I’ve wanted to post about some topics like meal prep, cooking, and my favorite recipes and foods for quite some time, but I’ve decided that now is the exact right moment to get going on this. I have spent a lot of time lately planning, procuring, and obsessing about food because of the COVID-19 pandemic. My mom and I were discussing this yesterday and we came to the conclusion that everyone is feeling a lot more worried about food in general. Of course, we are among the lucky ones that didn’t already have food insecurity. Now with record unemployment numbers, many more people are living through those fears. My heart goes out to anyone who is struggling with food right now. For now, I’m hoping my readers will enjoy seeing how I’m tackling our food and meal needs.

I’m a pretty decent cook overall. I’m not a gourmet chef by any means, but I can usually put together a tasty meal when I put my mind to it. I’ve gotten pretty lazy on this front over the last 6 months because we were traveling quite a bit, preparing to move, actually moving, and then unpacking in our new home. I became extremely reliant on eating out and GrubHub food delivery. I sort of lost my passion for cooking in general because I was never organized enough to have the right ingredients on hand or sit down and actually plan out our menus. We also have A LOT of food issues in our house with allergies and preferences. I’ll get into that another time, but the general idea is that we need to be able to customize our meals for each person. The good news is that there are only 3 of us and we are all adults so that makes it a little easier.

These are definitely unusual times and we are trying to do our part to help flatten the curve and keep ourselves and others healthy. I was happy to see my favorite grocery store share these guidelines:

I live fairly close to several stores and I also subscribe to InstaCart and I have gotten used to just going to the store or getting an order whenever I felt like I needed it. I’m trying to be more mindful now and also trying to minimize the risk factors so I decided that I needed to get serious about meal planning so we could purchase 2 weeks’ worth of groceries at once. We are also trying to minimize our takeout and delivery right now. We have been doing Takeout Tuesdays to support some local restaurants, but other than that, we are eating at home.

Here’s what we are doing:

I’ve always been of the mindset that everyone can fix their own breakfast once they are old enough to be able to do so. This took a little extra time for our son who has high functioning autism, but he quickly learned to get himself a bowl of cereal or something easy for breakfast. I rarely make a fancy breakfast and if I do, it is on a weekend or for a special occasion. I’m trying to limit that now so I can make breakfast for dinner once in a while. I’m just making sure we have the right supplies on hand for everyone to get their own breakfast. We all get up at different times and my husband Jeff needs a quick meal before he gets on the phone for a long day of working at home. That’s a lot different than his usual routine of going into the office early or being on the road for business travel. By keeping breakfast simple and easy, I free up my time and resources to put toward other meals. Here’s what we each have for breakfast:

Jeff - has a smoothie with fruits, vegetables, and almond milk almost every single day. Once in a while he will have a bowl of oatmeal.

Alex - has a bowl of whole-grain cereal like Kashi cinnamon crisp, Quaker Oat Squares or Honey Nut Cheerios and a banana if we have them. It’s hard to buy 2 He doesn’t drink milk so he eats his cereal dry. On the weekends, he will eat Eggo waffles. We made a rule that those are for weekends only.

I usually eat a PowerCrunch protein bar and have a small glass of milk and a full glass of water. This is not an exciting breakfast, but it works for me. I’m allergic to oats and eggs so I have a hard time finding a lot to eat for breakfast. Sometimes I will have a packet of applesauce. Sometimes I will have avocado toast if I’m feeling fancy and have ripe avocados.

Other simple breakfast ideas that are easy for anyone to make include:

• toast with peanut butter

• cereal and milk

• granola bar or breakfast bar

• hard boiled eggs or other easy egg dish

• cottage cheese and fruit

• yogurt with granola and fruit

I’ve been eating lunch at home for years so this one hasn’t been tough for me. There were several years when I homeschooled both of my kids using a virtual k-12 online academy and we always looked forward to our lunchtime breaks. I’m definitely focused on keeping lunch easy and low maintenance, especially right now. The first thing I always look for at lunchtime is if we can have leftovers or work some into another meal. There are so many ways to do this, especially if you have some basic prepared ingredients from another meal such as cooked pasta or rice, chopped veggies or fruits, and extra meats and cheeses on hand. We also do plenty of peanut butter sandwiches and that’s ok too! Here’s a list of our favorite lunches:

• Pasta salad - can be done with Italian, Asian, or even a Hawaiian twist depending on ingredients and dressing. When I make a pasta salad for lunch, it’s usually more of a build-your-own experience to put together random ingredients I have on hand. I do make pasta salads from recipes for dinners sometimes and then we can also use the leftovers for lunches.

• Simple sandwiches - Peanut butter and jelly is a regular. Jeff and I like crunchy peanut butter and Alex likes smooth so we keep both on hand. We like to toast our bread and we keep a few types of low sugar fruit spread jams on hand so we have some variety. But I almost always have apricot jam on mine because it’s my favorite. We also keep some microwave-ready bacon on hand and do BLT sandwiches. We swap the lettuce for either cucumbers or avocados and add some mayo. Again, we like to toast the bread for those. If I feel ambitious, sometimes I’ll make a grilled cheese sandwich or grilled ham sandwich for my son since he can’t eat cheese. We always pair our sandwiches with some sort of fruit (fresh or canned) and sometimes have some chips on the side. We try to mostly have baked chips so we don’t have too many fried foods.

• Salads - This is more my husband’s territory since I have a hard time processing a lot of raw veggies and lettuces. I have ischemic colitis so I have to be careful. My husband likes to have a few bagged salads on hand or at least a container of arugula. He usually adds some canned garbanzo or kidney beans but he will use any beans we have on hand. If we have extra veggies from the night before, he will use those too.

• Smorgasbord lunch - this is probably my favorite. We will have some lunch meats or leftover cooked chicken and just put it on a plate with sliced cheeses, olives, veggies, fruits, crackers, or breads. It depends on what we have on hand. You can make it feel fancier if you have any sort of spreads or dips to include. Or you can drizzle a little honey on the cheese or sprinkle some seasonings on the fresh veggies. For little kids, it’s fun to serve this in a muffin tin. For adults, you can make it into a cheeseboard. For pandemic times, you can raid the pantry!

• Frozen pizza, frozen burritos, chicken nuggets, etc. Sometimes it’s nice just to have something in the freezer that you can heat up in a hurry. If you add some creative sauces, it can help. It’s also great to add some fresh (or canned) fruit on the side.

• Leftovers. I used to hate leftovers but now I’m just grateful to get an extra meal out of something. If you don’t have enough to feed everyone lunch from leftovers, try using multiple meals of leftovers or have everyone pick their own lunch from the above options.

Dinner is the “big dance” and the meal that I have struggled the most with over the past few years. I’m tired at the end of the day and if I haven’t planned ahead, it’s hard to get motivated. The current situation has helped me gain clarity on this though. I feel incredibly grateful each night that we are safe in our house and have food to eat. I’ve been realizing that if I do a good job with dinner that I really only end up cooking once a day and we often have leftover ingredients that make lunch even better. I’ve also noticed that we all gain a lot of comfort from sitting down together and sharing a good meal. I’m trying to focus on our favorite recipes that are still easy and manageable to prepare. This is not the time for gourmet adventures for me. I’m keeping my focus on comforting and satisfying meals. I also try to rotate dishes so we don’t have back to back chicken or beef recipes. I’m also trying to rely on pantry staples like pasta and rice. I add fresh veggies or fruit when possible, but it’s difficult to buy 2 weeks worth of those at a time so I’m using plenty of canned and frozen items. Here are 14 (2 weeks worth) of our favorite dinners:

• Korean Beef - I serve it with rice and then try to cut up some fresh cucumbers drizzled with rice vinegar or have stir fry veggies on the side.

• Baked Potato Bar - I cook my baked potatoes like the Pioneer Woman does except I sprinkle them with kosher salt after brushing on the canola oil. We vary the toppings using items like cooked broccoli, diced ham, grated cheese, or chili, depending on the what ingredients I have on hand. It’s also a great way to use up leftover cooked chicken or ground beef. It’s an easy and satisfying dinner. Can add a salad on the side or some fruit for dessert. We also do this with sweet potatoes.

• Mexican haystacks - If you cook extra chicken and rice, you can get another dinner out of this by making the smothered burritos listed below. You could freeze the cooked chicken if you don’t want to have both of these meals in the same week. I also like to use this crockpot mexican chicken recipe for the haystacks and burritos.

• Smothered Burritos - I do use the same chicken recipe I use for the haystacks above and then I just follow the rest of the steps in this recipe. So good! We like to serve with rice and a small salad.

• Pasta Primavera - My mom has a great recipe that I haven’t put online yet. I will have to do that someday! For now, I suggest Pioneer Woman’s recipe without so many onions and no wine. And I don’t use as much half and half as she does. The great thing about this dish is you can customize it to your family’s tastes. Great with garlic bread or breadsticks.

• Hot Dogs or Hamburgers - sometimes you just need an easy meal! I use all-beef grass-fed hot dogs. If you buy nice buns (keep them in the freezer if you aren’t going to use them right away) and then heat them in the oven with some butter before serving, it makes a big difference. Grill the dogs or burgers outside on a grill if you have them, or just put in a pan on the stove. The best thing to do is to have some great condiments on hand. Find your family’s favorite type of sauces and relishes. We love this Mt. Olive sweet relish so much that we look forward to burger or dog night just so we can heap it on! You can also heat up some canned chili and pour on top to make chili dogs or chili burgers. Be sure to add shredded cheddar cheese as well. We have chips or oven baked fries on the side and don’t worry about making this a super healthy dinner.

• Crock Pot Balsamic Roast - this is our favorite roast and it’s nice for a Sunday dinner. Great with potatoes and carrots cooked right along with it in the crockpot. Or you can shred it and serve it over mashed potatoes. I usually serve green beans as well since Alex loves them so much. We also like to have rolls with the roast. I usually just use frozen rolls. If you have extra roast, it’s great for French Dip sandwiches.

• Lasagna Soup - great with garlic bread and a salad.

• Breakfast for Dinner - I make waffles or pancakes and then we have fruit and sometimes bacon. This is a great way to use frozen berries. Sometimes we will have fruit smoothies with the waffles. Other times I make muffins to mix it up. This is a great dinner for us right now because I have plenty of mixes in the pantry and frozen berries in the freezer.

• Hawaiian Ground Beef - This is a newer recipe for me but it’s quick and easy and we all like it. I love meals that have fruits and veggies mixed in because I don’t feel like you have to extras on the side.

• Buffalo Chicken Sweet Potatoes - I combine 2 recipes for this. I make the buffalo chicken in the crockpot but I don’t use ranch mix and then I cook the sweet potatoes and use the ideas from this recipe. I don’t use cornstarch. I also used store bought blue cheese dressing. We love this! You can also make buffalo chicken sandwiches with the leftover chicken.

• Asian noodles - I serve this warm as a dinner and then refrigerate it for a lunch salad. You can also add cut up cooked chicken if you want to include some protein.

• Ritz Butter Chicken - This is another nice Sunday dinner option. My son can’t have yogurt so I just dip his chicken in melted butter before rolling in the cracker mixture and I skip the parmesan cheese. Butter is really the only dairy item he can tolerate. I use Back to Nature butter round crackers instead of Ritz because we don’t eat high-fructose corn syrup. This dish is nice with a side of cooked veggies (frozen is fine) or a salad and some rolls.

• Sub sandwiches - assemble a variety of lunch meats, cheeses, and condiments and build your own sub sandwiches. Also works vegetarian style with plenty of fresh sliced veggies. Use buns or artisan breads to make them special. You can also grill the sandwiches or use a panini press if you have one. This is nice to serve with a side like macaroni or potato salad or some chips with sliced veggies and dip.

I know that a lot of people are baking their way through quarantine right now and finding comfort in that. I feel like I’ve been spending my energy on meal planning and dinners but I would like to make some homemade treats in the near future. I do have a powerful sweet tooth and I especially love cookies so I’ve tried to keep some store-bought goodies in the cupboard right now. I don’t care if it’s wrong, but I feel like having some treats around is ok right now for a little extra comfort. We are being reasonable about it and have set some personal limits to keep ourselves healthy. Here’s a list of our favorite snacks and treats right now:

• Nuts such as peanuts, cashews, pistachios, trail mixes, and flavored nut mixes. Alex loves jalapeno cashews and eats them almost every day.

• Popcorn - microwave and pre-popped light butter popcorn. I don’t really like popcorn, but Jeff and Alex love it.

• Store-bought cookies. Pepperidge Farm Sausalito or Maui or Santa Cruz cookies

• Brownies from box mix. We like LEHI Mills but that’s a local company.

• Almond M&Ms are a favorite around here, but the store has been completely out of them the last few times so I’m going to have to order them on Amazon.

• Pioneer Woman’s Blueberry Crumb Cake is Alex’s favorite so I might make that soon. You can use frozen blueberries if you don’t have fresh ones (that’s what I usually do).

• If I didn’t worry about eating the whole pan, I would make a sopapilla cheesecake because it’s easy and sooo yummy. Alex can’t eat it and Jeff doesn’t love it though so it would be all for me right now and that would not be good.

Obviously, this is a pretty packed 2-week plan. I can’t remember a time ever before in our lives where all 3 of us have actually eaten every single meal at home. This took a lot of planning and a pretty big grocery order to achieve. I recognize that this is not feasible for many. I’m just hoping that my list will help you spark your own ideas and remind you to pull out some of your own tried and true recipes and meals. If you find a new recipe from this post that you like, I’d love to hear about it.

Hope you have good health and full tummies!