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Meal planning is key for our family. Neither my husband nor I like cooking so I get all the prep work done on Sundays to make the week less stressful. Having good food storage to keep our food safe until the end of the week is crucial and Rubbermaid® has the best! I’ll show how I do meal planning, grocery shopping and Sunday food prep in a short amount of time leaving more time for dance class and playing games with our family on school nights. Here are 3 tips to simplifying meals in your life.

3 Tips to Simplifying Meals

1. Meal plan.

Saturday morning is the best time to meal plan for our family. Once I eat breakfast I am able to meal plan based on healthy choices rather than cravings. I often have several staple meals we rotate through the weeks. Making one new recipe is always on my agenda so I’ll hop on Pinterest and choose one of the 1000 I’ve saved. I send an email to myself and my husband with our dinner menu for each day and write it on the calendar hanging in the kitchen. Having the meal plan makes the dreaded ‘what do you want for dinner’ conversation non-existent. The meal plan also helps us stay in budget. If we choose to have a more expensive cut of meat one night, we’ll know we need to have a lentil type meal another night.

2. One Day Stop.

We’re lucky to have most local grocers have online ordering. I add all the ingredients to the shopping cart right after I make the meal plan. Scheduling the grocery pick up first thing on Sunday morning gives me an excuse to get outside early and have plenty of time for food prep. Shopping online also makes the dreaded ‘don’t push the cart into that lady’ conversation with your toddler non-existent.

3. Sunday Food Prep.

This is the step that has made all the difference in our family. We’ve done meal planning and online shopping for a year but would still say ‘eh, I don’t want X tonight, let’s just order pizza.’ On Sundays, before putting the groceries away, I leave out everything that can be chopped or cooked quickly. All fruits and veggies are chopped and placed front and center of our fridge to make sure those are the foods we’re reaching for when hungry. We always put eggs on to hard boil while I cook breakfast sausages for the week. I’ll soak dried beans or cook noodles knowing that they re-heat well. To make sure our prepped food is still fresh by Friday I use Rubbermaid® Brilliance™ Food Storage. On nights we have dance class or a fun night out, I’ll use pre-boiled noodles, cookie kielbasa sausage and throw on some Bertolli® Tomato Basil red sauce. One of my favorite things with the Rubbermaid® Brilliance™ Food Storage is that it doesn’t stain with red sauce!

I’d mentioned using several recipes that rotate through the weeks. Recipes that I know my family will eat and not cost a fortune. Some of our favorites are Quinoa Enchilada Bake, Taco Night and Salmon with Steamed Broccoli. Our newest favorite is our ‘cheat’ meal for the week because it is not healthy. It is fast and easy to make and re-heats well in my Rubbermaid® Brilliance™ Food Storage.

Cheesy Shrimp Ravioli

Ingredients:
1 package of frozen cheese ravioli
1 lb fresh raw shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1 T blackened seasoning
1 T fresh thyme leaves
3 T olive oil
1 jar Bertolli® Alfredo Sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Chopped green onions for garnish (optional)

Instructions:
Boil frozen cheese ravioli according to package directions and drain. Season shrimp on both sides with blackened seasoning and fresh thyme. In a heavy saucepan, heat the olive oil on medium-high heat and sear the shrimp on each side for 3 minutes, making sure to fully cook. Remove the shrimp from the pan and add the alfredo sauce to deglaze the pan. Stir the sauce while heating and once the seasonings have been incorporated into the sauce, add the ravioli and gently stir to coat them. Place the ravioli on a plate and top with seared shrimp. Garnish with green onions and serve with slices of french bread.

Before you make this recipe, you can use this code from the Ibotta App for $0.75 off any selection of Bertolli® sauce to make your own Cheesy Shrimp Ravioli. That code is also good for $5 off Rubbermaid® Brilliance™ leak proof 10-piece set or $2.00 off a single Rubbermaid Brilliance container at Walmart. Check the Rubbermaid® Brilliance™ hub for more features on how food storage is at a new level. What do you do to make meal planning easier for your busy family? I’d love to know your favorite staples for dinner that are quick and easy!