Yes-this week is all about how to get a meal on the table when you have nothing available.

Kind of the talk about having a GREAT pantry.  Myself, I try and always have the basics that dh and I will both find nutritious and tasty.  

My “must haves“:  whole wheat or high fiber pastas, various pasta sauces, cans of different types of beans for both meatless meals, salads and stoups and brown rice/quinoa.

In my fridge-I keep cooked low-fat chicken or turkey sausages, carrots and other root veggies that last and eggs along with a carton of egg whites.

In the freezer?  We love okra, a bag of sweet peas and one of green beans.  While dh is fine with frozen veggies-I’m not.  I know that they‘re just as nutrient dense but I can’t get over the texture.

Other things I keep for quick meals in the freezer are salmon and turkey patties that can be put on the grill in their frosty state.

Other great things to have on hand:  Oatmeal (I can happily admit that I enjoy a baked oatmeal with PB powder and bananas for dinner when dh is working late), Peanut butter in all three forms (smooth, crunchy and powdered)and frozen bananas.

One more item to have on hand is quart sized cartons of your favorite broth.  Soup/stoup or stew can be on the table in under 30 with it and a few of the aforementioned items.

Tonight?  Since we‘re unsure if we‘re having just the 2 of us or our ds/dil and youngest grandson will be home in time to join us I’m planning a meal of grilled chicken sausage, whole wheat rotini done in chicken broth and because dh went hog wild in the produce section of a market that had cantaloupe on sale (the man bought 4!) instead of a nice green veggie-I’m cubing up one of the melons.

Easy, delicious and on the table in less than 20.  Plus, with some minor adjustments on how much I cut up or measure out-just as easy to do for 5 as it will be for 2.

Happy eating!