When You Don’t Think You Have Time to Make Supper

When you need to eat at home (and it’s the best place for so many reasons), what are some menu options that are fast, nourishing and delicious? I’m going to share a few of my go-to ideas for supper on busy days/weeks.

Cold pasta salads are a perfect quick supper. Even if you don’t have time to refrigerate the pasta, after it’s cooked, simply run it under cold water. Be sure to use noodles that cook up quickly like orzo, or angel hair.

To the cold pasta, add whatever veggies you like. My go-to’s for this kind of salad are tomatoes, cucumbers, red and yellow peppers and red onion. I add a bottled light Italian Dressing. Then to make this a main course dish, add some protein. I love purchasing a rotisserie chicken from Sam’s and keeping cubed chicken breast in the freezer for recipes like this one. Another option would be pre-cooked, frozen shrimp. It thaws quickly under cold water. Serve this with some toasted French Bread. This could be put together in about 20 minutes!

Sheet Pan Dinners can be make in a hurry if you cut the meat into small pieces. The Sheet pan I shared here has no meat; the protein is Chick peas. They turn crispy and delicious in the oven. We loved this recipe, but I also have a couple other options.

Bake up smaller versions. We love meatloaf, but they require about an hour to bake. However, if you shape your meatloaf mixture into individual portion sizes and place them in muffin tins, they can bake up in about 30 minutes.
Another idea of an individual serving meal are these Barbecue Cups. These are kid-friendly, too!

“Grilled” Chicken Tenderloins cook up quickly, and this copycat recipe like those from Cracker Barrel only has a few ingredients, but it does need to soak up the marinade, so you need to at least do this a couple hours before suppertime. Doing this step the night before makes this recipe a breeze.

Planning a little ahead of time makes all of this easier, so just knowing what you’re going to make through the week and having these ingredients on hand in the freezer or pantry can help you to not stand in front of the fridge and ask yourself, “What can I fix in a hurry for supper tonight?”

What ARE you making for supper this evening?

Refresh those busy nights with these tips!