The next time you want to bless a friend with a meal, make salad meals!
When a friend has a baby or someone in your community suffers a hardship or loss, it’s nice to be able to provide a meal to that family, right?
It’s a tangible way to bless them, and it helps build real-life community–which is something I think we desperately need more of!
Unfortunately, there have been times when I’ve been hesitant to provide a meal because I get too stressed out about it. I want to give to people and I want to bless them, but I don’t want to turn into a hot mess doing it!
Recently I had a light bulb moment. What if, instead of stressing over the meals I was taking for people, I just pick a few easy meals to keep in my repertoire?
Anytime someone from my church or community needs a meal, I will stick to those same easy meals because I know I can pull them together quickly. I know they are good. I know they are fail-proof and something I won’t mess up. And it won’t stress me out.
There is no reason to put together a 4-course meal when that’s not even what someone needs. They just want to be blessed by something to eat!
So what are my easy meal standbys?
Salad meals!
I now have three go-to salad meals that I make whenever the need arises. I can make them gluten free, so if my friend has a gluten allergy it’s not an issue. Plus, I can double all of these and my family can eat them, too!
My 3 Easy Salad Meals
I rotate between taco salad, chef salad, and Greek salad.
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Taco Salad
Taco salad is easy to make by buying a few items and doing a little preparation. Here are the ingredients I use to put together a “taco salad meal kit” for a friend:
- 1 bag of browned ground beef cooked with homemade taco seasoning. (I use grass-fed beef from Aldi, and cook 3 pounds at a time. I use half for my family and half for a friend!)
- 2 containers of pre-washed, pre-cut lettuce from Aldi (the organic spring mix)
- Pre-shredded, organic Mexican cheese blend from Aldi
- 1 chopped onion, bagged separately
- Chopped tomato, bagged separately
- 1 jar cooked brown rice
- a jar refried beans
- 1 jar of organic salsa from Aldi
- a bag each of blue corn tortilla chips and multigrain tortilla chips, again from Aldi!
It’s super easy to pull all of that together. I prep double of everything so that my family can have the same meal that night, and I don’t have to cook twice! I take the bags and jars to a friend, and it’s a ready-to-go meal for them (plus, they don’t have to return the jars or bags to me, so it’s less hassle for them)!
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Chef Salad
To make a chef salad meal for a friend, you can buy some of the same ingredients as you would for the taco salad.
- Buy pre-washed and pre-cut lettuce
- Get a few vegetables to chop up and put in separate bags
- Buy pre-shredded cheese
- Buy deli meat, and chop it up
This is another easy meal to pull together quickly. This one doesn’t require any pre-cooking.
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Greek Salad
Buy olives and feta cheese and you can create an easy Greek salad.
- Make grilled chicken or pan-seared chicken (I cook pan-seared chicken. I’m not allowed to use the grill at our house because my husband is afraid I will catch our porch on fire!)
- Buy pre-washed and pre-cut lettuce
- Purchase olives and chop them up
- Buy some feta cheese
The next time you want to take someone a meal, keep it simple and don’t stress over it!
I LOVE meal salads because they’re a super simple and stress-free option but still allow you to be a blessing to someone.
Julia
These are great ideas. What kind of salad dressings do you take with each? I would be worried I would take a vinaigrette when a family is used to Ranch or vice versa.
Erin
Great question, Julia! I don’t usually take anything for the taco salad since our family uses the salsa like a “dressing,” but I usually ask what kind of dressing the family likes for the others.
Keelie Reason
These salads look amazing. I love the taco salad one! Yum.
Erin
Thank you! It is yummy! We’ll have to do that one next time y’all visit!
Keelie Reason
these are great
Lisa @ This Pilgrim Life
This is a great idea! Not only is super easy to prepare, but it will be a blessing to the recipients to be gifted with healthy food–especially if they are under the weather or rundown from a stressful season. I’m going to add these to my list of go-to meals to share too.
Erin
I’m glad you liked them!