Supermarket shortcuts for quick and easy meals

In a perfect world, we’d all love to cook homemade meals completely from scratch every night of the week. In reality, though, that’s not always possible. Thankfully cutting a few corners can save tons of time in the kitchen, and The Domestic Geek herself Sara Lynn Cauchon stopped by to show us exactly how. Along with eight delicious recipes, she showed us some great tips and tricks for supermarket shortcuts that will help dinner get made quicker, before the choruses of 'I'm hungry!' begin.Find both the recipes and Sara's shortcuts below, and be sure to watch the video above for even more time-saving tips!

BBQ chicken tostadas

Sara's shortcuts

• Rotisserie chicken• BBQ sauce• Canned refried beans• Coleslaw mix• Ranch dressingWhen it comes to supermarket shortcuts, nothing beats a rotisserie chicken and these amazing barbecue chicken tostadas are the perfect place to use one. Just take your chicken apart and shred it all up in a bowl then toss it in some store bought barbecue sauce! For the base of the tostadas, use some canned refried beans, another supermarket shortcut that not only adds flavour, but also nutrition.

Chicken and gnocchi soup

Sara's shortcuts

• Rotisserie chicken• Fresh gnocchi• Frozen peas and carrotsThis recipe uses fresh gnocchi that you can find in the deli aisle at your supermarket. You can also buy frozen gnocchi and use that in this recipe but fresh is a little tastier. Plus, fresh gnocchi has a built-in timer so as soon as it's cooked and ready to eat it will start to rise to the top of your pot and you know you can add the rest of your ingredients – frozen peas and carrots as well as a couple handfuls of baby spinach.

Cheater chicken pot pie

Sara's shortcuts

• Rotisserie chicken• Frozen mixed vegetables• Biscuit doughAgain, using that shredded rotisserie chicken will save you a ton of time! Another shortcut here is using a store-bought roll of biscuit dough and using it to cover the mixture.

Chicken caesar pizza

Sara's shortcuts

• Store-bought pizza dough• Caesar salad dressing• Rotisserie chicken• Pre-cooked bacon• Shredded mozzarellaStore-bought pizza dough, layered with other time-saving ingredients, will make whipping up this pizza a piece of cake.

Spinach and artichoke baked ravioli

Sara's shortcuts

• Fresh pre-packaged cheese ravioli• Jarred Alfredo sauce• Jarred artichoke hearts• Pre-shredded mozzarella cheeseStore-bought alfredo sauce is really handy when it comes to weeknight cooking! The star of this dish of course is ravioli - this recipe uses some fresh ravioli from the supermarket, but you could use frozen as well here.

Meatball stuffed shells

Sara's shortcuts

• Frozen meatballs• Jarred tomato sauce• Shredded mozzarellaThese amazing meatball stuffed pasta shells actually taste a lot like lasagna but with about a tenth of the effort. Amazing frozen meatballs are a great supermarket shortcut! You can find them in the freezer aisle at any supermarket. These are beef meatballs but you could use turkey or chicken instead. One final shortcut is using pre-shredded mozzarella to save time on the busiest of nights.

Sweet and tangy pineapple meatballs

Sara's shortcuts

• Frozen turkey meatballs• Canned diced pineapple• BBQ sauce• Quick cooking riceThe only chopping in this whole recipe is for the red and green bell peppers! Serve your time-saving ingredients over quick cooking rice for an all-around speedy (and delicious) meal.

Easy mushroom ramen

Sara's shortcuts

• Ramen noodles (Flavour packets discarded)• Pre-sliced mushrooms• Miso pasteThis mushroom ramen comes together in an absolute flash and just happens to also taste amazing. For even more great savoury flavor, the secret ingredient in this dish is actually miso paste. If you're not familiar with miso paste, it’s soy paste you can usually find it in the same section of your supermarket with the tofu and it dissolves into the broth. One the broth comes to a simmer, add the ramen straight into the pan. You don’t need to cook it separately – one pan wonder![video_embed id='1626972']These salads are anything but boring[/video_embed]