Stacy Craft

Name: Aldi Chicken Stir Fry
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 2 tbsp oil, separated ((olive oil, sesame oil or vegetable oil)); 1 bag Fusia Teriyaki Stir Fry ((Aldi Brand)); 1 lb chicken tenderloins; 1/2 tsp ground ginger ((optional))

Lunch on Trim Healthy Mama

December 2, 2019 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

Quick and easy ideas for lunch on Trim Healthy Mama to stay on plan while on the go.

Even though I stand by the fact that THM doesn’t have to mean working in the kitchen all day, lunches can be hard to come up with if you are not prepared.

There are a few simple things that you can do to make lunch on Trim Healthy mama easy and tasty.

If you are joining from the THM A to Z series, welcome! You can see the whole series here.

(Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.)

Lunch on Trim Healthy Mama

A little preparation and thought when grocery shopping will make lunch on Trim Healthy Mama quick whether you are at home or on the go.

Here are some things that will be lifesavers during your week.

Rotisserie Chickens

I love these! I think they are often thought of for a quick dinner option but they make an excellent easy lunch option that can be stretched out the whole week!

Read about how I cut up and stretch one chicken into 5 yummy lunches!

Meal Prep

If you are a planner, you can make up a bunch of lunches on Sunday and be ready for the week. Just grab and go!

Here are some of my favorite meal prep ideas for lunches:

THM Lunchable – S (Rolled deli meats, nuts, cheeses, pickles, wasa crackers) – I love to package mine in these containers to keep everything separated.

Freezer Southwest Protein Bowls

Mason Jar Salads – I love this one and you could put it in a mason jar to meal prep.

Leftovers

Using leftovers for lunch on Trim Healthy Mama is just about the easiest lunch that you can eat!

Make use of the work that you have already done and save money too by using the food that you have.

Fast Food

If you do need to eat out for lunch, there are many fast food options that can get you full and keep you on plan.

The only issue with E meals on the road is that they are a little harder to judge since many restaurants will add things like butter or oil to seemingly otherwise low fat options. Wendy’s Chili is a safe E but other than that, you may be entering into a XO.

There are tons of S options when you are on the road. Check out the S Fast Food Guide for THM here.

More THM Lunch Ideas

If you want more ideas for lunch on Trim Healthy Mama, look no further!

6 THM Lunch Ideas for Work

THM S Low Carb Homemade Pizza Lunchable

12 Easy Low Carb Lunch Ideas

5 THM Leftover Chicken Lunch Ideas

Trim Healthy Mama Weekly Meal Plan 1

Trim Healthy Mama Weekly Meal Plan 2

Trim Healthy Mama Weekly Meal Plan 3

Let me know in the comments what your favorite lunch on Trim Healthy Mama is!

Keto Vs. Trim Healthy Mama

December 1, 2019 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

Are you wondering what the difference is in Keto vs. Trim Healthy Mama? Find out all the details!

Keto Vs. Trim Healthy Mama – what is the difference? Although there are some similarities, there are plenty of differences as well.

We will go through the main points below so that you have a good idea of the two different plans and you can decide which will work best for you.

And if you are joining us from the THM A to Z series welcome! You can see the entire series here, where I share all things Trim Healthy Mama!

(Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.)

Keto Vs. Trim Healthy Mama

Are they the same? No but they do have some overlap.

This is going to be a very basic comment about the two diets. You can definitely read more about the ins and outs of each but this should give you a good general idea of Keto vs. Trim Healthy Mama.

Ketogenic Diet

The Keto diet is a very low carb, high fat diet that typically involves counting macros (fat/protein/carbs). You can read more about Keto here.

On Keto you avoid sugar and carbs. This includes most fruits and veggies that have high numbers of naturally occurring carbs.

Trim Healthy Mama

Fats and healthy carbs are allowed on Trim Healthy Mama but they are kept separate. So one meal would be a low carb meal (Like a keto meal), also called an “S” meal in the THM world.

Then three hours later your next meal could include healthy carbs like a sweet potato or fruit like peaches/apples or pineapple and would be kept low in fat. This type of meal reminds me of a heart healthy diet or even Weight Watchers.

You also avoid sugar on THM.

Which is Right For You?

This is a great question and it is really up to you.

I have personally had good experience with THM and lost 60 lbs postpartum after my second child.

I like the food freedom and being able to have healthy foods that are a bit heavier in carbs like fruits, carrots and sweet potatoes.

However, if you are following THM, the keto community can be a great resource for you for THM S meals.

Save Money On Breakfast At Disney World

December 1, 2019 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

Whether you are buying the Disney Dining plan or not, saving money on food is probably top of mind when planning your Disney trip because everything Disney is expensive (Amen?!).

We just got back from our Disney trip and it was amazing. My 2 year old is officially obsessed with Mickey Mouse now. And the wonder and excitement that my 5 year old had as she watched Tinkerbell fly down from the fireworks show was pure joy.

But you can’t have a Disney trip without a lot of up front planning! Thankfully we used a travel agent (that also happens to be a long time friend) and she did all the hard work for me!

Dining is one of those up front things that you need to plan so that you can get the character meals that you want and eat at the time that you want.

At Disney you can choose to pay as you go or purchase a dining plan. We chose to use the Dining Plan on our trip to make things easy. Since our little one is only 2, we only had two purchase 2 adult plans and one child. But that is still a pretty penny.

So after purchasing that, I wanted to plan out loosely how we would use our credits and where we might need to fill in with supplemental meals or snacks.

I decided to save money on breakfast at Disney World as a way to stay on budget and will show you how to do it too!

(Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.)

Save Money On Breakfast At Disney World

So if you want to save your quick service meal for lunch and your table service credit for dinner, you will need to do something for breakfast.

You can always use one of your snack credits to grab a bagel, muffin or a donut but we liked to save our snacks for fun snacks at the park.

That left us needing something for breakfast.

Yes we could pay out of pocket for a meal at the resort but that gets expensive quickly even if the kids shared.

Breakfast Cost At The Resort

Here is a breakdown of what you might pay at a quick service resort restaurant for breakfast.

Mickey Waffle Basket Kids Meal $6.99 (One child and one toddler to split)

Breakfast Platter $10.99

Bagel Sandwich $8.99

Total: $26.97 – This would be even higher if you needed a second kids meal

That means you would spend $134.85 in five days for breakfast. I know it is vacation but I can feed my whole family breakast, lunch and dinner for a week at home for around that much money.

How To Eat Cheap Breakfast At Disney

So if the thought of spending $100+ bucks in 5 days on breakfast doesn’t sound magical to you, there is a solution.

With all of the grocery delivery options, you have a lot of easy options to make Disney a bit more frugal.

Order groceries, have them delivered to the hotel and eat a cheap breakfast. It is that easy.

Amazon Fresh Order

Here is a sample order that you could do to save money on breakfast at Disney World by using Amazon Fresh.

2 bunches of Bananas $2.58

Kellogg’s Mickey Mouse Frozen Waffles, 10 ct. $2.90

Aunt Jemima Syrup $2.82

Jimmy Dean Croissant Sausage, Egg and Cheese, 8 ct. $8.98

Total $17.28

This would feed my family for the same 5 days for a fraction of the cost of eating at the Disney Quick Service restaurant.

Use your refillable mugs to grab coffee or soda.

How To Prepare the Food

There will not be a microwave in your regular hotel room. But there is an easy fix.

The quick service restaurant will have at least one or 2 microwaves and a toaster. So you could toast up a bagel or a waffle or microwave your breakfast sandwiches.

This area is separate from the area that you actually make your food purchases.

When I thinking about this idea, I read a bunch about it on Disney forums. Some think it is inappropriate to use the facilities to warm your own food. However, many think it is just fine.

I happen to be in the latter category. The gift shop sells frozen TV dinners so you obviously would need to be able to warm that up. I see no reason that you can’t use the facilities of a hotel that you are staying in.

There are napkins and cutlery available as well. But I just tucked a few from home in my checked luggage along with some paper plates.

More Ways To Save At Disney With Grocery Delivery

If you would like to indulge in a couple of beers after a long day at Disney, you can save a lot by having some alcoholic beverages delivered to your room.

A bottle of beer cost about $8 at the quick service restaurant at our resort.

Or you can get a 12 pack of bottles from Amazon Fresh for about $16.

That is a big savings!

Do you have another idea to save money on breakfast at Disney World? Or just a Disney savings tip in general? Share it in the comments!

Aldi Chicken Stir Fry Under $1.50 Per Serving

December 1, 2019 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

Add this Aldi Chicken Stir Fry to your meal plan for a quick and easy Asian inspired meal for under $1.50 per serving.

I recently joined a Facebook group that is all about cheap meals to serve your family and it got me thinking.

With Christmas coming soon, it always seems like your wallet just has a constant leak! So I decided to try and incorporate a few budget meals in our weekly round up to keep our grocery budget down.

This Aldi chicken stir fry is so simple to make and only requires 3 ingredients (one of which should be a pantry staple). And you will be able to feed your family for under $1.50 a serving.

(Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.)

Aldi Chicken Stir Fry

This simple Aldi chicken stir fry has a lot going for it.

The number one thing is that it is so simple. You can put this together and have dinner on the table in right around 20 minutes.

The second thing I love is that it only requires 3 ingredients. So it makes it a great option if you don’t have a ton of items in your pantry or if you are making this while on vacation and don’t have your normal pantry to work with.

We always cook in our condo when we go on beach vacations but it can be challenging when you don’t have your pantry staples. This quick Asian recipe solves that issue.

Ingredients

Aldi Teriyaki Stir Fry (Frozen Section)

Fresh Chicken Tenderloins

Some Type of Oil (I used Sesame but Olive oil or Vegetable Oil would work just fine)

Preparing the Asian Stir Fry

Start by preparing the chicken tenderloins. Add 1 tablespoon of oil into a skillet or wok,

Add the tenderloins (I used 1/2 the package) and cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes until the edges start to turn white.

Flip the tenderloins and cook the other side for 3-5 minutes.

I did sprinkle the tenderloins with a little ground ginger and some black pepper. The veggie stir fry has plenty of flavor so if you don’t have these on hand, don’t worry about it.

Remove the tenderloins from the skillet when done and set aside.

Add another tablespoon of oil and the bag of asian veggies and stir fry noodles (set the sauce packet that is in the package aside). Cook covered for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the teriyaki sauce package to the veggies and noodles and stir to combine.

Continue cooking over medium heat for 5 minutes.

About 1 minute before the veggies and noodles are done, add the chopped chicken back and stir until covered with sauce.

Serve immediately.

This fed both me and my husband a generous portion, our 6 & 2 year old a child portion and left enough for one leftover lunch portion. So I would say it feeds about 4, could be 5 if you went with smaller portions and possibly added another side.

Aldi Chicken Stir Fry Cost Per Serving

The cost per serving for this quick and easy supper is just under $1.50 per serving.

That means you could feed your family of 4 a meal for less than $6.

Frozen Stir Fry $2.99

Fresh Chicken Tenderloins (Approximately 1 lb) – $2.93
This is sold in a 2 lb package and I will use the rest in our favorite Low Fat Taco Soup with Refried Beans

2 Tablespoons of Oil – .04

Total Cost – $5.96

You can’t get a burger and fries for your family of 4 for that, even off the dollar menu. And although the frozen blend could be “cleaner,” you are still getting lots of veggies and protein into your family with this Aldi chicken stir fry meal.

Other Frugal Meal Ideas

I am planning a frugal meal round up soon but here are some other inexpensive meals in the meantime to feed your family on the cheap.

Easy Ham and Beans in 15 minutes

Black Bean Tacos

Aldi BBQ Kielbasa over Couscous

And if you are sick of wasting leftovers be sure to read this leftover soup bowl trick to stop food waste and make an extra meal with things you would have thrown out.

Aldi Chicken Stir Fry

Cook Time

20 minutes

Servings

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil, separated (olive oil, sesame oil or vegetable oil)
1 bag Fusia Teriyaki Stir Fry (Aldi Brand)
1 lb chicken tenderloins
1/2 tsp ground ginger (optional)

Cook Time

20 minutes

Servings

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil, separated (olive oil, sesame oil or vegetable oil)
1 bag Fusia Teriyaki Stir Fry (Aldi Brand)
1 lb chicken tenderloins
1/2 tsp ground ginger (optional)

Instructions

Add 1 tbsp oil to a skillet and heat to medium.
Add in chicken tenderloins and sprinkle with ground ginger (if using) and pepper to taste.
Cook for 3-5 minutes until the edges turn white.
Flip the chicken and cook for another 3-5 minute until completely cooked. Remove from pan.
In the same pan, add the other tablespoon of oil to the pan.
Add the bag of frozen vegetables/noodles and cook for 5 minutes covered, stirring occasionally.
Add the sauce packet to the vegetables and continue cooking for another 5 minutes.
While the stir fry veggies/noodles are finishing, chop the chicken into bite sized pieces.
Add the chicken into the skillet with the stir fry and stir to combine.
Serve immediately.

THM Christmas Gift Ideas

November 30, 2019 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

Tons of THM Christmas gift ideas for the Trim Healthy Mama in your life.

If you have a special Trim Healthy Mama in your life but you’re not sure what give this year to help her on her journey this Christmas, this list is for you!

And if you are a THM follower looking for ideas for your own Christmas wish list share this with your friends and family to get those items under the tree to help you stay on plan in 2020!

These THM Christmas gift ideas will make life easier in the kitchen and indulge your sweet tooth too!

(Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.)

THM Christmas Gift Ideas

These THM Christmas gift ideas will make the mama in your life happy and healthier this year!

Trim Healthy Mama Kitchen Gadgets

These small gadgets make THM just a little bit easier.

Egg Slicer – Great for perfectly slicing boiled eggs for salads

Silicone Baking Mat – These make clean up easy when making cheese crisps or homemade fruit leather.

Olive Oil Sprayer – I love this for E meals when I want just a tiny bit of oil. And this is so much healthier than traditional non-stick sprays you buy at the grocery. Just pour in olive oil, pump and spray.

Clean/Dirty Dishwasher Magnet – For all the dishes she will be doing! J/K but seriously does anyone else feel like they are the only one that can look in the dishwasher to see if the dishes are clean or dirty? I used to get that question 10 times a day. My little magnet cuts down on that some!

Easy Lunchboxes – A great gift for the working Trim Healthy Mama that is always on the go. I have been using these for years for my kids and really like the 4 compartment style for Lunchable style THM lunches. They also have a sandwich style container that has room for a sprouted sandwich and 2 sides.

Veggie Spiralizer – Make Mac and Cheese Zoodles – always a crowd pleaser.

Avocado Saver – Use portion control without wasting!

Trim Healthy Mama Small Appliances

Being on the THM plan doesn’t have to mean that you spend your days over the stove. These are some of my favorite items to make life easier in the kitchen.

Instant Pot – Quickly make lots of chicken for shredding to use in meals throughout the week. I also love my instant pot for dried or frozen vegetables. You can make them “southern style” in just a few minutes.

Crock-Pot – I couldn’t live without my slow cooker. Try this THM E taco soup – it is different from the others you have had!

Air Fryer – You can cook all kinds of things in an air fryer. I like to make Lavash chips in mine.

Keurig Coffee Maker – Keep your Trim Healthy Mama properly caffeinated all year long. Coffee is life at my house!

Nutribullet Blender – All those smoothies and shakes need a good blender in order to keep up. I like making Non-Alcoholic Pina Coladas!

Dash Mini Waffle Maker – Whether you like the popular Keto Chaffles or the blender waffles, this cute little waffle maker will make all your dreams come true.

Trim Healthy Mama Food Treats

If your favorite Trim Healthy Mama loves to bake, you are probably safe getting any of the baking ingredients from the THM store.

But if she is more of a Drive Thru Sue or you just want to treat her to a luxury item that she might not buy on her own, these premade options are great little treats.

These THM Christmas gift ideas will satisfy her sweet tooth and are great to make a big gift basket or stuff in her stocking.

Smart Sweets Variety Pack – These are personal choice and a “normal” gummy texture. I enjoy these and they are a great Stocking Stuffer.

Zaffi Taffy, Zolli Pops or Zolli Drops – I love love love the taffy! It is a great texture and doesn’t make you feel like you are going to pull your teeth out with every bite. I am not a big lollipop fan myself but my kids sure are. These are great choices for younger kiddos as well.

Lilly’s Chocolate Bars – These are so good you will be hiding them from your family! Salted Caramel and the almond are my favorites.

Fat Snax Cookies – These sweet treats are a THM S fuel.

Smart Cakes – These are light but still give you the feel of cake. I like the chocolate with a little Reddi Whip on top.

Zevia Soda – Do you love a former soda addict? These are on plan and a pretty good sub when you need a soda. Don’t miss my family’s favorite Crockpot Zevia Pulled Pork for an easy dinner!

Bai Drinks – These are a sweet juice like drink that will satisfy your sweet tooth and give you a break from plain water. I love to incorporate Bai into different recipes like this Bai Creamsicle or easy Strawberry Lemonade Bai Sorbet.

Other Great THM Christmas Gift Ideas

If the mama in your life has her kitchen well stocked, there are still some great THM Christmas gift ideas that you can use to make her holiday special.

Workins DVD Set – the THM workout DVD Set

Butterfly Sipper Jar – Perfect for sippers on the go or even just water. Love the cute butterfly design to remind you of the THM goals.

Trim Healthy Table Cookbook – Check out some of Serene and Pearl’s favorite recipes.

I hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday season. Here’s to sticking to plan and meeting our goals in the new year!