Even if you're not heading back to school, you maybe entering a busier season of your life! Consider how the many back-to-school tips can benefit you. 

​When After School Activities Throw Off Mealtimes
The new school year is fast approaching and now is the time to plan for how best to manage busy afternoon and evening schedules. A little planning can go a long way in saving time, energy, and money throughout the week. Leveraging cooking appliances such as a slow cooker or Instapot can help you deliver one meal at varying times throughout the evening. We like this BBQ Chicken Recipe from Budget Bytes. Double batch cooking promotes efficiency of time. Making two of whatever you are cooking means you can freeze an entire meal for an alternative week. There are many websites that offer recipe adjustment tools alongside the cooking instructions that make it easy to double or even triple recipes. Whisk.com, for instance, allows you to scale up or down recipes with their recipe converter. Meal prepping on weekends can be planned out more specifically for solo dinners. Try making batches of things like rice and taco meat to then freeze in individual portioned bags. This ensures precooked, yet healthy options are available at any time.
 
Embrace Frozen Fruits and Vegetables
Frozen produce can be just as nutritious as its fresh counterparts. When choosing frozen fruits and vegetables, stick mostly with options that are natural and have the fewest ingredients. Because frozen fruits and vegetables can be bought in bulk, do not go bad as quickly, and are precut or proportioned, their benefits extend beyond just nutrition. Advantages of frozen produce include being budget friendly, reducing food waste, and cutting down on meal prep.
 
Consider a meal planning service, such as the one we offer that boasts 2 breakfast, 2 lunch and 4 dinner options with a coinciding grocery list. It will cut down some of the planning and work needed to get more home cooked meals on the table.  
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DIY Lunchbox Pizza
Make this favorite mini pizza option for your kids’ next lunch. This recipe can easily be adjusted depending upon your child’s growing needs. There's no reason why this can't be a grown up lunch as well. 
 
Ingredients:
1 Flatbread or whole wheat pita
3-4 Tablespoons pizza or marinara sauce
3-4 Tablespoons shredded mozzarella cheese
5-10 Turkey pepperoni rounds
*Lunch box with individual containers with lids is required.
 
Get one flatbread or whole wheat pita. Use a 3-inch circle cookie cutter to cut 4-6 rounds out of the bread. Tip: You can use the leftover bread pieces as breadcrumbs by finely chopping, pulsing in a food processor, or grinding in a nutribullet.
 
Places each portioned items into its own container and pack into lunch box with ice pack. Tip: Try this on the weekend so your kids feel confident assembling the lunch!

​The grocery store frozen section is wildly underrated. This is especially the case as food producers are heeding consumers’ demands of healthier on-the-go options. Compared to years ago, both food product and packaging boast better-for-you materials and ingredients. Single serving and resealable packages are standard offerings as well, making cooking for one or many easier. When shopping for bagged vegetables, grains, and protein blends, consider choosing those options with whole ingredients and little else. You can add your own seasonings for a boost of flavoring while maintaining the integrity of your healthy choice. If you’re looking for entrées, again, seek those that offer whole ingredients and lower sodium content. Some studies show that frozen foods can boast even more nutrients than their fresh counterparts. This is due to the ability to lock in both nutrients and flavor by picking foods at their peak ripeness and freezing shortly thereafter.