Easy Dinners in Less Than 30 Minutes During the Back to School Season

To all you parents out there who have been dropping off and picking up kids from public school for years, I applaud you. These past three weeks have felt like an eternity and I’m just as worn out, if not more so, than my daughter. By the time dinnertime rolls around, the last thing on my mind is cooking an extravagant meal. In fact, I decided to cut all recipes out that require a lot of preparation or long cooking times from off our weekly menu. But, I also don’t want to feed my family junk food or a smorgasbord of leftovers from what I made on the weekend. So what then? I recently discovered Foster Farms Sauté Ready for easy dinners in less than 30 minutes and it has made me one happy mama.

Foster Farms Sauté Ready — Frozen to Delish in 10 Minutes

Foster Farms Sauté Ready is a line of frozen raw chicken strips that are marinated and ready to eat in about 10 minutes. These come in four varieties — Garlic Herb, Fajita, Asian Style, and Lemon Pepper. I was able to find Asian Style and Lemon Pepper at one store and the Garlic Herb at another. These are brand new products so stores may still be expecting their orders. What I was UBER excited about was the fact that three of the four flavors are gluten free (for Frans) and all of them are dairy free (for me). That means we can eat Foster Farms Sauté Ready as a family even with our crazy food allergies!

Now, when I mention “10 minutes,” that is the actual cooking time. From when you put the frozen pieces in the pan to when they’re ready to serve, it only takes 10 minutes. There’s no need to thaw the chicken at all. Just follow these four steps.

1. Add oil to pan and heat.
2. Add frozen chicken.
3. Cook on medium-medium high for 10 minutes, turning often.
4. Remove from heat and serve.

That’s it. The timing was good too. I tend to overcook my chicken because I’m too nervous for it to be undercooked. That’s why Munchkin has taken over the job of cooking chicken. Somehow, she’s able to get it tender, cooked, and juicy every time. With her having so much homework every day, though, I can’t count on her to be my chicken chef every time. Well, after 10 minutes, the Garlic Herb chicken turned out perfect! When I showed my daughter the inside of one piece, she gave her “yes, it’s cooked” seal of approval.

30-Minute Easy Dinners? Yes, Please!

I also cooked some gluten free quinoa pasta (ugh, I can’t have corn alternative either…) and some veggies. The pasta was ready in about five minutes. I then added some pesto, garlic salt, and olive oil. The mushrooms and asparagus were actually pre-washed, pre-cut, and packaged together at the grocery store. So, all I had to do was put them in the pan and sauté them with olive oil, salt, and pepper. By the time the pasta and vegetables were done, so was the chicken. The chicken didn’t need any seasoning since it’s already marinated in a yummy blend of spices. I tossed the ingredients together and served dinner. From start to finish, it took me about 15-20 minutes to have the entire meal cooked and on the table. Score!

I couldn’t believe the whole process took less than 30 minutes. Talk about quick and easy dinners! All I had to do was open packages, put them in a pan, and sauté the contents. It didn’t require even an ounce of thinking on my part. For nights that I’m on auto-pilot, that’s a MAJOR win in my book! Oh, and I should mention that the food was delicious! The chicken was cooked just right and seasoning gave enough flavor without being overpowering.

Since that first meal, I have cooked two more using the other Foster Farms Sauté Ready packages. I cooked the Lemon Pepper with squash, zucchini, onions (those three were pre-cut, pre-washed, and packaged together), and baby red potatoes. For the Asian Style, I added carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower and served it with rice. Both tasted good but Garlic Herb is still my favorite. The flavor is so versatile with different cuisine types.

“Rule the Roost” During Back to School + Giveaway

Foster Farms Sauté Ready runs about $9.99 per package and serves 4-7 people, depending on how big the portions are. They are in the freezer section either with other frozen Foster Farms products or in the quick meal skillet section. As mentioned, the majority of these flavors (just not the Asian Style) are gluten free and are clearly marked on the front of the package. Ingredients vary but are basically boneless, skinless chicken breasts, water, and seasonings. Very simple and real.

With this new schedule that we are struggling to adjust to, I am so glad I found Foster Farms Sauté Ready. Now I have a way to crank out hot, tasty, and easy dinners for the family in less than 30 minutes. Then, we can all sit down to enjoy a nice meal and unwind from the stress of the day. Foster Farms Sauté Ready helps me bring some order back to the house and “Rule the Roost” with some renewed confidence. For other solutions to calm back to school chaos, look for Foster Farms frozen crispy strips, buffalo wings, chicken nuggets, orange chicken, and many other frozen chicken products such as their selection of corn dogs (there’s even a gluten free version).

Could you use some back-to-school dinner-time help? Thanks to Foster Farms, one of my readers will win ten Foster Farms Sauté Ready coupons. Each of these is good for one Foster Farms Sauté Ready package up to $9.99. That’s a total value of almost $100! Coupons are valid until the end of NEXT year. Enter below!

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I was provided with product and compensated for this post. All opinions are my own.