Real Life Solutions

One of my favorite ways to save time is to double up my meals. The basic idea is to cook something once and then make at least two meals out of it. The trick is to turn what you cook on day one into a different meal on day two so you’re not eating the same thing two days in a row.

Here are some of my favorite meal ideas for this.

Chicken Breast

Day One: Place chicken breasts in a baking dish and pour some Italian dressing over them and bake until done. Take out a few of the chicken breasts for tomorrow, then serve the rest with rice and veggies for dinner.

Day Two: The next day, grab the leftover baked chicken breast from the fridge and turn it into a chicken Caesar salad, or make chicken salad sandwiches.

Boiled Chicken
Day One: Boil a whole chicken in a large stockpot with celery, onion and carrots. Take the chicken out when it is completely done and remove all of the meat from the bones. Turn the stock into chicken and noodle soup or chicken and dumplings. Set some of the meat aside for tomorrow.

Day Two: The next day use the rest of the chicken meat to make chicken enchiladas, chicken salad, or add it to tomato sauce and serve it over rice or pasta.

Rice

Anytime I cook rice, I make extra for the next day. For example, day one is rice with steamed broccoli and tomato sauce. The next day I use leftover rice and turn it into fried rice. Start by sautéing some onion and garlic in a little butter. Add 2 cups of cooked rice and heat it in the onion mixture. Meanwhile scramble a few eggs and pour them into the rice mixture. Cook until the egg is done. For an Asian version, add soy sauce to this mixture.

Not only will these tips save you time, you’ll save money, as well!

If you are ready to learn more about making dinner easier and getting meals for your family on the table faster? The secret solution is meal planning. It is quite easy to do and you can learn more about it with the free meal planning basics guide at
Menu Planning Central.