Amazingly, we’ve become a culture that considers Twinkies, Cocoa Puffs, and Mountain Dew safe, but raw milk and compost-grown tomatoes unsafe.

Joel Salatin

I’ve been traveling down a rabbit hole lately with food dye, processed foods, and the effects they can have on the body. That led me of course to questioning “why”? Why are we so addicted to fast food in America? Why is there a drive through on almost every city corner? Why is it more affordable for a family to eat salt laden, preservative filled meals than it is for that same family to have a well balanced, nutritious, and oh so yummy meal at home? Lastly, why are we so determined to change the way our food is supposed to look with artificial colors? One thing that has come up over and over again in my research, other than money, has been time. Our society is so stretched thin these days and so overwhelmed with life, work, families, and activities, that we simply don’t have the time to spend in the kitchen preparing a family dinner anymore. I find that incredibly sad. There is much to be gained by sitting down with your family in the evening and enjoying dinner, and it has little to do with the food. Studies have shown that children who grow up in a household where family meal time is encouraged have a healthier relationship with food, achieve higher grades in school, have better relationships with their families, and even have a lower rate of substance abuse.

Now, I am fully aware that most families need a double income to get by and that kids in sports and the like can make eating as a family every night very difficult. We are also entering into the season of life where sports are becoming a thing, and as a rodeo family with summer coming our time at the arena is about to put a damper on family meals as well. How do I plan to still put a healthy, made from scratch meal on the table, and eat several times a week as a family? I thought you’d never ask!

Meal Planning

The way I cook isn’t always fast. I have got a large handful of recipes in my back pocket that are easier than a traditional cooked from scratch meal, such as Cheeseburger Macaroni or Loose Meat Sandwiches, but there is some planning and prep that goes into made from scratch meals.

I plan out our dinners and weekend breakfasts a month at a time. I use an editable calendar for the month, sit down with my planner and a handful of recipes I want to make or want to try, and get to work. The first thing I do is look at anything scheduled on my planner and decide if I am going to cook that night, do nothing, or plan a leftover night. After that, I put a leftover night on the calendar at least once per week, then I start filling in the blanks. It doesn’t take me long anymore at all. We have the staples that are on there every month like tacos, spaghetti, and some type of burger or sandwich.

Meal planning is such a helpful tool for me, and for many reasons. First, it saves us money. I go grocery shopping twice per month when my husband gets paid. The night before I am going to go shopping, I sit down with my meal plan for the month and write my grocery list to cover the meals I have planned for the upcoming two weeks. Everything on my list is tied to a meal, and there is very little waste. This keeps me from wandering around the store, which keeps impulse buying to a minimum.

Another way that meal planning helps me is that I also make our bread products and pasta from scratch. To save time, I like to “batch” bake or prep. This means that if I need to make pasta for something, I will look ahead and see if I need pasta later in the two week period. If I am going to go through the effort of making pasta, and getting all of my pasta tools out, I might as well spend a few extra minutes and get it all out of the way. I do the same with bread. If I am making a loaf of sandwich bread, I will also make a batch of English muffins, bagels, and whatever else may be needed such as hamburger buns or hoagies.

Speaking of “batch” baking, I also like to “batch” prep. If I am dicing an onion or celery for a meal I am making, I can look ahead on the meal plan and see if I will be doing the same for a recipe coming up soon. If so, I might as well dice it now and store it in the fridge, saving me time in the coming days.

Kitchen Enhancing Tools

Having a kitchen with time saving tools is a huge help in our home. My go-to for our busy season is the Deluxe Multi-Cooker. The Deluxe Multi-Cooker is Pampered Chef’s version of pressure cooker and it is ah-maz-ing! There is slow cooker function as well with a delayed start option, which is perfect for days we are on the run.

Another must have in the kitchen, in my opinion, is an air fryer. We have the Deluxe Air Fryer from Pampered Chef and I highly recommend it. It is large enough to prepare a meal for my family, and can cook a whole rotisserie chicken in 45 minutes! Kind of hard to beat that. As a huge bonus, it has a reheat setting that makes leftovers taste like they did the first time you served them, and that is no joke,

Leftovers

On the subject of leftovers, use your leftovers! I mentioned earlier that we have a leftover night once per week, and we definitely do. Sometimes we end up eating leftovers twice per week depending on how much we have in the leftover stash. I personally like leftovers as they are, however I know they aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. One good way to use your leftovers up is to re-imagine them. One example would be if you cook a roast one night, shred the leftover meat on another night and season it for tacos. One thing I love to do is cook a rotisserie chicken in my air fryer. Night one would be chicken and some sides, but after that the leftover chicken can be turned into so many other things like pot pie, chicken noodle soup, chicken quesadillas, or even chicken salad. (This also cuts down on the grocery budget!)

Freezer Meals

My last item on the list of Homestead Fast Food is freezer meals. I feel like freezer meals have gotten a bad wrap as being tasteless and soggy. That does not have to be the case! When you ask yourself what to turn into a freezer meal, just walk down the freezer section at the grocery store. Anything you see there can be a homemade freezer meal, and will probably be a tastier option. Some of my favorites are lasagna, enchiladas, marinated chicken, pot pies, and meatballs just to name a few. I personally set aside a day and just get it all done, but if you are short on time you can simply double when you are making a dinner that would be a good freezer dinner. It won’t take anymore time to make two lasagnas that it does one.

Fast food is convenient, and I don’t think anyone can argue that. The ability to have a meal placed in your hands without even having to leave your car is certainly a time saver. I am not above admitting that we occasionally visit the drive through ourselves, we just try really hard to keep it at a minimum. Convenience comes with a fee, so spend wisely!

~Tara