Have you ever had a week where every day just started off a bit challenged? Ummm…you’re a mom, right? So…yes. For me, those challenging days happen when I wake up later than normal, we forget to run the dishwasher the night before, or one of the kiddos is moving as slow as molasses and screaming out irrational demands. Yeah..that kind of day. Or, taking a more positive spin, maybe I just decided to take a day and SLOW DOWN, rest on the couch with my little man while we watch a show, or ignore my to-do list while we have a puzzle marathon. Regardless of the cause, sometimes my unexpected days turn into my not executing on our meal plan as great as I would like. Whomp. Whomp. Sooo…I often rely on Plan B meals to help me get dinner on the table, even on the craziest of days.

FOR EXAMPLE: Tuesday’s dinner was supposed to be Sweet & Sour Chicken Thighs, but the morning got away from me and I didn’t make it to Fresh Market to actually PURCHASE the thighs. So, I flexed that evening and made Sweet & Sour Shrimp using frozen shrimp that I always keep on hand, pad thai noodles which cook in 3 minutes, some peppers we had in the fridge and a bag of steamable veggies. DONE. On days like that, I always remind myself of my meal planning mantra:

Today, I’m going to share my favorite Plan B meals–those meals that are super quick, easy to prep and cook AND whose ingredients I can easily keep on hand all the time. We use them when the day just doesn’t go as planned, we got home later than expected, or we didn’t actually BUY the ingredients that we intended to. You get it. And, truth be told–I fall back on at least one of these every week or two. It actually makes the day less stressful knowing that I have a great option even if my day goes to hell in a hand basket before noon.

3 ‘Plan B’ Meals

Sweet & Sour Shrimp

• Keep on hand:
  • Frozen, raw shrimp
  • Frozen red peppers or other frozen vegetables
  • One can of diced pineapple
  • Instant brown rice (or quinoa) or a quick cooking pasta like rice noodles
  • Sweet + Sour Sauce: If you don’t have the Wildtree Sweet and Sour Sauce, any Sweet + Sour sauce will do. Heck, any kind of sauce will do! A pesto, teriyaki, pad thai, or even a Mexican-inspired sauce like a mojo or chimichurri would be great. Just make sure you have that sauce on hand at all times.
• How to:
  • Step by easy step instructions: Sweet and Sour Shrimp

One Pot Chicken & Broccoli

• Keep on hand:
  • Pasta of some sort
  • Shredded, cooked chicken (either pulled from a rotisserie chicken or breasts cooked in oven/crock pot)–keep this in the freezer
  • Frozen broccoli or fresh spinach (we almost always have fresh spinach on hand)
  • Wildtree Alfredo Extraordinaire (or sub in a jarred or homemade alfredo sauce)
  • Milk & butter (for alfredo sauce)
• How to:
  • Put pasta on to cook.
  • Steam broccoli on stove or in microwave.
  • Heat frozen chicken in microwave or on stovetop. Add garlic grapeseed oil and Rancher Steak Rub to give a bit more flavor to it (or any oil and salt + pepper).
  • Drain pasta. While draining, make Alfredo Sauce in pan (or add sauce if using a pre-made one).
  • Add pasta, broccoli and chicken to pan. Mix well and top with parmesan, if you have some.

Quick Chicken Taco Night

• Keep on hand:
  • Shredded, cooked chicken (see above)
  • Flour/corn tortillas
  • Mexican inspired seasoning sauce–I love Wildtree Mojo Sauce & Marinade and Frontera makes super flavorful quick sauces, too.
  • Blacks beans and instant rice or quinoa (regular cooking brown rice is great, but keep quick-cooking rice on hand, so that in a pinch, you have options)
• How to:
  • Put rice on to cook.
  • On the stovetop, warm up chicken and add Mojo Sauce & Marinade.
  • Warm up black beans (can add some seasoning to those, as well).
  • Warm up tortillas & get any toppings you have out.
  • Serve tacos with a side of rice and beans (add a splash of oil and lime juice to the rice for a little kick of flavor).

So…add these ‘Keep on Hand’ items to your grocery list and, worst case, you have 3 meals already ready to go for next week! 🙂 What did I miss? Post your favorite go-to Plan B meal in the comments. 🙂