred sauce, butter or oil and garlic and other spices make a good base.
@YoSpiff when I was a kid I had this mickey mouse cookbook with a recipe for English muffin pizzas and I LOVED making them. It was one of my very earliest cooking memories of something I could make entirely on my own.
Our go-tos are Aldi ravioli tossed in olive oil, Parmesan, and fresh black pepper with a side of bagged salad, or “nachos” (tortilla chips topped with canned black beans, salsa, cheese, and microwaved). These run less than $10 for us to make and suit our mostly-vegetarian diet. God bless
We're big fans of the ravioli around here. My daughter likes to make some to take in her lunch thermos. And nachos are a frequent flyer here, too! Great ideas!
Thanks for all the ideas! At 76 I love to have some quick ideas when I’m just too tired to cook for my husband and me. Looking forward to your other videos.
Sam's Club has 2 lb packages of pulled pork. It is seasoned but not sauced and it is just heat and eat. You can use it to make BBQ sammies, or add a little taco seasoning and you have carnitas for quick and easy tacos. And it is only $11!! It has come in clutch for me so many times.
Good to know! The hubby and I are getting ready to move across state lines and we have eaten down a lot of our frozen meals. This would help with meals of we have to keep packing, and not spend at the drive through!
I always have regular rice (not instant) always made and in the fridge. It's so much cheaper than all this frozen ready made or instant rice. You can buy an entire bag of brown rice for about a 1.00 and white rice even cheaper. I also just buy real broccoli crowns for so cheap and they stir fry or steam in like 2 minutes. Whole foods, are cheaper and hopefully less cancer.
Another idea with the nuggets sandwiches is to put some tomato sauce and a slice of cheese and broil them for a sec. Mini chicken parm sandwiches. A quick salad kit on the side or a microwave veggie and done.
I found that is what freezers are for. I put all the leftovers in meal trays (those containers with multiple compartments) and freeze. I can pull one out for lunch or a quicky dinner. If it was tasty the first time, its good again.....just pop in the microwave.
Just today I made some teriyaki noodles. A couple packs of ramen noodles (no seasoning pack used), frozen broccoli and carrots and teriyaki sauce. Bring water to boil, add noodles and veggies. Boil about 3 or so minutes, then drain. Put back in pan and add teriyaki sauce until warmed through.
Very realistic. Sometimes I feel so much pressure, and I don't know why, to make a dinner that is way too complicated. The kids perfer simple and my husband honestly doesn't care. Been trying to simplify meals.
Our go to is chicken quesadillas. Canned or rotisserie chicken, mixed with salsa and taco seasoning, add cheese and maybe beans to the tortilla and brown it in butter. You can add a salad if you have it. So good!
As someone who is very cautious about what she eats out at restaurants, this is very helpful. I'm adding a few of these to our meal plan. We do frozen pot stickers and egg rolls with homemade fried rice or you could use the frozen fried rice just add extra egg and soy sauce to it.
My current quick meal: brown 1 lb ground beef, add 1 can Progresso southwest-style black bean ("protein") soup and one can diced tomatoes. Serve with cubed avocado and shredded cheddar. Can use rotisserie chicken instead of the ground beef - I just cut some up and put into each bowl (heat a bit in the microwave if cold) and pour the hot soup over top. Also can add some chicken broth to stretch and make more soupy. Also can add some chopped sauted zucchini.
Something I grew up eating was a dish my family calls “shuck” its diced bacon, cook it. While the bacon is going boil some elbow noodles. then in the bacon rendering throw in shredded/sliced cabbage until is soft. Then add 1/2-1 stick of butter and about 1-3 TBSP sugar. Combine. Once butter is melted add the cooked noodles to cabbage mix. Enjoy!
One of me and my husband's favorites quick dinner ideas is kielbasa with Mac and cheese. I cut the kielbasa up into thin circles or half moons, (while the water is heating for the noodles) I saute the kielbasa a little bit for warmth and color and by the time the noodles are done so is the kielbasa. I'll serve some steam in the bag green beans or corn on the side. And it's a very quick dinner. Thank you for the ideas, I can't wait to try some of these! ❤
This is probably my favorite video of yours you've ever done. REALLY needed some new quick ideas. This was PERFECT. I never shop at Walmart, but I'm going to look for those chicken nugget bites TOMORROW. I've added all those ideas to my phone and my grocery list. Thank you!
One of my favorite quick dinners is BLT Chicken Wraps. You get cooked chicken, ranch or blue cheese dressing, bacon, veggies like lettuce, cucumber, onion, tomato, and add shredded cheese and put them in a tortilla. Great with chips or air fried tots or fries, or cooked vegetables.
I make a bunch of rice when I need to make it anyway. I use what I need for the meal & let the rest of it cool while eating. I take ziplock bags (sandwich & quart size) & divide up as needed for 1 - 4 people, lay flat & freeze. Take out size I need next meal & microwave for 90 seconds. Hot fresh rice and no cooking when time is short. I do this about twice a month. Takes about 30 minutes each time & saves much more time than it costs.
I love to make Chipotle veggie burritos. Basmati rice with lime juice, parsley, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder in vegetable broth. Then black beans with lime juice. And sauteed bell peppers and red onion with lime juice and cumin. Shredded cheese. And you have their burrito. You can add other things too.
I grab a box of taquitos, top with green enchiladas sauce and pepper jack cheese - BAKE! It’s so good. Add minute cilantro lime rice. I like to get russet or gold potatoes (wash no peeling), dice and mix with taco seasoning. Bake in air fryer.
It’s the same down here in Australia!! Going through a drive through would cost $18-$20…just for me…I can feed the whole family (5) going to aldi!! Also always have a couple quick easy meals from pantry staples on hand that take less time to make then going to get take away!!
One of my favorite quick meals is chicken taquitos - rotisserie chicken shreds, salsa of choice, and cheese mixed in a bowl. place mixture in flour tortilla, roll and secure with a toothpick and shallow fry. My family asks for these all the time.
If I have ground beef to use (or I’ll thaw it in the microwave), I make taco mac with a box of velveeta mac and cheese (bc it doesn’t require milk or butter), add in the ground beef seasoned with taco seasoning, and a small can of Rotel, drained. It’s so yummy! Other mac and cheeses work well too, but Velveeta has a nice thick cheese sauce that I don’t love on its own, but it helps coat the ground beef and tomatoes & chilies so well, plus I don’t always have milk
I fix this for my family too. It is SO good. I usually have kidney beans with it for a side. I like to mix it into my t.mac whereas my husband prefers it on the side.
I am TUNED IN, let me tell you!!! The last time I ordered Chinese takeout it was a double-layered shock. First, how expensive the total for old usual was. Second, how downsized the portions are! Thank you for this❤
Great video and tips! For the Chick-Fil-A sauce, the Sweet Baby Ray's chicken sauce is really good. I buy the Aldi honey beer battered chicken fingers, so good! A couple weeks ago I bought the cauliflower dip at Aldi to try. I made a chicken dish with it and some other ingredients. You're right, that dip made the meal! It was also marked down the day I bought it. It was 1.29. I remember the Arby's 5 for $5, I was newly married then. I remember $5 Footlong too at Subway!
That Aldi honey beer batter chicken is the bomb. I get Uncle Ben's stir fry rice when it's on sale. Put the cooked chicken on top and add soy sauce for my husband and teriyaki or sweet and sour sauce for me. Quick and yummy.
My college dinner of choice was the always quick and easy pasta dinner. Mac and cheese, canned tuna or chicken, with some microwaveable frozen veggies mixed in. Beyond easy, filling, and has some veggies included. I’d get 2-3 meals out of it depending on how hungry I was. I still pull it out for an easy dinner for my family.
My favorite fast and cheap go to is 1 lb. of ground beef (ground turkey or chicken would work too) browned and seasoned with the seasoning packets from 2 pkgs. of Ramen noodles, and then you add 1 can of corn undrained and 1 can of stewed tomatoes undrained and then break up the the noodles from your 2 pkgs, and add to the beef. Stir and put a lid on the pot for 5 minutes or so until the noodles are tender. We eat this with some garlic toast. Green beans on the side are good too.
Great ideas. We started doing something similar where I would buy convenience foods at a grocery store from our monthly “going out fund”. We always have money left over because we only get Dunkin’ once in a while. We’ve been disappointed with the restaurant and take outs quality and pricing since covid. Love your ideas of recreating those comfort foods at home. It’ll taste way better too!
I love these ideas! I work at Walmart too, so it’s really easy to get what I need after work! I’ve been trying to come up with some new things to make. Thanks again ❤
Thanks Mindy for these great supper/ lunch ideas. I try to rotate meals but sometimes we need something different to try. These meals won't disappoint. They sound delicious!
As a Norwegian, eating take out food on a regular basis, sounds crazy. We do that less than once a month, maybe once every second month at most. Most of the dinners I make for our family is done in 20 minutes. And it consist of vegetables (mostly homegrown, some fresh, some from the freezer), some kind of protein and carbs like potatoes and sometimes rice, pasta or sourdough bread. The other day I made and served a pasta salad with lentil pasta for 7 people in less than 30 minutes. We eat a lot of eggs(we have chickens) and fried eggs is great for dinner, served with salad, maybe bacon and canned beans. Eggs can be eaten at every meal,it is protein and nutritious. We are having fried eggs for dinner today, and I know I will have the meal on the table in 20 minutes, including preheating the cast iron skillet. Cauliflower soup with cheese and bacon are great or dinner, served with sourdough bread. And done in 20 minutes. Lentil soup are just as fast, even with uncooked red lentils, they are done in 10 minutes. I find that real food does not take more time to cook than all those frozen items you can heat and eat, often the frozen nuggets etc takes more time than fresh real food. Hey, you can even open two cans of chickpeas(I keep frozen beans and chickpeas in the freezer and thaw them over night in the fridge), rinse and throw in a bowl, chop a onion, some tomatoes, a cucumber , pour over olive oil and lemon or vinegar, salt and pepper. You can eat it as it is, or throw in some boiled eggs(always keep boiled eggs in the fridge) , leftover of rice or pasta or potatoes are great to throw in too. Eat it as it is or with some bread. Cost? Less than take out. Nutrients? Better than chicken nuggets and chips of any kind. We tend to make dinner so complicated and end up in the frozen compartment in the store, think less complicated.
(Posting as Joyce) Thank you for another great video!! It really inspired me to stock up on a few things at Aldi today. I got 2 boxes of scalloped potatoes, some kielbasa, frozen ravioli, etc. Some of it is not completely healthy, but it does feed us when needed. On Wednesday, I had plans to make Terriyaki chicken, and then the chicken was not thawed out in time. I knew that I didn't have time to run to the store, so I ordered Chinese food. I don't love Chinese food that much anymore and my digestive system doesn't always appreciate it. LOL!! So, hopefully, I will be more prepared in the future in case my plans don't work out!! Stay warm and safe!!
I don’t know if you have a wingers in your area, but my family loves their sticky fingers, but for an order of 14 sticky fingers to feed my family it’s $27 before tax & tip. But I can buy a bottle of their “amazing” sauce for $7, and a large bag of frozen breaded chicken tenders for $13 and that bottle and bag will feed us for at least 2 dinners, and a lunch for a few people. I air fry the chicken for like 8 minutes, put it in a bowl with some of the wingers sauce and toss the chicken until it’s well coated in the sauce & it’s ready. You can serve it alongside some easy sides, or on top of a salad with ranch, or inside of a tortilla for a sticky fingers wrap, all of which are so easy to prep while the chicken is in the air fryer. Dinner ready in like 10 minutes. We keep a bottle of wingers amazing sauce on hand just for this reason!
Quick creamy chicken & rice...For leftover chicken, rotisserie chicken, browned ground turkey or left over roast turkey...Use a package of chicken flavor Rice a Roni. Follow directions to brown. In another bowl, use one can of cream of mushroom soup. Add enough water to match the amt of water stated on package. Mix in spice packet. After rice is browned, pour soup mixture, chicken and a can of drained mushrooms (don't have to have them but they add flavor) into the pan. Mix well. Cover for 20 minutes. It's ready when the rice is tender. Serve with a side of your favorite veggie. You can also brown the rice, put all the ingredients together then pour into a baking dish and bake for 30 minutes at 350°. The rice a roni comes out like stuffing.
We have been trying hard to do that. Last night was a fail. Or new grandson was born yesterday at lunch time. So exciting! On the way home from the hospital we ordered pizza .And we had pot pies that I could have tossed in the oven. I totally forgot about the pot pies. It happens to all of us! But these are great ideas. Have a great weekend!
We have made a New Years goal of only eating out once a month, and make sure to go to a sit down restaurant. I'm getting used to it, lol, and being okay with noodles and sauce in a pinch. Rotisserie chicken to the rescue too!
Aaacckk!! I'm so GLAD you mentioned Upside in the video!!!! I downloaded the app with the QR code last time you mentioned them, and I keep forgetting to use it! Thanks for the mini tutorial because I didn't realize I needed to select my gas station before pumping - and I'm on 'low fuel' as of my commute home today so perfect timing! ❤ LOVE all of these quick 'fast food' at home meal ideas!!
They have a section in our local Walmart here in Kansas City and I know you’re in Oklahoma but people might want to check in the bakery section cause they always have these huge bakery roll bags of what they call steak rolls and literally they’re just oversized rolls. we cut them open And put shredded barbecue that I’ve been cooking in the crockpot and I know that you can buy shredded already cooked tubs of pulled pork if you didn’t put it in a crockpot and cook it and it’s absolutely amazing to have pulled pork sliders literally in minutes from the time that you open the steak rolls and stuff them with some pulled pork maybe a little bit of cheese and put them underneath the broiler for about 20 seconds. It melts the cheese crust up the bread and they’re absolutely to die for Put us with already prepared coleslaw or potato salad. I usually grab that and macaroni salad from the cold section right there next to the deli, literally we could have this unless then eight minutes for the entire meal because I’ll put them in the oven and do them all at once when I go to broil them up and if I haven’t cooked that pork roast in the crockpot or Insta pot then I definitely will pick up a tub of this at my local Walmart And bring it home in an under eight minutes. We can have the entire sandwiches done because my kids get in there and we do an assembly line to make it go faster and the sides are so easy what I like to do is get the shredded coleslaw. Mix from Walmart and a sauce called Mazetti coleslaw mix in the dressing aisle and it’s absolutely to die for my kids. Don’t like coleslaw so they like to grab the cold macaroni salad. I like coleslaw and potato salad, but I prefer to make my own coleslaw with just shredded cabbage already in a bag in the Mazetti coleslaw mix super simple super fast don’t forget to pick up a jar of either pickle spears or sandwich stacker version of pickles to go on your barbecue sandwiches. It’s so good. And since I’m in KC Missouri or Kansas City Missouri were known for a barbecue but oh my gosh barbecue sandwiches are starting out at like nine or $10 a piece around here and I’m not doing that with three teenagers in my house so we do it this way to make it faster by eating at home instead
I have a couple of you folks that I keep up with. You stay true to yourself and us. Still trying to keep the meal cheap. I hope people learned through the pandemic. I do a lot of homemade frozen or dry and have can or frozen. I have a bag in freezer with pizza and let my bread maker do the crust. I try not to do a lot of bagged meals all the time. Thank you for showing people that they can still eat good.
Girl, you are fabulous! We have a TH-cam travel channel, but I still work full time and on editing days the hubs and I often resort to carry out or drive thru food. SOOOO happy I found your channel!!
Just found ya! I am about to go into my busy time for work and this will help me a great deal. Gonna make my menu cards up to have these ideas on hand. Thank you and all of you how have added your ideas into the comment section.
That sounds wonderful! We never used half and half until my son had his wisdom teeth out and I was looking for ways to get more calories into soft foods for him. This may sound nuts but I added half and half to canned refried beans to make them softer. It was really good.
I like the Hillshire Farms beef kielbasa links when we don’t have things planned. At out house we call them U sausages. That’s their shape. I cut them into rounds. Then sauté it in a pan with long slices of onion and bell pepper. We also eat it with sweet potatoes cut in half lengthwise and cooked on high in the microwave around 7 minutes each side. Once cooked we butter it at the table. Then heat up a jar of sauerkraut on the stovetop. Serve with some German spicy mustard. This meal takes about 15-20 minutes. You also get the savory, sweet, and sour from this combination and it wakes up your taste buds.
My SIL does not like leftovers. That is one of my favorite things as I get great food with little work. Having a family helped as I cannot cook small amounts....
You can freeze cooked rice and then heat it back up in the microwave with a lid. No difference from fresh. Probably an even cheaper option especially if you're freezing leftovers.
@@CixiaKyrrah I'm making a batch of brown rice this morning. 🍚 A big batch takes the same amount of time as a small batch in the electric pressure cooker.
I love making little Naan pizza's. I almost always have Naan I've found on clearance on hand so any little bits usually end up on them. But my favorite combo is the spinach artichoke dip (clearance of course) and cooked diced or shredded chicken mixed up. Then added to the Naan and maybe a bit more mozzarella cheese 😅 then baked until gold and bubbly 😋 I can usually stretch it to about 12 Naan, a little goes along way.
Great ideas! Thank you! When family members are hungry and on the road, it's easy to drive by these fast food places and give in to temptations. We remember how delicious our favorites are. I don't want to be the parent that says no 24/7 either. What I've done is create traditions. For example our chick fil a is near the orthodontist. We do not drive by it regularly. But we get a meal there every 2 months after our check up. It's in the budget.
We're the family who travels with cooler in the back. We make a bit of a game for where to stop for lunch. Plenty of roadside parks, a detour off the freeway to tiny town with a veterans park. But when my daughter had ortho appts, shed always want tacobell becouse it was easy to eat.
My interest in this video is for my grown daughters with families. These are great ideas and thank you. I will be sharing this with my girls. With that being said, I wish that my mother had given me the advice many years ago that there are better options for shaky can Parm. It is just as convenient to purchase your “parm” out of the deli. The pre shredded does have an added starch or non caking ingredient but it does not have the fillers that you find in the “shaky can”. An even better option is to invest in a micro planer. With a few quick swipes you have cloud like shaky style parm. Walmart does carry a brand in the dairy section that is ONLY shredded parm. Look for Bella Rosa. 4C is another if you can find it. Here’s wishing you all happy family dinners 😋😉
Love your videos. I do the DQ chicken tender dupe. Frozen Great Value tenders, packet of pepper gravy, frozen fries and Texas toast. A lot cheaper than going to the restaurant. At my Walmart all this is little less than $20 before tax and feeds my family of 4 that has two teenager boys 😂
Great ideas! We have been doing an eat at home challenge for January and have only been out to eat once. It is crazy how much you realize that fast or semi fast food restaurants are just not worth it and so expensive after eating all from scratch meals at home. It’s so good to reset your spending habits!
I live by myself. I have fish (bake, air fry, or fry) and chicken nuggets in my freezer just for 1 off meals. I add a broccoli and cheese side (if I get the smaller one I can get the whole thing) and potato wedges. I also buy the mini cupcakes and freeze them. I prefer them frozen. I can just get a 1 and gmit gives me something sweet without killing u.
I'm English sooo....beans and eggs on toast. Also: Cereal, grilled cheese and soup, bean and cheese burritos and a little salad, tortilla pizzas, ramen with an egg on top, rice with an egg on top, baked potato with baked beans and cheese, the individual Aldi pizza kits with whatever you have on hand (cut up ham/mushrooms/olives/tomatoes/cheese), rotisserie chicken with a microwave bag of veggies and a microwave bag of rice, rotisserie chicken and Mac and cheese and so on.
Thank you for continuing to inspire me. I suffer from making new meals often, and a lot are hits, but I am trying hard to create consistent meals to go to that we would all love. And I’m getting there, but I have two under two and this is a challenging season in my life (when it comes to food and getting my toddler to eat it). Anyway, my husband loves Arby’s and I try to spoil him (cause gift giving and surprises are my love language) but it has gotten so outrageously expensive. I am planning to make that for his birthday now, and I’m sure it will become one of our regular meals. Such a great and delicious idea!
@@Purple0fairy0bunny wolf's no bean chili is a staple for me. The best price I've found is Walmart, online, a four pack for under $10. I have the Walmart + so free shipping. It's been worth the membership cost.
@Purple0fairy0bunny nice. With just two of us and me eating mostly unprocessed foods club stores aren't such a great thing for me. And he would be grabbing gallons of BBQ sauce. But I'll take a look. Maybe next time they run a sale on membership...
@@renel7303 I saw somewhere that Sam's Club has a membership deal right now. The savings on gas are another benefit even if you're not buying a lot inside that year. I searched Sam's Club membership deals and the list of results shows that through January 20, 2025, tomorrow, a new one-year membership is $25. If you're a senior citizen, and I don't know what that age is, you can get 60% off the $50 membership so a little bit less at $20 that first year.
I've been learning to make home made cheese sauce, homemade bread bun and tasty homemade vegan pattie from beans, all cost way less, and if I plan it properly then I just make these once a month in bulk and they last well in the refrigerator, also I've been growing my own vegetables and some fruit so these help with soups, juice, vegetable for salads etc and fruit jams. Thank you for your ideas. 😊🙏🌹☘️
This was a GREAT, FUN video! Can’t wait to try the Chic-fil-A sammies! I like to throw together meatball sandwiches. I use frozen garlic bread, frozen Italian meatballs,and jar pasta sauce. I heat the meatballs in the sauce and pour the desired amount over the prepared garlic bread. Serve with salad of choice!
I think the price of the bag of frozen chicken party wings at trader Joe's went up a dollar because I just bought a bag of them yesterday ( to put in my upright freezer). But sometimes I go to my local co-op grocery store which gets chicken party wings, legs thighs etc from a local farm.
I really love this video and the pace of it is so nice! It mimics the fast food theme of being fast as it is just packed with lots of food tidbits! Thank you! Did I also say it’s nicely done!
The Aldi Gyro kits are pretty good, but the Sam's club fresh Gyro kits are the BEST. Everything cooks up SUPER fast and it is absolutely delicious. My only complaint is that the sauce cups are small for the size of the kit. It also makes more gyros than the Aldi kit and it's not frozen. I love it so much
Here's mine to add to the list mine feeds 6 big portions Put some rice on Throw some chicken thighs or whatever meat you have in the airfryer even frozen Cook either two big tablespoons of curry powder or curry paste in a pan and warm in a knob of butter Add two cans of coconut milk and a big BIG spoon of peanut butter. And a drizzle of honey Simmer on low til your meat is ready. Add a slurry of cornstarch and water to thicken and chop and stir in your meat. Done x It takes about 15 mins all in xxx
*Download the FREE Upside App at upside.app.link/mindy to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas.
One of our go to meals when we just don’t have the energy, we like grilled cheese and canned soup. Nothing wrong with that.❤
Same here! Or breakfast for dinner
@@kellyschutte4187 You're right. Always have some type of breakfast on hand 😊 Thanks for the reminder
Classic.
I love me some grilled with ham on it 🎉
@@loving_lioness3518 or bacon, tomato and onion….grilled cheese could be it’s own food group imo!
Dropping this here for when I revisit this video in my time of need:
1:00 -tortellini and dip sauce
2:16 -Chick-fil-A at home
4:09 -chicken teriyaki
5:30 -buffalo boneless chicken "wings"
7:35 -Arby's roast beef sandwiches
10:01 -take-n-bake pizza upgraded
11:40 -Italian sandwiches
13:20 -two ingredient tomato soup and "cheater" grilled cheese
14:36 -pulled pork tacos or nachos
16:28 -gyros at home
Sooo helpful! Thank you!
Thank you!
Thank you so much... that's so helpful. 😊
Head's up for people coming out of nowhere like me, the wings part is mostly an ad. That immediately sounded good & I was waiting for the wings tip 😂 Back up to the previous thing, and the wings sauce is the alternate version of it (the first 30 seconds of the wings bit).
Sorry 🤭 I was just waiting for her instructions on wings😂
Thank you! 😊
Meatball subs. Hot dog buns with butter & garlic salt toastes at 375 for 8-10 minutes. While they toast, put frozen meatballs in skillet to brown (we like 4/bun), and jar of pasta sauce. Once buns come out add the meatballs with a spoonful of sauce. Top with mozzarella, pop into broiler for a couple minutes to melt cheese. Enjoy!
Oh that sounds gooood...
I was just thinking about meatball subs the other day, and realized I've never actually had one 😂 I'll make em this week.
We do this, but on the Hawaiian rolls YUM
how much sodium?
As a Home Canner , Ive wanted to can ground beef as meatballs but was not coming up with good uses. Thanks
I make these with frozen meatballs and red sauce in the instant pot for 0-1 minute! My hoagie buns and provolone in the toaster oven at the same time. If I'm feeling on top of things I might saute some peppers and mushrooms, while I wait, or I might just leave it at that.
I keep one pound packages of cooked ground beef in my freezer. Then it's quick and easy to make tacos, sloppy Joe's all sorts of things.
I make hamburgers and freeze them for to eat later.
I did chills today super quick meal.
I do the same thing for tacos.
I do the same
Genius
Ahhhhhh yesss, the 5 for $5 lol. My old man would bring home the 5 sandwiches and *no* *sides!!!* 😂 "We got chips in the pantry son!"
I didnt complain, it was nice to have a break from cornbread 😂
•Cornbread and milk
•Pintos and cornbread
•Chili beans and cornbread (from the beans from the night before)
•Fried vegetables and cornbread (okra, squash, tomatoes, etc)
I definitely could keep going!
There wasn't a day of my childhood when there wasn't a cake of cornbread on the counter.
We weren't poor. Just *"frugal."* 😂
I remember the 5 for $5!!!! I grow up poor in a family of 6, so when that deal came around we got to eat out and eat well!!!
My parents would pick up the sandwiches and we would have sides (chips, fries etc) prepared at home! 😁😁😁
I also remember the McDonald’s Friday night fish!
My daughter recently remarked on the $0.39 burgers @ Get ‘em & Go. They loved those burgers with the 1/2” extra bun all the way around 🤣. Truth be told…. I did too😎
Working at “ Litt* Cea$ars” as a teen all crazy bread is pizza dough ran once through the sheeter to flatten into an oval and cut. Once through oven it just has garlic margarine brushed on. All is in the spread, garlic and spices. Our local bulk store sells the exact spread. It can be easily made from scratch too. 🇨🇦👍🏻
You the real mvp
A quick stir fry--cook ramen noodles. While they are boiling, stir fry frozen veggie stirfry mix in a large skillet about 4 minutes. Add cooked chicken or pork (from Aldi's ready shredded packs), add cooked noodles, and some Aldi's General Tso's sauce. I like to throw in some cashews, too.
The comments alone are amazing! A win-win for everyone. A wealth of knowledge and help .❤❤
Agreed. This was a GREAT video. 👏👏👏
Tostadas. Canned refried beans, chopped lettuce, salsa, shredded cheese on tostadas shells. About $8-$11 or ingredients depending on where you live and for our family of 5 it hits the spot every time 😊
My family loves to make French Bread Pizza! Walmart $1 French loaf, $2 pizza sauce and some $2 mozzarella cheese. Easy and under the broiler in 10 minutes. That and a salad kit I can feed my family of 4 for around
$10. Everyone is happy!
We do this too, but I use pesto sauce and MMMMMM!
Yes🎉
I make my own pizza sauce so it can be low sodium and no added sugar. One small can no salt tomato sauce one of tomato paste, lots of garlic and onion powder and as much Italian seasoning as you like. It might stiffen up from the spices absorbing moisture so add a touch of water if needed. Excess keeps for a couple weeks and it freezes nicely.
So tasty! You can do this with english muffins or bagel too. I grab some ham and pepperoni to add to it.
YUM!🎉
I'm working on losing weight right now, so one thing that's been working for me is -- I made a bunch of rice at once, then divvy it into 1 cup portions and freeze on a tray, then transfer to freezer bags.
It's super easy to grab rice puck out of the freezer with a big pile of frozen veg in the same bowl, give a little splash of water and seasonings, put a plate on top and microwave it for 5 minutes. If I'm super hungry I'll add canned beans or a boiled egg, etc. When it's almost heated through I measure out 4-6oz of chicken thighs (I do a lot of pressure canning, so I pop open a pint jar, but it could be canned, rotisserie, or those individually frozen pieces, whatever). Then I top it off with 30-50 grams of whatever kind of sauce I'm feeling.
P. S. The Asian stirfry sauces from Aldi *Do Not Miss*, y'all! So good!
Thanks for the tip on the Aldi sauces! I haven’t tried those yet. :)
Plus rice,potatoes,pasta end up being low / no starch once refrigerated overnight .A chemical reaction happens that changes the starch compounds so it's a def WIN -WIN, especially when trying to loose wt.
Instant subscribe. Seriously, this is the very BEST quick meals video I have ever seen and as a busy professional working single mom with three foster babies under 10 and an adult bio child who visits home often, I am always watching for quick meal tips and spend time searching them out. These were genius and kid-friendly. Thank you!
Thank you! I'm so glad I could give some ideas. We fostered and adopted, so thank you for your important work for kids. :)
You can freeze almost anything. Just store it single serving size of you live alone so you're not thawing and refreezing repeatedly.
Absolutely the best!
my youngest loves the bowls we replicate from KFC.. mashed potatoes, chicken (nuggets or breast cut up) corn, cheese and chicken gravy.. tastes the same and you get more when you do it at home.. easy quick meal
My sons actually like the homemade version of the KFC bowls better than the original.
@@sharonwilson6465I made crunch wrap supremes for my friends a few months ago. The next week they told me they'd ordered some at Taco Bell, and as they were eating they looked at each other and said, "🫤This sucks." 🤣
@ we have made those too using tostadas in the middle of the burrito.. hubby thought they were so good
@@lisakukla459i just got a basic bean burrito from taco bell and it was horrible. The tortilla was gross and not enough beans. Such a gamble haha
I'm slightly older than you, so i remember Arby's 5 for 5. I loved the Titanic clip 😂😂
Yes! My husband and I would get 5. He would eat 3. I'd eat 2. Yum!
Those were the days, man.
I worked there as a teen. Saturday night during 5 for $5 was crazy!
I am feeling a bad respiratory demon attacking me and all I want is hot soup but too tired to go get it and too cheap to have it delivered. Solution: half a pack of Shin spicy ramen, small can of white chicken breast, bit of chopped white onion, fine minced serrano pepper, clove of garlic, water to cover. Cook untill done then add a big spoonful of peanut butter and some sesame oil. Hit the spot and soothed my throat.
Breakfast for dinner! Even quicker than pasta. Cook some bacon/sausage/whatever, scramble some eggs, and toppings of your choice to make breakfast burritos
Pasta is 12 minutes everything you listed minus the eggs seems like it would take longer?
lol...we were so poor when my moms said we were having pigs in a blanket for dinner. I was like 10 years old and said BREAKFAST!!!! for dinner.(guess what I went to bed w/o dinner that night)...lol.....now in my 50's I love me some breakfast for dinner eat it all the time.
I used the “breakfast for dinner” idea way too much. One morning when I was fixing a (rarely prepared) hot breakfast, my daughter came into the kitchen and exclaimed “Why are we having dinner for breakfast?!?”
Brinner!
I hate how many dishes breakfast for dinner creates
We live in po-dunk area with none of the larger shopping or fast food places. For my 'don't have time to cook' days, I tend to 'over cook' quantities - ie - if I am making egg rolls, I make enough for 3 meals and freeze 2; if I am cooking taco meat - I make about 2 lbs and divide into meal size containers and freeze (microwave when needed). Even my 'Texas Toast' - get french loaf and slice & spice how you like, freeze individually then put back in the bag. Your Arby's idea is perfect! I noticed recently our little store is trying Arby's curly fries in the freezer .... (Arby's is my dad's favorite stop when we go to a bigger town).
We used to live in a tiny town, maybe 80 miles from a stop light/ fast food/ walmart.. the hot dogs the boosters would sell on game days at the high school was the only fast food. Oh, and a gas station outside of town sold warmed up burritos. It was funny to see folks go to "town" and buy a big sack of Arbys to take home. Like 10 or more sandwiches. Its a wonder those poor teens didnt starve to death.
On the note of the Arby’s dupe meal, since the sandwiches don’t require the use of your air fryer, you can get a bag of curly fries from the freezer section at your grocery store and then you’ve got the full Arby’s experience. Those $4 salad kits also make excellent sides for several of these meals btw. Lots of different flavor combos to pick from, they come together really quickly, and they’re a cheap & healthy addition to meals.
Love ❤ Arby’s curly fries!!!
When my 3 kids were little, l used to make "deconstructed salads". I would put the lettuce in one bowls, then put out separate bowls of cut up tomato, cucumber, mushrooms, olives, or whatever l had, and then one or two proteins, like cheese cubes, shredded chicken, shrimp, lunchmeat, etc. Everything went on the table with a few bottles of dressing, and they got to fix their own dinner exactly the way they wanted it. Eventually, they tried everything and grew up loving veggies (although one hates peas, one hates beans, one can't digest meat). Using a salad kit may be quicker, but this was fun and easy and led to a lot of interesting conversations.
Sesame peanut noodles. Boil some Asian noodles if you have them, otherwise linguini or spaghetti. In a bowl, mix together a good scoop of peanut butter, some chili oil, a little sesame oil and some of the pasta water. Drain the pasta well and mix with this sauce until it's thoroughly coated. Add a little more chili oil if you like it, sprinkle over some sesame seeds, and chop a couple green onions and throw them over the top. If you want to add more protein, chopped up leftover chicken works great.
This sounds soooooo good!
In the summer I add some coconut milk from the can as well
Sounds great. Should work well with my gluten-free rice noodles and the peanut butter with honey from Trader Joe's.
yum, I am going to try this.
Or an egg, if you don't have any chicken. I'm talking myself into this!
This was great, thank you. The comments section is a gold mine as well....keep em coming people 👍 i plan on checking back in a couple days armed with a pen and paper (yes, i still use those)
Yes!!! The comments ARE a gold mine. ❤ There are awesome people out there, posting awesome, helpful comments, fo sho. 😊
My first job was at Arby's and I definitely remember the 5 for $5! I also met my husband there!
This makes me laugh because my husband was my boss at Arby's. He actually hired me when I was 16.
Another quick meal tip: use mini Naan to make individual pizzas. Set out a variety of sauces, toppings and cheeses, like a pizza bar, and then you just bake them at 400 for 10 minutes or so. The Naan makes an AMAZING crispy crust and this is quick and SO fun. Try the garlic mini Naan at Aldi for an extra pop of flavor.
Oooh. We do this. It’s DIY pizza night with random things from the fridge or pantry. I even keep naan in my freezer for this purpose. If we don’t have any jarred sauce, butter or oil and garlic and other spices make a good base.
I do that alot! Soooooo good! 🎉
We do that with whole wheat tortillas. Naan sounds like a lovely variety.
I've always loved English muffin pizzas.
@YoSpiff when I was a kid I had this mickey mouse cookbook with a recipe for English muffin pizzas and I LOVED making them. It was one of my very earliest cooking memories of something I could make entirely on my own.
Me watching this while eating the fast food I had delivered for lunch! I definitely needed this. Probably also need a spank spank. 🤦🏼♀️🤣
😂
haha! As I mentioned, we budget for takeout, I'm just trying to cut back on the unplanned restaurant purchases.
😂😂
Our go-tos are Aldi ravioli tossed in olive oil, Parmesan, and fresh black pepper with a side of bagged salad, or “nachos” (tortilla chips topped with canned black beans, salsa, cheese, and microwaved). These run less than $10 for us to make and suit our mostly-vegetarian diet. God bless
We're big fans of the ravioli around here. My daughter likes to make some to take in her lunch thermos. And nachos are a frequent flyer here, too! Great ideas!
Thanks for all the ideas! At 76 I love to have some quick ideas when I’m just too tired to cook for my husband and me. Looking forward to your other videos.
Sam's Club has 2 lb packages of pulled pork. It is seasoned but not sauced and it is just heat and eat. You can use it to make BBQ sammies, or add a little taco seasoning and you have carnitas for quick and easy tacos. And it is only $11!! It has come in clutch for me so many times.
Good to know! The hubby and I are getting ready to move across state lines and we have eaten down a lot of our frozen meals. This would help with meals of we have to keep packing, and not spend at the drive through!
@@lorisarchet7732 I hope it helps you. Good luck with your move!
I test tasted those, they are friggen delicious.
I always have regular rice (not instant) always made and in the fridge. It's so much cheaper than all this frozen ready made or instant rice. You can buy an entire bag of brown rice for about a 1.00 and white rice even cheaper. I also just buy real broccoli crowns for so cheap and they stir fry or steam in like 2 minutes. Whole foods, are cheaper and hopefully less cancer.
I freeze single servings of cooked rice. So cheap and easy. You have to freeze it in three days before it builds up arsenic.
Everytime I see a dip in the store, I hear your voice giving me sauce options. 😂
Another idea with the nuggets sandwiches is to put some tomato sauce and a slice of cheese and broil them for a sec. Mini chicken parm sandwiches. A quick salad kit on the side or a microwave veggie and done.
I found that is what freezers are for. I put all the leftovers in meal trays (those containers with multiple compartments) and freeze. I can pull one out for lunch or a quicky dinner. If it was tasty the first time, its good again.....just pop in the microwave.
Just today I made some teriyaki noodles. A couple packs of ramen noodles (no seasoning pack used), frozen broccoli and carrots and teriyaki sauce. Bring water to boil, add noodles and veggies. Boil about 3 or so minutes, then drain. Put back in pan and add teriyaki sauce until warmed through.
I bet that would be great with some canned chicken!! Thanks for the tip!
@@jens4905 That sounds like a good idea!
Save those packets and put it in a homemade soup
@@christinajackson3461 Yes!!!
Very realistic. Sometimes I feel so much pressure, and I don't know why, to make a dinner that is way too complicated. The kids perfer simple and my husband honestly doesn't care. Been trying to simplify meals.
Our go to is chicken quesadillas. Canned or rotisserie chicken, mixed with salsa and taco seasoning, add cheese and maybe beans to the tortilla and brown it in butter. You can add a salad if you have it. So good!
As someone who is very cautious about what she eats out at restaurants, this is very helpful. I'm adding a few of these to our meal plan. We do frozen pot stickers and egg rolls with homemade fried rice or you could use the frozen fried rice just add extra egg and soy sauce to it.
Oh that's a great idea on the pot stickers. We do egg rolls, but I forget about the frozen potstickers!
We just had that for dinner today! I made fried rice yesterday, we had it with a piece of salmon. Tonight was potstickers and leftover fried rice
My current quick meal: brown 1 lb ground beef, add 1 can Progresso southwest-style black bean ("protein") soup and one can diced tomatoes. Serve with cubed avocado and shredded cheddar. Can use rotisserie chicken instead of the ground beef - I just cut some up and put into each bowl (heat a bit in the microwave if cold) and pour the hot soup over top. Also can add some chicken broth to stretch and make more soupy. Also can add some chopped sauted zucchini.
Something I grew up eating was a dish my family calls “shuck” its diced bacon, cook it. While the bacon is going boil some elbow noodles. then in the bacon rendering throw in shredded/sliced cabbage until is soft. Then add 1/2-1 stick of butter and about 1-3 TBSP sugar. Combine. Once butter is melted add the cooked noodles to cabbage mix. Enjoy!
Yummyyyyyy
Cabbage is such a good thing to save money and stretch food
This sounds yummy, thank you!
One of me and my husband's favorites quick dinner ideas is kielbasa with Mac and cheese. I cut the kielbasa up into thin circles or half moons, (while the water is heating for the noodles) I saute the kielbasa a little bit for warmth and color and by the time the noodles are done so is the kielbasa. I'll serve some steam in the bag green beans or corn on the side. And it's a very quick dinner. Thank you for the ideas, I can't wait to try some of these! ❤
This is probably my favorite video of yours you've ever done. REALLY needed some new quick ideas. This was PERFECT. I never shop at Walmart, but I'm going to look for those chicken nugget bites TOMORROW. I've added all those ideas to my phone and my grocery list. Thank you!
I'm so glad they were helpful!
One of my favorite quick dinners is BLT Chicken Wraps.
You get cooked chicken, ranch or blue cheese dressing, bacon, veggies like lettuce, cucumber, onion, tomato, and add shredded cheese and put them in a tortilla. Great with chips or air fried tots or fries, or cooked vegetables.
And if you add avocado, it’s a lot like a Cobb salad wrap, which I enjoy making for myself.
I make a bunch of rice when I need to make it anyway. I use what I need for the meal & let the rest of it cool while eating. I take ziplock bags (sandwich & quart size) & divide up as needed for 1 - 4 people, lay flat & freeze. Take out size I need next meal & microwave for 90 seconds. Hot fresh rice and no cooking when time is short. I do this about twice a month. Takes about 30 minutes each time & saves much more time than it costs.
I love to make Chipotle veggie burritos. Basmati rice with lime juice, parsley, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder in vegetable broth. Then black beans with lime juice. And sauteed bell peppers and red onion with lime juice and cumin. Shredded cheese. And you have their burrito. You can add other things too.
Lime juice? Lol
I grab a box of taquitos, top with green enchiladas sauce and pepper jack cheese - BAKE! It’s so good. Add minute cilantro lime rice. I like to get russet or gold potatoes (wash no peeling), dice and mix with taco seasoning. Bake in air fryer.
It’s the same down here in Australia!! Going through a drive through would cost $18-$20…just for me…I can feed the whole family (5) going to aldi!! Also always have a couple quick easy meals from pantry staples on hand that take less time to make then going to get take away!!
One of my favorite quick meals is chicken taquitos - rotisserie chicken shreds, salsa of choice, and cheese mixed in a bowl. place mixture in flour tortilla, roll and secure with a toothpick and shallow fry. My family asks for these all the time.
Oh, my kids would love homemade taquitos. I'm not sure I've made them from scratch for a long time!
Sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing.
Wow! I must try this!,,
@@breezybre2670 hope you love it. I did try some in the air fryer but mine is too small and it took forever to do a basket of them.
If I have ground beef to use (or I’ll thaw it in the microwave), I make taco mac with a box of velveeta mac and cheese (bc it doesn’t require milk or butter), add in the ground beef seasoned with taco seasoning, and a small can of Rotel, drained. It’s so yummy! Other mac and cheeses work well too, but Velveeta has a nice thick cheese sauce that I don’t love on its own, but it helps coat the ground beef and tomatoes & chilies so well, plus I don’t always have milk
I fix this for my family too. It is SO good. I usually have kidney beans with it for a side. I like to mix it into my t.mac whereas my husband prefers it on the side.
I am TUNED IN, let me tell you!!! The last time I ordered Chinese takeout it was a double-layered shock. First, how expensive the total for old usual was. Second, how downsized the portions are! Thank you for this❤
Great video and tips! For the Chick-Fil-A sauce, the Sweet Baby Ray's chicken sauce is really good. I buy the Aldi honey beer battered chicken fingers, so good! A couple weeks ago I bought the cauliflower dip at Aldi to try. I made a chicken dish with it and some other ingredients. You're right, that dip made the meal! It was also marked down the day I bought it. It was 1.29. I remember the Arby's 5 for $5, I was newly married then. I remember $5 Footlong too at Subway!
I remember the $5 footlongs, too. They still had that when I was in college, and I would get one to feed me for 2 days worth of lunch!
That Aldi honey beer batter chicken is the bomb. I get Uncle Ben's stir fry rice when it's on sale. Put the cooked chicken on top and add soy sauce for my husband and teriyaki or sweet and sour sauce for me. Quick and yummy.
My college dinner of choice was the always quick and easy pasta dinner. Mac and cheese, canned tuna or chicken, with some microwaveable frozen veggies mixed in. Beyond easy, filling, and has some veggies included. I’d get 2-3 meals out of it depending on how hungry I was. I still pull it out for an easy dinner for my family.
My favorite fast and cheap go to is 1 lb. of ground beef (ground turkey or chicken would work too) browned and seasoned with the seasoning packets from 2 pkgs. of Ramen noodles, and then you add 1 can of corn undrained and 1 can of stewed tomatoes undrained and then break up the the noodles from your 2 pkgs, and add to the beef. Stir and put a lid on the pot for 5 minutes or so until the noodles are tender. We eat this with some garlic toast. Green beans on the side are good too.
Great ideas. We started doing something similar where I would buy convenience foods at a grocery store from our monthly “going out fund”. We always have money left over because we only get Dunkin’ once in a while. We’ve been disappointed with the restaurant and take outs quality and pricing since covid. Love your ideas of recreating those comfort foods at home. It’ll taste way better too!
I love these ideas! I work at Walmart too, so it’s really easy to get what I need after work! I’ve been trying to come up with some new things to make. Thanks again ❤
Thanks Mindy for these great supper/ lunch ideas. I try to rotate meals but sometimes we need something different to try. These meals won't disappoint. They sound delicious!
I have a partial container of heavy cream in the fridge just waiting to make that soup after I finish some leftovers 😋 I’m so excited to try it!!
As a Norwegian, eating take out food on a regular basis, sounds crazy. We do that less than once a month, maybe once every second month at most.
Most of the dinners I make for our family is done in 20 minutes. And it consist of vegetables (mostly homegrown, some fresh, some from the freezer), some kind of protein and carbs like potatoes and sometimes rice, pasta or sourdough bread. The other day I made and served a pasta salad with lentil pasta for 7 people in less than 30 minutes.
We eat a lot of eggs(we have chickens) and fried eggs is great for dinner, served with salad, maybe bacon and canned beans. Eggs can be eaten at every meal,it is protein and nutritious. We are having fried eggs for dinner today, and I know I will have the meal on the table in 20 minutes, including preheating the cast iron skillet.
Cauliflower soup with cheese and bacon are great or dinner, served with sourdough bread. And done in 20 minutes. Lentil soup are just as fast, even with uncooked red lentils, they are done in 10 minutes.
I find that real food does not take more time to cook than all those frozen items you can heat and eat, often the frozen nuggets etc takes more time than fresh real food.
Hey, you can even open two cans of chickpeas(I keep frozen beans and chickpeas in the freezer and thaw them over night in the fridge), rinse and throw in a bowl, chop a onion, some tomatoes, a cucumber , pour over olive oil and lemon or vinegar, salt and pepper. You can eat it as it is, or throw in some boiled eggs(always keep boiled eggs in the fridge) , leftover of rice or pasta or potatoes are great to throw in too. Eat it as it is or with some bread.
Cost? Less than take out. Nutrients? Better than chicken nuggets and chips of any kind. We tend to make dinner so complicated and end up in the frozen compartment in the store, think less complicated.
Love your comment, coming from someone trying to eat at home more often
I have a can of chickpeas that I need to eat and I’m going to try this.
(Posting as Joyce) Thank you for another great video!! It really inspired me to stock up on a few things at Aldi today. I got 2 boxes of scalloped potatoes, some kielbasa, frozen ravioli, etc. Some of it is not completely healthy, but it does feed us when needed. On Wednesday, I had plans to make Terriyaki chicken, and then the chicken was not thawed out in time. I knew that I didn't have time to run to the store, so I ordered Chinese food. I don't love Chinese food that much anymore and my digestive system doesn't always appreciate it. LOL!! So, hopefully, I will be more prepared in the future in case my plans don't work out!! Stay warm and safe!!
I don’t know if you have a wingers in your area, but my family loves their sticky fingers, but for an order of 14 sticky fingers to feed my family it’s $27 before tax & tip. But I can buy a bottle of their “amazing” sauce for $7, and a large bag of frozen breaded chicken tenders for $13 and that bottle and bag will feed us for at least 2 dinners, and a lunch for a few people. I air fry the chicken for like 8 minutes, put it in a bowl with some of the wingers sauce and toss the chicken until it’s well coated in the sauce & it’s ready. You can serve it alongside some easy sides, or on top of a salad with ranch, or inside of a tortilla for a sticky fingers wrap, all of which are so easy to prep while the chicken is in the air fryer. Dinner ready in like 10 minutes. We keep a bottle of wingers amazing sauce on hand just for this reason!
Quick creamy chicken & rice...For leftover chicken, rotisserie chicken, browned ground turkey or left over roast turkey...Use a package of chicken flavor Rice a Roni. Follow directions to brown. In another bowl, use one can of cream of mushroom soup. Add enough water to match the amt of water stated on package. Mix in spice packet. After rice is browned, pour soup mixture, chicken and a can of drained mushrooms (don't have to have them but they add flavor) into the pan. Mix well. Cover for 20 minutes. It's ready when the rice is tender. Serve with a side of your favorite veggie.
You can also brown the rice, put all the ingredients together then pour into a baking dish and bake for 30 minutes at 350°. The rice a roni comes out like stuffing.
We have been trying hard to do that. Last night was a fail. Or new grandson was born yesterday at lunch time. So exciting! On the way home from the hospital we ordered pizza .And we had pot pies that I could have tossed in the oven. I totally forgot about the pot pies. It happens to all of us! But these are great ideas. Have a great weekend!
Congratulations on your new grandson, and justify picking up pizza as celebrating!🤗👣❤️
Oh my goodness, congratulations! I think a new baby in the family is definitely a good reason to depart from the meal plan! :)
Congratulations on the new addition to your family!!
Garlic bread covered with spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce and mozzarella or provolone cheese in the oven. So good!
We have made a New Years goal of only eating out once a month, and make sure to go to a sit down restaurant. I'm getting used to it, lol, and being okay with noodles and sauce in a pinch. Rotisserie chicken to the rescue too!
Aaacckk!! I'm so GLAD you mentioned Upside in the video!!!! I downloaded the app with the QR code last time you mentioned them, and I keep forgetting to use it! Thanks for the mini tutorial because I didn't realize I needed to select my gas station before pumping - and I'm on 'low fuel' as of my commute home today so perfect timing! ❤ LOVE all of these quick 'fast food' at home meal ideas!!
They have a section in our local Walmart here in Kansas City and I know you’re in Oklahoma but people might want to check in the bakery section cause they always have these huge bakery roll bags of what they call steak rolls and literally they’re just oversized rolls. we cut them open And put shredded barbecue that I’ve been cooking in the crockpot and I know that you can buy shredded already cooked tubs of pulled pork if you didn’t put it in a crockpot and cook it and it’s absolutely amazing to have pulled pork sliders literally in minutes from the time that you open the steak rolls and stuff them with some pulled pork maybe a little bit of cheese and put them underneath the broiler for about 20 seconds. It melts the cheese crust up the bread and they’re absolutely to die for Put us with already prepared coleslaw or potato salad. I usually grab that and macaroni salad from the cold section right there next to the deli, literally we could have this unless then eight minutes for the entire meal because I’ll put them in the oven and do them all at once when I go to broil them up and if I haven’t cooked that pork roast in the crockpot or Insta pot then I definitely will pick up a tub of this at my local Walmart And bring it home in an under eight minutes. We can have the entire sandwiches done because my kids get in there and we do an assembly line to make it go faster and the sides are so easy what I like to do is get the shredded coleslaw. Mix from Walmart and a sauce called Mazetti coleslaw mix in the dressing aisle and it’s absolutely to die for my kids. Don’t like coleslaw so they like to grab the cold macaroni salad. I like coleslaw and potato salad, but I prefer to make my own coleslaw with just shredded cabbage already in a bag in the Mazetti coleslaw mix super simple super fast don’t forget to pick up a jar of either pickle spears or sandwich stacker version of pickles to go on your barbecue sandwiches. It’s so good. And since I’m in KC Missouri or Kansas City Missouri were known for a barbecue but oh my gosh barbecue sandwiches are starting out at like nine or $10 a piece around here and I’m not doing that with three teenagers in my house so we do it this way to make it faster by eating at home instead
Literally one of my favorite videos from you!! Love love love this
Great video to remind us how to throw a quick meal together and save some money.
I have a couple of you folks that I keep up with. You stay true to yourself and us. Still trying to keep the meal cheap. I hope people learned through the pandemic. I do a lot of homemade frozen or dry and have can or frozen. I have a bag in freezer with pizza and let my bread maker do the crust. I try not to do a lot of bagged meals all the time. Thank you for showing people that they can still eat good.
Girl, you are fabulous! We have a TH-cam travel channel, but I still work full time and on editing days the hubs and I often resort to carry out or drive thru food. SOOOO happy I found your channel!!
The Titanic clip 😂
Thank you! This is a very opportune video for quick meals! I'd love to see more.
What can I say? I feel old a lot these days! LOL Glad you enjoyed it!
Just found ya! I am about to go into my busy time for work and this will help me a great deal. Gonna make my menu cards up to have these ideas on hand. Thank you and all of you how have added your ideas into the comment section.
Great idea about the salad kits for sandwich ingredients.
A can of stewed tomatoes with half/half make great tomato bisque soup...sometimes I add a pinch of sugar, then grilled cheese w/velvetta. The best!
That sounds wonderful! We never used half and half until my son had his wisdom teeth out and I was looking for ways to get more calories into soft foods for him. This may sound nuts but I added half and half to canned refried beans to make them softer. It was really good.
We love the Aldi dill dip. We use as sandwich spread with shrimp, add to sliced cucumbers for a side, etc.
Love the hot dog buns cut into slider buns. Genius!
I love all the recipe sharing in the comment section. 😊
Me too, I learn something new all the time from my viewers!
I like the Hillshire Farms beef kielbasa links when we don’t have things planned. At out house we call them U sausages. That’s their shape. I cut them into rounds. Then sauté it in a pan with long slices of onion and bell pepper. We also eat it with sweet potatoes cut in half lengthwise and cooked on high in the microwave around 7 minutes each side. Once cooked we butter it at the table. Then heat up a jar of sauerkraut on the stovetop. Serve with some German spicy mustard. This meal takes about 15-20 minutes. You also get the savory, sweet, and sour from this combination and it wakes up your taste buds.
Great tips, I’ve been doing stuff like this for years, but when I talk about it with friends they look at me like I have two heads…. Their loss!
I have not heard of that chain, we must not have it around here, but that meal sounds delicious! Thanks for the idea!
My SIL does not like leftovers. That is one of my favorite things as I get great food with little work. Having a family helped as I cannot cook small amounts....
You can freeze cooked rice and then heat it back up in the microwave with a lid. No difference from fresh. Probably an even cheaper option especially if you're freezing leftovers.
@@CixiaKyrrah I'm making a batch of brown rice this morning. 🍚 A big batch takes the same amount of time as a small batch in the electric pressure cooker.
Thank you for videos like this! So keep them coming please they give me such great ideas! ❤️
I love making little Naan pizza's. I almost always have Naan I've found on clearance on hand so any little bits usually end up on them. But my favorite combo is the spinach artichoke dip (clearance of course) and cooked diced or shredded chicken mixed up. Then added to the Naan and maybe a bit more mozzarella cheese 😅 then baked until gold and bubbly 😋 I can usually stretch it to about 12 Naan, a little goes along way.
Yum! 😋
Pita bread works well too.
Great ideas! Thank you! When family members are hungry and on the road, it's easy to drive by these fast food places and give in to temptations. We remember how delicious our favorites are. I don't want to be the parent that says no 24/7 either. What I've done is create traditions. For example our chick fil a is near the orthodontist. We do not drive by it regularly. But we get a meal there every 2 months after our check up. It's in the budget.
We're the family who travels with cooler in the back. We make a bit of a game for where to stop for lunch. Plenty of roadside parks, a detour off the freeway to tiny town with a veterans park. But when my daughter had ortho appts, shed always want tacobell becouse it was easy to eat.
My interest in this video is for my grown daughters with families. These are great ideas and thank you. I will be sharing this with my girls. With that being said, I wish that my mother had given me the advice many years ago that there are better options for shaky can Parm. It is just as convenient to purchase your “parm” out of the deli. The pre shredded does have an added starch or non caking ingredient but it does not have the fillers that you find in the “shaky can”. An even better option is to invest in a micro planer. With a few quick swipes you have cloud like shaky style parm. Walmart does carry a brand in the dairy section that is ONLY shredded parm. Look for Bella Rosa. 4C is another if you can find it.
Here’s wishing you all happy family dinners 😋😉
Love your videos. I do the DQ chicken tender dupe. Frozen Great Value tenders, packet of pepper gravy, frozen fries and Texas toast. A lot cheaper than going to the restaurant. At my Walmart all this is little less than $20 before tax and feeds my family of 4 that has two teenager boys 😂
Add some pretzels and my kids would love it.
Thanks for some really great ideas!!!
Great ideas! We have been doing an eat at home challenge for January and have only been out to eat once. It is crazy how much you realize that fast or semi fast food restaurants are just not worth it and so expensive after eating all from scratch meals at home. It’s so good to reset your spending habits!
I live by myself. I have fish (bake, air fry, or fry) and chicken nuggets in my freezer just for 1 off meals. I add a broccoli and cheese side (if I get the smaller one I can get the whole thing) and potato wedges. I also buy the mini cupcakes and freeze them. I prefer them frozen. I can just get a 1 and gmit gives me something sweet without killing u.
I'm English sooo....beans and eggs on toast.
Also: Cereal, grilled cheese and soup, bean and cheese burritos and a little salad, tortilla pizzas, ramen with an egg on top, rice with an egg on top, baked potato with baked beans and cheese, the individual Aldi pizza kits with whatever you have on hand (cut up ham/mushrooms/olives/tomatoes/cheese), rotisserie chicken with a microwave bag of veggies and a microwave bag of rice, rotisserie chicken and Mac and cheese and so on.
Ramen with a jammy egg. Yes!!!!
Thank you for continuing to inspire me. I suffer from making new meals often, and a lot are hits, but I am trying hard to create consistent meals to go to that we would all love. And I’m getting there, but I have two under two and this is a challenging season in my life (when it comes to food and getting my toddler to eat it). Anyway, my husband loves Arby’s and I try to spoil him (cause gift giving and surprises are my love language) but it has gotten so outrageously expensive. I am planning to make that for his birthday now, and I’m sure it will become one of our regular meals. Such a great and delicious idea!
A bag of frozen burritos topped with wolf chili or jar of cheese sauce baked in the oven is amazing and less than $10.
Also great with enchiladas sauce and cheddar cheese on top. So so good!
@@Purple0fairy0bunny wolf's no bean chili is a staple for me. The best price I've found is Walmart, online, a four pack for under $10. I have the Walmart + so free shipping. It's been worth the membership cost.
@renel7303 we get it from sams its 6 cans for $11. But yes is a staple here too
@Purple0fairy0bunny nice. With just two of us and me eating mostly unprocessed foods club stores aren't such a great thing for me. And he would be grabbing gallons of BBQ sauce. But I'll take a look. Maybe next time they run a sale on membership...
@@renel7303 I saw somewhere that Sam's Club has a membership deal right now. The savings on gas are another benefit even if you're not buying a lot inside that year. I searched Sam's Club membership deals and the list of results shows that through January 20, 2025, tomorrow, a new one-year membership is $25. If you're a senior citizen, and I don't know what that age is, you can get 60% off the $50 membership so a little bit less at $20 that first year.
I've been learning to make home made cheese sauce, homemade bread bun and tasty homemade vegan pattie from beans, all cost way less, and if I plan it properly then I just make these once a month in bulk and they last well in the refrigerator, also I've been growing my own vegetables and some fruit so these help with soups, juice, vegetable for salads etc and fruit jams. Thank you for your ideas. 😊🙏🌹☘️
This was a GREAT, FUN video! Can’t wait to try the Chic-fil-A sammies! I like to throw together meatball sandwiches. I use frozen garlic bread, frozen Italian meatballs,and jar pasta sauce. I heat the meatballs in the sauce and pour the desired amount over the prepared garlic bread. Serve with salad of choice!
Wow, that Chik-fil-a idea is great! We now live in an area without one. This will be such a treat!
When pizza and wings surpassed $50 we do frozen pizza and wings whenever we need something quick for such a fraction of the cost!
I think the price of the bag of frozen chicken party wings at trader Joe's went up a dollar because I just bought a bag of them yesterday ( to put in my upright freezer). But sometimes I go to my local co-op grocery store which gets chicken party wings, legs thighs etc from a local farm.
I just made a great home made pizza buying the bag of pizza dough in Walmart. Cooked in my cast iron frying pan. Was awsome and about $10.
I really love this video and the pace of it is so nice! It mimics the fast food theme of being fast as it is just packed with lots of food tidbits! Thank you!
Did I also say it’s nicely done!
Thanks, I really appreciate the kind words!
Sister Schuberts makes a really good frozen pan of yeast rolls. That would get you closer to the Chik Fil A style mini situation.
I'll fight you for some Sister Schuberts.
Those are so good 😂
@@tashainjena😂 Yes!
The Aldi Gyro kits are pretty good, but the Sam's club fresh Gyro kits are the BEST. Everything cooks up SUPER fast and it is absolutely delicious. My only complaint is that the sauce cups are small for the size of the kit. It also makes more gyros than the Aldi kit and it's not frozen. I love it so much
I love all these ideas! I am going to be on the look out for the Arby's sauce. We are huge Arby fans!
Love Upside!! I use it for gas as often as I can. Seriously.
Here's mine to add to the list mine feeds 6 big portions
Put some rice on
Throw some chicken thighs or whatever meat you have in the airfryer even frozen
Cook either two big tablespoons of curry powder or curry paste in a pan and warm in a knob of butter
Add two cans of coconut milk and a big BIG spoon of peanut butter. And a drizzle of honey
Simmer on low til your meat is ready. Add a slurry of cornstarch and water to thicken and chop and stir in your meat. Done x
It takes about 15 mins all in xxx