Healthy breakfasts are a great way to start the day. A key way to spend less money is to plan your meals ahead of time. How can you plan your meals though when you have no idea what to make? Here are quick and easy breakfast ideas to help you get started. If you figure eating out for brunch for two is ~$50 in the city and brunch at home is ~$5 you can save a lot of money quickly by planning your breakfasts before you go to the grocery store. It also enables you to eat healthier! These quick and easy breakfast ideas are perfect for busy mornings.

Prep The Night Before Breakfast: Overnight Oats

Overnight Oats need to be made the night before, but this quick breakfast idea takes seconds to make and at minimum all you need is overnight oats and almond milk. I usually make one serving at a time. The link above includes recipes for 7 different overnight oats flavors! My personal favorite of all of the overnight oat recipes is the banana bread overnight oats. Not only are overnight oats low effort, they are cheap and healthy! This breakfast is less than a $1, even when you add the extra ingredients.

Meal Prep Breakfast: Chia Seed Pudding

Chia Seed Pudding is one of my favorite breakfasts to meal prep. One batch usually makes 4-5 breakfasts, depending how much I put in each mason jar. I’ll add the toppings in the morning. My recent favorite toppings for chia pudding are almonds, maple syrup and blueberries. When I don’t have time to grab fresh fruit I like adding frozen raspberries to chia seed pudding.

Quick Breakfast: Bananas and Almond Butter

A banana with almond butter is an excellent way to start your day! It’s sweet without any added sugar and the almond butter provides an excellent source of protein to help fill you up. A banana with almond butter takes seconds to put together and minutes to eat.

On The Go Breakfast: Yogurt

One of the easiest on the go breakfasts is yogurt. Greek yogurt is full of protein but you should check the label to make sure there isn’t too much added sugar.

Protein Packed Breakfast: Eggs

There are many ways quick and easy ways to eat eggs for breakfast. Eggs are full of protein and help fill you up. Eggs are also very cheap, usually between $1-3 for a dozen. You can make hard boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, omelettes and more! A recent favorite of mine is salami scrambled eggs with salami, cheddar cheese and scrambled eggs.

Meal Prep Breakfast: Havarti Quiche

Havarti Quiche is a great meal prep breakfast that you can make ahead of time and warm up the morning of. This can be made for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I like to buy the ingredients for Havarti Quiche at Trader Joe’s because they have the best cheese prices! You’ll need a few ingredients: havarti cheese, premade pie crust (usually in the freezer isle at Trader Joe’s and comes in packs of 2), 3-4 eggs, 1 1/2 cups of half and half, bag of frozen spinach and spices.

To start, line most of the bottom of the crust which takes about 1/2 of the harvarti cheese. Combine 3 or 4 eggs, 1.5 cups half and half and dash of pepper, nutmeg, teaspoon of both basil and minced parsley and half a teaspoon of dry mustard. Thaw a bag of frozen spinach and mix that with the egg and half and half mixture, pour on top of the cheese. Bake at 350 for 45 -50 minutes. The prep takes about the same amount of time as it does for the oven to preheat.

Meal Prep Breakfast: Sausage, Leek and Spinach Quiche

Sausage, Leek and Spinach Quiche is a Whole30 Approved recipe. This recipe is also the most prep time intensive of the list as it involves slicing sweet potatoes for the “crust.” If one of the reasons you meal plan is to save time, this recipe might not be for you. That said, this is the healthiest quiche I’ve ever had and it was delicious.

Whole 30 Breakfast: Sweet Potato “Toast” With Avocado And Sausage

Oven baked sweet potato toast is a healthy way to start your day and is Whole30 Approved. To make sweet potato “toast” slice the sweet potato and bake for 25 minutes ahead of time. Put it in the fridge and when you’re ready to eat it toast it like you normally would a piece of toast in the toaster oven and add sliced avocados. If you’d like to add a side of sausage, the sausage below is Trader Joe’s Chicken Sausage.

Spring / Summer Breakfast: Raspberry Acai Bowl

Homemade Acai Bowls are a great breakfast for spring / summer. Alternatively, you can make only the smoothie and drink it on the go. When you get an Acai bowl eating out, it sometimes can be up to $15! When you make it at home you can freeze everything you need besides the almond milk: frozen raspberries, the Acai Frozen Packets and freeze a few bananas. The Acai Frozen Packets (5 per package) can be anywhere from $5-10 but it’s much cheaper than buying 5 bowls eating out. I usually just use 1 frozen packet per bowl, raspberries, almond milk, bananas and then put some almond butter and granola on top. This takes less than 10 minutes to prep and make.

Whole 30 Meal Prep Breakfast: Sweet Potato and Caramelized Onion Hash

Sweet Potato and Caramelized Onion Hash was my favorite Whole 30 breakfast recipe! I would meal prep on Sundays and make one batch. This dish is great for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In the morning, I would warm this up and add two eggs on top. I also have made this with the crockpot salsa chicken which was really good and added protein.

I’d love to hear if you have any quick breakfast ideas and what your experience is if you make any of these recipes in the comments!

Trying to think of things to cook for dinner? Planning your dinners ahead of time is an excellent way to save both time and money. Creating a meal plan involves deciding your meals for the week prior to going to the grocery store and then buying only the ingredients you need for your meal plan. Many meal prep articles focus on making a big batch of the same thing. You don’t need to cook all of your dinners on Sunday and eat the same thing every night to spend less time cooking and less money on the ingredients. You can have variety! Meal planning your dinners ahead of time will also help you eat healthier.

It’s hardest to start meal planning when you don’t know what you’re going to cook. Many recipes call for a lot of ingredients and prep time. If you’re busy, that’s a recipe for failure. That is why all of the recipes below have limited ingredients and are perfect for the beginner chef. If you’ve never planned your meals before, check out 8 tips for meal planning.

Here are a things to cook for dinner to help you start your meal plan that I’ve found have minimum ingredients, don’t take much prep time, don’t require any “fancy” kitchen tools and are generally pretty healthy. If these recipes take too long to make, check out Trader Joe’s Quick and Easy Dinner Ideas. And, if you don’t want to buy a lot of ingredients check out Fast Easy Recipes with Few Ingredients.

Trader Joe’s Carne Asada Tacos

Trader Joe’s Carne Asada Tacos with a twist. This Trader Joe’s meal will be ready in minutes! It involves only 3 ingredients: Trader Joe’s Carne Asada, Trader Joe’s Naan for the “taco shells” (freezer isle), and Trader Joe’s Tzatziki sauce. It comes out to about $23 but it can feed 3-4 people and is delicious. I once skipped the Tzatziki sauce to save the $5 and it was good but wasn’t the same. If you have it 2x close together though you only need to buy the sauce once.

Simple Turkey Chili

Simple Turkey Chili is a great autumn and winter dinner to make. This dish is pretty easy to make, requiring only about 10 minutes of prep. I modified this recipe using beef, and homemade tomato sauce (store bought is fine too) instead of the crushed tomatoes. I also buy frozen chopped onions and peppers and add shredded cheese on top. Buying frozen veggies is one of my top meal planning tips to save money. This turkey chili ends up being $10-15 for 4 servings, assuming you already have the spices.

Crockpot Chicken and Salsa

Crockpot Chicken and Salsa is two ingredients, that’s it. It takes less than a minute to prep. Place a little salsa to line the bottom of the crockpot, add the chicken and pour the rest of the salsa on top. Set the crockpot for 4 hours on high. I also buy the Trader Joe’s white rice from the freezer which takes about 5 minutes to cook in the microwave. The cost for this dinner is about ~$20 total but you can use only 2 chicken breasts and use the rest for other meals and the rice has 3 packets so this can cover multiple meals. Does need a crock pot but I’m sure this could be made in the oven as well.

Havarti Quiche

Havarti Quiche is one of the recipes my mom taught me. I like to buy the ingredients for Havarti Quiche at Trader Joe’s because they have the best cheese prices! You’ll need havarti cheese, premade pie crust (usually in the freezer isle at Trader Joe’s and comes in packs of 2), 3-4 eggs, 1 1/2 cups of half and half, bag of frozen spinach and spices. Line most of the bottom / takes about 1/2 of the harvarti cheese of the premade pie crust. Combine 3 or 4 eggs, 1.5 cups half and half and dash of pepper, nutmeg, teaspoon of both basil and minced parsley and half a teaspoon of dry mustard. Thaw a bag of frozen spinach and mix that with the egg and half and half mixture, pour on top of the cheese. Bake at 350 for 45 -50 minutes. The prep takes about the same amount of time as it does for the oven to preheat.

Meatballs and Sauce

Meatballs and Sauce is one of my go to meal prepping recipes. It requires a lot of effort compared to the other recipes, so when I make it I make multiple batches. I now make 2-4 batches at a time because it’s so good and so easy to freeze and reheat! For the meatballs, I’ve modified to make 2 batches at once- and have 1 lb of pork with the 3 lbs of beef, the last time I did this that made 67 meatballs. I also use panko breadcrumbs and frozen chopped onions.

For the sauce (per batch) it’s 1 can crushed tomatoes, 1 small can of tomato paste. Once emptied fill both of these cans with water and add water, 2-3 scoops minced garlic, a bit of olive oil and spices to taste. Cook the garlic first in olive oil, add spices. Add in the water and tomatoes and once reaching a boil simmer for 2-4 hours.

Because you’re making in bulk overall this should save money, but I primarily started this because after doing Whole30 I realized how many tomato sauces had soy and sugar added to it, and frozen meatballs had so many fillers. The homemade version is so much tastier. I’ve found I max out some of the ingredients at 4 batches of meatballs – 1 package of beef broth, 1 package of parsley, 1 fresh grated parmesan, 1 bag chopped onions all covers 4 batches but after that you’ll have to buy more beef broth and parsley.

Homemade Acai Bowls

This recipe for Homemade Raspberry Acai Bowls is my favorite acai bowl recipe. I like to have acai bowls in the spring / summer for dinner. It’s a nice refreshing dinner that feels light yet filling. When you get an acai bowl eating out, it sometimes can be up to $15! When you make acai bowls at home you can freeze everything you need besides the almond milk: frozen raspberries, the acai Frozen Packets and freeze a few bananas.

The acai frozen packets (5 per package) can be anywhere from $5-10 but it’s much cheaper than buying 5 bowls eating out. I usually just use 1 frozen packet per bowl, raspberries, almond milk, bananas and then put some almond butter and granola on top. This takes less than 10 minutes to prep and make.

Sausage Leek and Spinach Quiche

Sausage, Leek and Spinach Quiche is a Whole30 Approved recipe. This recipe is also the most prep time intensive of the list as it involves slicing sweet potatoes for the “crust.” If one of the reasons you meal plan is to save time, this recipe might not be for you. That said, this is the healthiest quiche I’ve ever had and it was delicious.

Sweet Potato and Caramelized Onion Hash

Sweet Potato and Caramelized Onion Hash was my favorite Whole30 recipe! I would meal prep on Sundays and make one batch of this. Throughout the week I would then add two fried eggs if I had it for dinner or warm up the hash for lunch. I also have made this with the crockpot salsa chicken mentioned above which was really good and added protein.

After you’re done planning your dinners for the week, start planning your breakfasts! If you don’t have time to cook dinner this week Trader Joe’s has a ton of quick and easy dinners that take minutes to make. And if you’re looking for things to cook for dinner but don’t have many ingredients check out simple recipes with few ingredients. What other recipes are part of your weekly meal plan for dinner?

The best Trader Joe’s meals are ready in minutes and require limited prep. These dinner ideas are easy to make when you don’t have time to cook / don’t feel like cooking.

What I love most about Trader Joe’s is not only how many quick meals they sell but that there are also healthy options. It’s also easy to freeze the refrigerated meals so that no food goes to waste. I do one big shopping trip one weekend that lasts me a few weeks. This also helps save money because we don’t find ourselves in a bind and have to eat out.

Below are the best Trader Joe’s meals in minutes. Many of these quick dinners are also frozen so it’s easy to buy three weeks worth of groceries at once. And, while you’re at Trader Joe’s, don’t forget to pick up some Trader Joe’s snacks! What’s best of all – these dinner ideas are also cheap! When it’s just me, each of these can stretch for a few meals. If I’m eating dinner with my partner, we usually double the pastas. When we know we’ll have time to cook the upcoming week I create meal plans and buy ingredients from Trader Joe’s for these Trader Joe’s dinner recipes.

The Best Trader Joe’s Ravioli: Cacio E Pepe Ravioli

New for 2020, the Cacio e Pepe Ravioli at Trader Joe’s is the best Trader Joe’s ravioli I have ever had! It’s so good you don’t even need to add sauce. The frozen Cacio e Pepe was sold out when I went, so I’m not sure how it compares.

Trader Joe’s Cheese Fiocchetti with Pink Sauce

Another new 2020 Trader Joe’s item is the Cheese Fiocchetti. This quick Trader Joe’s meal is made by putting the ingredients in a skillet with water and stirring. Easy meal ready in less than 10 minutes! This was the first time I bought this pasta and I will definitely buy it again.

Trader Joe’s Balsamic Rosemary Beef Steak Tips

The Trader Joe’s Balsamic Rosemary Beef Steak Tips aren’t new, but were new to me. I bought this steak for the first time this year and it’s quickly become my favorite meat at Trader Joe’s! The rosemary seasoning is so flavorful. It’s also easy to freeze.

Trader Joe’s Peppered Beef Hanger Steak

The Trader Joe’s Peppered Beef Hanger Steak is another Trader Joe’s meal ready in minutes. Pre-marinated, all you need to do is put it on the grill. My favorite pre-marinated steak is the steak tips, but this is also on regular rotation in my household.

Whole30 Approved Trader Joe’s Meal In Minutes: Chili Lime Chicken Burgers with Guacamole

Trader Joe’s Chili Lime Chicken Burgers with Guacamole is quick and healthy. This meal was one of my go to meals when I did Whole 30. In total it cost less than $8 and last multiple meals. This Whole 30 approved frozen meal at Trader Joe’s requires almost no effort to prepare. Even though the guacamole is more expensive in these snack packs (and avocados $1.70/ each) I’ve found it cheaper to buy these. I never know when I’m going to eat this. Avocados or regular guacamole tends to go bad quickly and then I have to buy more. With these snack packs of 6 servings you only have to open what you need and can make these last for a few weeks. We usually eat this without a bun to cut carbs.

Trader Joe’s Yellow Jackfruit Curry with Jasmine Rice

The Yellow Jackfruit Curry with Jasmine Rice from Trader Joe’s is great dinner for 1 and this dinner is also vegan! This Trader Joe’s prepared meal is ready in minutes and cost ~$3.

Trader Joe’s Mandarin Orange Chicken and Organic Jasmine Rice

Trader Joe’s Mandarin Orange Chicken is one of their most popular products for a reason! This Trader Joe’s prepared meal takes a little longer as the oven needs to preheat and 25 minutes to cook. At only $5 per bag, this dinner is also cheap. The Organic Jasmine Rice takes only 3 minutes in the microwave and comes with three pouches!

Trader Joe’s Chicken & Vegetable Wonton Soup

This is a great dinner when you want something light but filling. Another Trader Joe’s meal in minutes. While not expensive at $3, if you’re only looking for soup a cheaper alternative is to buy one of their boxed soups that last multiple meals but is a little less hearty.

My Personal Favorite Trader Joe’s Quick Dinner: Thai Vegetable Gyoza

Trader Joe’s Thai Vegetable Gyoza are one of my favorite Trader Joe’s quick meals. In total, this takes less than 10 minutes and adds some variety to a weekly quick meal plan. This dinner is also cheap at approx $4 per bag and last multiple meals. I like to use their Coconut Amino Sauce instead of Soy Sauce and make these with the 3 minute Jasmine Rice.

Trader Joe’s Sweet Potato Gnocchi

The Trader Joe’s Sweet Potato Gnocchi is not the healthiest meal on the list but it is definitely delicious. For 2 people I usually make 2 bags and each bag cost about $3.

Trader Joe’s Sweet Italian Sausage & 4-Cheese Ravioli

This ravioli available year round is one of the heartiest ravioli meals at Trader Joe’s. For two people we usually make 2 of these, costing us about $7 in total. I make my own sauce and freeze it and usually use this with that. Even if you use store bought sauce ($2), it only lasts a week in the fridge so make sure you freeze any extra so you can use it for later. All of the pre made pasta dishes from Trader Joe’s are meals ready in minutes and are easy to freeze for later so you don’t have to throw it out if you don’t get around to eating pasta that week.

Trader Joe’s Ricotta & Lemon Zest Ravioli

Trader Joe’s Ricotta & Lemon Zest Ravioli is one of my favorite pasta dishes in the spring and summer. This seasonal ravioli tastes great with butter or olive oil. For two people we usually make two of these and cost about $7 in total.

Bonus: Trader Joe’s Spicy Italian Chicken Sausage

Trader Joe’s Spicy Italian Sausage is also Whole 30 approved! I’ll make these with eggs and do a breakfast for dinner meal. Each package cost about $4. Other times I’ll make pasta ($1) and sauce ($2) and add the sausage to the pasta dish.

There you have it, over a weeks worth of Trader Joe’s dinner ideas that are quick, easy and cheap. What are your favorite Trader Joe’s meals that are ready in minutes?