Meal Prep Mania!

I hate to cook when I come home from a long day at work. I won't do it. I just won't. I refuse. Even if I plan to do it, I won't do it.  Additionally, as a single person, when I do make a meal, I often have to eat if for days. This bores me, and before I know it, it's 555-PZZA to the rescue.  I end up spending more money than I have on food that is easy, but not especially tasty or good for me.

To combat that, this year I cooked up a storm over Winter Break, and I froze everything in individual portion sized bags, giving me enough dinners for about 3 months of weeknight meals.  So, if I stick with my plain I will have healthy meals each night that I can heat up in less time than it takes to order a pizza!

Here's what I made (linked recipes where available):

Budget Bytes Black Bean Quesadillas (vegetarian):
This is probably my favorite meal. I could eat it daily. The recipe makes 8-10 quesadillas. I swapped out frozen corn for peppers because I had some in my veggie drawer that I needed to use; they seem to freeze and reheat well.

One Pot Spicy Thai Noodles (vegetarian).  This is another one of my favorite recipes. It makes a ton of food, and I've yet to meet someone who didn't love it. SO GOOD. Even skeptical meat-lovers loved it. You could easily add meat to it, but I don't think it needs it.   I decided the zucchini won't freeze and reheat well, so I swapped it out for frozen peppers and green beans. I also barely cooked the veggies, so when I reheat, they will cook the first time (I hate overcooked veggies).

Turkey Kielbasa Lentil Soup:
I've blogged about this before; it's one of my favorites. I added a bunch of crushed red pepper to make it more spicy and added another half of a package of turkey kielbasa. Delish!

Crockpot Ziti
So yummy! And easy. I used a combo of Italian sausage and beef. You could make this meat-free and use mushrooms instead, but I think the meat flavors really takes this over the edge as one of my favorite new recipes.

Turkey Tortilla Soup:
I used leftover Christmas Dinner turkey, and it's pretty tasty. Not my favorite, but it's a cheap way to make turkey leftovers stretch. I just threw everything in a crock pot and cooked it all day,.

Pinto Bean Soup (can be vegetarian): 
Swap out the chicken broth for veggie broth to make it vegetarian (seems silly not to; I had left over chicken broth from another recipe, so I didn't). I also added a package of taco seasoning on my friend's recommendation, and it gave it some zip! That said, I don't think I'll make this recipe again, although bean soup is so easy and cheap, so I'll keep testing them out.

Budget Bytes Country Breakfast Bowls (Breakfast For Dinner) (vegetarian): 
I'm most skeptical about this recipe's ability to reheat well, but BudgetBytes has never steered me wrong before. Fingers crossed!

Chili: 
No recipe because I didn't make this; my mom did, and I snagged a couple of portions of it because it was so tasty. She used fire roasted tomatoes instead of regular diced, and it really took the chili up a notch. No recipe, but I recommend that tip!  My favorite vegetarian chili recipe uses quinoa, which sounds bonkers, but actually is really good; I'm sure I'll make a pot of this before winter is done.

Meatloaf:
No recipe, but it's hard to mess up meatloaf. Just throw beef, breadcrumbs, onion, ketchup, mustard and some seasoning together and cook it. So easy. So delicious. I can't believe I didn't like it when I was a kid; what was wrong with me?

My friend's Pasta Sauce (vegetarian):
No recipe. I made this vegetarian by swapping out the meat for more portabella mushrooms. Smelled delicious, although it all went into the freezer, so I'll have to update later!