Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Big Family Food: How We Afford Fruits and Vegetables

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Curious how we afford fruits and vegetables?

How We Afford Fruits and Vegetables

People keep telling me that fruits and vegetables are SO EXPENSIVE. That they can’t afford them. That I’m really splurging when I buy so much fresh fruit every month.

I couldn’t figure out if I was in denial about this or if maybe I’m so used to buying so much produce that I don’t “see the expense” anymore. Or, is it possible that fruits and vegetables really are affordable but the first look at their price scares some people? I really wasn’t sure.

So I did some fruit and veggie math.

We’re currently feeding ten people three meals each day. Our three littlest are ages 2, 1, and 1. Our four oldest household members are adults, so it balances out. :)

Our monthly grocery budget is $1,200. Of that amount, I calculated and was shocked to learn that only about $300 is spent on fruits and vegetables. (I looked online at all my Sam’s, Costco, and Walmart receipts, so handy!) I truly thought it would add up to more than that since my produce purchases are so frequent and big.

So I did the math again to double-check.

Sure enough, only about a fourth of our overall monthly grocery budget goes toward these, and I don’t hold back:

  • Frozen green beans
  • Frozen peas
  • Frozen corn
  • Frozen fruit for smoothies
  • Frozen hashbrowns
  • Fresh spinach (we go through at least one pound every week)
  • Fresh spring mix (we go through two pounds every week)
  • Fresh carrots
  • Potatoes
  • Onions
  • Fresh broccoli
  • Apples
  • Bananas
  • Clementines
  • Berries ( strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries depending on the season)
  • Melons (cantaloupe, honey dew, and watermelon depending on the season)
  • Grapes
  • Kiwi
  • Pears
  • Canned pumpkin
  • Canned peaches
  • Canned pears
  • Canned mandarins
  • Applesauce (a ridiculous amount of applesauce)

Where I landed after doing the math:

Feeding my family a lot of fruits and veggies is not expensive.

I sort of apologize for my geekiness, but as it turns out, I’m pretty excited that I went back and added it all up! Now I feel like I have an actual answer to the “fruits and veggies so expensive” claim!

If I’m spending $300 of our monthly grocery budget on produce – for 10 people for 30 days? This breaks down to just:

$1/person/day.

Which is $0.33/meal.

This, to fill our bellies with lots of fresh, frozen, or canned fruits and vegetables in a big variety of forms. That’s actually incredible, I think! Especially when our plates look like this:

Steamed broccoli, corn, raspberries, and nectarine on spaghetti night;
and no, I don’t put sauce on our baby’s noodles because I don’t want the mess. :)

This was our 8-year-old’s first serving. He had seconds of all you see here:

Here’s Matt’s plate the evening we celebrated Asa’s birthday with
smoked chicken, alfredo, and steamed broccoli:

One Sunday lunch was spinach on tuna sandwiches, watermelon, and guacamole.
This was our 6-year-old’s plate. She’s a pretty small eater. Unless it’s cake. :)
(But now, of course, I’ve been putting spinach our the cake so…)

Our three year old asked for spinach on the side with ranch and watermelon with his tuna sandwich that day. Not pictures, his tuna sandwich as he gobbled it down already.

This is my plate filled with Overnight Beef Roast, pears, peas, and baked beans. (In case you need to know, I didn’t actually cook it overnight. I cooked it all day and it was perfect for dinnertime!)

Here’s my plate showing our salmon burger meal with steamed green beans, corn, sweet potato fries, and a tiny bit of asparagus from our garden! (We each only got a little bit of asparagus.) ;)

PSA: The Avocado Mash cups at Costco or Sam’s are worth their cost in that they stay fresh in the fridge for a long time and offer an awesome, easy snack or side dish for babies and adults alike. Our littlest girls LOVE these and will each eat an entire cup with their meal. We bigger people like to eat them with chips. So good!

In case you need to see a chubby baby hand a couple more times:

So, can I afford $10/day to feed 10 people fruits and vegetables?

Absolutely. I can spend a dollar a day on each family member to keep us all nourished. I am shocked that it costs so little to buy so many varieties of fruits and vegetables every month. Is it possible that this food category is what actually costs the least instead of the most as we are all led to believe??

One more veggie-kid photo as we wrap up; here’s Keith after finishing his smoothie (filled with frozen fruit, fresh spinach, yogurt, and milk):

You should try doing the math to see how much you spend on fruits and veggies! Challenge yourself to be sure you’re filling everyone up on all the good stuff – it’s much less expensive than we think!

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Big Family Food: Morning Meal Prep

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Want to see what my morning meal prep looks like?

I’ve always been a planner-aheader. This has been mostly good for me except that God has had to teach me to also live in the moment and not always be working on or thinking about whatever needs to be done next. :)

As I’ve learned to chill out and to let go of what can’t get done (and know that what needs to get done will and what doesn’t won’t) – I’ve truly been grateful that being efficient in the kitchen is a strength God gave me. I have found that I have to be very organized and that I have to keep everything as simple as possible so that I can get everyone fed (and clothed, but you don’t want to see what our laundry looks like).

Here’s our current kid breakdown:

  1. Asa, 25, married and living in Lincoln
  2. Justus, 22, getting married in July!
  3. Elias, 20, a college senior living at home and working this summer
  4. Malachi, 17, a high school senior with a growing video production business
  5. Brayden, 8, a 3rd grader
  6. Bonus Girl, 6, a 1st grader
  7. Keith, 3, a preschooler
  8. Bonus Bonus Girl, 2, fit thrower, little mommy, and snuggler
  9. Bonus Bonus Bonus Girl, 1, mess maker, giggle box, and book reader
  10. Bonus Bonus Bonus Bonus Girl, 1, observer, stair climber, and toothy grinner

Well, all that to say: Whenever possible, I spend five minutes or thirty minutes or an hour in the mornings getting food ready for the day in whatever form I can. I do this:

  • After my morning coffee time with my Bible, prayer, and journal
  • If possible, before all the kids are out of bed, or at least when most of them are eating breakfast or happily playing
  • Before Matt leaves for work
  • And/or after my friend Pam arrives to help (she comes every weekday morning for two hours, and she’s a huge reason I am still alive, bless her dear heart)

Morning Meal Prep

Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what I might do during my morning meal prep time. Often it’s as simple as using the five minutes I have to unload and reload the dishwasher. Sometimes it involves cutting fruit or doing a quick clean-out of the fridge. Whatever it is, I find that if I have a minute to get something done, I need to take advantage of it!

One morning the three baby girls slept in until 8, which was amazing and unusual and I took advantage of it! I cut a watermelon and put it in the fridge for side dishes. I sliced kiwi for breakfast to have ready for all 6 littles. And I used up the avocados to make Guacomole to go with that night’s dinner.

Then, I put chicken thighs in a bag with dressing to marinade so that we could put it on our smoker that night for dinner.

Another morning I made a double batch of Peanut Butter Honey Rice Krispie Treats, which we enjoyed for breakfast the next two days. I also made a blender full of this smoothie so that Matt and I could just pour and drink as needed at lunchtime.

See the frost-covered ham in the above picture? Someone had given us that and I really needed to use it up! So I set it out to thaw so I could quickly slice and fry it for lunch later. Then I mixed up a crock pot full of Party Potatoes to cook while we were taking a walk and playing all morning.

I don’t usually make “big lunches” like ham and cheesy potatoes. But that day it just made sense and it wasn’t difficult, so I went with it. We were out taking a long walk all morning and got back just in time to be starving, so I was so glad to have this ready to go when we walked in!

We didn’t eat the entire hunk of ham, so while everyone was finishing lunch, I diced what was left and put it in the fridge for our next baked potato meal.

As it turns out, our baked potato meal was the next day.

Keith (3) was so eager to scrub potatoes, so I got a chair and put him to work the next morning. He was so proud!!

I let the potatoes sit, then turned the crockpot on high at lunchtime. They were cooked and ready for our baked potato dinner by 5:15!

I took advantage of a cooler morning and make some muffins and bread so we’d have easy breakfasts and snacks. With so many littles, having these bread items on hand is always very helpful!

I made a triple batch of Pumpkin Muffins (this recipe but without chocolate chips).

Then since I had a few more minutes and the ovens were already hot, I used our ripe bananas to make Banana Bread. See the loaf on the left? That was the pumpkin muffin batter that I had left after filling all my muffin pans!

One morning, we planned on walking and playing at a park all morning, so I planned ahead to have lunch ready to make right when we got home. I am so glad I did, as you’ll see a few pictures below. :)

I cracked a bunch of eggs into a bowl so we could quickly scramble them to go with pancakes at lunchtime.

I set out the pancake mix (a splurge from Sam’s, and it’s really good!), put the prepped eggs in the fridge, and put the skillets on the stove.

Well. It is a very good thing I had everything ready to cook when we got home from playing at the park. The kids were all beyond hungry (as was this mom) and the three baby girls completely melted down screaming at my feet while I scrambled eggs and flipped cakes. Poor dears.

Don’t believe one bit of sweetness you see in this picture. (I mean, they are super, super sweet. But in this picture they were also 100% unhappy.) Blondie Girl was throwing out lids as fast as she could and screaming with every throw. Brunette Girl, well, you can see her whole body was involved in the meltdown. And Baby Girl, oh she was banging that lid with all her might. Elias came home for his lunch break right then, shook his head with a grin, and grabbed the nearest screamer, bless him. We got lunch on the table quickly and then put everyone down for much-needed naps. Oy.

And that, my friends, is why I have to prep ahead in the mornings if at all possible. If I don’t, we still find something to eat, even if it’s stale cereal and mushy apples. Sometimes it’s cheese sticks and slices of turkey lunchmeat. Canned fruit is a lifesaver, so I buy it by the case.

But prepping anything I possibly can in the mornings makes our days a bit less stressful, so I do what I can when I can! :)

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Great Picnic Food Ideas

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My kids are constantly asking, “Can we eat outside today?” Turns out, a picnic can be made from just about anything. Here are some great picnic food ideas!

If we’re packing a picnic to take to a park, we tend to think about sandwiches and chips. But what if anything and everything can turn into “eat it outside” food? Especially when you just head outside to your own yard with your plate.

Two things about our life right now:

  1. With so many littles, our days can be lonnnnnnng. It can be tough to keep so many small people safe and occupied for so many hours. Yes, I am enjoying them. Meanwhile, our days with the kids start around 6:30am and are very intense until 8:00pm with our littles being 1, 1, 2, 3, 6, 8 – each with some level of special need or trauma. I have to be very intentional about staying on top of keeping our kids busy and occupied, otherwise the meltdowns and behaviors are pretty tough.
  2. So I tend to try to make something fun out of nothing and everything, just to make our days a little bit more enjoyable.

Like eating.

Sometimes food just needs to serve a purpose: to fill our bellies. But if there’s any way I can easily make food fun, the kids love it. Eating a “picnic” outside in our yard always makes them so excited!

Matt was out of town one weekend so the kids and I blew up our tiny baby pool and all seven babes had fun splashing around. (We had seven littles that weekend instead of our normal six because a half-brother/former foster son was visiting us!)

As we toweled off, I had our 6 and 8-year-olds drag our little picnic tables around so we could eat outside after playing. They loved the idea the same as if I’d offered to take them to Disneyland. They sat there loving life and lunch, soggy diapers and all.

I have found that most foods that work well to feed children inside work just as well to feed children outside for a “picnic.” Think beyond sandwiches and hotdogs and simply make any meal a picnic!

Like enchiladas. Weird idea? Well, one evening, Matt was painting a gutter on our house. The kids loved the “show” so as dinnertime approached and I had a pan of these enchiladas in the oven, I simply scooped some onto paper plates and carried them outside for the kids to eat on the trampoline. Again, they thought it was better than Disneyland. (Also, they’ve never been to Disneyland, so…)

Great Picnic Food Ideas

Here are some foods we’ve eaten outside lately:

Bean and Cheese Quesadillas, which I cut into triangles so that the kids could all grab them easily. I washed strawberries and we carried them outside to the table as-is. Then I squirted ranch into a bowl and dumped in some carrots for a community bowl of carrots with dip!

Another day when I was on my own with all the littles, I made a bunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the morning before the babies got up and covered the plate to grab at lunchtime. I put a can of mandarins and a can of peaches into the fridge to chill. I was so thankful I’d prepped ahead because our morning was full! When we were ready to eat, we took the prepped sandwiches, cold fruit, a jar of pickles, and some avocado cups outside and feasted. :)

We have a fire pit in our backyard, and the kids LOVE it when Daddy gets a fire going. We only do this when Elias and Malachi (our 20 and 17-year-olds) are around because it’s a bit intense to keep so many little ones safe when we’re trying to cook hotdogs and feed littles and oh yes, did I mention that Elias got a dog who tries to eat children? (Just kidding. But she does like hotdogs.)

I shared here about how we pack food to eat on a blanket when we go to our older boys’ games. Hamburgers, hotdogs, pizza, chicken sandwiches, burritos – even a container full of hot chicken nuggets! Get more details —>

I didn’t get a picture of any of us eating this particular time, but one spring soccer game day, I made a big batch of Omelet Muffins for the kids to eat while they watched Malachi play. It was easy to transport these and all of us loved them!

Chicken Salad with rolls, croissants, bread, or crackers is easy to take outside or take to a park. Here’s more info about what we took to a fun family picnic when we had time with all of our kids from oldest to youngest this spring.

Snacks to Eat Outside

And how about picnic-y snacks too? If we are outside playing, I often run inside and grab something for the kids to eat outside if I can tell they are getting hungry and need something to hold them over. Eating snacks on the porch is – you guessed it – more fun than going to Disneyland. :)

Apples and cheese fly off the plate when I take them outside.
Why does everything taste better outside?

Here are three of the kids sharing a little bowl of fruit:

We go through a lot of Mudballs at our house, and these are super easy to grab and take outside for kids to eat while they play.

The best thing about eating muffins outside during snack time? All the crumbs fall to the ground instead of under our kitchen table. Here’s a huge list of muffin recipes that I reference all the time.

It’s super easy to grab a container of washed berries or grapes to take outside to eat. Or grab a cutie for everyone and let them peel and eat it as they play.

Sometimes I take out small bowls of frozen veggies or frozen fruit for babies to munch on if it’s hot outside.

Once again I’ll say: If they can eat it inside, they can eat it outside. And if it makes the day more fun with little to no extra effort? I say it’s a win!

Here’s a quick list to reference for easy to grab food to take outside to eat:

What are your favorite foods to feed your family outside?

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How to Save Money on Meat

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Want to save money on meat? Here’s what I’m figuring out!

How to Save Money on Meat

1. Look for meat mark-downs.

We’ve been doing this all along right? But now it seems more important than ever! I avoid marked-down meat if the color looks “off.” But otherwise, I’ve found that waiting for meat to be marked down for quick sale has saved me all kinds of money!

When I bring it home, I freeze it right away or cook it to eat that night.

Recently, I found pork roasts marked down to $1.79/pound! I bought two and put them into the freezer for a night we host a large crowd. This is a GREAT price per pound of meat. My $13 roasts will either feed my big family several meals or it will feed Matt’s entire soccer team during pre-season. :)

2. Eat less beef.

This one is tough for me as I’m a beef-loving girl! But in my neck of the woods, pork and chicken are significantly less expensive per pound compared to beef. Quality ground beef is over $6.00/pound while chicken legs can be found under $2.00/pound. The pork roast I mentioned above was marked down to $1.79/pound. I got pork chops that same day for $1.59/pound – while there sat the beef for $7.00/pound. Long live the cow.

3. Eat less meat overall.

This one is also tough for me. The men in our family do love their meat too. However, I’ve been skipping meat in some meals lately, and no one has noticed or said anything. I’ve been able to get away with making burritos with just black beans, rice, salsa, and corn (skipping the meat) and an entire meal based on these bean and cheese quesadillas. We’re all satisfied and our grocery budget has been saved.

4. Buy directly from farmers.

We’ve done this for years, buying a quarter to a half a cow at a time. We’ll likely do this again in the future, as it does save money on high-quality meat. But for now, I’m finding that buying discounted meat at the store is saving me more overall since we have so many mouths to feed.

5. Buy chicken from Costco or Sam’s.

The last time I priced boneless chicken thighs at our local grocery store, they were over $7.00/pound – ouch! But when I picked up a big package of boneless thights at Costco, I got them for just over $3.00/pound – much better! I also got some marked down at Sam’s, which was a fun find!

Have you found some ways to save money on meat?

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How We Avoid Eating Out (And What We Eat Instead)

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We try to avoid eating out if at all possible. I’ll share why we do it and how we do it!

First, why do we try to avoid eating out?

  1. The cost. For our large family, eating out, even at a fast-food restaurant, can cost $60+. It just doesn’t feel worth it to drop that much money for one meal.
  2. The mess. Maybe it sounds silly, but with six littles, all the wrappers, dips and drippy burgers are a huge hassle. Also, can you imagine what it would look like if we took alllll of our babies to a restaurant? I’m not sure there are enough high chairs in any facility to accommodate us, ha.
  3. The gut. We know occasional eating out won’t hurt us since we try to eat well at home. But eating out frequently makes our bellies bloat. :)
  4. The treat. We like to keep restaurant food as a special treat for our family. So when we do go out or grab fast food on a road trip, it’s super fun for all of us!

When do we eat out?

Here are some examples of times we enjoy restaurant food:

  1. Matt and I occasionally go out for a meal and have adult conversation. Yes, we often talk about the kids when we’re out. There are ten of them; how can we not?
  2. Our teen/adult kids grab food with their friends, of course. Malachi has the McDonald’s app so he finds reasons all the time to “get a good deal on McD’s.” It’s his hard earned money, so… ;)
  3. When we are on a road trip, I usually pack food for our first meal or two (see details below). But after that runs out, we do something like grab a bunch of nuggets and fries for everyone to share in the van or at a park.
  4. Matt’s folks give us a sweet gift at Christmastime to use for a meal out with our family. We save this to use when all of our kids are together, and it is such a fun treat!
  5. Sometimes we order pizza if we find good deals. We do this sometimes when all of us are together so we can enjoy our family time. Or we might do it sometime if Matt is out of town and we want a special pizza/movie night to help us miss Daddy a little less.
  6. We have a traditional “Back to School” meal at our local Runza. We’ve been doing this since our big boys were little – back when they earned free kids meals from the library during the summer reading program! While there are no more free kids meals, we have had fun treating our family to a Runza meal right before we all settle into a new school year. (This year we just did a big to-go order because again, can you imagine taking this crew into find seating? And ketchup? Oy.)

What We Eat Instead

Just because we almost never eat out doesn’t mean we don’t have fun treats at home. Also, as much as I love cooking, I need breaks too! Here are some our tricks. Maybe you can steal some of these ideas for your family!

  1. We kind of like that we can get a couple of cartons of ice cream at the store for $3 each – spending $6 total for our entire family to have ice cream – instead of spending $40 for everyone to get a cup or cone.
  2. When I grocery shop, I intentionally buy convenience foods that I can make on days I don’t have time to cook. I’ll share some ideas below!
  3. We pack food to take to ball games and on road trips. This saves money, but honestly, I most appreciate that it helps us avoid messes and hassles. I have all of our food in a big cooler bag, we spread out on a blanket, and we eat. Yes, I have to do prep-work at home before we leave. But I find that this is SO MUCH EASIER than messing with a drive-thru or trekking back and forth to a concession stand with so many little ones. Here are some great ideas of different foods I’ve packed for us to eat at games and on the road.

Convenience Foods I Buy to Feed Our Family Instead of Eating Out

While shopping, I sometimes hesitate about a boxed/prepared item because it costs more than homemade food. But then I consider the comparison to how much it costs for our family to eat out.

For instance, spending $15 for a package of really tasty frozen tostadas at Costco feels like a big splurge to me. But then I remember that I’ll have them in the freezer to use on an extra busy night. So the $15 convenience food suddenly turns into a money-saver compared to the $40 I’d pay for ordering pizza.

With that in mind, now when I’m at Costco or Sam’s I pick up four or five ready-to-warm up items to keep in our freezer on our “no time to cook” or “don’t feel like cooking” nights. Here are some examples:

Frozen Pizza

Costco frozen pizza for the win. Am I right?

Five Cheese Tortelloni

Our entire family loves these and they cook in just a few minutes. I dump sauce into a pan to warm and eat with them. We eat whatever veggie and fruit we have ready to grab. It’s such a fast meal!

Frozen Meatballs

Our kids love these! I often put them in a crockpot with barbecue sauce to warm all afternoon for a fast meal at night. Or I’ll cook some to eat with spaghetti, which the kids think is fancy. ;)

Orange Chicken

We get this at Sam’s, heat it in our air fryer, and serve it with packages of quinoa/rice we get at Costco. Eat it with salad or leftover veggies, and our meal is fast and fun!

French Fry Friday

Often on Friday nights I make nuggets and fries in our Air Fryer and we put in a movie for the kids. They LOVE this!

I think the main key for me is to always keep our meals simple. If I regularly made complicated meals, I’d burn out quickly and want to resort to take-out. But Simple Meals and easy recipes help keep me sane in the kitchen as I feed our large crew!

When do you like to eat out as a family? What are some of your tricks for eating at home more often?

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One Week of Summer Fun Food Ideas

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After my most recent stock-up day at Sam’s, I made a complete one-week meal plan full of summer fun food!

You can read here to get the specifics of what I bought at Sam’s in May. We ate through much of this pretty quickly as there are a lot of us (currently 10) eating three meals a day at our house.

Then after a week or so, once the kids were out of school, I decided to make a complete list of meal ideas based on what I had on hand. (This proves what I talked about here about how I shop first, then meal plan.)

One Week of Summer Fun Food Ideas

I decided to share my plans with you because you might just find that this list comes in handy for your summer days too. This list includes seven breakfast plans, seven lunch plans, seven evening plans, and seven make-ahead snack ideas. :)

Let us know your email address here so we can send you the list. It includes recipe links too, and almost everything can be made ahead of time so that you can go outside and enjoy your summer with your kids!

 

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Meal Plan First? Or Shop First Then Plan?

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Someone recently asked: Do you make a meal plan first and then shop? Or do you shop for food and plan your meals around what you have? What saves the most time and money?

I certainly can’t speak for everyone as to what saves the most time and money. And you know I highly recommend that you subscribe to receive our Simple Meals plans so that you don’t have to think as hard and work as hard. :)

What I have found to work best for me right now is this:

  1. Shop. Buy all the food. Buy more food. We need so much food.
  2. Try to stay organized. Have an entire grocery store inside my house if possible.
  3. Each morning, consider what the day holds. Meetings, appointments, court for the kids, Matt’s schedule, kids’ events, and so on. Once I think through what the evening will look like, I plan our evening meal accordingly.
  4. Along with that, I work with what we have on hand. I look through our fridge, freezers, and pantry. Then I decide on an evening meal that works!

This shelf sits in my kitchen, so I can look and get ideas with a quick glance. Pizza sauce and olives? I have crusts in the freezer so I could make pizza tonight. However, that is a meal I like to make on a night we have games or other outings. So I nix that idea and decide to make a burrito bar since I have plenty of tortillas and all the fixings on hand.

My meal planning decision is also dependent on how many people we’ll be feeding that night. Will it just be Matt, me, with the six littles? Or will all the bigs be home too? With their gals join us? Any other friends? We feed anywhere from 8 to 18 depending on the night. So I always get a feel for who will be around for dinner as I’m making our nightly plan.

Isn’t it harder this way?

This current method means that I’m coming up with a meal plan every single morning. But because of our very full house and so many coming and going, I am finding that planning day by day works so much better than planning ahead for the week and then reshuffling it because of what each weekday holds.

What saves the most money?

Again, I can’t speak for everyone. But for me, right now, I believe that shopping first and meal planning later is saving me more money.

When I’m shopping, I can pick up meat that has been marked down – then I make meals based on the discounted meat I’ve found. I can take advantage of sale items, then make meals based on the deals I’ve found. I can pick up staples to keep on hand so that I can always make basic, easy meals with no effort.

This works well for me and saves money too!

What is working best for you right now as you plan meals?

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Summer Supper Ideas and Recipes

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When it’s nice outside, we go outside. Too many times I find myself stumped as to what to make in the evening to fill up our hungry bellies. So I’ve put together a nice list of Summer Supper Ideas and Recipes for all of us to reference as needed!

Summer Supper Ideas and Recipes

1. Pancakes and Eggs, with fresh fruit and lots of bacon

How to make this meal quick and easy:

2. Grilled Chicken, with mixed greens, veggies, and fresh fruit

How to make this meal quick and easy:

3. Tuna Salad, with fresh fruit, grape tomatoes, and lettuce

How to make this meal quick and easy:

  • I almost always have my kids grab 4-6 cans of tuna and mix it up for the family while I’m doing something else that needs to be done.
  • We serve our Tuna Salad on whatever odds and ends of bread, tortillas, or crackers we have around. (Or if I’m in a hurry, I just grab a fork and eat it as-is!)

4. Baked Potatoes in the Crock Pot or Instant Pot, with whatever toppings we have available

How to make this meal quick and easy:

  • I have each of my kids scrub a few potatoes early in the day so they can cook in the crock pot and be ready for lunch or dinner.
  • We grab leftover ham, taco meat, or roast beef from the fridge and warm it up to serve on our potatoes along with butter, sour cream, and cheese.
  • I almost always steam frozen peas to serve with Baked Potatoes, which takes about 2 minutes.

5. Grilled Hamburgers or Hotdogs

How to make this meal quick and easy:

  • I like to make patties ahead of time, then throw them on the grill for a quick lunch or dinner. Our favorite recipes are Make-Ahead Parmesan Burgers or Cheddar Ranch Burgers.
  • I buy several packages of Nitrite-Free Beef Hotdogs at the store to keep in the freezer so I can grab them out and grill them quickly for summer lunches.
  • I set out fixin’s and everyone builds their burger or dog the way they like!

6. Beanie Weanies

How to make this meal quick and easy:

  • I have a supply of Nitrite-Free Beef Hotdogs in the freezer so I can grab them out and thaw them in hot water when we need a quick meal.
  • I have a supply of Organic Baked Beans in my pantry so that if I don’t have to make Simple Baked Beans from scratch, I can grab a few cans and make a meal!
  • I slice fruit and get out carrot sticks to complete this simple meal.

7. Tacos

How to make this meal quick and easy:

8. Instant Pot Meals

Take a look through all the Instant Pot Recipes we’ve posted so far! I have been amazed at how much time my Instant Pot has saved me. Whatever I make in my Instant Pot, I serve with a quick salad and veggie and food is on the table so quickly! During the summer, I especially love that using my IP keeps from heating up the kitchen!

Our favorite Instant Pot Recipes so far:

9. Special Salads

Salads are great because we get so much nourishment from them, we can use garden fresh veggies, and we avoid heating up the house! But salads are only great as meals if they are hearty and filling.

Here are our favorite Hearty Salad Recipes:

How to make this meal quick and easy:

  • I try to have Homemade Bacon Bits cooked and in the freezer to grab out for easy salads.
  • During all the months of the year that fresh lettuce is not growing in our garden, I keep a package of Organic Mixed Greens in the fridge. Then, when we want to make a salad, we just grab the greens and add whatever we want!

10. Stir Fry

How to make this meal quick and easy:

  • I make a large batch of this Stick of Butter Rice so we can stir it into our fried veggies. (We often serve our stir-fried veggies with whole wheat spaghetti noodles, but we love rice with them too!)
  • I use whatever veggies we’ve picked from our garden, received from Bountiful Baskets, or purchased at the farmer’s market to make super flavorful, nourishing Stir Fry! And I usually throw in a big handful of fresh spinach too. :)

11. Grilled Salmon

How to make this meal quick and easy:

  • If I haven’t thawed our salmon ahead of time, I dunk the package into hot water and they thaw super quickly!
  • I serve a simple salad and whatever fresh veggies and fruit we have on hand to complete this simple meal.

12. Pizza on the Grill

Cooking pizza outside on the grill keeps the oven off and the house cool!

Need more ideas?

Check out this list of 50 Crock Pot recipes! Make these in the morning and have an oven-free dinner ready in the evening!

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Summer Lunch List of Ideas

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School is ending. This means that we need a Summer Lunch List. Why? Because children cannot live on sandwiches alone. We’re sure to lose our meal-planning brains by June. And we all just need a cheat sheet. Here it is!

Summer Lunch List of Ideas

  1. Bean and Cheese Burritos – Make a big batch and freeze them to rewarm quickly as needed.
  2. Meat and Cheese Burritos – Make a big batch and freeze them to rewarm quickly as needed.
  3. Black Bean Salsa – Take a few minutes to put this together, refrigerate, then pull it out and serve with chips.
  4. Cheesy Salsa Enchiladas – These only take about 15 minutes to put together from start to finish. Make them ahead and bake as needed.
  5. Chicken Salad – Serve on bread, crackers, or tortillas.
  6. Tuna Salad – Serve on bread, crackers, or tortillas.
  7. Sloppy Joes – Serve on buns or with tortilla chips.
  8. Taco Salad – Let everyone build their own as they like.
  9. Simple Chicken Cheeseballs with a Kick – Perfect with these smoothies.
  10. Black Bean Chicken Nachos – These come together surprisingly fast.
  11. Grilled Pizza Tortillas – Fast and easy!
  12. Quesadillas – Add torn spinach to these to “sneak in veggies.“
  13. Easy Cheesy Bean Dip – I love it when lunch includes a chip and a dip.
  14. Pizza Boats – You can grill these if you want to avoid the oven. :)
  15. Creamy Mac and Cheese – Have you tried making it this way? Amazing.
  16. Beanie Weanies – A kid favorite at our house.
  17. Guacamole – With chips. And smoothies. It’s lunch and I love it.
  18. Simple Last Minute Nacho Plate – Perfect when they’ve played outside all morning and come in starving.
  19. Sliced Ham – Tastes so good with potato salad.
  20. Simple Crock Pot Pizza Casserole  – Take 5 minutes to put this together in your crock pot during breakfast; then serve it at lunchtime!
  21. Turkey and Cheese Melts –  Use leftover bread or buns, top them with lunch meat and cheese, then melt them under a broiler for 2-3 minutes.

Convenience food back-up ideas:

At this point in my life, I try to keep some of these on hand for super quick meals:

  • Hotdogs
  • Frozen pizza
  • Chicken nuggets
  • Sandwich makings

Keep any or all of these on hand for easy lunch sides:

  • Baby carrots (I like the petite carrots – they are sweeter and easier to eat!)
  • Grape tomatoes
  • Mini sweet peppers
  • Sugar snap peas
  • Strawberries
  • Blueberries
  • Blackberries
  • Raspberries
  • Unsweetened Applesauce
  • Bananas
  • Grapes
  • Oranges
  • Clementines
  • Fresh Spinach or Mixed Greens
  • Sliced apples
  • Sliced peaches or nectarines
  • Steamed peas (frozen peas cook very quickly!)
  • Sliced cucumbers
  • Sliced sweet peppers
  • Raw broccoli “trees”
  • Cut cantaloupe
  • Watermelon wedges
  • Sliced pears
  • Pineapple chunks
  • Steamed green beans (frozen green beans take just a few minutes, but can cook themselves while you get the remainder of lunch ready)

Bonus Tips:

If you have Homemade Ranch Dip (storebought works too!) or Hummus on hand, these can be thrown onto the table quickly to help get the veggies down!

These smoothies go with just about any lunch and are super refreshing in the summer.

What are your favorite lunch ideas for summertime?

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Inexpensive Meals I Made From Costco

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Grocery prices are on the rise. That’s why I am so encouraged to share these delicious, inexpensive meals I made from Costco groceries!

We really can be more cheerful about grocery spending, friends. Yes, some prices have gone up. But we can still make very reasonably priced meals for our families. And we can still even serve them WITH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES.

You know I had to say that, right? :)

Sometimes we think that we need to compromise on healthy foods in an effort to save money. Not so, not so. Let’s keep eating good food and know that we can focus on nourishment too!

I have become curious as of late, so I decided to spend some time breaking down the cost of some of the meals I made after a big Costco trip. I was so excited to see that every meal I made was still incredibly reasonable.

I typically feed a minimum of 10 people at each evening meal. Depending on our adult kids’ schedules and the friends they have with them, often we feed 15 or more at dinnertime. This makes my cost breakdown even more exciting. :)

If you’d like to take a look at the list of food I recently bought, you can check that out here.

Inexpensive Meals I Made From Costco

1. Chicken Salad on Croissants

I used canned chicken and croissants that I got at Costco to make a delicious meal of Chicken Salad on croissants with spinach. We had this with fresh strawberries, raspberries, and carrots. The cost for this meal was right around $18 for 10 of us to eat!

2. “Homemade” Pizza

We used the pizza-making-kit from Costco to have a pizza night. Everyone loved this! We made four pizzas and ate them with these nourishing smoothies. Total cost for this meal was only $17. Amazing, right? But wait, it gets better…

Only our six littles were home when we first had this meal, so we ended up having enough leftovers to stretch these pizzas into two meals. So my $6.97 pizza kit lasted us for two meals, which was awesome on the budget, and also because having pizza leftovers is soooo nice to pull out on a busy day!

($17 divided by 2 meals equals $8.50 per meal to fill my family with pizza and a nourishing side. SO AMAZING!)

3. Smoked Chicken

We marinated Costco boneless chicken thighs in barbecue sauce, then threw the chicken on the smoker. We ate this with steamed green beans, buttered corn, baked potatoes, and grapes. The total cost for this meal was $26.

Sound like an expensive meal? Maybe. But it was a full night with many of our bigs and their significant others being home. Plus some family friends and my niece joined us. So we actually fed 16 people that night – 10 adults and 6 kids. $26 for a meal like this!! It breaks down to just $1.62/plate.

4. French Toast

The cinnamon streusel bread from Costco makes the most wonderful French toast!! We use eggs from our neighbor and made this meal with sausage links and sliced pears (or another choice of fruit the kids grabbed). The total cost for this meal was $19 for 12 people, $1.58 each.

I hope this cost breakdown encourages you as it does me!

Want to make these meals cost even less?

All of these meals can cost even less if you make more of the foods from scratch. My current season in life gives way to me purchasing some convenience foods (like croissants and other breads, some boxed foods, and canned items). But to save more money:

1. Make Chicken Salad from a cooked whole chicken. Save the bones to make broth for another meal or two. Instead of buying croissants, make bread like this. Or homemade, easy Pita Bread. So much more money saved!

2. Make homemade pizza crust like this. You can make these ahead of time and freeze the extras for an easy meal later.

3. Watch for meat mark-downs! I recently found chicken thighs marked down for quick sale at Sam’s. I bought all I could!

4. Make homemade bread or simply skip the special cinnamon streusel bread to use a less expensive variety to make French toast. Skip the sausage in the meal and just enjoy eggs as protein. :)

What inexpensive meals have you made lately?

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Stay tuned for more Big Family Food posts, where I share all about how I make food for our big family! And read here to catch up on other posts in this series you may have missed. :)

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