 Hey guys, welcome back to my channel and welcome to a meal prep I know it has been a while since I have put up a meal prep, but I'm getting back into the swing of things I mentioned that over on Instagram this past week that I'm just really looking forward to Making meal preps again. I got away from doing it and it's definitely made Meal planning and making sure we get meals on time in our house a little more difficult So I want to get in this routine again, and I'm excited for the recipes I have for you I have a lot of budget friendly recipes and tips and tricks for you all So I'll be sharing those throughout this video So the first thing I'm making is some baked oatmeal The recipe will be linked below along with any other recipes that I can link They will be in the description box and I have fell in love with canning my berries, so blueberries and raspberries and Strawberries and some people ask me isn't that a little more difficult to work with than frozen berries? But I just find they don't have that freezer taste and they have a more pure taste when it comes to Canning the berries so what I like to do is I actually find these on sale So whenever I see blueberries raspberries strawberries on sale I will get a bunch and I will can them up so this past March I was at a discount grocery store and they had them for a dollar a pack So that is where these berries came from so of course very budget friendly and you're going to see me also using Some canned butter here. Yes, you heard me right canned butter If you look it up here on YouTube, you will find a lot of people that have been doing it for many many years this is my first year of doing it and From what I understand from a lot of older people that have been doing it for a long time It lasts on the shelf for about five years when you pressure can it and that is what I did and one thing That's really convenient about canned butter is it's already softened So when you go to do baking like I'm doing here, it's soft and ready to go So the recipe for this baked oatmeal calls for one cup of milk in place of that milk I'm actually using the juice from my canned berries So this is the blueberry batch here. You're seeing me mix up and this just created a fantastic flavor in This baked oatmeal and I was really really happy with it and then for the fruit because the recipe Just called for a few different types of fruit. I just went ahead and added three fourth cup of whichever Canned fruit I'm using here. So here's the blueberries I just added three fourth cup and the consistency and the texture of the baked oatmeal came out Perfectly like this so I made sure to whip it all together really well and get those berries Smashed kind of throughout the batter and then here I'm using my oil dropper I will try to remember to link that below because I get questions for that link every video I put up I love it because it eliminates needing to have any spray oils on hand and you can put whatever type of oil You want to use I often use avocado oil when it comes to baking like this So this recipe is for a square baking dish you could obviously double it and probably put it in a cookie sheet or something like that and When it comes to canned Berries I'm gonna keep going back to that because this is such a huge money saver When you can get them on sale like I did and find them for only a dollar a pack Especially when they're either in the height of season or there's just a big sale going on But I love using this juice for all kinds of things We also use it in my homemade yogurt, which I'm going to be showing you all how I make that with powdered milk because in some areas powdered milk is less expensive than regular milk and it still makes Fantastic yogurt, but those can berries work really great in powdered milk and then of course to save some money on my oats I tend to buy those in a 50 pound bag Or a 25 pound bag and they are usually half the price per pound than a smaller bag So while those were baking in the oven I started to peel up some Sweet potatoes and speaking of 50 pound bags I Generally buy our potatoes or sweet potatoes in a 50 pound bag at a time And I keep them in our basement in a cool area in crates off the floor And they hold up pretty well and if I start to see that they're you know aging a little bit Or they're not going to hold up much longer. I will go ahead and can them up We really like canned potatoes or you can shred them and dehydrate them You know if it's a white potato you can use that as a hash brown or you can freeze hash browns as well So there's different ways to preserve the food even if you buy it in bulk and you end up Not being able to use all of it fresh That's what I'm here for as a resource to help you all Learn how to preserve food and to buy them in bulk so that it's a little more budget-friendly Helps our pocket books out so along with this sweet potato. I'm doing a onion I love sweet potatoes like this. I can eat. Oh my goodness half a cookie sheet of sweet potatoes like this They are just so delicious. So I dice them up in nice really small. I would say cubes and Then I put them on the cookie sheet and I like my silicone mat here from Amazon that saves me a lot on having to buy a whole lot of parchment paper and It just helps my pan hold up a bit better and helps the food not stick So I put that on part of my pan here and then on the other Little sliver on the end of the cookie sheet. I'm also doing some Brussels sprouts and I'm kind of making them up the same way just putting the avocado oil on them putting them in the Pan and I get my avocado oil at Sam's Club or Costco My mom has a membership to both so we make pretty consistent trips there So that's a place I can buy it in bulk and one seasoning We've been loving on potatoes is this potato slayer seasoning I will try to find the link for it below, but it makes any potato taste so delicious And it may sound funny But this cherry cola seasoning is really really yummy on chicken and other things And I always find that Brussels sprouts are really yummy with a sweet hint to them And since that cherry cola seasoning has a little bit of a sweet hint I figured it would be delicious on there and then to add in a protein I went ahead and did some turkey sausage Just sliced up and put that over top of the sweet potato and then popped it in the oven And I baked this at 350 until the potatoes were Soft so that the Brussels sprouts wouldn't burn if it was a little bit hotter The Brussels sprouts may burn before the sweet potatoes are done and here you're seeing the end result of The baked oatmeal and it just really turned out so delicious So while that sheet pan meal was in the oven I went ahead and put a pound of burger into the frying pan And this meal actually we were eating for dinner on this night And that is some cheesy Ancholadas and then I'm also making a southwest salad to go along with this This is a great meal because it only uses one pound of burger Which is very helpful whenever you've got a family to feed and maybe don't have a lot of meat on hand It's just a way to make the burger stretch. I feel like a lot of Mexican inspired meals often helps your meat stretch whether it's tacos or anything like that It's a good way to be able to feed a lot of people with not too much meat because you've got the beans as another Protein and that sort of thing so while the meat was frying up I started in on the cheese sauce and I did add a packet of taco seasoning to the meat You could also just do some chili powder cumin and garlic powder Those are the main things in taco seasoning, but I had that packet on hand So I decided to go ahead and use it up in this and then in the cheese sauce It has some white flour. It has butter and I pulled some butter out of the freezer for this and I also added in some shredded cheddar cheese and you can use different types of cheese in this as well and Then I put about two cups of milk in there and then once you've got all of that going on with some Seasoning from salt and pepper and I think I did some garlic powder in this as well You get a thick consistency once you've cooked it up for a while you get a nice cheesy creamy sauce that is thick and delicious Okay, so while those things were cooking the sauce was getting thicker the meat was getting cooked up I wanted to make a homemade Southwest ranch to go along with our salad and this dressing recipe was really delicious I did take out a few of the spicier components. I didn't put any jalapeno in it just because I knew my daughters Wouldn't be able to handle that with their salad So I just kind of reeled back on that and adjusted the seasonings a bit I will leave the recipe link for this dressing below Just because I think it's a really good base even if you don't do all the seasonings Exactly the same as the recipe. It's a good way to start out and be able to whip up a good homemade Southwest ranch, so now I am taking the meat and I'm putting it in to the Wraps the tortillas and then all you need to do is drizzle that good cheesy sauce Over top of them and bake them up and they're that simple to make I feel like it's a quick easy dinner and everyone really loves it because who doesn't love anything that's super cheesy I do share dairy-free recipes around here, but I'm the one that mainly eats dairy-free in our house or for the most part So everyone else could really enjoy this and then for the salad I chopped up some bell pepper to give a nice crunch in there. I did some whole Current whole corn kernels if I can say that right just to give that nice pop of juiciness and I did cut up some Small tomatoes that I had on hand left over from something else I decided to go ahead and use them up in this and then I added in the black beans And then I used some green onion green onion has been my favorite thing lately You're probably going to see me using it a lot It's just an inexpensive way to add a lot of flavor to a dish Alright, so I'm going to make up a few single-serve meals I show you all a lot of family meals and things like that But if you all watch my channel regularly, you know in my last update video I talked with you about the fact that I've been facing a few health Challenges and just needing to eat better for myself So in the process of that I also need to be prepared for myself So I'm starting a few things on the stove for those single-serve meals which you all will see in a moment, but Back to the budget thought and keeping things at a good price I had this huge loaf of sourdough bread that was on its last leg I knew if I didn't do something with it soon It was going to go bad So I went ahead and just grabbed some ham and cheese and made these nice ready to go Ham and cheese melts all we have to do is pull them out of the freezer in the morning And we can have them on the griddle by lunch and Warm heat them up toast them and then have them with some tomato soup and it's a quick simple lunch Okay, so back to the single-serve meals I'm going to be doing a pork fried rice as you can see in this pan This is so Delicious, I actually as I'm doing this voiceover had this today for lunch and wow it is yummy So I'm going to be keeping this on my list to make again so basically I'm using some cauliflower rice with some pork and Again back to the budget friendly ideas you all remember a Few weeks ago. I canned up some peppers and onions and I told you how I got them For an absolute steal at a discount grocery store. I think they were A couple peppers for a dollar or something like that just really good price And so having these peppers and onions canned up and on hand are so easy to throw into something like this You're going to see me pulling them out of the jar here in a minute After i'm adding in my seasonings I kind of waited till last minute since the peppers and onions were cooked already And I just chopped them up and throw them right in With this fried rice and then in the other pot I'm actually going to be making a bacon ramen with some zucchini noodles Again a really healthy yummy fulfilling soup that is so delicious to finish off the fried pork fried rice Um, I added two scrambled eggs in and then just kind of let those eggs cook up with the last little bit of everything And then I added those chopped peppers and onions in So back to the bacon ramen. I fried up the bacon first until it was pretty crispy And then I got out my zucchini noodle maker or zoodle maker. This is from amazon I will leave it linked below. It's one of my favorite kitchen gadgets And you can even put other things like apples and other types of fruits and veggies through this thing And it's got different sizes that you can do But it just makes zucchini noodles really quickly and it suction cups to my countertop So it's not going to slide anywhere while you're cranking those zucchini noodles through So once the bacon was pretty crispy, I pulled it off and put it on a paper towel And then I added in the zucchini noodles to kind of saute them In that bacon drippings and oh how delicious this soup is I've made this for quite some time And I always go back to it just because it's so fulfilling and yummy So now I'm pulling out my favorite meal prep containers. I've been using these for a while They do really good on the top rack of my dishwasher and They just do well heating up in the microwave. If that's how you want to heat your food So I divided the pork fried rice out into those And then I put some radishes on the stove in a saucepan to boil because we are also going to be making some smashed Radishes, so it's a little bit like when you smash those red potatoes the small red potatoes and you put some cheese on top That's what we're going to mimic here. But without the Sugar content of the potatoes because I have to eat a low sugar diet with some of what I have going on with my health And so it's just a good way to mimic that and create something that's a little bit like that So I went ahead and you want to get those boiling those radishes because you want them soft enough to smash Before putting them in the oven, which we'll get to in a minute So here I am working on the bacon ramen I'm using some of my homemade chicken broth, which is actually chicken bone broth because Of how long I cooked the broth so that adds another warm good healthful part to this ramen And oh, it's just I can't even get I can't explain how delicious it is And here I am shredding up some Parmesan and that's what we're going to use on those smashed radishes So to go along with the meal with the radishes and I'm going to be making some sausage here in a bit I'm also making a maple I'm trying to recall the name the full name of it I think it was a maple broccoli slaw is what I want to say So here I'm mixing up the dressing which was very very simple I had a lot of great components in it and then the broccoli slaw and some sliced almonds I kind of wanted this to sit on the counter and marinate a bit together before I divvied it out So I got that mixed up and had that set aside before I put everything into individual containers So here my radishes are done And I'm just taking the bottom of a jar and going through and smashing them out And these are fun. They do not taste like potatoes. So I will tell you that if you're looking to try it They have their own type of flavor. It's not a potato flavor Even though they look an awful lot like Those small red potatoes. So once they're smashed out I went ahead and drizzled them with some extra virgin olive oil Just to kind of help crisp them up a bit in the oven And then I added some salt and then I topped it with the Parmesan cheese And I baked these in the oven. I think around 20 minutes at 400 And then right at the end I actually turned my broiler on and really crisped up The cheese, which you'll see once I pull them out of the oven All right, so like I said with the radish meal We're going to be making some brats some sausages And these are just an easy protein to throw together sometimes if I'm short on time And since I had a good amount of stuff to prep this day, I decided to go ahead and do that So I got those frying and then I divvied out my Ramen into these containers that I found on amazon. They come in a couple different sizes. This is the pint Size but they do have a quart size and a one cup size and I have all of them And they're just nice for prepping things like this or for putting things in the freezer They also work for things in the freezer as well So here you're seeing the end result of the smash radishes. They are look so great I love how crunchy and all of that the cheese gets whenever it melts over it So here I am divvying out the broccoli slaw and it was for six servings So I went ahead and just made up two other servings that I can put in my husband's lunch This week and then I put the smashed radishes in there as well And then I took the sausages and went ahead and just chopped them into bite-sized pieces I thought it might just be a bit more convenient when I'm pulling these out for lunch To have them all ready to go and I don't need anything extra. I can just eat it all with a fork And then to top off the broccoli slaw I also added a few more slivered almonds and then I put some sesame seeds over the top as well So here you have it all of the single serve Things that I prepared for myself this week that I'll be able to grab and eat Quickly warm up. I'm a busy mama got a lot on the go Between youtube and homeschooling and all these things So just to be able to keep my health in check and keep myself on track This is my way of doing that right now So now i'm cutting the baked oatmeal and I just cut this into nine servings and then put them into bags I am putting these bags in my refrigerator right now just because the girls will eat some of it over the next couple of days And then I might condense it to one bag and put that into the freezer And the nice thing about freezing these flat like this is they're very simple to pull out one portion at a time And warm them up for breakfast. Um, it just makes it easier And it doesn't all freeze together in one big block. So thanks a lot for watching today guys I hope this video inspired you I hope that you're here for the meal preps especially going in To the after holiday season looking for easy budget friendly healthy meals And if you're new here, definitely hit that subscribe button hit that bell Um, give this video like leave me a comment below and I will see you all in my next video