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!

​Try this delicious Greek salad for a fresh, in season and hydrating dish! Whip this up for your next backyard get-together and make extra to use for lunches throughout the week. Simply combine the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, oregano, mustard, salt, and pepper in a bowl, whisk, and pour over the other mixed ingredients!
 
Ingredients:
·       ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
·       3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
·       1 garlic clove, minced
·       ½ teaspoon dried oregano, more for sprinkling
·       ¼ teaspoon Dijon mustard
·       1 English cucumber, cut lengthwise, seeded, and sliced ¼-inch thick
·       1 green bell pepper, chopped into 1-inch pieces
·       2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
·       5 ounces feta cheese, cut into ½ inch cubes
·       ⅓ cup thinly sliced red onion
·       ⅓ cup pitted Kalamata olives
·       ⅓ cup fresh mint leaves
·       ¼ teaspoon sea salt
·       Freshly ground black pepper