Benable — create shareable lists of things you recommend!
E.g., products you love, local businesses, travel recs - you can add anything to a Benable list!
Actually Simple and Tasty Weeknight Meals
13
items I’m sorry, Barefoot Contessa, but store bought will have to do for these.
Any time the recipe doesn’t require fresh onions, I’m cooking from frozen. Same for a cube of frozen garlic or ginger. Sometimes I freeze them myself, basically making me a #t...
Sections
2
Budget Bytes
Everyone Else
Budget Bytes
The holy grail of budget friendly and delicious meals. This website has been my go-to since about 2012 when I was a newlywed whose debit card got declined at more than one grocery store.
We call this “pinto bean mush.” I use frozen diced onion or frozen onion/bell pepper mix to jazz it up and serve over rice. Also good as a burrito or on top of tortilla chips. I always have the basic ingredients for this on hand.
Cheesy Pinto Beans
My preschooler calls these “poky pine meat balls.” Looks a little weird, but a great way to stretch out an inexpensive protein.
Porcupine Meatballs
Once I added too much spice and threw in a couple of frozen hash brown patties to tame it. That worked! I don’t really add anything spicy to this when my kids are having it, too.
Crockpot White Chicken Chili
I skip the cayenne due to little kids. Haven’t purchased a seasoning packet in about a decade. I could make this in my sleep.
Homemade Taco Seasoning
I’m usually too scared of poisoning everyone to cook chicken in a skillet - and I have been cooking most meals at home for like 13 years. This one is always good, though.
Easy Lemon Pepper Chicken
My original struggle meal. Now it’s more of a mental crash out than financial. Even my preschooler loves this. You can church it up (lemon zest, chicken sausage, etc) but it’s good the way it is.
Bowties and Broccoli - Fast, Easy, Deliciuos
The original exotic struggle meal from my newlywed days. My kids won’t eat this, so we haven’t had it in forever, but if you have chickpeas on hand you probably have everything you need to make it in your kitchen.
God bless the chickpea.
Curried Chickpeas with Spinach
Butter noodles that went to college and did a 2 week study abroad. But absolutely won’t make you feel like you ate boxed ramen.
Sesame Noodles with Wilted Greens
Everyone Else
I’ll either buy stew meat or get a larger roast on sale and shred it after cooking. This gets so many compliments!
Beef Stew
These are a lot taller than normal pancakes, and if I’m honest I like normal pancakes more. BUT. This is about 7 active minutes and you’ll get a lot of pancakes. We almost exclusively do chocolate chips in ours. Breakfast for dinner for life.
Sheet PANcakes - Naptime Kitchen
As written, this sort of takes forever. I reccomend making the sauce (easy, fast) and making chicken however you want with like 2 of the veggies if you’re in a hurry. If you have time to cut everything ahead of time this becomes a lot more manageable...
Hibachi Style Chicken with Magic Mustard Sauce - The Defined Dish
If you use frozen chopped onion and whatever pasta you’ve got lying around, this isn’t hard to make at all. I am annoying and shred cheese from a block - once you go block you never keep pre shredded in stock (is this an ok joke to make??).
One tim...
One-Pot Hamburger Helper - The Defined Dish - Recipes
I also make this with chicken thighs depending on what was on sale. First night you do the meat as a main with mashed potatoes (instant if you’re a health nut) and a veggie. Store leftovers with enough juices to cover the meat. Second day, warm up me...
Mississippi Pot Roast