Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Last Chance to Join our Take Ten…Again Challenge!

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If you haven’t signed up yet, it’s not too late! We’ve got a fantastic two weeks in store for all of us, and it all begins Sunday night, September 15.

Read all the details of our Take Ten Again Challenge here. We’re going to walk you through taking ten minutes each morning to do some simple meal prep so that all you have to do at supper/dinner time is put on the final touches and serve your meal. Your family mealtime is going to be SO EASY!!!! All because you decided to:

Take Ten…Again

Click here to sign up for the Take Ten Challenge!

Watch your inbox for a confirmation email, then you’ll receive a complete Take Ten Again Grocery List and information to get you started. The challenge officially begins on Monday, September 16! Sign up for free ($17.00 value!) by Sunday, September 15.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

UPDATE: Do I Like Amazon Prime Pantry?

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So I bet you’ve been wondering, “Does Laura still like her Amazon Prime Pantry membership?” Oh hey, thanks for asking.

I’ve been Prime Pantry-ing for almost two months now, and not only do I like it, I probably like it too much.

It makes my life so easy!! Well, at least it makes life easier. Especially the parts of life that involve baby wipes, canned pineapple, and ketchup.

Unfortunately, it has me so spoiled that when I have to actually go to the store for fresh food I’m like, “Waaaa!!! Why can’t Prime Pantry bring me frozen chicken and fresh greens? I can’t believe I actually have to go TO THE STORE and GET A CART and PUSH IT AROUND and SELECT MY BANANAS.”

So yeah. Amazon Prime Pantry and I are becoming best buds. And she is completely spoiling me by dropping so many of my groceries directly onto my porch two days after I order them.

What I love about Amazon Prime Pantry

  1. The membership gives free shipping on any pantry order over $10. This means that every time I think of just a few items we need, I put them in the cart, complete my order, and have the groceries delivered for free in just a couple days. This is faster than I can keep up with laundry, and it keeps my Walmart list from taking up an entire notebook.
  2. Regarding the Walmart list, I’ve found that if I can possibly get it from Amazon at a comparable price (or sometimes less, wooo!), I will absolutely get it at Amazon. I prefer this for one huge reason: taking little ones to the store is sometimes difficult and my shopping cart has very little room for groceries after filling it with a diaper bag, a kindergartener, and a rolly-polly baby.
  3. Amazon Prime Pantry has almost every non-refrigerated food item I could possibly need, and I even found napkins with jokes on them, so wiping our faces is much more hilarious. Score.
  4. The prices are pretty much the same as I was getting at Walmart, sometimes even cheaper.

How to save money with Amazon Prime Pantry

I will admit that while I really, really love to save money, my primary reason for joining Prime Pantry really was the convenience it provides during this season in life. But all the convenience wouldn’t appeal to me if the prices weren’t reasonable. AND, there are some really fun ways to save extra beyond the already reasonably priced offers.

  1. They offer “Buy 5 Save $5” items. There’s a huge selection of these 5 for $5 off goodies, so I click through them all, choose what we need, and when the total of those items equals 5, a beautiful $5 gets knocked off my order total.
  2. They offer those fantastic little green clicky coupons. Oh how I love the green clicky coupons. They give an extra % off, or a dollar amount off, and it turns into a lovely little bonus at check-out.
  3. Sometimes there’s a green clicky coupon INSIDE the “Buy 5 Save $5” section! So I can save a % off that product and I’ll get an extra dollar off too if I get a total of 5 of those items (which I always do, because why wouldn’t I?).

We all have different needs, but if you feel that Amazon Prime Pantry might be a help for you as it is for me, I do recommend it! You can check it out here.

Also, you might find this post helpful: Why I Decided to Have an Amazon Prime Pantry Membership. In that post, I wrote more about how their program works and why I decided to give it a try. Now that I’ve been using it for a couple of months, it’s fun to report back and share that it’s working so well for us!

Try it for free?

Regular price for Prime Pantry is $4.99/month, a price I am finding to be very worth it to pay! But it’s pretty cool that Amazon offers a free 30-day trial period so you can check it out without the fee to see how it works for you! —>

And with that, I will sign off and go get my newest Prime Pantry boxes off the porch. Wooo!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Ready to Take Ten…Again? Join our New Take Ten Challenge!

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Our first Take Ten Challenge went so well and was so much fun that we decided we definitely wanted to offer another one. So here we go! Let’s Take Ten…Again!

You can take ten minutes each morning to prep your meal for the evening. Ready to learn how? Let’s Take Ten…Again!

We’re going to walk you through everything you need to know to get 10 meals on the table FAST! We’ll give you a grocery list, recipes, instructions – everything you need. It is so simple, so fun, and your family will love these meals!

The Take Ten…Again Challenge

Right after you sign up, we’ll immediately send you a complete grocery list plus all the information you’ll need to know as we launch the challenge.

We’ll also include this Ingredient Quick Glance sheet so you know what you need to have on hand or thaw before each day’s challenge. Easy peasy!

Each evening of the 10 day challenge, you’ll receive an email with the details you need. Watch for the first Take Ten Again Challenge email to arrive four days after you sign up to get started. It’ll look something like this, telling you what to do in 10 minutes each morning to get a head start on your evening meal prep:

Then, each evening for the next 10 days, you’ll receive the next day’s challenge details. See how simple? You won’t have to think about what to make for dinner for two entire weeks! We love how fun and helpful this is!

When each email arrives, plan to spend about 10 minutes (or less?!) the following morning doing whatever the Take Ten challenge suggests that you do. That evening, complete the final preparations, then enjoy an easy meal around the table with your family!

Not a morning person?

If you prefer, complete some of the meal prep tasks at night before heading to bed!

A note about food intolerances:

All ten of the recipes used in the Take Ten Again Challenge can be made gluten-free. ALL OF THEM, without any extra work on your part!

Everyone who joins the challenge and sticks with us until the end will receive a copy of our beautiful brand new Take Ten Again eBook, filled with all of the Take Ten challenges and recipes, plus oodles more time-saving ideas and recipe links! That way you’ll have these ideas and instructions forever. :)

Ready to join our Take Ten Again Challenge? We can’t wait to do this with you!

Our Heavenly Homemaker’s Club Members have access to this amazing resource plus ALL of our eBooks, eCurriculum, printables, and so much more – for one very low price! Join us here!

Or purchase this separately:

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17.000

Once you’ve purchased, watch for an email asking you to sign up to receive all of your Take Ten Again information. Sign up, then confirm that you’d like to receive our Take Ten Again Challenge information. Then you’ll receive our free Take Ten grocery list and other important challenge information.

Looking forward to saving time and money with you while we put great meals on the table!!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

What to Eat When You Don’t Have Time to Eat

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You don’t have time to eat? But we’ve all got to eat! So here’s what to eat when you don’t have time to eat…

I’ve never understood how people will say things like, “Oh, I forgot to eat lunch!” What?? You forgot to eat lunch? How did your body let you forget? My body never lets me forget. Long before lunchtime, my body is like, “Yo. I would very much like a double cheeseburger.”

So hunger isn’t an issue for me, nor is the desire to eat every meal of the day, plus snacks. I’m kind of a six-small-meals-a-day kind of a gal.

But what has become an issue for me now is finding the ability to eat every time I’m hungry. Now that we’ve got the little ones again, I’ve found that keeping up with their needs – plus the needs of my older kids and husband while trying to meet my own needs – has become more difficult. (Rest assured, my husband and older sons are incredible help and support – we’re all just busier than busy!)

So sometimes, lunchtime comes and goes and I find that while I didn’t forget to eat, I never found time to stop and eat.

Obviously, there are seasons in our lives that are busier than others, and for me, this is one of them. I mean, if Laura didn’t eat, something really important must have kept her from it (babies!), because we all know that food is a high priority for Laura. :)

What to Eat When You Don’t Have Time to Eat

But having said all of that, I know as well as you do that skipping meals and letting oneself be hungry is not a healthy pattern to begin or lifestyle to maintain. So after experiencing too many days of being hungry and not being able to eat as I needed to, I found that I HAD to get organized and be pro-active about food.

And it probably goes without saying that making sure the food I’m eating is nourishing is extra important right now. Yes, I’ll sometimes snack on chips (organic ones, because that makes them healthy, ha). But focusing on putting as many nutrients in as possible is absolutely necessary so that I can keep up with all these delightful ones God has put in our care.

So here’s a quick run-down of food I either try to buy and have on hand or food I make quickly to have on hand for grab-and-eat snacks. Yes, many of them require some prep time. But it’s easy prep, and just a few minutes of work can produce several wonderful snacks to grab and eat on the fly. It’s worth the effort to be sure we all take care of ourselves!

Fruits and Veggies – the easiest and healthiest!

  • Fresh Greens (I do know it’s weird, but I just grab the container out of the fridge and eat a few handfuls. It doesn’t taste especially delicious, but I don’t mind it plain. It allows me to get some good nourishment on the fly. And that’s all that matters!)
  • Berries or Grapes
  • Oranges or Cuties
  • Petite Baby Carrots
  • Little Sweet Peppers

Any variety of these Fat Bombs:

Any variety of these Cookie Dough Bites:

Berries and either of these Cheesecake Parfait cream whips:

I whip up the parfait in my Blendtec super quickly, then keep it in a bowl in the fridge to eat with berries.

A Flourless Brownie:

Mini Crustless Cheesecake:

Dollar Club Drinks:

It is worth noting that I keep a supply of Dollar Coffee Club (formerly known as Javita) drink sticks on hand at all times. I drink several each day, simply because I know they benefit my health and give me what I need for immune system support, digestive support, detoxing, and ease of inflammation. Plus they taste really good, so every drink is like a treat! My favorites:

  • Peach Mango Fiber, for digestive support
  • Burn and Control Coffee, for cleansing and detox
  • Strawberry Lemonade Flex, for inflammation
  • Mixed Berry Defend, for immune system support

These don’t take the place of meals for me, but in many ways, I feel like these drinks keep me going, keep me healthy, and offer my body much of what it needs during this busy season. I’m so thankful God introduced me to these two years ago. They have met many needs!

Here’s more information I’ve written about Dollar Coffee Club products. They’ve revamped their business model to be MUCH simpler for all of us, so buying the drinks and sharing them with your friends has become tremendously easier and less expensive!

Simple Recipes and Meals

All the above snack foods and drinks are fantastic to help me get through until I can eat a solid meal. I’ve learned to be more intentional about eating plenty at mealtime. AND I am incredibly thankful that God put it on my heart a few years ago to start creating Simple Recipes to share here. These recipes have been life-changing as they take so little time to prepare but still offer us all nourishment and deliciousness. SO. THANKFUL.

You can see a huge list of Simple Recipes listed here, and of course, you can join our Simple Meals menu planning subscription service at any time.

Ready, set, eat.

Too busy to eat? Make yourself some of the above simple recipes and pick up some already-prepped fruits and veggies at the store. Grab and eat as needed. Here’s to our health!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Real Food Money Saving Tips

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Want some simple real food money-saving tips? Is it possible to eat healthy food and still stay on a budget? It’s like the best of both worlds! And it really is doable for everyone.

First, I should let you know that I found myself having this discussion with myself (tell me you do that too?). My self discussion sounded something like this:

  • Laura, why do you always feel the need to put the word “Simple” in front of everything?? “Simple Meals” “Simple Recipes” Simple Money Saving Ideas…”
  • Because it is…it’s all simple.
  • Well, I guess that’s simple enough.

And then one of my kids interrupted my self discussion and I moved on. This is probably a good thing.

But truly, I don’t do anything unless it’s simple. Life is hard enough. Why make food difficult?

With this in mind, we put gathered all of our best and simplest real food money-saving tips, and we put them into a new and fun little eBook. Obviously, we had to use the word “Simple” in the title. It’s all about switching to real food and it’s all about saving money – but all of the tips are SIMPLE.

You wouldn’t want it if it was difficult, am I right?!

  • “Buy complicated ingredients!”
  • “Shop at weird stores!”
  • “Stand on your head whilst straining the strange liquid thing into the never-before-heard-of dry thing.”

No. Not here. Not now. Not ever. {Sobs just a little bit thinking about it.}

Here’s the book we just completed, and would you look at that? The word “Simple” is right there in the title.

Notice that the word “Challenge” is also in the title. But don’t let that scare you. The challenges are our way of giving you simple (of course) goals to strive for throughout the book so that you are actually motivated to make some changes! Easy peasy.

We’re not ready to put this new book into our Shop yet, but we are ready to give it to you today for free!

See, here’s what we’re thinking: We kind of think everyone should invest in the Healthy Living Bundle because it’s cheaper than a doctor visit and gives you way more help and information than one doctor visit ever could give. (Not that this replaces your doctor, and blah, blah, all the other disclaimers, please go to the doctor as needed, you heard it here.)

We just really like the information we have learned and continue to learn from the bundle (read the specifics here if you don’t believe me) and want you to have all the information too. As a “thank you” for purchasing the Healthy Living Bundle through our links, we’ll give you this pretty new eBooklet for free!

Simple Real Food Money Saving Tips

What’s inside this book that’s worth reading? Well, I hate to give it away, but it probably talks about:

  • Why switching from fake margarine to real butter will actually save you money, even though butter costs more than margarine. Crazy, but true.
  • How adding spinach to many different recipes won’t even shock your family, but will add a lot of nourishment.
  • Leftovers. And how you should use them instead of waste them (thus wasting money). And how you can use them creatively even if your family doesn’t like leftovers.
  • The fun of actually cleaning out the pantry and freezer, making meals with food you already have before they go bad.
  • Packing food for road trips and outings so that you eat healthier and save money

Did I mention there are all kinds of wonderful links to inexpensive real food recipes throughout the book? We’ve got you covered.

How to get the Simple Real Food Money Saving Challenge eBook for free:

Purchase the Healthy Living Bundle through our links. Email me a copy of your receipt and I’ll thank you by emailing you this book. Easy and fun!

Or shall I say…simple. Yes, probably.

Be sure to email me after your purchase so I can send you this free book! Bundle sales close on Monday, September 9. This free book offer ends that day too!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

How Much Do You Pay for a Doctor Appointment?

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I’m curious how much you pay for a doctor’s appointment. And for healthcare in general.

This is not because I’m nosey. Well fine. It’s a little bit because I’m nosey. I’m just really curious about how healthcare works for different families in different circumstances.

Here, I’ll go first.

We pay full price, out of pocket for doctor appointments (specific $$ amounts below).

Our family has chosen to have Christian Healthcare Ministries as our health insurance provider and it is perfect for us. We pay a tiny total of $135/month for this, which I feel is remarkable. We have a high deductible ($5,000 per incident). But we had the same super high deductible when we were paying almost $900/month for regular insurance too. So obviously, we really love the $135. :)

(How happy are we that I don’t have to put stickers over Bonus Boy’s face anymore!!!!)

With CHM, we don’t have a copay for doctor visits. We don’t have amazing benefits, dental, or vision coverage. Basically, we only have CHM insurance in our back pocket in case something major happens. Therefore, when we need to go to the doctor, we pay 100% out of pocket for the appointment.

BUT, the hundreds of dollars we save each month (around $765 to be exact – whoa!) more than covers all of those doctor fees. Plus it gives us a cushion so we can save for the deductible if we need it.

I love that instead of giving so much money each month to an insurance company (it felt like $money$ down the drain!), we can instead put that money toward our chiropractor, natural doctor, and wholesome food. We only go to a doctor when we really need to, trying natural remedies at home first.

How much do you pay for a doctor appointment?

Ah, so I haven’t even answered my own question yet. Our chiropractor costs $45 for a thorough adjustment and healthcare advice. Our natural doctor charges around $65 for a consultation, then we pay additional amounts for the supplements and remedies she offers.

Last time we went to our local Urgent Care for a check-up (Matt and I had to get a physical before becoming licensed foster parents) – it cost us $125 each. And that was apparently a discount because we were paying cash. Hmm. Then we got billed separately for the urine test. (I can’t remember how much those were.)

So all of these come out of our pocket each time we need them. Still, we save thousands of dollars every year going this route.

Do I wish we had a co-pay?

Sure, if the copay was $5 like it used to be. Remember those days? I remember those days!

At this point though, and you’ll have to let me know how it works for you, I don’t think a copay would benefit us. We really, really like paying such a low monthly premium. And since we rarely go to traditional doctors anyway, I don’t think having “regular” insurance would really help us much.

Fun times.

So, $45-$65 per visit.

That’s what we pay when we go to the doctor. Plus the cost of the supplements they recommend.

We go in phases of needing to go frequently and have periods of time that several months go by without a visit. It all depends on the need!

Oh, and last year when Elias suffered a terrible ankle injury during a basketball game, we got to drop a cool $850 for an ER visit with all the perks (like a wheelchair ride). Good thing we save almost that much every month on our insurance premium. Ha!

I’ve been thinking about all of this – the cost of a doctor visit, the cost of health insurance, the cost of supplements – as I have considered this:

Should we pay $37 for this health care option? —>

It may sound funny to think of this as a “health care option” but hear me out!

As this year’s Healthy Living Bundle sale time was approaching. I spent a few hours looking through almost every single product. We’re talking 46 eBooks, 32 eCourses, audios & workshops, 10 printable packs & workbooks, and 2 summits. Phew.

Why did I spend so much time on this? Because I can’t and I won’t promote a product or recommend that you purchase something if I don’t feel confident that it’s worth your time and money.

While reading through so many of the materials, watching the videos, printing the packets, exploring the eCourses – I found that I kept learning new tidbits that would really bless my family’s health. There I was, looking to see what I could maybe share about the bundle as I determined if it was “worth it” – and the entire time I found myself learning:

  • Better ways to help my kids eat good food
  • How to transition our baby to solid food in a healthy way (he has four cute little teeth now!)
  • Tools to give my kid who hasn’t been officially diagnosed, but who probably has something like ADD, and needs some extra love and care when it comes to learning
  • How to walk someone through a sugar detox
  • Recipes my kids can use to learn to cook in our Instant Pot
  • More about cooking great food with just 5 ingredients
  • How to get a better night’s sleep

There’s much more, but those were some highlights for me.

And then I realized: The contents of this bundle, this package containing $3000 worth of health information and tools, costs less than one of my chiropractor appointments. I have learned so much already, and while I don’t need or want all of the products included – paying $37 to learn what I have learned and I’m learning is absolutely worth it.

Click here or on the image to see all the products in detail.

So I decided to tell you about it.

I’m not sure what you pay for a doctor visit, but I’m guessing the $37 price tag on this Healthy Living package is comparable or even much cheaper. I want to encourage you to check into this because well, where else can we pay just $37 for so much worthwhile health information?

Already bought a Healthy Living Bundle in the past?

Me too!! I have them all and seeing as they’ve been around since 2012, that means this is my 8th one. :) But each bundle is brand new and full of the latest and greatest. I guarantee you’ll learn something new (or if you’re like me, you’ll learn 7 new things in the first hours, ha!).

When the price is lower than a doctor visit and holds so much more information than I could ever get in one doctor visit – that’s when I know it’s beyond worth it to purchase. (Though it doesn’t take the place of a doctor visit if we need one. It had to be said.) ;)

And then there are these:

Really Cool Bonuses

All of this comes with your bundle purchase, which is so much fun and so beneficial.


These are legit bonuses! Totally free, physical items. We pay the shipping, and that’s it!!

I always get the Lymph Rub from TriLight Health because it is so good to have on hand to fight off illness! I like a lot of their other products too, and keep them on hand as ready-to-grab home remedies.

I already also ordered the bonus from Perfect Supplements, Earthley, and MadeOn. So many great free items to help keep our families healthy!

How much do you pay for a doctor appointment?

I’m thankful that we rarely need to go to a doctor, and that when we do, we have great options for natural care. (I’m also thankful for traditional doctors who are there when we need them!) I’m thankful for home remedies and natural home-care options. I’m thankful for everything I can get my hands on to read and learn and grow in ways of healthy living.

So, I’m thankful for this, and I recommend that you check it out and enjoy learning from it too! —>

 

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Simple Hearty Bean Casserole (How to cheat and make this FAST!)

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This Simple Hearty Bean Casserole is a family favorite, and if you follow these simple make-ahead tricks, you can have it on the table super quickly!

First, let’s talk about the beauty of prepping Homemade Bacon Bits ahead of time. And while we’re at it, let’s be reminded about cooking several pounds of hamburger meat ahead of time.

If you do these two things, you will have so many quick meal options at your fingertips!!

For this Simple Hearty Bean Casserole, I’ve found that if I have the bacon bits and the hamburger meat already prepped all I have to do is stir them into a couple cans of beans and we have a meal. This is so easy and good!

Yes, you can soak and make your beans from scratch. This is a great money saver! During this season in my life, I’ve found that it is incredibly helpful to have a case of Baked Beans on hand for easy meal prep. Maybe someday I’ll get back to soaking and cooking beans. ;)

This is my favorite brand of Baked Beans.

This recipe is perfect for a family who loves their protein. Beans, bacon, and hamburger all in one bowl? Yah. Add a side salad and some fresh fruit and the meal is complete!

How to make Simple Hearty Bean Casserole:

I just want you to know how easy this is, especially if you have your meat prepped ahead.

  1. Open two cans of beans and put them into a large cooking pot.
  2. Dump in some cooked bacon bits.
  3. Dump in some cooked hamburger meat.
  4. Squeeze in some ketchup.
  5. Shake in some dry minced onion.
  6. Heat until bubbly (5 minutes).
  7. Serve and eat!

Do you see? Do you see how easy this is and how wonderful it can be to have these foods prepped or purchased and waiting to make a great meal for your family?

Simple Hearty Bean CasseroleYum

And now, we’ll pretend that this is an actual recipe.

Simple Hearty Bean Casserole (How to cheat and make this FAST!)
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 1 pound hamburger meat
  • ½ pound bacon
  • 2 Tablespoons dry minced onion
  • 3 Tablespoons ketchup
  • 2 15-ounce cans of Baked Beans
Instructions
  1. Cook hamburger meat, bacon, and onion together in a large pot.
  2. Drain excess grease if necessary.
  3. Stir beans and ketchup into cooked meat.
  4. Heat until bubbly.
  5. Serve and eat!

Want More Simple Recipes?

We’ve got a huge list, and it keeps growing!

Join Simple Meals!

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We love how Simple Meals has been saving family time for so many, and helping people put great food on the table each night! Join us for just $1/week!

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Can Simple Meals Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half??

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I’ve shared over and over how our Simple Meals plans can make your kitchen life much easier! But is it possible that they would also cut your grocery bill in half?

Can Simple Meals Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half??

I always love hearing how Simple Meals is a blessing to you as it is to us. So I wanted to share this feedback I got from Lori. READ THIS!!!

I just had to send a huge THANK YOU! I’m not really one to use someone else’s menu plan, because I usually end up changing so much that it ends up being counterproductive. However, we have been clean eating/cutting out sugar for the past 2 years, which meant more meal planning and meal prepping for me, since we couldn’t always just grab take out or go out to eat. So needless to say, by the time I found you, I was burnt out! Lol!

When I saw your offer on build your bundle (a few weeks ago), I thought here’s the answer to my prayers! We have just started with our first week and have only tried 2 meals so far, and I’ll be honest, while I was making the recipes, I was doubting the simplicity and wondering if my kids would even like the meals, but I WAS SO WRONG, they LOVED both recipes we’ve tried so far!

The even better part, our grocery bill this week was almost cut in 1/2, by following your plan!! I am a homeschooling mom to 6, with 2 graduates and 4 still at home. We added in some outside classes this year, along with some extra, extracurriculars, haha, so you have saved my sanity, my food budget, and most importantly my time. I can’t wait to see what future menus bring.

Lori’s encouragement was so wonderful that I wrote her back to thank her and to get permission to quote her. Lori’s response?

You absolutely can quote me! I have the 3 cheese pasta in the crockpot for dinner and am still amazed that it took me literally 5 minutes to put together, and all I have left to do for dinner is throw together a salad, like what?!?!?

How cool is that? Simple Meals really makes life simple, and it saves lots of money too!

Here’s a reminder that now through September 4, your one-year Simple Meals is 50% off! To think, our subscription is 1/2 off and you can cut your grocery bill in 1/2 too!!

Get all the details here.

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Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Simple Cheeseburger Mac in the Instant Pot

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Once upon a time, I had a genius idea to add seasoned hamburger meat to our Simple 10-Minute Instant Pot Mac and Cheese. This magically and beautifully turned into Simple Cheeseburger Mac in the Instant Pot. And once again, dinner is saved!

Mind you, this recipe is made even easier if I have “worked” ahead and have hamburger meat already pre-cooked and in the fridge ready to pull out as needed. And by “worked” I mean that I open several packs of hamburger meat (usually frozen) and plop it into my Instant Pot where it cooks all by itself for a few minutes, providing our family with several meals worth of pre-cooked meat to use easily in recipes as needed.

If you get an Instant Pot for no other reason, get it so that it will cook your hamburger meat for you. I usually cook 7-pounds at once, and it is such a time and energy saver!

Simple Cheeseburger Mac in the Instant PotYum

5.0 from 1 reviews
Simple Cheeseburger Mac in the Instant Pot
 
Save Print
Author:
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 1 pound cooked hamburger meat
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon chili powder
  • 16-ounces whole grain pasta (any shape)
  • 4 cups water
  • 4 Tablespoons butter
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 3 cups shredded cheese (we love Colby jack)
Instructions
  1. Cook hamburger meat and season with garlic powder and chili powder.
  2. Stir meat, uncooked pasta, water, butter, and salt in your instant pot.
  3. Seal and cook on manual, high pressure for 4 minutes.
  4. Quick release the pressure.
  5. Open the pot and stir in the cream and cheese until melted and creamy.

This recipe is incredibly easy to make, and it is a huge hit with the family! Any time I can make pasta without actually boiling pasta is a win in my book. Fewer dirty dishes, less time in the kitchen, and a delicious meal too!

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Dear Everyone Who Hates Meal Planning…

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Just in case you missed this back in May, we wanted to offer an exclusive deal to bless you as we all begin a busy new school year…

1/2-price Simple Meals Subscription!!

As if getting an entire year’s worth of Simple Meals planning packets for half-off is not enough to convince you that now is the time to grab on, allow me to share more reasons you need a Simple Meals subscription.

Dear Everyone who hates menu planning (or simply doesn’t have time for it anymore),

In all my years of being a homemaker and talking to other homemakers (25 years, thanks for asking), I have learned that VERY FEW of us actually like meal planning. I’m one of the weird ones who actually enjoys it. But most of you? Disgusted. Completely annoyed. Hate every minute of it. ABSOLUTELY OVER IT.

Dear friends. This post is for you. (And maybe for those who do enjoy meal planning but still sometimes forget to thaw the chicken.)

In an effort to be fun (!!!yeah right!!!) and not at all discouraging (???sob???), I decided to do some math and point out what I believe makes most people so very frustrated about meal planning. Are you ready? You’d better sit down for this.

Not even including the thoughts we must think about what we will feed our families for breakfasts and lunches every day, if we all run a household for 50 years, and we multiply those years by the 365 days we must figure out what to put on the table for dinner each night – the total, painful number of meal planning days is (gasp, sob):

18,250

Meals. That we have to plan. In our life. Not counting breakfast.

Oh, but should we count breakfast and lunch too, just for fun? (Laura’s idea of fun is weird and not actually fun.)

54,750

Total meals. That must come out of our heads, through our hard-working hands, and onto our bountiful tables.

Now listen. I know we all realize that we are a blessed group of people and that whining about meal planning is ridiculous and petty. After all, are we not thankful for the families we get to feed and for the food we have in abundance in which to feed them?! Yes. We are. We are very, very thankful.

But we also have to remember to buy toilet paper and make it to the appointments and sign the documents and get to all the places on time. So while we are grateful for our lives, we also recognize the truth that trying to think of what food to prepare and feed our families each day is a…

VERY BIG JOB, AMEN.

There now. I have now given us all permission to feel what we feel about food. It sure tastes good, and we sure are thankful for it. But it doesn’t appear on the table without someone thinking ahead about it, buying it, preparing it, cleaning up after it, and then doing it all again for 18,250 tomorrows.

But we do it because:

  • We love our families.
  • We want our families to be healthy.
  • And eating isn’t something that we can’t avoid.

Other jobs that we don’t like we can just ignore, you know? (I’m looking at you – baseboards that need to be dusted.) But figuring out what to feed our families every day – we have to do it whether we like it or not.

So here is my number one, very best suggestion for you…

If you hate meal planning, do this:

Figure out what you will make for dinner each night IN THE MORNING.

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT wait until dinner time to plan dinner. At that time, you are hungry and tired. Your family is hungry and tired. The food is probably still frozen. And ain’t nobody happy.

If you are in the habit of waiting until it’s almost time to eat to figure out what you are going to eat – you are going to run into frustration almost every time. Or, you’re likely to fall back on unhealthy and expensive habits like grabbing take-out or ordering pizza. Those fun options should be reserved for our extra busy days or special occasions – not for the five days a week you failed to plan ahead, again.

And so, in the morning before work or school or before moving forward with whatever it is that keeps you busy each day – figure out what you are going to make for dinner. Then, put that thing in the crock pot, in the fridge, or on a list. Your entire day will go more smoothly, knowing that your evening meal is figured out and can be executed quickly at dinner time.

Now’s the part where I tell you something even better.

If you truly hate meal planning, or if you are too busy to think about what to make for dinner each night, why not reference the very wonderful and beautiful Simple Meals plans we make every single week and send to your inbox every single week? Please, please take advantage of this!!!

We do all the thinking and planning for you!! We offer specific yet flexible meal suggestions, we give you all the recipe links, we prepare your grocery list, and we put it right in your lap. Here, take a peek:

Download a free Simple Meals Plan here to see what it looks like!

Just think. You could have that in your hands every week, and then all of your meal planning tears will stop. ;)

This is not just me trying to sell you something. This truly is me trying to help your life become easier. Because I get it!! Meal planning can be stressful and difficult. Why should every single one of us invent the wheel (or in this case meal) every single night?

What if, instead, just one of us makes the plan, and everyone else gets to look at it and use it? Doesn’t that just make sense and sound fabulous!?!

It’s only $1.00 per week. $0.50/week all year long!

That makes this a no-brainer, because think of the time and money you’ll save figuring out every dinner of the week!

Get all the details here.

Your first entire year will cost only $0.50/week! Ready to join? Can’t wait to save your family time!

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This 1/2 price offer expires September 4. Your subscription will automatically renew in one year at full price (still inexpensive!!), and you can cancel for next year if you choose by simply emailing me!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!