What to Make For Dinner - 12 Simple Strategies to Make Dinner With Ease

[Karl Giles]

Preparing healthy homemade dinners can be a real chore, especially if
you don't know what to make for dinner, or don't have the necessary
ingredients in the house. However, using some simple strategies can
help you get dinner on the table with ease and avoid the last minute
trap of ordering take-out or going out to eat.
1. Have a plan. If you have a plan for the week you can make sure you
have all the necessary ingredients in the house and save time by
prepping foods in advance. Take a look at your week and plug in quick
meals for busy nights, slow cooker meals for nights you need to eat as
soon as you walk in the door, and more involved meals for days you
have additional time.
2. Keep a list of family favorites. Making weekly menu plans will be
easier if you have a list of recipes you've made before that your
family likes. It is easy to forget about a new dish, especially if it
is seasonal. There may be recipes that you cook on the grill in the
summer and warm soups you make more in the winter. Having a list helps
you remember those dishes the next time that season rolls around.
3. Try to minimize grocery trips. Make your grocery list before you
leave home so you won't have to go back to the store to get something
you forgot. The more trips you make, the more you will probably spend
and the more time you will waste. If you make a weekly plan you can
also purchase the majority of the items you need in one trip.
4. Double up and freeze. Many recipes freeze well. As much as I like
to cook, there are some nights that I love having a pre-made dinner in
the freezer that I can just heat up and know that there won't be many
dishes to do.
5. Keep the ingredients for a few quick meals in the house. In a
pinch, I usually have the ingredients for linguine with clam sauce,
stovetop macaroni and cheese, and potato soup in the house. Find a few
recipes for dishes you family likes, which have a minimum of
perishable ingredients, and keep those ingredients in the house for a
quick throw together dinner.
6.Prep in advance. If you have a plan for the meals you're going to
make for a given week, you may want to chop some of the vegetables up
at once for the whole week. If you will be making three recipes with
chopped onions, chop all the onions at once.
7. Keep frozen cooked meats in the freezer. Taco salad is a mainstay
recipe in my house. When I make it, I usually make a double or triple
batch of the browned meat and freeze one or two containers of this for
a future dinner. I like to do the same with grilled sausage. I usually
make extra sausage, cut it up and freeze if for future use in lasagna
or jambalaya.
8. Side dishes don't have to be complicated. Simple sides can include
fresh fruit, raw veggies or buttered noodles.
9. Entr'es don't have to be complicated. A simple soup and salad
dinner can be very satisfying. Tuna and Egg salad, whether served
inside of a tomato or in a sandwich can be a quick dinner as well as a
salad with cut up deli meats and cheese. Every dinner doesn't have to
be a 5 star meal.
10. Some convenience foods are worth the convenience. It's hard to
beat the price or convenience of a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken,
bagged salads are often on sale and save a lot of time, and peeled
baby carrots can speed up soups and stews. If you find these items on
sale, you may find you not only save time but money as well.
11. Have fun and break the rules! Make breakfast for dinner, eat
dessert first, have an indoor picnic. Spice up dinner by breaking your
usual routine.
12. Recruit Help. Teaching your kids to help not only helps make
dinner easier for you but will also help them in the future. If you
are making dinner for just you and your spouse, consider doing it
together. Dinner parties can even be a joint effort. When I was
single, I used to have a lot of dinner parties. When guests arrived, I
gave them a cutting board and a knife along with a drink. Themed
dinners, such as an Asian dinner, work great with a lot of hands in
the kitchen.
A little planning can help even the busiest person make healthy,
homemade dinners without a lot of stress.

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