I often get questions from family and friends and friends of friends....Here's the most recent request:
"I have a friend who is due to have a baby. Some friends and I are trying to make them some meals that they can have in their freezer for after the baby is born. The wife only eats organic. We thought some soups might be nice--any other ideas, Nora?"
While I do not keep an organic kitchen or pantry, here are Here's are 10 Easy Meals to Go organic with:
1)Organic pasta dishes made with multigrain pastas ...any "baked ziti" type recipe will work here with sauce, meat and cheese-- organic ground beef in smaller packages is cheaper, and the sauce can be purchased as a unit. Same goes for mozzarella cheese. Don't worry about spices and herbs or garlic or olive oil not being organic. 2) Organic soups : both boxed and from scratch are inexpensive. We love the organic boxed tomato soup. If you make larger recipes, Costco has packs of organic chicken broths that would serve well here. An easy chicken soup can be made with an organic store roasted chicken (try Whole Foods). Check here for my favorite recipe. 3) Organic muffins. Whenever I take a friend a meal after a baby, or when their grieving or had a bad day, I love throwing in a couple of healthy muffins as an warm and comforting snack. Try for an organic pancake or muffin mix and then add your own mix-ins. Organic eggs and milk can be bought in smaller quantities too. 4) Feeling generous? Marinate an organic steak in some olive oil/rosemary/garlic in a ziploc bag and then they can just grill or freeze it. This plus a bag of organic salad would be an easy and great meal. 5) Jumbo organic baked potatoes with purchased toppings like cheese, green onions and organic sour cream. 6) Organic chili since all the ingredients can be bought in cans, this is an easy way to make sure it is all organic plus the organic ground beef (which is cheaper and stretches further in a meal than chicken) 7) Lentil casserole which would be very easy to make organic and it is super cheap...for the recipe visit here. 8 ) Grilled salmon (just buy wild cohoe salmon-- don't bother with organic here) with steamed green beans (easy to buy the frozen organic package) with a rice pilaf (again, easy to buy the organic quick-cook package). 9) Chicken pot pie-- this is easy when you combine packages of frozen organic mixed vegetables with an organic cream of chicken can of organic soup plus a small package of organic chicken breast boiled and cut into chunks and then put it into a premade organic frozen crust. Usually the frozen crusts come in packs of two so just use the other frozen crust to form the top crust. 10 ) Mexican meals like burritos can be easy because you can buy organic canned beans, tortillas, cheese and then a quick pack of rice and your in the game... a homemade salsa can be organic with the quick salsa recipe and a bag of organic chips. The frozen burrito thing is great too because it helps with lunches as well.
Hope this helps you find ways to incorporate less pesticides into your diet without breaking the bank.
TTYL,
Nora