Melissa Timmer reveals how she saves money and time without eating frozen meals every night

“I love this topic because I know a lot of people can be fussier at times and don’t like to eat frozen meals,” she says.

Here’s how Melissa eats fresh meals every night but keeps it simple and time effective….

1. Choose proteins and meats such as chicken breast, roast cooked chicken and mince beef, these are fairly priced and are so versatile.

• Stir Fries
• Fried rice
• Stews
• Salads
• Burgers
• Pastas
• Mexicans burritos or tacos and enchiladas

For example, last night we had chicken caesar salad, tonight we had the same salad but mixed it with beef instead of chicken. Both meals took less than 10 min to make but were different enough to have that change.

They cost about $4 each, usually you would pay $20 for a salad out of a restaurant.

2. Cutting up your veggies and washing them at the beginning of the week makes life so much easier

You may be doing a stir fry one night so to be able to chuck it all on the wok will take you 10 min to have everything plate ready.

There’s nothing like going back to basics and making some steamed veggies with some grilled chicken, chuck some avo on top and you have a fresh delish meal.

3. I love having pre mixed salad in my fridge

4. Buy pre-made rice packets

5. Pre-make pasta sauce

Prepping your pasta sauce like bolognese and then cooking the pasta fresh will not change the taste. If anything, I love having foods like this the next day as I find it gives more time for the flavours to mix in with each other and can be so full of flavour.

There is so much you can do to make life easier but sometimes its the simple meals that taste the best, I love keeping it simple in this house, complicating things leaves me feeling stressed and overwhelmed.

When I’m feeling like something unique ill do it on a day that I have more time, and sometimes we might just have wraps for dinner, its ok to have simple dinners it’s how I lost 40 kg and its what my family love the most.

Some of Melissa’s easy meals:

• Crispy honey chicken
• Chinese chicken lettuce cups
• Beef and broccoli stir fry
• Open lettuce burgers
• Burger bowl
• Grilled fish burger
• Beef and beet salad
• Bbq beef wrap
• Beef nachos

“This way I knew I could always throw something together if I was time short (which most days I am).

“Having those ingredients would leave me with a healthy snack or meal for e.g. a great protein salad or smoothie. And of course, I always have my Healthy Mummy frozen meals if I’m wanting something more.”

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