quick meals....

I personally don't like to make a bunch of casseroles and freeze them to have quick meals... I am not sure why, I just love to make my meals "fresh".  I sometimes have a few in the freezer and they always come in handy, but for the most part I just don't cook that way.
Maybe your the same way, maybe you just don't cook a lot of casseroles...
Whatever the case may be.. I have come up with a "fix" for making quick meals and still have that "freshly" cooked flavor... It also helps me with clean up... what is it?
I cook my meats ahead of time, not roasts or chickens that are whole, but how many of your recipes call for browning hamburger  or shredded or chopped chicken.
Many of my recipes call for that step and I really found that that portion took the most time...throwing the meal together in a casserole, or spaghetti sauce, tacos or whatever was not that time consuming.  So what I do is cook my meats in the slow cooker and then freeze them in plastic baggies... I don't even have to thaw the meat I just tear the bag off the frozen meats most of the time.
This could be very time consuming, but with two slow cookers, it really isn't... I fill one up with my chicken parts... (If I purchase pieces I get the boneless in the frozen section)  I cook it all day and it falls apart making chicken for many meals... fajita's, casseroles, soups, chicken enchilada's and   many other meals... topping for buffalo chicken pizza or whatever your imagination can come up with.
I do the same thing with ground beef.. I throw several lbs in the other slow cooker sometimes I add some ground sausage too ... I drain it well and put it in baggies for later meals...(taco's, casseroles, spaghetti, BBQ or sloppy joes... pizza topping... what ever your can think of ...)
Maybe this is super simple, but it took me years to think of doing it, so in case you didn't think of it... I thought it was worth sharing!
Enjoy!