Help me! Joel and I (for our wallets and our closets) are trying to eat out WAY less, and eat at home way more. But somewhere along the way, I kind of lost the "weeknight dinner" and if I'm not making something big or elaborate then I feel like I'm cheating or something? I don't know.

Anyway, I'm trying to re-discover weeknight dinners and make them relatively healthy. I'm totally not opposed to frozen food and whatever. I just need ideas! What do you eat on weeknights?

Some examples of what I have been making lately are like baked spaghetti (sometimes with trader joes breaded chicken nuggets baked in), tortellini alfredo or with pesto, breaded chicken salad, tacos.

Bumping!

Since having Bailey and going back to work full time at the beginning of July, I have been struggling to do all the house wife chores. I breastfed, so daddy feeding is rare at the moment. (exclusively breastfeeding until six months. 10/18/15), I try to stay on top of cooking and cleaning, but lets face it, more often than not I have a hubby asking where his work shirts are and they are either a) still in the washer, stinking it up or b) in the dryer which may or may not have been turned on c) wherever he decided to leave then when he took them off. My idea of cooking here lately has been: Here's my card, go buy something. bring me back something I can eat in two swallows so the baby won't cry (she smells food, she knows we are eating I swear and decides to cry everytime) and eat between back to back calls.

I'm trying to break this habit. I gained 30lbs when I was pregnant and was blessed enough to loose all that PLUS twenty after she was born. At this rate though, it's going to come back. So I've been looking into freezer meals and freezer crockpot meals. You don't cook these meals before you freeze them though. When I get online for work tonight (8pm est) I'll share some of the blogs I've been actively following.

For my family - We make a variety of meals; to spice things up from time to time we'll do what we call "World Weekend Dinner", which is where we find a recipe to try from another area. We've made quite a lot of dishes and many are quite cheap, healthy and last for up to 2 - 5 days too! (Money saver hint) So there's an idea!

Another thing you could do is on certain weeknights, you can do a "mock-up" of your fave restaurant meals. There are many people who make a cheap replicate of restaurant foods on Pinterest, so you could always do that if you're truly craving something but not break the bank too.

These are what I do, but hopefully they're a help! :)

I usually get new food ideas from pintrest and I've found plenty of good ones just haven't gotten around to trying them all yet :D  

Last week we had Grands Unsloppy Joes and they were soooo good and really easy to make.

http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/grands-unsloppy-joes/3203cf0c-74bb-4e68-a038-2a43eae76087?crlt.pid=camp.MoT4m9cpnesO

These are also very good: 

http://jamiecooksitup.net/2011/10/crispy-cheddar-chicken/

http://www.mychocolatetherapy.com/2012/01/crockpot-chicken-tacos.html

Crock pot meals are always a life saver.  I am a big fan of set it and forget it!  Here are some of my favorites!

1. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/taco-soup-recipe.html

2. This is hands down the best roast seasoning.
 
Throw in the roast, baby carrots, chopped celery & onion, and some potatoes (I actually prefer sweet potatoes nom!).  Cook it on low for 8 hours and bam!  DINNER!

3. http://www.food.com/recipe/crock-pot-chicken-fajitas-308987

Number 2 is the one I make the most as it's the easiest, but they are all good!

chili spaghetti is super easy to make!

probably not on the healthier side, unless theres a healthy chili out there?

we just use hormel....

breakfast for dinner is always yummy too!!!

I don't have a "family" (husband/kids), it's just me. Also, I'm very lazy and hate cooking, especially after working all day. So what I've done is make 3-4 casseroles on the weekend and freeze/refrigerate them. This way, I've made my own food, and I don't have to cook anything on the weekdays. As I said, I'm lazy and don't like to cook so I try my hardest to find the simplest, easiest recipes I can. Pinterest is really nice for this and I think I've posted a couple favorites in the "internet recipes" thread. Also, Crockpot/slow cooker meals are nice and you can freeze them until you're ready to eat as well.

If I don't feel like eating casserole for 3 nights in a row, I'll make chicken, pasta, or rice. These 3 are cheap and can be prepared as simple or complex as you want to make them. Sometimes (when I'm at my tiredest) I'll make pasta with olive oil, salt, and pepper on the other end of the spectrum I'll make pasta, mixed with broccoli, chicken, and basil pesto sauce. 

My mom gave me a cookbook called "Ten Dollar Dinners" by Melissa D'Arabian. It's a great cookbook for young adults, or families who don't want to spend a lot on food but want to make nice meals. A lot of websites/blogs say they can help with cheap meals and meal planning but this book is really the best I've come across. The author gives a grocery list, tips on how to get food at a discount in groceries (even meat), and how to make ingredients last (I've learned you can freeze just about everything). The recipes are quite simple for what you're making also. I highly recommend getting this book! 

Also, to help with not "fading" out of your homecooked meals, I would suggest making a weekly meal schedule. You could even dedicate 1 day per week to being your "take-out" day. 

I know my diet is really simple but I hope this gives you some ideas!

I'm with tron - the crockpot is the love of my life.
With two jobs grad school, the only time I have to cook is in the morning when I'm making my breakfast and lunch really quick, and at midnight when I'm too tired to cook and its just too easy to drive thru taco bell on the way home.
Crockpot pork, chicken, beef, with microwavable sides like veggies, rice and veggies (birdseye steam fresh has some good stuff), and potatoes (kirkland and hormel have good versions of various sides) are always good.
Crock pot stews and soups are awesome too. Those seasoning pouches for the crock pot are awesome - the hawaiin bbq by campbells is my favorite. 
Pasta bakes in a big pan are good too - pasta is one of those things I think taste good reheated, and with a box of pasta being like $1.50, sauce like $4.00 max and cheese like $3.00 max, $8.50 for a few days of dinners ain't bad.

Oh yeah!  The Birds Eye Steamfresh are life savers!  I always have a side, and it's just 5 minutes in the microwave!

I am not very talented in the kitchen at all and I'm also a picky eater so maybe my list will be helpful as all these things are super simple to make. (note that I eat massive amounts of chicken haha)

Main dishes: Meatloaf, Meatloaf muffins, Spaghetti, Chicken alfredo, shrimp alfredo,lemon-pepper chicken, lasanga, hamburgers, sloppy joe/manwhich, chicken salad, chicken and rice casserole, tator toe casserole, shepherds pie (ish) casserole, rice with crab meat chicken, mushrooms and BBQ sauce, baked potatoes, ham&bean soup, frozen chicken patties (I basically live off these lolz), tri color pasta salad, waffles, omlets, mini pigs-in-a-blanket, 

Sides: ginger sugar snap peas, mashed potatoes, frozen french fries, green beans, creamy peas&potatoes, herb roasted cauliflower, frozen texas toast garlic bread!, corn on the cob, diced potaoes with peppers, scalloped potatoes.

I second the weekly meal plan idea.  I tried it for awhile before we moved and it really helped us spend less money eating out and at the grocery store. I also had a lot of fun looking up new recipies on the interwebs. Pinterest is super inspiring for food related things. :)

Freezer meals! Get all your cooking done ahead of time. There's tons of freezer friendly meal ideas on Pinterest.

Since Jimmy's on an opposite schedule than Cora and I, I tend to do simple since he likely doesn't eat before he leaves for work or doesn't take anything to work to eat later. Meat, veggie, maybe rice, potatoes, or sweet potatoes.

I've been living on pasta. Seriously. 

- 1 box pasta

- 1 package sausage (sliced) or 1 lb cubed chicken breast

- 1-2 bags whatever frozen veggies. Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, peas, whatever I grab first.

- 1 jar of sauce.

- Enough garlic salt to cover up how much of a mistake this is.

Slop all that together and call it a night

OR!!! We go Indian.

- 1 jar of that Patak Indian Simmer Sauce, the Target offbrand, whatever. Usually Butter Chicken, Chicken Korma, or Ginger curry.

- 1 lb cubed chicken breast

- "eh that looks like enough rice" in the rice cooker.

- 1 bag frozen cauliflower

- 1 bag frozen peas

You know what else is good? Just plain ol' tacos. I think I need me some tacos.

Link Tree

Thanks so much for the responses everyone! :). I think I have quite a few more ideas now! But keep them coming if you have more! Haha :P.