My kids devour food like blue whales consume krill. Tons at a time. Most of the time, before we’ve cleaned up from one meal, they’re already eating the next! (Not to say, we’re slow cleaners; they’re just huge eaters!).

Despite raising a big family, we’ve managed to stretch quite a few meals and I’ve learned plenty of tips along the way. When children are smaller, they obviously eat less making food stretch longer. While limiting grocery trips to once a month worked well for us before, it doesn’t anymore. These kids wolf down food faster than I can shop.

We also shop more frequently now because we have one less freezer meaning I’ve lost food storage space. However, we’ve found ways to still be wise stewards of our resources while filling our children’s rapidly growing appetites.

Here are 5 tips to make your mealtime simple–

Stock up on pre-cooked meat and freeze.

This is my number one tip! Spend one day cooking your meat and then freeze it in family-friendly portions. This makes meal time much faster when you can grab a bag of precooked meat, add your additional ingredients and sides and have a meal in mere minutes. I love to line my crockpots along the counter, fill them with meats (chicken breasts, chuck roast, pork tenderloin, etc) and my favorite seasonings and let them slow cook. When they’re finished, I shred the meat, separate it into freezer bags, label it, and freeze it. Possible dinner ideas include tacos, chicken and rice, pasta with meat sauce, etc.

Buy the frozen and canned veggies and fruits. 

We love fresh produce but it doesn’t last long around here. Frozen and canned veggies and fruit are a great way to save money without losing the taste factor.

Overcook.

Don’t burn it. That’s not what I meant. 😉 Cook more than you need and freeze leftovers. I’m not a huge fan of frozen casseroles which is why I use this tip for meat only. But many of my friends find this a helpful cost-effective way to make mealtime simpler.

If possible, limit shopping to once or twice a month. 

If this isn’t possible for your family, consider saving your shopping sprees for discount stores and sticking to a menu. I’ve found by shopping weekly or spur-of-the-moment because I’ve forgotten an item leads to overspending. So when you can–plan.

Everybody do your share.

Now that our kids are a little older, we enforce the “everybody clean-up” rule. From clearing the table to washing dishes or sweeping the floor, there’s a job for everyone. No one wants to spend forever in the kitchen cleaning up and this is a great way to instill a sense of team-building in your family.

I hope these tips are helpful to you! One thing I’ve learned is that what works well for one family doesn’t always work great for another. If you have tips to save time in the kitchen, I’d love to hear them!

💙,

Amanda

If you’re new to The Farm Wyfe blog, thanks for being here! I love sharing about my faith, my family, and what I’ve been learning from Scripture. If you’re wanting to learn more about the Bible but unsure where to start, I’ve created a Facebook group called Nourish. We study God’s word together through weekly readings, live videos, and inspirational posts throughout the week. I’d love for you to join us!