Easy Meals I Make at Home in Under 30 Minutes

I have over 700 recipes on this little website of mine, but very rarely do I cook like that at home. I prefer to keep it simple, especially after cooking throughout the week for the blog. And the simpler I keep it, the more I’ve been able to stick with healthy meals throughout the day, day after day. And since I’ve had this website for quite sometime now, I’ve heard MANY people complain that they don’t have enough time to cook a healthy meal. And I get it. Life is f*cking busy. Work, workouts, children, family stress, and whatever the hell else is going on makes it pretty easy to come up with excuses to NOT eat a well rounded, healthy meal.

Well I’m here to show you that with a little planning, a little creativity, and with the help of some special ingredients, there’s really NO EXCUSE to not eat a healthy meal. It’s really freaking easy, I promise you that. You’ll see many repeats in my diet because I stick with foods that make me feel my best and that cook up quickly. Plus, I use whatever ingredients I have on hand in my freezer. So let’s get to it. Here’s a little breakdown of what I always have at home and/or purchase week to week:

  • ButcherBox – Every month I get my monthly supply of grass-fed, grass-finished, antibiotic and hormone-free, pasture-raised beef, chicken and pork. This way I always have meat on hand that I can pull out of the freezer the day beforehand to make for meals the next day. And since it’s delivered to my doorstep, I don’t have to think about it, which is the best part. In every box, I always get burgers and breakfast sausage, then whatever other meat is available that month!
  • Whole Foods
    • Freezer section – I always like to purchase cauliflower rice, sliced bell peppers, asparagus, cauliflower and kale so if I’m in a pinch and have no fresh produce around, I can quickly defrost any of these vegetable and whip up a meal quickly.
    • Produce section – I almost always purchase arugula, kale, carrots, cherry tomatoes, ripe plantains, yukon gold potatoes, sweet baby peppers, butter lettuce, honey crisp apples, cilantro, green onions and whatever other vegetable looks good.
    • Pre-cut veggies – At Whole Foods (and many other grocery stores nowadays), they have pre-cut vegetables that have made a huge difference when it comes to how long it takes to make a meal. It costs a little more, but to me it’s worth it because it keeps me eating healthy. I’ll always buy pre-cut butternut squash fries, brussels sprouts, kale, beets (I buy the Love Beets brand), zucchini noodles, beet noodles, and carrot fries.
    • Butcher section – Since I get all my meat from ButcherBox, I usually only purchase wild-caught fish and seafood at Whole Foods. We try to eat salmon, scallops, sea bass and whatever other fish looks good. And we’ve been eating more fish and seafood recently because my husband is on a strict diet where he can’t have chicken or pork, which is why most of my dinners are beef or fish/seafood. I love getting fish/seafood for the nights that we have limited time since it cooks up so quickly.

Now let’s talk about my meals. If you don’t already follow me on instagram, get to it because I share most of my meals every day to help you stay creative in your own kitchen! I have 16 meals here and I’m going to quickly break all of them down. I often use two pans to make things cook up quicker. It may mean more dishes but non-stick pans are easy to clean anyways, so it’s not that big of a deal!

PaleOMG - Easy Meals I Make at Home in Under 30 Minutes

This is how most of my breakfasts look and this takes about 15-20 minutes to make –

  • ButcherBox breakfast sausage
  • Pre-cut kale and a plantain cooked in ghee in the same pan

PaleOMG - Easy Meals I Make at Home in Under 30 Minutes

I use leftovers A LOT for meals and for this meal, I had leftover tomato salad. This takes about 10-15 minutes to make –

  • leftover tomato salad – cherry tomatoes, avocado, olive oil, lime juice, cilantro, jalapeño, s&p
  • ButcherBox breakfast sausage and a plantain cooked in the fat in the same pan as the sausage

PaleOMG - Easy Meals I Make at Home in Under 30 Minutes

I like to get as many vegetables as possible in at every meal. This meal takes 30 minutes –

  • Brussels sprouts tossed in avocado oil and roasted at 400 degrees for 30 minutes
  • When the brussels sprouts have about 10 minutes to go, I cooked up a Teton Water jalapeño brat in a pan (I cut the brat like that to help it cook quicker)
  • While the brat cooks, I toss an arugula salad in olive oil, lemon juice, s&p

PaleOMG - Easy Meals I Make at Home in Under 30 Minutes

Since I stay away from eggs most of the time, I make hashes at home just without the eggs. This kind of meal takes about 10 minutes.

  • ButcherBox sausage cooked up, then 1/2 diced apple added along with a handful of arugula and some hot sauce.

PaleOMG - Easy Meals I Make at Home in Under 30 Minutes

Getting as much color as possible is one of my favorite kind of breakfast! This took about 15 minutes to make –

  • ButcherBox cooked up, then 3 purple carrots and 1/2 plantain cooked in the fat in the same pan
  • While all the vegetables cook, I made an arugula salad in olive oil, lemon juice, s&p

PaleOMG - Easy Meals I Make at Home in Under 30 Minutes

This dinner took about 20 minutes to make –

  • I heated up a cast iron skillet with ghee, and seasoned ButcherBox sirloin steaks with salt and garlic powder. Once hot, I cook the steaks for about 5 minutes per side, until medium rare, then I let the steak rest on a cutting board for 10 minutes before thinly slicing agains the grain.
  • While the steaks rest, I add pre-cut kale to that same pan with a bunch of thinly sliced sweet peppers and cook for about 7-8 minutes, until soft and browned.
  • Lately, I sliced up some iceberg lettuce, topped it with avocado oil ranch and hot sauce, then I topped it all off with taco seasonings.

PaleOMG - Easy Meals I Make at Home in Under 30 Minutes

This dinner took about 20 minutes to make –

  • ButcherBox burger cooked in a cast iron skillet with ghee, seasoned with only salt and garlic powder. About 6-8 minutes per side.
  • While the burger cooks, in another pan with ghee, I cooked up pre-cut beet noodles with salt and pepper.
  • Last, I made an easy salad of arugula with avocado oil ranch.

PaleOMG - Easy Meals I Make at Home in Under 30 Minutes

This meal was made with all leftovers, so even though I had to make these ingredients earlier on, it meant this meal took 3 minutes to prep –

  • Jalapeño Popper Chicken Salad
  • Leftover roasted brussels sprouts – earlier these were tossed in avocado oil and roasted at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. I just microwaved these for about a minute
  • Leftover tomato salad – cherry tomatoes, avocado, olive oil, lime juice, cilantro, jalapeño, s&p

PaleOMG - Easy Meals I Make at Home in Under 30 Minutes

This lunch took about 15 minutes to cook up –

  • ButcherBox chicken tender diced up and added to a pan with ghee. Once almost cooked through, I add diced carrots and sliced sweet peppers and cook up with a little hot sauce.
  • Once veggies are soft, I make a quick salad of arugula and avocado oil ranch.

PaleOMG - Easy Meals I Make at Home in Under 30 Minutes

This is one of my favorite dinners to make because it’s so easy to make and so filling. I made this in about 20 minutes –

  • In a pan with ghee, I add kale and cook over medium heat with a little lemon juice, s&p and red pepper flakes until soft.
  • Then in another pan with ghee, once hot I added scallops that I have salted on both sides. These scallops only have to cook for 3-5 minutes per side.
  • While the scallops and kale cook, I dice up Love Beets (which are already cooked and peeled) then I toss them in olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, and s&p.

PaleOMG - Easy Meals I Make at Home in Under 30 Minutes

This meal takes about 30 minutes to make –

  • I toss these pre-cut butternut squash fries in avocado oil and roast at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.
  • While the fries roast, in one pan I cook up ButcherBox burgers in ghee, about 6-8 minutes per side. Then I top the burger with avocado oil mayo and ketchup.
  • And while the burgers cook, in another pan I cooked up pre-cut kale, arugula and some diced red bell pepper in ghee then add a little lemon juice, garlic powder and s&p.

PaleOMG - Easy Meals I Make at Home in Under 30 Minutes

This Taco Tuesday dinner (which I make almost every Tuesday) took about 25-30 minutes to make  –

PaleOMG - Easy Meals I Make at Home in Under 30 Minutes

This meal took about 25 minutes to make –

  • This is my chicken fried rice recipe, but I use ButcherBox ground beef instead. I also used thawed cauliflower rice and thawed pre-cut bell peppers to make this meal cook up even faster!

PaleOMG - Easy Meals I Make at Home in Under 30 Minutes

This dinner took about 30 minutes to whip up –

  • Brussels sprouts tossed in avocado oil and roasted at 400 degrees for 30 minutes
  • While brussels sprouts cook, in a pan with ghee, I add kale and cook over medium heat with a little lemon juice, s&p and red pepper flakes until soft.
  • Then in another pan I cook up ButcherBox burgers in ghee, about 6-8 minutes per side. Then I top the burger with chipotle mayo and put it in butter lettuce.

PaleOMG - Easy Meals I Make at Home in Under 30 Minutes

This meal took about 25 minutes to make –

  • This is my chicken fried rice recipe, but I use ButcherBox ground beef instead. I also used thawed cauliflower rice and thawed pre-cut bell peppers to make this meal cook up even faster then put the recipe in butter lettuce cups!

PaleOMG - Easy Meals I Make at Home in Under 30 Minutes

Last but not least, this meal takes about 30 minutes, but is worth the time since it has so many vegetables in it!

  • In a pan with ghee, I cooked up pre-cut beet noodles with salt and pepper.
  • In another pan with ghee, I cook up pre-cut zucchini noodle with salt and pepper.
  • Once the beet noodles are soft and done cooking, I set aside and cover then add the kale to that pan to cook with a little garlic, lemon juice and s&p until soft.
  • Then when the zucchini is done, I set aside and cover to keep warm. I add extra ghee to the pan then cook the scallops that I have salted on both sides for 3-5 minutes per side.

And that’s that!! That’s 16 meals all cooked in under 30 minutes. And this is exactly what most meals look like for me. Since I started cooking like this more and more, I have felt better than ever. I sleep better, my stress levels are lower, and I have more energy than usual. I hope showing you these quick meals help prove to you that eating healthy really is easy, you just sometimes have to keep it simple! Let me know if you have any questions about these simple meals and if I can help in any other ways!

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I may be compensated through affiliate links in this post, but all opinions are my own. This compensation helps with expenses to keep this blog up and running! Thank you for your support with PaleOMG!

Oh, Hi! I’m Juli.

I’m a food hoarder. And a really bad dancer. If you don’t know me well, you will probably not understand my humor. Therefore, I apologize ahead of time. Thanks for listening to my ramblings of my ever-changing life and trusting my kitchen mishaps. Your trust in me is appreciated.

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59 thoughts on “Easy Meals I Make at Home in Under 30 Minutes”

  1. How do you handle your portion sizes? I have zoned in the past and am currently counting macros while on a 10 week strength and nutrition program. It gets a little tedious at times. You seem to have it down.

    1. i think if you’ve zoned in the past, you already have a gage on your correct portion sizes. at this point, i don’t think about portion sizes that much. i know that a burger is enough protein, or 3-4 scallops depending how hungry i am, or 1 small steak. and when i start to feel satisfied, i usually just stop eating and my husband finishes my portion. i just don’t think you really have to think much about portion sizes as long as you have an understanding of your hunger cues and when to stop when satisfied, especially if you’re mostly eating clean proteins and tons of veggies. i find it harder to gage when i’m eating dense carbohydrates like potatoes

      1. Thank you! I plan on finishing out the program with macros that I am currently on with just a few weeks left. I don’t think it is a realistic lifestyle for me with weighing things , but has definitely made me more aware of how much I should be eating. That is usually my downfall.

  2. This is an awesome post! I love recipes but most nights I’m looking to make something quick and easy. Thanks for all of the simple ideas!

  3. Thank you so much! This is perfect timing because I am just starting to remove eggs from my diet, and now you’ve given me so many delicious looking breakfast ideas!!!

  4. This is so helpful!!! I LOVE your recipes, but for easy weeknight dinners, I like “non recipes”. I often describe my style as “assembling foods” vs cooking and this fits in perfectly with that!!! Easy, quick, healthy, and delicious! Will definitely be using this for inspo. 🙂

  5. I can’t tell you how much I love this post! I mean, I totally love your super detailed, creative and beautiful recipes so please keep them coming but this simple post with easy meals was sooooo needed in my life, I’m great at protein but I find myself eating lots of spinach with oil & vinegar because it’s easy and thinking about sides is hard. I have some veggie noodles (carrot I think) that have been in my freezer for weeks just cause the thought of doing something fancy with them freaks me out. I’m totally making those for dinner tonight after seeing how simple you keep it!

    1. i totally do the same thing with arugula. but kale has been awesome to cook up quickly and any of those pre-cut veggies make it even easier!

  6. Love this post!! Definitely so helpful for quick and easy meals. I try to meal prep my week due to my job and it being difficult to cook during the week, and I love how easy these are for being on the go. Great idea for the freezer foods from whole foods, i’m going to look into it! Why don’t you eat eggs?

  7. This may be a dumb question… but do you thaw the BB burgers or just toss them on frozen? I’ve got some in my freezer right now and suddenly want a burger for dinner!!

  8. This is amazing. I have the hardest time planning meals without a “recipe” and this makes it sound so damn easy. You are the coolest.

  9. Thanks for sharing this post! The Costco I go to in north GA is selling LoveBeets in bulk, 5 packs for $5.99. It’s worth looking into in your area if you are a member or have a friend who’s a member who can buy it for you.

  10. I totally bought arugula the other day because of you. I’ve NEVER bought it! Thanks for the food inspiration. I am wondering if you could do a post some day on kitchen essentials like pans, gadgets and things and how you keep your pans clean? I use a ton of aluminum foil!

  11. I follow you on Instagram but just now had the chance to check out your blog. WOW! I love this post! I have been having trouble coming up with new ways to use the meat in my house. We usually have the same things, spaghetti, tacos, etc. I love your spin on it all! I am curious, what kind of ghee do you use?

  12. Huge YES to simple, easy meals full of real, whole ingredients! I cook this way myself, though local eggs make up the majority of my animal protein…plus a 2-burger meal on Fridays…and organ meat or canned fish once a week or so (cheap, easy, nutrient-dense).

    Also, I LOVE sharing this sort of post with my eating coaching clients – especially if they’re newer to paleo-primal and find the whole thing overwhelming. Love sharing it with my Chinese Medicine Nutrition students too, since they are usually stressed and short on time. Thank you!

  13. This is a great idea for a post! Like those who have already commented I love a good recipe but find cooking like you’ve outlined above to be much quicker and I don’t have to put too much thought into it. Between meals like this and slow cooker meals I’m set for 90% of the time! Thanks for some good ideas you’ve given me, keep up the good work 🙂

  14. Juli,

    Thank you for taking the time to write this post. I love your recipes, but this is a great, realistic list of ideas that I can incorporate into my daily routine. Thanks for the inspiration!

  15. Several things: 1) I am totally obsessed with Kite Hill cream cheese now! Especially the jalapeño flavor! So damn good! 2) just caught up on your podcasts and you should have Courtney Kerr from kerrently on to talk beauty products and fashion And Dana Weiss aka Possessionista to talk fashion and all things bachelor! Oh! And maybe RealitySteve! Obviously I have no issue with bachelor talk on your blog and podcasts! 3) made your cucumber dill dip for super bowl and it was an absolute hit! 4) loving this post! Thanks for your awesome recipes and ideas! You’re the best!

  16. I love seeing what you are cooking – it gives me inspiration for my easy breakfast & lunches since I have very little motivation for cooking at those two times of the day.

  17. Thank you for posting this! I love it when you post meals like this on instagram, I get so many great ideas from them, but to have all of these meals together in the one post makes it so much easier to get inspiration and ideas for healthy meals. Love it!

  18. Love this post!!! I am always looking for new ideas for quick and simple workday meals since I work shiftwork and often only have 30-45 mins to prep cook and eat before heading to work in the afternoon! I recently started making a batch of chicken salad on my last day off to have on hand for quick grab and go meals for those days I either lose track of time while hiking in the morning or just have too much housework to get done before work. Besides these quick meals, do you have any go to items you prep ahead for the week?

  19. Taylor Ostrander

    Hi Julie, I was wondering if you knew of something like butcher box for Canada? love you blog and recipes! thanks!

  20. would love to hear more about the diet your husband is on.. never heard of one that cuts out chicken and pork. sounds interesting!

    1. I just have a plain old lodge cast iron. you can find them everywhere! walmart, target, bed bath and beyond. i’ve even seem them at Cabella’s and at the cracker barrel store, ha! you just have to research how to care for it and that was a little intimidating to me but now it’s my go-to skillet! I think Juli uses these too.

  21. Question about the kale. In the grocery rundown, you mention kale from the freezer section and also kale from the produce section. Are you using both of these interchangeably as the kale that you saute in ghee? Is there a certain brand that you recommend? I feel like the kale I purchase is very hit or miss on whether it tastes good or not.

  22. This post is everything!!!! I have dug into your old recipes from the past for 5-ingredient recipes and stuff that is quick to prep. I’d love to see a whole series of quick, low ingredient recipes like these in future recipe posts. i know theyre not the most photogenic things but they are what i neeeeeed! I also feel like instantpot recipes can fall into this quick to cook category 🙂

    also i’d love it if you had Jessie Golden as a podcast guest! I want to hear more about meditation and her experiences with it. Like how to get started and all that.

  23. I love this post – thank you for sharing! It’s easy to feel the need to make big fancy meals all the time bc of social media, but love the realness of this post. Simple & delicious! Thank you!

  24. Hi Juli,

    I notice you eat a lot of plantains. I’m just starting to warm up to them, but haven’t had much success. Can you provide tips on what color to look for and how to peel them easier? I made the spicy stuffed plantains from your cook book last night and they came out super hard and unpleasant. I don’t think it’s any fault of the recipe just my lack of knowledge of this ingredient.

    Thanks!

  25. Thank you so much for posting this! I didn’t realize it until I saw this but my fam was definitely in need of a “kept it simple” reset – everything else has been so overwhelming lately. You’re the best!

  26. LOVEEEEE this POST!!! 30 min meals are all I have time during the week! Hello Instant Pot! Meals don’t have to be complicated, people need to realize that. lol

  27. This is probably silly, but is there a particular way you cook the arugula? Do you put it all in a pan together (lemon, olive oil)?

  28. Hi Juli! I have never cooked with plantains before, but would love to learn how! How do you know plantains are ripe? Also, do you have a post or video on how you cook them?

  29. Hi Juli! My husband and I are going to try Butcher Box! Quick question, are orders delivered the same day every month? I’m just curious, if I signed up now and chose my plan, would I have to wait until the next delivery date (for example next month) to get it or would they ship my stuff now? Thanks!

  30. I know this is an older post…. but I keep coming back to when I need simple ideas to get myself back on track. Love these meals!

    My favourite meal on here is one of your old ‘ Go To Meals’ chicken sausage, piece of bacon, brussell sprouts with balsamic

    Love the site!

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