Feeding my family on a budget

During the summer time, when both my girls are home from preschool. I find it hard to cook. Also, having a 5 month old makes it challenging to find time!

So, this is what I have found to work for our family. Once a week I cook one large amount of food and split it 5 ways for 5 different meal times. Casseroles tend to work the best for this kind of cooking but you could also do differently. We will usually eat two of this meal that same week, the do other quick things the rest of the week. so i save different meals in my freezer and they are not all the same.

Example meal:
This is my 3 B's cassarole: Beef, Beets, and Beans
Recipe below

ingredients:

2 box's spiral noodles
1 bag of Mozzarella cheese 16oz.
3 whole beets (peeled with a potato peeler, sliced bite size)
3 Zucchinis ( sliced bite size)
1-2 tablespoons of oil ( i use grape seed oil from Costco)
1 pound of ground beef
1 onion ( diced)
14.5 oz. can of chili beans  ( i like the westrae natural)
14.5 oz can tomato sause
28oz. can fire roasted crushed tomato's  (i prefer the Muir glen brand BPA free lining can)

Preparation:
Using a large pan, saute your ground beef and onions, when cooked through(pour meat into your 5 set out glass baking pans 8x8, 9x13, or whatever size pan that will feed your family, if you use bigger pans you might only have enough for 3 meals, i use 8x8 pans) next add in your beets,and zucchini, and oil. saute veggies 8-10 Min's (depending on how soft you like them) while veggies are cooking cook the pasta noodles to recommendation on box. add noodles to your 5 dish pans. then once veggies are done add in your tomato's stir until bubbling. then add veggies to  5 dish pans. top with mozzarella. once pans have had time to cool down cover each pan with freezer wrap, place 4 in freezer, one in oven covered with foil 30 minutes at 350 oven. final 5 minutes remove cover.
Enjoy!
Next week i will be talking about how i have snack foods for my kiddos and what snack items we do. because who could'nt live without snacks for young kiddos ;)