Does it sometimes take you by surprise that it’s 5 PM and you don’t have a thought in your head for what to make for dinner? And you consult your partner and hey, they don’t either? This is usually the point when we either order pizza or make a freezer pizza (“healthier”, right?)… but I recently sat down and made a list, so I thought I’d share.
Today at Corporette we’re talking about how to track your period without an app, and it’s in part because one of my favorite planner people released a really cute free period tracker. But she ALSO has one of my new favorite products for planning dinner, so I thought I’d share.
The inspiration for my lists was the “Planning Game Board” from Imperfect Inspiration, a shop that specializes in organizing and planning products for people with ADHD. The idea is that if you’re low on motivation (for chores, for dinner, for self-care) you can pre-make lists, then roll a die to choose which one you’ll do — the theory is that leaving it up to the roll of a die removes the need for self-motivation.
I like all of the game boards in the set (the downloadable version is free, or you can buy laminated versions for $15 at her shop), but the dinner one, with some modifications for me and my family, is particularly great.
The original list categories are above, but I’ve modified mine to include slightly different categories. There are 6 answers for each of the 6 categories… the idea is that you roll the die twice. The first roll chooses the category, and the second roll chooses the item in the category. These are my modified categories for our small family (where the kids often eat separate meals, sigh):
- fast food/GrubHub type places
- old favorites of the kids (not necessarily healthy — think pizza, mac ‘n cheese, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, etc)
- healthy recipes for the kids, like air-fried chicken, breakfast-for-dinner,
- old favorites of my husband’s and mine that we usually have all of the ingredients for in the fridge/pantry/freezer (I’ll admit I’ve cheated and #6 on the list is “whatever kids do”)
- recipes that we can make for the whole family with 3-4 hours notice (well, 3 of us), such as egg salad, broiled shrimp, or a few really quick-cooking crockpot meals like salsa chicken, lentil soup, etc. (We’re not big fans of our Instapot, but if you have pressure cooker recipes you like, this would be the place for them)
- healthy(ish) recipes for my husband and myself (chicken soup with those frozen dumplings, frozen turkey burgers, pre-made soup, tuna salad, etc)
I was actually really surprised by how long it took me to come up with list items for the different categories! But it’s been really helpful, and I have consulted it numerous times since putting it together.
(I still like the previous method I’ve used for planning dinner every night — but I still haven’t gotten the hang of planning for leftovers, if that makes sense?)
Readers, what do you do when it’s 4:30 and you realize no one has planned dinner for the family? (If your partner usually plans dinner, what are their methods for dealing with this situation?)
Anonymous says
I am never surprised that it’s dinnertime. Meals are always planned in advance and my husband will inevitably start demanding to be fed before I’m ready to start cooking. (To those who will say “well, then he can cook,” I’d rather cook myself than trade chores with him because I can’t stand his chores!) The problem is that sometimes I’m just too wiped out to cook, but I feel obligated to cook so I don’t waste the ingredients. For this reason I’ve actually backed off of the meal planning somewhat this summer. Instead of meals planned day by day, I’m buying ingredients for one or two actual dinners per week and keeping easy quick-fix stuff like leftover pasta salad and frozen veggie burgers on hand for the days when I just can’t. I don’t know how this looser approach will play out in the fall when extracurriculars resume and our schedule resembles a Tetris game.
Anonymous says
I am the opposite of you and our lives are chaos. That makes me an expert in quick and easy last minute “oh, F!” dinners.
– cook frozen chicken breasts in the instapot (20 minutes + time to come to pressure and depressurize natrually, so about 40 min total). Use hand mixer to shred chicken. From this I make:
-Buffalo chicken wraps (tortillas + shredded chicken + buffalo sauce + lettuce or kale)
-Pulled chicken sandwiches (buns + coleslaw + chicken + bbq sauce)
-quesadillas (refried beans [canned black beans over heat], cheese, salsa, sour cream, shredded chicken)
– lazy huevos rancheros (black beans, eggs, salsa, chicken, frozen bagged chopped peppers and onions)
– tomato, basil, mozzerella, chicken sandwiches/ paninis
– quiche (frozen pie crust defrosted, eggs, a veg, cheese, maybe chopped up deli ham or leftover bacon if we have it)
DH or I will make grilled chicken one night each week and use it for wraps, greek salads, etc.
This summer I’ve been making corn and bean salsa on the weekends and serving it as a veg before dinner with tortilla chips. It’s 100% veggies/black beans! In the winter, I do ground turkey or chicken chili that fills the same purpose. DH or I make it on the weekends, freeze, and enjoy for a long time.
Lyssa says
Something I’m always looking for on this (especially in the summer, when we tend to want to be spontaneous and keep options open) is something that can go directly from the freezer to the grill. It seems like there should be more options on this front.
anonM says
Not freezer to grill, but freezer to oven: Sea Cuisine® Honey Chipotle Wild Alaska Salmon. It’s so good and no need to thaw!
DLC says
Shrimp and fish go freezer to grill pretty easily, I think. Shrimp cooks pretty quickly and you can make foil packets with veggies and corn.
I also love my InstantPot for when I’ve forgotten to take things out of the freezer. We don’t have a microwave, and the ability to just throw a piece of frozen meat or fish into the IP and have dinner thirty minutes later has been a frequent dinner saver.
Anna says
I found some pre marinated meats at Trader Joe’s that work for this. Sold refrigerated but I immediately freeze. I think we’ve tried a Tex mex chicken and a Mediterranean chicken.
Cb says
Scrambled eggs and toast if we have bread. Stirfry as the quick nip into Aldi if the fridge is empty option. Pancakes if we really have NOTHING.
anon says
Our go to lazy homecooked meals are:
Fried or scramble eggs + sauteed veg + toast/bagel. Tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms are especially good. Add hotsauce or salsa for fun
Frozen veggie pizza
Noodles with butter sauce and frozen veggies (typically california blend in a bag) or beans. Add garlic salt and some herbs
Salads + canned soup or sandwich
Refried bean quesadilla with rice or veg
All these can go with cut fruit or veg and kid will eat some variation of most of these.
Anon says
Our what are we having for dinner options when I (primary cook with a DH who could burn water) haven’t planned anything and we are choosing not to do delivery:
– if we got HelloFresh that week, which of the meals sounds the most appetizing and is the fastest
– hot dogs (DH can cook these, DD will eat them, as opposed to everything else on this list)
– pasta with jarred tomato sauce (maybe meatballs if I have them frozen)
– pasta with butter and parmesan and black pepper
– mac and cheese
– frozen pork potstickers
– frozen egg rolls (DH can cook these)
– frozen pot pie (turkey for me, chicken for DH), but these take an hour in the oven so we need to be OK with that.
Lately I’ve also taken to getting the large Costco caesar salad each week which also helps in the what do we have to eat but don’t feel like cooking. DH and I can usually get two salads each out of it, so it’s a pretty good deal, and he eats his as caesar and I dress mine up with the croutons I like, cheddar, onion, sliced cherry tomato and ranch dressing like the heathen I am.
AwayEmily says
Our go-to last-minute dinner is curbside pickup from Wegmans — kids burger meal for the 6yo, mac n cheese for the 4yo, salads for the grownups, and sashimi for everyone to share. Wegmans is the best.
Anonymous says
Does anyone else have a partner who does most of the cooking? Up until a year ago we both worked and he almost always took care of dinner because I worked late and did day care pickup. But now I’m a SAHM so I do dinner. And it’s still usually an “oh crap what’s for dinner” situation. Eggs, pasta, tacos, salmon and sheet pan chicken are my go-tos.
Anon says
I cannot imagine having a husband who cooks dinner all the time. I wish…
Anon says
My husband does almost all the cooking, although we do a fair amount of takeout and eating out so he probably only cooks 3-4 nights a week on average. We are switching in the fall due to job schedule changes and I’m dreading it. I hate cooking meat (I’m not a vegetarian, it just really gross me out to cook it) and my husband is not going to accept my veggie lasagnas and quiches as dinner.
Anon says
I don’t but my BFF does. Despite her mother being an excellent cook (I note because I am the opposite with parents who never cooked so completely self-taught), BFF never picked up any skill at cooking and her DH is very good at it. BFF will do fun baking, but her DH cooks pretty much one hundred percent of the meals in their house (and she eats lean cuisines when he is out of town).
Anon says
I think I might be your BFF. This is me exactly, down to the baking and the frozen dinners when he’s away. Except I know how to cook, I just dislike it.
Anonymous says
Growing up, my dad did all the cooking, and same with my husband’s family (both of our moms had “big jobs”). The difference is, my dad taught me how to cook and got me into it too, whereas my husband’s dad kept everyone else out of the kitchen and therefore my husband has zero cooking skills or desire to cook.
Anonymous says
My husband learned to cook when we were dating so he could invite me over for dinner all the time. His stepmother gave him a “learn to cook” book. He went out and bought all the equipment on the bare-bones “kitchen essentials” list in the book, then cooked his way through the book recipe by recipe. By the time he finished we were engaged. He continued cooking dinner for the first several years of our marriage.
Anonymous says
My husband usually cooks. I have the big job plus a lucrative side hustle. We both work from home.
We keep veg burgers and kosher turkey burgers freezer. Recently added two grill pans to facilitate easy burger dinners.
Keep various jarred salad dressings on hand for CSA ingredient salads. Hard boil CSA eggs for use in salads and other. Make a weekly veg soup with CSA plus staples (onions, garlic, bell peppers, celery) plus window herbs plus homemade broth. Always have soup in the fridge and freezer.
We have a handful of reliable delivery options. Also have a lot of dry goods plus jars options, pestos, pastas, curries, etc. When all else fails, we have breakfast cereal.
Celia says
Pasta. Takes under ten minutes. My kids will always eat it (and like it plain), and for grownups we always have marinara / butter / parmesan in the fridge. And anything pairs with it – any veggie that I can grill on the side and any protein we have in the fridge (and if there is no meat/fish, it still feels like a meal). An egg yolk can fancy it up very easily too.
Canned vegetables are a lifesaver – just throw on the stove for 2 minutes to warm.
For protein – if there is really nothing else, including no time to defrost, eggs.
Most weeks, I make sure to stock up on a bit of cheese and salami/proscuitto/some other cured meat. They can last in the fridge for a little while, and if I truly come through the door when it’s already time for dinner, we do sandwiches, carrot sticks (or some other raw veggie), and whatever fruits we have.
Always keep a frozen lasagna and/or pizza and/or other Trader Joe’s meal in the freezer. They might take 25 minutes, but at least there’s no thinking and no clean up on a busy day!