Cooking dinner every night can be overwhelming. Sometimes even the simplest meals can take much longer to prepare than anticipated, especially with kid interruptions and all the chaos of the evening routine. Before having our third child, my husband and I did a pretty good job of planning ahead to make sure we had something to cook every night, but we were finding that we were wasting a lot of food and many nights, it was taking a lot longer than planned. This pushed back bedtime for the kids (and more importantly, relaxation time for us) and we were spending a lot more money on food than necessary, as well as feeling guilty about throwing so much away. After our third baby was born, the chaos increased and we realized we had to streamline the meal planning process. It isn’t perfect, but we have made dinner time much quicker and simpler and are no longer wasting food.
Here are the basics of our strategy:
1. Discuss schedule. Figure out plans for the week that might interfere with dinner (late nights at work, school activities, etc.)
Example: Next week there are two nights when one of us will be home late. We will add two recipes that can be made ahead and simply heated up or very easily assembled.
2. Plan out the menu. Take a quick inventory of what you have and plan recipes around ingredients that need to be used. Also make main dishes that can be used in more than one meal – the crock pot is your friend! This prevents waste, saves money/time and fosters creativity!
Example: Tomatoes and avocado from last week will be used on Taco Tuesday, fennel on its way out will be used in a fennel orange salad. All of the root veggies getting soft in the pantry will be chopped and added to a crock pot recipe.
3. Make a grocery list. Read through all the recipes and scan the fridge/pantry for ingredients you have or need to replace. We add basics for kid lunches as well such as cheese, bread, deli meat, peanut butter, etc.
Tip: Try not to deviate from the list while shopping and don’t go to the store or scan instacart while hungry! This helps minimize extra spending and food waste.
4. Prep. We typically make 2-3 meals on Sundays or at least components of meals and prep as much as we can ahead of time. This seems like a lot of work, but usually takes no more than an hour and saves a ton of time the rest of the week. We also typically make more than a recipe calls for in order to have leftovers for lunch.
Tip: When making a salad leave off the dressing (to avoid sogginess), double it and put leftovers in lunch containers for the next day along with small containers of any leftover dressing.
5. Assemble, eat and clean up! Refer back to your menu/recipes each day and think about what needs to be done for dinner before you get home or start cooking. Consider how much time each piece of the meal will take to cook or assemble. I usually start with foods that need to be heated and assemble cold sides or salads while everything else is heating up. Wash & put away as many dishes as possible while preparing dinner. This will minimize clean-up after the meal.
Now that we’ve learned the steps, let’s put it all together
Example menu and prep for the week:
Sunday: Italian pulled pork (crock pot) with polenta (pre-made package from Trader Joe’s - heat and serve) and roasted brussel sprouts (prep other food for the week while this meal is cooking)
Monday: Brazilian curry chicken w/ root veggies (crock pot recipe – assembled in 10 mins that morning) over rice with coleslaw (‘slaw made on Sunday). Arrive home, start rice (20 mins to cook). When rice is finished place in bowls, top with crock pot contents, serve with coleslaw.
Tuesday: Tacos w/ leftover pork (from Sunday), guacamole, veggie toppings and black beans (canned). Heat taco meat (in skillet) and beans (in sauce pan). While heating, chop onion, cilantro, tomato and lettuce. Assemble guac (avocado, cilantro, onion, lime juice, spices). Heat tortillas and assemble tacos. Serve.
Wednesday: Sweet potatoes (baked on Sun night) stuffed w/ leftover chicken, cilantro & Greek yogurt and Fennel orange salad with mustard vinaigrette (dressing made on Sun). Arrive home, heat baked sweet potatoes in oven. Heat chicken mixture from Monday’s dinner. Chop fennel bulb, cube 1 orange (peeled), add nuts and raisins, toss with spinach. Spoon chicken mixture over halved potatoes, top with dollop of Greek yogurt. Serve with salad.
Thursday: ‘Pick your own leftover night.’ (Sometimes we do breakfast for dinner, sandwiches or “bowls” with a grain base and toppings of choice, usually a salad as well.) Marinate fish for Friday dinner.
Friday: One pan salmon with potatoes, asparagus, cherry tomatoes and dill sauce (we do fish on Fri during lent – one pan fish meals take 10 mins to prep, 20-25 mins to bake. Fish can be defrosted/marinated previous night). Arrive home and pre-heat oven to 375. Pull out marinated fish. Cube or slice potatoes, wash and trim asparagus. Spread potatoes on sheet pan, toss with oil, salt and pepper. Cook for 10 minutes. Make dill sauce (mayo, dill, lemon juice, salt/pepper). Add asparagus and tomatoes to pan (tossed with oil and S&P). Cook five more minutes. Increase heat to 400 degrees. Add salmon and cook for 7-8 minutes, depending on size and thickness of fish. Serve.
Saturday: Plans always vary and we usually have more time to cook, so this meal can either be more elaborate or just something from the Trader Joes frozen aisle, depending on the schedule that day.
Hope this helps simplify and add some color and flavor to your weekly meal routine!
