Here are two very simple and cheap dinners I have planned for this week:
As part of an earlier freezer cook session I cooked 10 lbs of chicken breasts in the oven for an hour, diced them and put in individual bags for use in future recipes. I usually cook a pot of rice at the same time so those two steps were already done.
Broccoli-Rice Casserole- I combine my cooked diced chicken, pre-cooked rice, frozen broccoli, two cans of cream of chicken soup and shredded cheese then sprinkle more cheese on top of mixed ingredients. Cover and freeze or bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes. Sorry I don’t have anything more specific than that to recommend. We all know I am no chef 
Chicken Alfredo- boil pasta, heat up jarred sauce and chicken, add broccoli if desired
Cost breakdown:
Pasta sauce and pasta from Target using $1/2 pasta and sauce coupon $1.25
Broccoli- Target $1.77
Chicken- we usually buy at Sam’s for $1.77 per lb
Campbell’s Soups $.39 at Kroger- past sale
Cheese- Sam’s about $7 for bag
Rice- No, I don’t usually splurge on Minute Rice. We buy a huge bag of basmati for about $10 at Sam’s every six months. I use it as a base for everything and if there is any leftover at the end of the week it goes into soup, burritos or fried or Spanish rice.
I don’t know that I will ever get the hang of doing a big, elaborate freezer cooking session although I am so inspired by Once A Month Mom.
Our usual once or twice a month freezer cook session consists of baking chicken breasts in the oven, browning ground beef/turkey, a pot of rice, boiling a dozen eggs and chopping up any produce. Then when I get ready to make dinner half the work is already done and there is less mess involved. Another strategy that has served us well is to double any recipe you are already making and freeze it and ”repurpose” leftovers aka planned leftovers. When I first got into the idea of freezer/bulk cooking it was mainly to learn how to cook. Now it is more about saving time, saving money and the biggest reason- I HATE TO CLEAN! I find that taking care of the messiest things only a few times a month saves a ton of clean up during the week when I would rather be spending time with the family or going to bed.
Find more (and probably better) meal planning ideas at Ready, Set, Eat and get restauraunt copy-cat recipes at Food Lion.
What are your secrets to getting out of the kitchen quickly without spending a fortune?
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