Make These Back-to-School Meals With Ease!
With school back in session and life changing for everybody in the house – early to bed, early to rise, makes the whole family healthy and wise, right? Okay, so maybe there’s a little more stress to the weekdays, but here’s a way to reduce it — ideas for meals to make, morning, noon and night.
For a look at easy back-to-school breakfasts, lunches and dinners, keep reading. We’ve got a month of options right here – from make-ahead anytime meals, to simple keep-your-sanity satisfying, weeknight dinners.
What’s for Dinner?
What can you do with a couple of pounds of ground beef or turkey? Make these easy-peasy meatloaf muffins. A cross between a meatball and a mini-meatloaf, these gems are easy to freeze in individual portions. Make a double batch, and when your pressed for something to fix, pull them out of the freezer and with a side of veggies and a freezer dessert – you’re good to go.
The Food Network offers a dozen of these freezer friendly options, from Teriyaki Beef Ramen and Pulled Pork Tostadas, to slow cooker Sausage, Bean and Pasta Stew.
Oh, But There’s More!
The Food Network has outdone themselves, literally, with another 50 weeknight meals, make-ahead breakfasts and after-school snacks. This Collection includes Homemade Chicken Nuggets, Butternut Squash-Stuffed Shells, Easy Chicken Pot Pie and One Pot Cajun Chicken Pasta.
What could be easier than sheet pan dinners? They’re quick and easy to make, and easy to clean up after. From Gnocchi with Sausage and Peppers, to Glazed Meatloaf and Shrimp Scampi with toasted parmesan French bread and zucchini and Chicken Tortilla Dump Dinner with Tex-Mex flavors in a comforting casserole.
All Recipes offers more complete meals in the form of sheet pan suppers from Greek Flank Steak and Veggie Salad, Roasted Carrot and Fennel Pork Loin and Rosemary Chicken with Sausage (bratwurst) and little potatoes. You’ll find 18 more recipes for easy weeknight meals – fish, chicken and beef, as well as a few vegan-oriented menus.
Back-to-School Lunches
Gotta say, Feel Good Foodie (blogger Yumna – sounds like a foodie, right?) has a wealth of info on her site. Her oldest started school six years ago so she’s been perfecting the ideal lunchbox meal since 2015. She reviews her favorite physical container lunchboxes (the Yumbox, Bentgo and OmieLife) and offers some hot and cold lunch options. You’ll know if your child prefers hot or cold options, and she’s got plenty of fruit, dairy, grain and combo ideas from her momful of experience.
Jungle Roots Dentistry, not only gives you a few food ideas to pack for the kids, they added a little crafting fun into the kiddos’ daily lunches to make mealtime more enjoyable. There are Woodland Creature Sandwiches, snack pack baggies sealed with clothes-pinny, googly-eyed butterflies, lunch kabobs and homemade uncrustables.
The St. Vrain Schools Next to Colliers Hill!
With a K-8 school next door to Erie High School – the St. Vrain schools are walkable for some and a short drive for others (just under five minutes) from the master-planned community of Colliers Hill. Life’s not just more convenient here, it’s better on the Hill! Stop by and tour the beautiful model homes from KB Home, Century Communities and Richmond American Homes – and coming soon, Boulder Creek. Priced from the $400s, this fast-growing new home community in Northern Colorado has lots of exciting amenities to offer new home buyers, too!
