Meal Help

I’ve always loved a good hello fresh delivery for when you want to make something quickly without needing to do the prep yourself

It'll take a bit of practice to get good at quick yum meals if you're not used to cooking. So you might look at meal prepping on the weekend until it's easy to whip something up. Getting used to how sauces and seasonings work together will help keep things interesting. Some ideas I find quick and easy and toddler friendly: Spaghetti bol, pesto pasta Chicken, veg, carb (rice for me) Beef/steak, veg, carb Fish, salad, veggies Tacos (mince with taco mix) Stir fry (any meat, veg, carb) If you can't tell, my go to is just combining a meat, veggies and carb together and you've got a whole meal 😅

Chicken you can crumb and shallow fry, dice and stir fry, or bake for hands off Beef always cooks fast, steaks, mince, strips/chunks Fish also cooks really fast on the pan or in the oven Beans and broccoli just need a quick blanching and are the fastest. Salad needs no cooking but can get fiddly the fancier they are. Carrot, capsicum, mushroom, zucchini are easily and quickly stir fried. Potatoes, beetroot and pumpkins take a bit longer to boil or bake, but are minimum effort. Canned beans and lentils are great for fiber and can be hidden in stuff like spag bol, minced taco mix, soups or stand alone great. Leafy greens like spinach and bok choy are great stir fried and so quick. Buttery mash, roasted veg, rice, noodles, pasta or grains (cous cous, quinoa, bread) offer so much variety for the carby part of the meal I love food and cooking, so I hope this helps at all!

I've used hello fresh before, but found it cost more than general grocery shopping. I also found the cooking more clunky since you're constantly checking for the next step in the recipe the whole time. It would be good if you wanted more structure in meal plan and the cooking process. You could always start using it (or similar brand) and stop if it's not working for you!

So quick simple dinners could be something like a pasta. The easiest pasta I make involves browning ground beef or baking store bought frozen meatballs, boiling noodles, and mixing it all up with a jar of tomato sauce. If you want more veggies in you can blend some into the sauce first too. Meals like curry, soup, stew, chili are great and if you make double and freeze half you get 2 dinners for 1 effort Meat potato veg meals are easy too, and can have a lot more variety than you might think. Could be bbq chicken corn on the cob and roast potatoes. Or cottage roll pork mashed potatoes and fried cabbage apples and onions. Or sausage and gravy on mashed potatoes with peas. Or you could use rice instead of potatoes and do salmon rice and edamame or cucumber salad. I would also keep canned soups and some frozen meals on hand for when you really don’t have the time or energy. Soup and grilled cheese, sandwiches, breakfast for dinner, snack plates etc are all reasonable meals