Make Ahead Meals with ALDI: Marinated Flat Iron Steak and chicken with brown rice, quinoa and steamed vegetables.
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post in partnership with ALDI. All opinions expressed here are my own.
I can hardly believe it but my kids are back at school today. The summer went by in a flash and now we are back in school and getting back into our routines. Getting up early will be the hardest thing for my kids, ha! I think this is probably the case for most kids. For me, this means getting back into my meal planning, grocery shopping, meal prep and weekly cooking routine. It’s the only way I can function during the school week and it keeps me organized and sane.
I plan my menu, go grocery shopping and prep as much as I can in advance. Sometimes, even just chopping up vegetables in advance helps and saves me time during the week. I love shopping at my local ALDI . At ALDI, I can always find what I am looking for when it comes to protein, fresh produce and my pantry staples. I especially love the Simply Nature ALDI-exclusive products! They are organic and non-GMO and range from pantry staples, such as cereal, honey, fruit bars, coconut oil and pasta sauce, to fresh items like spinach, spring mix salad, kale, milk and yogurt. And the line is growing! They are adding more items every month.
Make Ahead Meals for The Week
The easiest way, in my opinion, to elevate your meals is to marinate your meat! Marinades help to tenderize and add flavor to meats. A simple marinade doesn’t take long and you can simply place it in a zip top bag and refrigerate for a few hours. This isn’t necessary all the time depending on the recipe you are using and your cut of meat but I love to do this when meal prepping. This allows me to have really flavorful meat that I can add into recipes to use throughout the week. I also feel like grilled marinated meats re-heat really well which is ideal when I prep and cook them earlier for meals later in the week.
I marinate a lot of beef and chicken and enjoy pairing these proteins with brown rice, quinoa or even some fresh greens for a salad. These marinated meats, along with fresh vegetables, will give me a week’s worth of dinners:
Monday: Rice bowls
Tuesday: Tacos
Wednesday: Pasta
Thursday: Lettuce wraps or salad
Friday: Fried Rice
Use Your Fresh Produce
I also love using fresh produce to make salsas and condiments for my meals. These are great because I can make them in advance and they can easily be stored in the fridge or on the counter, in airtight containers.
Recipes Using Fresh Produce
- Strawberry salsa
- Green goddess avocado dressing
- Tomato onion salsa, recipe below
- Chimichurri
More About ALDI
- ALDI offers high-quality food at affordable prices, and they are one of the fastest-growing retailers in the U.S.
- More than 90% of their store consists of ALDI-exclusive brands! So, you won’t find these products anywhere else.
- I love that ALDI makes shopping fast and easy, and they carry the best options at the best prices.
- Did you know ALDI stores are designed and staffed to reduce time and cost? They display their products right in the boxes. You need to deposit a quarter to get a shopping cart and they encourage people to bring reusable shopping bags. You get the quarter back when you return your shopping cart. I personally think this is brilliant because everyone actually returns their cart and there aren’t carts left all over the parking lot.
- There are no club cards or coupons are required — ALDI offers the best prices every day.
So, what are you waiting for? Go visit your local ALDI for their amazing quality and prices! You can shop in a store or online, for delivery or curbside pickup! Visit the ALDI website to learn more and be sure to follow ALDI on social media at: Facebook and Instagram and Twitter.
Make Ahead Meals for The Week
Ingredients
For the Meat Marinade:
- 3/4 cup Simply Nature Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1/2 cup Priano Red Wine Vinegar
- 1 to 2 lemons juiced
- 4 to 5 cloves garlic smashed or crushed
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 to 2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped
- 1 (1.5 lbs.) ALDI Black Angus Flat Iron Steak or Simply Nature Organic Chicken Breasts
For the Tomato Onion Salsa:
- 3 tomatoes any kind, diced
- 1 small onion peeled and diced
- 1 cup cucumbers diced
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley diced
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro diced
- 1/2 cup Simply Nature Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1/2 cup Priano Red Wine Vinegar
- fresh lime juice to taste
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
For the meat marinade:
- Place your meat in a large gallon sized zip top bag, or in a large shallow dish. Combine ingredients together and pour over meat. Seal bag or cover dish and refrigerate for at least 2 to 3 hours, or overnight.
- Preheat a grill to medium-high, or you can pan fry. Remove the steak from the marinade and place on the grill and cook for about 5 minutes, flip and cook until medium rare, (when the meat registers at about 150 degrees F) for about 5 minutes more; longer depending on how you want your meat cooked. Remove from the grill and allow to rest for 5 minutes. To serve, slice in thin strips across the grain of the meat.
For the Tomato Onion Salsa:
- Mix together ingredients in a large bowl. Taste and adjust any ingredients as needed. Serve with grilled meats and enjoy!
Notes
- Simply Nature Brown Rice
- Simply Nature Organic Quinoa
- Simply Nature Organic Baby Spinach
- Simply Nature Organic Chopped Kale
- Simply Nature Mixed Greens
- Steamed or roasted broccoli
- Steamed or roasted cauliflower
Click here for the glass containers I used above.
