What’s for dinner?
Photo by Sailing Footprints Real to Reel 
It’s 5:00 and you’re headed home. Very likely, in traffic. And if you’re like me, you’re thinking about what you want for dinner. But you really don’t want to go out to eat again – it’s not healthy, it’s expensive, and homemade food is so much tastier. But… you’re tired. You’ve had a long day, and likely so has your partner. It looks like another night of take-out pizza, burgers, or tacos.
So how can you make more homemade meals and minimize inconvenience? Lists and routines. It sounds simple, but my mother taught me that it takes a month of repeating a specific behavior to ease it into “routine” status.
I’ll admit it seems simplistic, but it’s true. The lists help, and when I started living on my own, the lists saved me. I start by writing down my basics on a grocery list. My staples are milk, eggs, yogurt, bread, bananas, tomatoes, rice, and oatmeal. When you make your list of staples, think about the things you eat all of the time, and those foods that supplement other meals. That’s the beginning of the list.
When I’m planning meals, which I generally do once a week before grocery shopping, I consider the weather, seasonality of ingredients, my cravings, favorites, and recipes from a couple of cookbooks. While you’ve got the cookbooks in front of you, add the ingredients to your list, considering any items you might already have in the fridge. We stick Post-Its to the fridge listing what ingredients we have.
We usually do most of our cooking prep on Sunday afternoons, meaning, we throw together 3-4 meals and stick them in the freezer. It’s not a glamorous Sunday afternoon, but two hours in the kitchen usually means terrific meals later in the week. Also, it’s surprisingly fun having your partner as your chef (or sous-chef)!
How do you balance busy schedules and home-cooked meals?
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You are joking? The already sad state of affairs that is Yahoo Answers has reduced itself to lecturing us on dinner? But I suppose this only makes sense; these people are incapable of deciding what to wear, how to fix their hair, wanting medical diagnosis over the internet and unable to name children, it would follow they are incapable of knowing what to eat or how to prepare a meal. Oh thank you might YA blog for bringing hope and light to the masses.
Oh, please B. The helpful tips given may help those like me, who are often at a loss for what to whip up and end up ordering takeout. Thanks for the blog, and please, cynics-lighten up.
LOL
Well, this was most helpful to me as I can never stick with a set routine. I’ll listen to your mom and keep up with a schedule. Thanks for the mom advise!
Well, I use the Crockpot to great effect and have found like you freezing entire dinners works well or at least preping vegetables for a given meal on Saturday. It can be hard to figure out at first but, once you commit to not eating out you start doing what works for you and your family.
Wow, B is a little too critical. My goodness. Yes, people struggle with attempting to eat healthy at home after a long day of work, when they have no desire to get in the kitchen and cook, or run to the store to grab a couple ingredients they forgot. These things are helpful hints for those just learning to cope with the skills of living on their own, or those stuck in a rut of eating out every night, who need tips on how to get in the habit of eating at home. Keep your criticism and meanness to yourself.
Anyways, all good tips. I don’t always plan out meals for the entire week, but when I don’t take the time to do it I regret it. But I also make sure to plan some meals that take a very short amount of time to prepare, along with some more interesting ones. How tired I am when I get home usually dictates what I decide I have the energy to make. And I always have at least 2 nights worth of frozen pop-in-the-oven type meals, just in case I just can’t motivate myself enough to get something made.
Leslie Siegel is cooking up a lamb delight with mashed garlic potatoes, string beans picked fresh from garden, fresh baked bread with churned butter and for dessert we are having Applie Pie Pudding with cool whip, and cranberry sauce too with Pomagrande juice!
Well I actually liked the idea behind this article. Currently I’m a student and I never have time to make food or anything, but I’ll be on my own pretty soon and I’d like to cook. The whole staples idea is a good start.
WOW! I asked this very question a few months back and got a violation from YA.
B, why do bloggers like you always have to seem so sardistic and condescending, all the person was asking advice on how to plan meals for the week without having her health go down as well as to maybe spend the extra time on the week days to maybe plan some other things to do or just so she can relax more. You need a life B.
I eat what’s in my fridge.
Hoo-rah.
Then again, my mom buys crap, so I usually use a few dollars to buy easy mac. It’s cheap, it tastes amazing, and you can get them at walgreens.
I think B needs to switch to decaf. If you are gonna complain about people here and the site the it’s simple. DON’T BE HERE.
well poor people, don’t nessasarily get a wide variety of food. lucky to get a cheap bag of chicken to bake and put in stuff or serve with a side of beans.
I defeantly would be thinking about dinner. maybe some bbq chicken with some cream corn and mashed potatoes.
@BadKitty – the distinction here is that the question is the title of a blog post, rather than a question being asked on Answers. The question you asked may have been interpreted as chat. An actual question is usually posted at the end of the post, like we’ve done on this one. – Mitzi
Calendar!
It is very helpful when menu planning and making the shopping list to sit with the family calendar to see who has meetings, events, and so on to plan accordingly for meals that are quick to fix, or that are the kids’ favorites and so will be consumed quickly. This way we save the more time-consuming prep for meals the whole family can enjoy together without rushing out the door.
Being a mother, a wife, and the proud owner of two German Shepard Dogs, it’s safe to say that I am super busy. Did I mention that I work a 47-hour-a-week job? I can say routine makes it so much easier to have time to make dinner for my family. These tips are very useful. I never thought of spending Sunday afternoon preparing a few of my meals for the week. I will actually start doing that.
Some people think that Y!A is being “lame” or whatever for blogging this. I think it’s very smart. Not all of us are 35-year-old stay at home moms who have time to prepare amazing meals. This is also a good article for people just starting out on their own.
Thanks for the blog! Keep up the good work. B, lighten up.
My wife and I are way ahead of you on this one. We’ve already been doing all of this for quite some time. My spouse is an East Indian from Malaysia, and if you know anything at all about East Indian cooking, or just Asian cuisine in general, there’s just no comparison. So we plan and store meals ahead of time, when we both have time together to cook. I admit that before I met my wife, and before I travelled extensively to SE Asia, I didn’t know much about that area’s cuisine. It’s not only fabulous tasting with the spices and all, but it’s proven to be healthier for you too. The only way it can be made is with fresh ingredients, including the spices, curry leaves, etc. Fortunately there is an oriental market not far from where we live that carries most of this stuff, and that’s where we do most of our grocery shopping.
We live in the middle of the city too…. No long commutes. I’m actually a “country guy” at heart, being born and raised in rural America, and sometimes I do miss it, but I’m not willing to spend half of my life in my car going to and from work. Screw that – life is too short.
Many areas of the city where I live are undergoing a revival and renaissance of sorts as new people buy up old formerly slummy areas at rock bottom prices, and then fix them up. People are getting tired of long drives to get to a place where all you do is crash and sleep anyway – no real community – American suburbs. Give me either the big city, or the country. That goes for the food too. No suburban “fast food”. Good old fashioned down home country cooking is good too….. As well as the international cosmopolitan mix of big city cuisine.
Like stated above, i use the Crockpot (slow cooker) quite frequently. You can easily prepare multiple meals. It’s great for stews, soups and chilis during the winter months.
Thanks for all that… good talk
I’m with you on “freezer” cooking, Jasmin. It’s almost as fast, and doesn’t take any longer, to bake 2 meatloafs. One goes in the freezer. Same with pasta sauces and casseroles.
I always plan my meals for the week before I go grocery shopping, too. And, keep a running list of things we run out of or are low on. You didn’t mention planning meals around the grocery store specials, but I always do. We can save heaps of money buying when things are on sale, and the way prices have gone up lately, it’s almost a necessity to save where we can.
I’m also a crockpot lover. If I know I’m going to have a long day, I either plan on using one of my “freezer” meals or put supper in the crockpot first thing in the morning.
Great comments esp about yahoo bloggers! yea people Iknow eat junk or can’t put a menu together, we need old time moms back. I’m one, hoho my man eats good.
B, they haven’t even done that, they just told us the obvious.
Nice Blog….lol
I don’t cook. My husband does. He does it faster, better and neater than I ever will.
He has comparative advantage in the kitchen.
Ha! I love this. Someone makes a critical comment and everyone jumps on him, telling him to lighten up. Mr. Kettle, meet Mr. Pot.
I have a crockpot that I’m afraid to use. In theory the idea sounds wonderful, but I’m afraid of leaving it unattended. Though it would be good to use it while I was still in the house doing other things.
Thank you for the Mom advice, ’cause I’m the worst at keeping a routine. The simplicity of it helps, ’cause it’s really not that hard to do. It just takes discipline to do the simple things .
Let me say first thing: beans are a big, big help.
What I have done, and it does help (at least myself), is cook a large batch of entree on the weekend. During the week, all I have to do is whip up some veggies, which don’t take long to cook, and pair that up with the big batch of roast, chicken, meatloaf, etc, and eat that with a piece of bread. Easy. One night can be plain ol’ meatloaf, the next night can be meatloaf sandwiches or burgers, the next night can be meatloaf burritos, etc etc.
Speaking of burritos, and getting back to the subject of beans, keeping a pot of beans on hand really does help. (Cook them in a crockpot with garlic, a bit of salt, some ham hocks or bacon… oh man, that’s good!) Some nights, all you need is a serving of beans, a side of veggies, tortillas, maybe a slice of cheese to melt atop the beans, and voila, dinner. Quick and easy and nutritious.
On nights when I haven’t prepared, a quickie dinner is scrambled egg with a can of green beans in it. Wrap it up in a tortilla and garnish with whatever condiment you like. Make a couple of those and you’re good to go.
It’s been 3 days I can’t post any questions in Yahoo Answers that I get the message We’re having a breather… What’s going on???
hmm, what works well for me is lists too!
but my lists are not for planned meals as such. I do grocery shopping once a week. and not forgetting anything saves me a lot of time
Usually i do grocery shopping on fridays,
spend an hour on saturday in cutting/chopping all the vaggies, boiling a few potatoes etc which saves me a lot of time later during the week when i’m back home late in the evening and have a lot less time to think what to make and even less for preparations.
lol
I wish I was anything of a cook. The only things I’m nominally good at cooking are breakfast foods – ’cause I love them. But they aren’t all that healthy, either, and eating four eggs a day surely isn’t nutritionally smart.
You’re absolutely right that it’s important to develop habits when it comes to eating well. Breaking the OLD habits – the eating-out habits – is my problem. But when you make yourself notes or write it on your hand and DO it whether you want to or not, it helps develop the habit. Developing the habit has helped me most with exercising.
Not a problem, especially while you guys are taking a coffee break. If I can’t post answers, I might as well cook.
OMG WHY SUCH A LONG COFFEEE BREAK? DON’T YOU KNOW WHO I AM?
Everybody lighten up. I think Yahoo! Answers is great. The homemade dinner article is good too. Sometimes, just seeing something written, in an orderly fashion, by another person, is extremely helpful. As for people who want free medical advice on the Internet, well, I think most people realize the folly of that, and anyone reading any “advice” they receive that way will know what it is usually worth!
Ugh, grocery shopping *every* week? This is why I buy frozen dinners and pack them into the freezer, and shop maybe once a month. As long as you don’t have any restrictions on salt, this is the best way to go so you don’t spend all night cooking and cleaning after work.
It does not take too much to plan your meals, plan your shopping list, clip your coupons and check the circulars. When I make spaghetti sauce (very easy recipe home made and ready in less than 1 hr including prep time) I make a double batch and freeze some. Pasta and sauce is a quick, nutritious meal.
Im trying to eat out less to save money and eat healthier but I find it really difficult to plan meals ahead of time when I go grocery shopping. Ive heard of freezing meals while making them during the weekend but Im not sure what kinds of meals you can freeze. Growing up we had a big family and my mom stayed at home to cook. Never had leftovers. But thats not the case now.
I like to shop at least every two days and buy fresh ingredients. It destresses me to stop by our local Fresh N Easy to grab just a few things on my way home. If Im in a big hurry I just grab something already prepared like sushi but that gets expensive too.
tonight for dinner is the yamster. LOLOL jk
make three day’s worth like the day before.and pop it in the freezer.
and do the same thing the day after and so on.
THAT WAY i have always have multiple choices of home cooked meals come dinner time.
as most of the dishes stay fresh for a week in a good freezer.
I work odd hours, so I usually spend most of Sunday in the kitchen cooking. I’ll cook 6 – 8 servings, and freeze them in microwaveable containers. That way, I can take a home-cooked meal to work, and reaheat it there.
I usually have half a dozen different meals cooked up and frozen at the one time, so I can have something different every night without having to cook!
hmmm, interesting. We need to be money wise at the same time health wise. Good!
make the food befor heading to work and worm it up soo u worme it up when u come from work and it will be better for u
As a live-at-home college student with a two-hour commute, meals are also a problem for me. I have a big family and most of the food’s gone by the time I’m home, and it’s usually not very healthy. They like deep-fried, breaded stuff. I grew up elsewhere, so I hate it.
So, what I try to do is take whatever there is and add some veggies — a scraped carrot, fresh minced celery, parsley, cilantro or tomatoes… It ends up tasting much better than the original batch, and is healthier, too! I’ll also mix a couple of tablespoons of raw oatmeal and a pinch of cinnamon into my breakfast cereal.
I cook a lot of pretty simple things, and my ‘secret’ is using spice, and plenty. Black pepper, sage, parsley, basil, italian seasoning, garlic, onion, cilantro, cinnamon, cloves… It’s surprising how much tastier things can become with a little extra spice.
I don’t know
Try using a slow cooker; by the time you come home from work, it’s done!
I admire your great organization habits! I’ve tried doing that a few times, but always get out of the habit sometimes. We both work full time and have for most of our 36 years, raising 4 children at the same time. And our two mainstays have been the pressure cooker and the crock pot. My husband is a mood eater, meaning he can’t eat something he doesn’t have the taste for at the moment. So he usually decides what we are having. If he comes home and smells a juicy tender roast cooking in the crock pot, he enjoys that. We usually throw a few potatoes, onions and carrots in there, too, and that makes a meal. The pressure cooker is great for times when we decide to having something fast. You can cook a roast within an hour in there, tender and juicy, with no waste. The crockpot & pressure cooker are not only for roasts, though. Chili, Spaghetti Sauce, Ham and Beans, things like that all cook well, and take very little tending. Lasagna is good if you take the dry noodles, layer all the ingredients, put in the fridge so the noodles soak up the moisture all day, then put in the oven when you get home, to eat about an hour later. Or, if you have a self-timing oven, you can put it in there and set it to cook and then turn itself off.
I’m retired, but a bad hip from an accident puts me in the reluctant to stand for long category, and healthy meal suffer. In junior high school I took a year of cooking, and we were taught to make meal plans for a month at a time. I did that for many years, but an on-call job put a stop to that. You have reminded me, and inspired me to get back to that again. In my defense, I do tend to plan to cook the protein parts of my meals on Sundays. I use fresh produce, almost exclusively, so I prepare that at meal times. Thanks!
what the hell?
My family pulls a frozen meat out of the freezer immediately after dinner. The next night it is defrosted in the fridge and most items only take 20 minutes to cook and 5 minutes to prepare: Boneless chicken breasts, boneless pork, or some BBq’d steak are all regular rotations. We also buy frozen veggies, which lock in the nutrition and that can steam for as little as 10 minutes. You have a nutritious meal in under 30 minutes, including prep and clean up. (if you clean as you go.) We used to do a pasta or rice side dish….but, it’s not very healthy to eat that out of a box! Easy healthy dinners almost any night!
haha, im not tooo sure i anyoe really needs this article… everyone knows how to plan meals, sho[p and cook. and i mean EVERYONE... the truth of the matter is, we all have basic cooking skills, atleast one cookbook (and, even if we dont like the cookbook we have... theres the internet, either at home or at the library), and a freezer. so, if we REALLY wanted to eat healthy and plan meals we could. we could plan ahead, cook, freeze it- and use the micro-wave. dont get me wrong, Y!A is a GREAT tool to get freezable or slow-cooker recipes, but do we really need an artice telling us how to plan meals?
Just my opinion, not tring to offend=]
staples for me are the following–
ramen noodles,canned soups/flour tortillas,
quick cook pasta & instant rice, jar pasta sauce, frozen precooked meatballs– also heat n serve breakfast sausage, bread & ESPECIALLY subrolls, sliced cheese and ham steaks or sliced ham/ salad in bags, add water only pancake mix & eggs…
with these ingredients you have a combo of about 30 NEARLY instant meals– (I don’t like to pre-prepare and freeze meals cause I’m tired of cooking!!)–
the meals for example may include:
meatball subs w melted cheese (we toast the subrolls in the oven a minute)… pasta /meatballs /garlic toast w salad…
how about a large dinner salad w diced ham/cheese on top w spiced toast on the side?… omelets w toast… pigs in blankets… pancakes & eggs… melted ham @ cheese wraps… french toast w ham & fruit, or ham and eggs… grilled cheese & soup or soup & salad, maybe breakfast burritos… chopped up meatballs are great either rolled w cheese and canned beans for italian burritos–or mexican spices for a change… how about add bbq sauce and slice the sub rolls into texas toast!! or add chopped meatballs to canned gravy on sliced bread…or even chopped meatballs or ham in chinese bbq sauce with ramen on the side! (with this I drop eggs into the ramen for instant egg drop soup!!) … how about ham SALAD in rolls w canned pineapple… or tuna melts or instant pizza by triple layering tortillas/sub rolls… oooh! how bout minute sandwich steaks rolled up & stuffed with instant rice!! (don’t forget to add spices in the rice) I could just keep on going!!
BUT the point is INSTANT is STILL BETTER (and Cheaper!) than FAST FOOD!! lol happy hunting…
I agree with the slow cooker comment. I actually blogged about my favorite slow cooker recipe – a mexican enchilada casserole – recently. You can throw it in when you get home, let it sit while you shower, clean, give the kids a bath, whatever. Then pop a topping on, give it another hour and go. All the “waiting” leaves time to breathe before sitting down and finally eating. And it’s well worth the wait.
If you like cilantro, beans, corn, and anything mexican-like, see the recipe here:
http://buzz.prevention.com/community/cplatt/20-minute-meal-crock-pot-enchilada-casserole
i dont have the time to read this.
Very simple, and I make all these for my significant other and I daily.
Make a weekly menu of breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Take into account the morning rushes, the inconvenience of having a sloppy lunch (should keep fresh in a lunch box and not hard to take around) and the dinner slump.
Breakfasts are normally quick cereals, oats with yoghurt and honey, freshly cut fruits, quick piklets and pancakes, snappy sandwiches, or fast scrambled eggs, grilled tomato and toast.
Lunches are salads, stir-fries and rice, quick pasta, filling wholemeal sandwiches, fried rice, or anything which basically keeps well till lunch and heats up well in a microwave.
Dinners are easy, but more wholesome than breakfasts and lunches.
Home-made curries and rice. Spices can be either pre-mixed before hand for quick toasting and frying, or you can buy store bought spice mixes in bulk.
Korean or Chinese hot pot, just get the stock bubbling, dip and cook and eat with rice.
A delicious, creamy carbonara without all the fuss and muss.
Lots and lots of ideas by watching cooking shows (they keep you inspired) and flipping through cookbooks and magazines while writing your menu plan down.
Leftovers are great too. Pack neatly in a clean and compact tupperware container for the moments where you just have no time to cook anything, just grab from the fridge and go! Good for dinners where you just don’t feel like to cook at all.
The hardest part I would think is getting to cook it. However, this is easy – just keep the kitchen counter clean and spotless every single time, so you don’t have to groan and wash dishes and wipe down the counter before cooking when all you want is a piping hot dinner.
As many of the people here have mentioned, I marathon cook on a day off. One week I might fire up the grill and cook every piece of meat I took out of the freezer the day before, with a few baking potatoes, then freeze some and make a few mini meals for lunch at work. the next week I might cook 2 huge pots of basic spaghetti sauce. This is good for chili, spaghetti, beefaroni, a few meatballs for meatball sandwiches, etc. Or I might break out the slow cooker and cook up some bean soup, corned beef and cabbage, mustard greens, whatever is at hand at that moment. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but love those refrigerator pudding pies. That’s alway’s a special treat to find in the fridge!
I kind of disagree with your first paragraph. Depending on the restaurant/meal, eating out is often just as tasty if not tastier than homemade, but yes it is expensive. Just thought I’d through in a little piece of my opinion. Great article though.
Given food prices, things you can make ahead or quickly are lifesavers, to save you from take-out. Crockpots are great: meat, potatoes, onions, veggies… soups cooked ahead and frozen or refrigerated – black bean soup is especially a favorite in our home…if you have lettuce, tomatoes, and other veggies in a salad, and some bread or even garlic bread in the freezer to be heated up, you’ve got a filling meal.
Fruit and vegetables are good staples, especially if you buy in season and at big-box warehouse stores like Costco (I’ve got grapes, blueberries, navel oranges, bananas, and apples in the house at the moment.) Now that I think about it, I have carrots, corn–lots of that, spinach, and frozen peas on hand also. I always have several Idaho potatoes that can go into the microwave to bake- pierce first, of course.
Time-bake feature on oven, if you’ve got it. Pot roast with carrots, potatoes–great on a cold night. Casseroles made ahead and frozen in portions for easy reheating.
Fish is good at the last minute, too. Salmon once a week. Tuna–whether in casseroles or salad.
Take advantage of store specials and plan menus around them. Save food pages from newspapers, and shop with coupons from Sunday paper or midweek.
Spice up your choices. I’ve got a great basil plant on the back porch!
Use pre-packaged things as a time-saver…the mashed potatoes in an envelope that need boiling water and 5 minutes’ standing. Hint: expensive by themselves in supermarket; big box of them cheap at Costco or Sam’s Club.
Frozen spinach cooks up fast and adds to things like spaghetti sauce, especially over whole wheat pasta.
Rotisserie chicken sometimes is relatively cheap. Add veggies and a starch–rice goes with lots and lots of things. Try a different rice: jasmine (my favorite), basmati, rissoto-rice.
Go ethnic on produce, if you have stores near you. Jicama, cilantro,– fun. Ethnic yogurts – there’s a Latino kind in my markets now, with mango, papaya, and guava versions, or Greek yogurt.
In my suburban-near-big-city area, there are “party” stores for buying in quantity. I’m still working on a $10 box of sausage patties, partially precooked and frozen, and take what I need out for quick reheating on top of stove.
Food’s fun to work with, and there’s so much out there for quick, nutritious, colorful and flavorful meals!
Enjoy!
For me, I just buckle down and do it. I have to do a lot of stuff I don’t have time for. I’ll just set out some meat before I leave for the day, and when I come home at like 6-7ish, it’s defrosted. Cook it up however, make a salad, maybe some pasta some days, whatever. I don’t know about doing something for a month before it sets in. It will already set in when you start thinking about it. You have to have the will to break or make a habit. The rest is just dealing with temptation.
My dad and stepmom use Let’s Dish. It’s a chain of stores in the Northeast that let’s you prepare meals ahead of time and take them home. That way, you only have a half-hour (max) of prep-time later on. It’s also really fun.
Those are great ideas!
My Mom taught me the same routine of making meals ahead then freeze them, all of my growing up.
I made the mistake for years not following it though but with prices rising in every category, lately with the gas, and groceries, the freeze idea is one I am going to start.
We grew up on “leftovers” and I nowdays don’t like that for my current family, But, it depends on the meal actually, and I’ll serve it for the next 2 nights or for lunch, although no more days than 2.
u have to cook a fast mell just cook pasta
Why cook at 5 pm?
Why not change your health habits and eat better at lunch time.
Many EU countires do so, Look at their waist lines!
My nutriologist recommended me to eat bigger a bigger lunch and small salad or healthy snack for dinner.
Generations of people around the globe have been doing it for centuries. Why limit yourself to an American tradition that farmers invented.
Today most people don’t work in the fields, and yet many have kept the same eating habits.
Just look at the fattest countries with the USA on top of the list.
I work nonstop for 14 hours and then head home to make a fresh dinner. My husband expects nothing less. I always do two weeks’ shopping to ensure that what we eat is healthy, readily available, and well balanced. I have good luck with packaged salad greens but I also buy greens and other vegetables that require prep. Fresh fish is expensive but fast and good. We have three days of that; sometimes we marinate. Mussels take minutes to cook — a little wine,tomatoes, herbs and in less than 20 minutes there’s a meal rounded out by salad. Smoked salmon is another quick meal–with eggs, it’s the breakfast you missed that day. Ultimately these all add up to 30-minute meals. A butcher preps all of my chicken, veal, beef and this saves enormous time. Some nights I just make a delicious risotto with wine and arugula or mushrooms — another 20-30 minute entree. Keep it fresh, simple, and as nutrient-rich as possible. And save the sauces and other more complicated entrees for the weekend. During the week, after dinner, I do bake a yougurt-based flavorful cake that lasts for days and makes our house smell divine.
I generally plan menus a week or two at a time. However, I don’t pick my meals then grocery shop; I grocery shop then pick my meals. This way, I can buy whatever meats or produce that are on sale, then plan our meals around those things that I bought.
Instead of cooking meals and freezing them, I cook things that I may need in meals–like chicken breasts or ground beef–and freeze them in meal sized portions. Then I can take what I need out of the freezer for chicken dishes (like pot pie, bbq shredded chicken sandwiches, buffalo chicken pizza, etc.) or ones that require beef (soups, spaghetti sauce, burritos, casseroles)
If we’re grilling chicken, I take it out of the freezer the night before and stick the frozen breasts in a zipper bag with seasonings or marinade and put them in the fridge. They’re thawed and marinated when we’re ready to grill them.
If all else fails and I have nothing planned, we do breakfast for dinner. I always have eggs and bread so omelets and toast are a quick “in a pinch” dinner.
I make veggie soup in a large Dutch oven then put it in those Glad containers with lids,individual portions. Just about all meals can freeze but veggie soup is healthy and doesn’t take that much time. That way individuals can microwave their meal in about 5 minutes and just add a sandwich/salad and you got dinner or even lunch. Its cheaper than other frozen dinners with less salt too. I don’t use seasoning that way everyone can season to their own taste.
well i will have to thank my mother in law for that .. she always cooks for us and send us whatever she cooked all during the week .. so all i have to do is heat the food and cook my cakes and muffins and pan cakes for the children in the morning .. i only cook when i have a big feast ” i do few a year ” and luckily everything turns out well ” i prepare every thing when i am free put all chopped things in plastic bags in the fridge and then when i want to cook all i have to do is to mix every thing together on the fire and it takes so little time
so i get to spend time with my guests and serve healthy yummy food ” .
I also plan my menus on Sunday, take inventory of the ingredients I have, make my grocery list according to ingredients that I need and everyday staples. I make sure to put any frozen meat in the fridge two days before I’m making that meal so it will be thawed when I get home from work. Doing this weekly has made this routine comforting.
Cooking is not a good or a bad thing. Most people do it to survive.
Sex is on the menu.
stop taking damn breathers!
tacos!!!
A good, quick, healthy dinner is scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese melted in at the end. If you have pre-chopped green pepper and onions you can add them in. Add a piece of fruit and it’s great and so quick.
I also plan my meals for the week, I have bought a few cookbooks on amazon that have quick and easy recipes and each morning I pull out the meat to thaw by the time I get home and it usually takes me half an hour to an hour to have dinner on the table. The other day I made a great dinner that took me only 10 minutes to prep and 10 to let sit on the grill. A great hint is buy a bunch of “quick recipe” cookbooks and then with time you can get more complicated ones. Now when I go shopping I pick 5 recipes for dinner and buy those ingrediants plus anything else we need.
I’ve tried cooking meals in advance but I never seem to be in the mood to eat what I cooked on Sunday by the time I reach Thursday. It never works out for me. I started cooking 2 meals at a time Max.
Before you leave work, type in the ingredients you have at home into RecipeMatcher (http://www.recipematcher.com) and RecipeMatcher will tell you what you can make with those ingredients. You may have to pick up 1 or 2 things at the grocery store, but RecipeMatcher makes it easy to know what you have to pick up.
You need to exercise to become healthier. No matter whatyou eat (at home or outside) please exercise. This article has enlightened me. hope it helps. But be warned. You will need to exercise. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/913973/new_study_finds_amount_of_exercise.html
I do my shopping on Saturday for the next week taking into account how much time it will take me to cook and have plenty of recipes requiring no more than 10 minutes preparation before either stuffing it in the oven or eat cold. Plenty of salads for summer, some with a rice base to satisfy your stomach’s craving for slow sugar, fish wrapped in aluminum with herbs or a dash of white wine, healthy, light, two minutes preparation, roasted chicken, with the leftovers either eaten cold the next day or thrown in a salad, and to avoid wasting time cutting and dicing I buy my vegetables frozen and already diced to be thrown directly in the pot for cooking… There’s enough easy to do recipes that you can avoid repeats for long periods. The heavy cooking I do on Saturday or Sunday, when I have the time and am in the mood.
How can you eat after you’ve been drinking so much coffee all day?
My mom follows a similar routine of making her list and then shopping on Sunday. She plans out about 5 meals per week, and then the night before, we choose what we want to have the next day so she can get things thawed out, etc. I usually try to help with something, and do the dishes every night after dinner, since she makes most of the meal. If you’ve got kids, try to get them involved too! It should cut down on your workload by a bit.
I make a few big meals over the weekend and freeze the leftovers. During the week my husband and I just pop the leftovers in the microwave. Of course this helps because it’s just the two of us.
If you eat a good breakfast and a big lunch dinner is no more than a salad, fruit, yogurt ro something simple like that. You will sleep better and as your body adjusts you will fight off that 3pm sleepy time feeling at the office.
At our house, we do the “cook all afternoon Sunday thing”, too. Some of our favorites are either a chili made w/ ground turkey and red kidney beans and/or pintos with cornbread and salad, or a totally white chili made w/ chicken and cannellini beans also w/ cornbread (w/ sauteed onion, fresh corn, green chilies and cheddar in it when I’m feeling fancy) and green salad. Other dishes I/we make ahead are: lasagne (again w/ ground turkey or turkey meatballs and/or turkey sausage. We don’t use very much beef in this household unless my son is at home.) Homemade Tuscan Bean soup or, chicken and veggie stir fry w/ rice is another quick meal, as are pork chops or roast w/ applesauce, curried yams and spinach sauteed w/ garlic and onions; Turkey meatloaf w/ mashed potatoes and broccoli/cauliflower/carrots is a favorite here, as is any kind of pasta. Sweet and sour ribs w/ rice or noodles–just marinate the ribs w/ a pineapple and green pepper marinade until you’re ready to use them. Teriyaki salmon is a quickie, and I find Lipton noodles and rice mixes to be invaluable when I come home from work and I don’t have hours to spend in the kitchen. We always have fresh veggies on hand so I can do a salad or steamed or stir fried veggies in a flash. We try to keep a wide selection of nuts and dried fruit on hand, too. I like breakfast for dinner, but my kids are not huge fans of this, and I find eggs at night upset my stomach very much.
I saw paula on the food network make something really easy the other day that looked great!
Thake skinless boneless chicken breast, ore bake them, dice them in to bite sized pieces, and put them in a deep baking dish, add saute`d carrots, peas,
I saw paula on the food network make something really easy the other day that looked great!
Its called “Hurry Up Chicken Pot Pie ”
2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots
1/2 cup frozen green peas
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of chicken soup
1 cup chicken broth
Salt and pepper, optional
1 1/2 cups instant biscuit mix
1 cup milk
1 stick melted butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a greased 2-quart casserole, layer the chicken, eggs, carrots, and peas. Mix the soup, chicken broth, and season with salt and pepper, if desired. Pour over the layers. Stir together the biscuit mix and milk, and pour this over the casserole. Drizzle butter over the topping. Bake until the topping is golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes.
Racel Ray can be slightly annoying somwtimes, but she has great ideas.
Use this link.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_tm/0,1976,FOOD_9997,00.html
Hope it helps.
What I do, is I use the steamer bags that you can use in the microwave. you can put a frozen chicken breast it one and cook that and in like 8 min. in another bag you can put some frozen vegetables and cook those for about 3-4 min. you can put all of this in the microwave when you get home while you are trying to wind down. and in about ten minutes you can be in your comfy clothes and have dinner ready.
ˇActually…you doesn´t have to eat too much after 6pm., — only some…things!
(bananas with yogurt,creamcheese with fruits,broccoli with melted cheese or potatoes with olive oil — then …blackblack………Tea with Honey)
p.s. i am naturally vegetarian and …do love when someone is doing for me all the prepación…
u could make alot of soup 1 day when ur not buissy and put it in jars that way it wont go bad then when u dont feel like cooking dinner u could just heet up the soop from the jar and u got dinner ready
Wendeys is always good…the dollar menu
Try http://www.savingdinner.com. She has recipes and shopping lists already done for you. It’s very organized so that I don’t have to find the extra time to be. She has books plus online menus available for a fee. She also has freezer menus.
Looks like a delicious meal to cook.
why don’y you try “nigela’s express” book it’s about making very delicious meals in 5 minutes tops ,i’ve tried it and it rocks
Slow cookers (or crock pots) are life savers for busy people. I just bought one this year and love it. The only prep is perhaps soaking dried legumes the night before and sauteeing onions in the morning. Of course, you have to chop any veggies you’re using. Throw it all in the crockpot with some broth, set the timer and come home to a fantastic stew in the evening. Your evening cooking will then consist of noodles, potatoes or rice as an accompaniment (maybe a salad too). Also, nothing beats walking in the door to the scent of a stew that been simmering away all day in your kitchen. There are some good cookbooks out there on slow cooking recipes (gourmet, ethnic, etc..) Its so comforting when you’re stuck in traffic at 4:00 and don’t need to worry about dinner. Thats my secret.
Most food can rather be quick and simple, if you have on hand spice rubs, marinade, and pre-washed veggie for quick saute side dishes
I don’t think it’s really that hard to try to have a meal that is very unhealthy or extremely expensive. When you go grocery shopping just switch to the healthy alternative. Instead of potato chips, get something that is healthy like yogurt, sugar-free jello, pretzels, fruits, veggies (celery with ranch dip is one of my favorites). As for meals, quick preparations are key. Sandwiches are great for lunch and for dinner? Why not try some stir fry? We have internet, there are many websites that have recipes for fast, healthy, and easy cooking.
i have ask for safe to buy food. I went to salavtion want give ou a doug mcdold