7 Family Meals To-Go

Spring sports season has started. That means at minimum 3 days a week of taxi duty and up to 7 days for a few crazy weeks in April. All that driving and shuffling cuts into my cooking time and sit down family dinners. However, it does not mean multiple meals at Chick-Fil-A or pizza from Domino's. It also doesn't mean cold cut sandwiches every night for dinner. What it does mean is planning a creativity for us to have family picnic dinners while one child practices or competes.

When your family has some food sensitivities and a preferred way of eating that doesn't line up with conventional ways of eating meal planning sites become more frustrating than useful. I have to do the work to find meals that meet our needs on my own. I'm sharing what works for us during this busy season in hopes that others may get a break from the hassle of meal planning or the expense of fast-food multiple times a week.

Our diet limitations: (I hate that word. It is so loaded and makes it sound like the goal of our food choices is to lose weight. It is not. The word means habitual food choices.) 

• NO BEEF
• Wheat Free (not the same as gluten free) 
• Low Dairy
• Low Added Sugar
• Prioritizes Real Food

A full weeks worth of family meals to-go:

1. Hotdogs in Baked Beans
I put this meal fist to get it out of the way. It is the least healthy meal of the week. Reality is sometimes you just need quick affordable food the kids will eat.

Our Recipe:
One package of hot dogs.
1 large can of baked beans or 2 smaller cans.

1. Slice all the hotdogs into coins.
2. Mix in a pot with the beans until everything is warm. 
3. Pack in individual thermoses with utensils and a drink.
4. Run out the door.  

2. Taco Dip (meatless)
The Alpha worked with me to tweak this easy to-go dinner into one of their favorites. It started as a traditional layered taco dip and became a lighter one jar dinner hit.

Our Recipe:
1 15 oz. can black beans
1 TBSP taco seasoning (Use a store bought packet or make your own. We make our own. The packets, well. We don't like them.)
1 head shredded romaine lettuce
1 C plain Greek yogurt (Other options are straining regular plain yogurt or using sour cream.)
1 jar of salsa
1C shredded cheddar cheese
1 bag tortilla chips

1. Drain and rinse the black beans.
2. Mash beans with taco seasoning in large mixing bowl
3. shred lettuce and cheese - add to mixing bowl
4. dump in yogurt and salsa
5. mix all together
6. portion into wide mouth mason jars
7. grab a bag of tortilla chips and some napkins
8. Run out the door.

3. Chili (meatless)
 I make up some wheat free corn bread in our large cast iron skillet and slice it into pie wedges for portions. Doesn't take very long at all. You could also make corn muffins or corn bread over the weekend and freeze for when you need it. The chili is a little different every time I make it but always tasty. I dump whatever I want into our slow cooker in the morning and its ready for me to put into thermoses after school. Use whatever chili recipe your family likes. My kids prefer a meatless chili without corn.

4. Chicken and Rice
Another for the slow cooker! Toss in however many chicken breasts your family needs for a meal and your favorite seasonings and veggies. Shred the chicken and put over some brown or wild rice in a thermos for each member and hop on our the door.

5. Stew
I'm not going to call this meal meatless but it could be if you used a vegetable stock instead of chicken. I don't have a real recipe for our stew it is just hearty veggies, broth and sometimes a can of tomato sauce all put in the slow cooker in the morning to be wonderful smelling in the afternoon ready to be portioned into thermoses and paired with crackers or wheat free bread. Popular in our house right now is garbanzo bean flat bread and coconut bread.

6. Salad
Salads are generally appealing to my family with one exception, The Bird. She may not be a fan but she eats them anyway. I put the salad in wide mouth mason jars, bring along some crackers or wheat free bread, fruit for dessert and we're good. We make our own salad dressing and I keep that in a separate jar to serve when we get to where we are going. What is in our salads is determined by what produce I buy and what meats I have in the house that week. Often the salad is meatless. Most of the time they have a sprinkle of some kind of cheese.

7. Lentil Sloppy Joe
These could be healthier but I'm struggling to find a sloppy joe sauce recipe that is universally liked in our family. Until then I still use the canned sloppy joe sauce. I will find a recipe I like. I will. This is so easy. Lentils do not need to be soaked so they cook up quickly. Ooh! Inspiration! I wonder if I could do this with quinoa too? Once the lentils are done I drain them and mix with the sauce. Portion into thermoses, grab a bag of tortilla chips and carrot sticks and out we go.

Do you have any family favorite meals to-go? How do you manage meals during the busy seasons? Do you have a real food sloppy joe sauce recipe?

Keep chasing perfection, people. Eventually we are going to Catch Excellence.