The Ideal 5 Dinners 1 Hour Plan for Convenience

I never knew how beneficial the five dinners one hour plan could be until I tried it. And let me tell you, it’s life-changing. As a busy single mom, I simply don’t have the time that I used to.

This plan transformed our dinner experience. It cut down our eating out drastically, improved our health, and saved me loads of time I would’ve otherwise spent in the kitchen and at the grocery store.  This is just a few improvements brought to my life by the 5 dinners 1-hour plan.

Previously, I had always been worried about not having the time to prepare healthy meals for my kids due to my busy schedule. Since I discovered the 5 meal plan on the internet, which I was initially quite skeptical about, I can now comfortably use 1 free hour during the weekend to prepare 5 healthy meals with very little stress and a ton of convenience.

Dinner time with my kids is lighter and more fun because of how simple things have become. With this amazing plan, it’s almost impossible to fail. Cooking has become fun again, and coming home actually means finishing work, since I don’t have to come home to a second job of making dinner for the family!

Apart from planning your meals, this system also gives you a shopping list of all you need to make your delicious meals. You save time, money and worry over planning dinner each day, not to mention you eliminate the need to go to the grocery store several times a week.

My major concern when I discovered this plan was about the meal losing its taste after staying a long time in the fridge, but guess what? Meals still retain their great taste and come out tasting fresh. That’s why these meals were specially chosen for this plan.

Unique Steps to make Five Dinners in One Hour

Having heard of various meal-planning systems, I discovered that to make 5 dinners in one hour is one of the best ways to ease cooking stress. I introduced it to my elder sister, known for being a notoriously picky eater. This plan offers over 60 recipes, which afforded her a wide variety of options and opportunity to customize.

Having all her recipes on hand, she could prepare her meals for a more convenient time by freezing the ingredients in a ready-to-cook way, like boiled rice, pancakes, etc. She now feels immense relief at being able to arrive home to an already-made meal which only needs to be heated in the oven.

It is important to note that there are some steps to be taken when considering this meal planning approach. If you are as busy as I am, you might want to do each step on a different day to avoid overwhelming tasks. Let’s take a look at the steps to achieving this plan.

• Create a grocery list, a menu plan for proper meal planning, and select five amazing meals you would love to prepare.
• Make a detailed list of every ingredient and utensils needed to avoid forgetting important items or ending up with too much of the same thing. Side dish serving suggestions might also be included in the grocery list.
• Shop for your groceries using your shopping list to avoid superfluous spending.
• Set the time, and the meal preparation time. This timer makes your cooking interesting and fun, making it look like a competition. I always make sure the kids are with their Grandma during this period to avoid interruption, since that could lead to mistakes or a longer cooking time.
• Get your foil and zip-top bags ready to store meals. This makes clean up easy, since most meals are already poured into a sheet pan, zip-top bags, etc
• Finally, package your meals, label, and store in the fridge. It is advisable to use freezer bags to store your freezer meals.

Having gone through these brilliant and unique steps, you can make food for the week in just one hour. Isn’t that amazing? Excessive spending on food is now a thing of the past.

Meal Prep System 5 Meals 1 hour

Apart from the fact that this meal prep system saves time, it also helps an individual or family reach their nutritional goals by eliminating or reducing junk food intake. Before you start, choose the method that works for you. There are various ways to meal prep. Let’s discuss them below.

• Ready to cook ingredients: This involves preparing the ingredients needed for a particular meal ahead of time to reduce the cooking time of that meal.
• Make meals ahead: Cooking in advance and storing in the refrigerator to heat at dinner time.
• Batch cooking: Preparing large quantities of a particular recipe and dividing into different portions to be frozen.

Having looked at these methods, it is advisable to choose the method that best suits you. The 5 meals 1 hour plan takes just an hour of your week and gives you a week of healthy delicious meals.

However, some individuals find it difficult to pick or select meals to prepare. It is important to decide on various meals to prepare by starting with a limited number of recipes that you already know and avoid using only one recipe for the whole week, as this will eventually make dinner boring and lead to a loss of appetite.

This 5 meals 1-hour plan suits the different needs of people ranging from picky eaters to healthy eaters; let’s have a look at some of the option we can choose from.

1. Clean Eating: This plan utilizes produce and whole food recipes. It doesn’t use processed food, sugar or flour. Only maple syrup and honey can be used, hence lots of vegetables are needed. You might easily adapt to this plan if you prefer low carb recipes.
2. Classic Meal Plan: This plan has no diet restrictions and no food allergies. Hence, it pleases picky eaters. Since my kids and I were already used to eating out, we fit well into this plan.
3. Combo Plan: This is a combination of both the clean eating plan and the classic meal plan. This meal prep system spells out a detailed groceries list making your shopping easier by simply comparing with a list you’ve already prepared hereby eliminating getting too much of the same thing.

Guidelines to Reduce Cooking Time

Even with the amazing benefits of this 5 meal plan, some still find it difficult to spend less time in the kitchen. But here are a few tips to help streamline time spent cooking.

1. Make use of a shopping list to avoid spending too much time at the supermarket or grocery shop.
2. Combine the right recipe to fasten your cooking, avoid combining different recipes which require the same appliance to prepare them, thus slowing down your cooking time.
3. Organize your cooking to save time such that you start your cooking with recipes that require longer cooking time. Check if two recipes require the same ingredient like pepper, so you can slice the total quantity at once.

Following these tips, you are sure to make five healthy homemade meals in 1 hour or less.

Healthy Meals in One Hour

Within 1 hour, I was able to prepare these 5 healthy meals.

1. Marinated salmon:

Ingredients:

• 4 salmon fillets
• Half cup sesame ginger salad dressing
• Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Season salmon fillets with pepper and salt
2. Place fish in a freezer bag, pouring dressing into the bag and toss to coat.
3. Leave salmon in the freezer overnight before baking.

 And on cooking day

Place fish on a baking sheet with foil and bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees F. Salmon can be served with rice, steamed broccoli, etc.

This can be achieved with a cook time of 20 minutes and prep time of 10 minutes.

2. Vegetarian Enchiladas

Ingredients:

One cup shredded cheddar cheese, one cup enchiladas sauce, one cup chopped cooked broccoli, 1/3 cup salsa, 1/4 cup onion (chopped), 1/2 cup canned corn drained, One kidney beans can (15 Ounce), 4 whole wheat tortillas

Instructions

1. Get a baking dish about 8 inches, spray with cooking spray and spread half of the enchiladas sauce on the dish.
2. Mix your corn, salsa, beans, onion, broccoli and half cup of cheese in a bowl.
3. Use 1/4 of your corn mixture to top each tortilla, roll up, placing them seam side down in the dish. You can now pour the remaining enchiladas sauce over the top, sprinkling a half cup of cheddar cheese.
4. Package with foil and store in the freezer until needed.

On cooking day

1. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. It is important to note that the cooking time will take longer if your packaged enchilada is still frozen.
2. Your delicious meal is ready to serve.

This can be achieved with a cook time of 15 minutes and prep time of 10 minutes.

3. Baked Pesto Chicken

Ingredients:

• Half-cup prepared pesto sauce
• Half-cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• Two large boneless chicken breasts cut in half
• One can diced tomatoes drained (15 ounces)

Instructions:

1. Get a baking dish about 8 inches; spread your diced tomatoes on the baking dish.
2. Season your boneless chicken breast with salt and pepper and place on the baking dish on top your diced tomatoes spreading
3. Spread four teaspoons of pesto sauce on each chicken with a sprinkle of shredded mozzarella cheese.
4. Package with foil and freeze until when needed.

On cooking day

1. Refrigerate chicken overnight when ready to use, remove foil from the baking dish and bake the chicken uncovered for 25 minutes at 350 degrees until thoroughly cooked.
2. The baked pesto сhicken can be served with pasta or rice

This can be achieved with a cook time of 25 minutes and prep time of 5 minutes.

4. Crusted Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:

• Three teaspoons Italian seasoning
• One and a half pounds of pork tenderloin
• Half teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• Two teaspoons olive oil

Instructions

1. Dry pork with paper towel and place in a zip-top freezer bag.
2. Rub pork with olive oil, sprinkle Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and mix well.
3. Seal the zip top freezer bag in the refrigerator until when needed.
4. When ready to cook, refrigerate the zip-top bag of pork tenderloin overnight before cooking.

On cooking day

1. Get a baking dish and spray with cooking spray, put your pork in the baking dish and roast in 450-degree oven for about 25 minutes. It is important to monitor your pork so it doesn’t overcook or dry out.
2. Allow your pork meat to cool down for five to ten minutes before slicing.
3. Your meal is ready to serve.

This can be achieved within a cook time of 30 minutes and prep time of 5 minutes.

5. Tortilla Taco Chicken Strips

Ingredients:

• 1 tortilla chips crushed.
• 8 chicken tenders.
• 1 tablespoon of taco seasoning.
• 1 can of black beans.
• 2 bell peppers
• One and a half can of frozen corn.

Instructions:

1. Crush tortilla chips to crumbs in a zipper bag.
2. Add your taco seasoning.
3. Add your chicken tenders to your tortilla chip mixture and shake to coat.
4. Place in a large container with lid; add your black beans to the tortilla chips crumbs.
5. Add your sliced bell pepper and frozen corn.
6. Mix well and pour into a zip-top bag until ready to use.

On cooking day

Pour your mixed ingredients from the bag into a baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes in a 400 degree F oven.

Conclusion

The 5 dinner’s 1-hour plan is indeed a life-changer and I think everyone should at least give it a try. This unique and brilliant plan promises stress-free weekdays, more healthy meals and over 60 recipes to choose from. I’m so glad I discovered it. Dinnertime with my kids is always fun, I never worry about what to prepare anymore, and with just an hour I get a week’s worth of meals. Who could say no to that?