How do you figure out what to eat for dinner every night?

[Anonymous]

I would like to cook dinner four times a week, but have a lot of trouble with meal planning and figuring out a good variety. Any good recs for methods, ideas or blogs that can help with the age-old 'what to make for dinner' question?

[Anonymous]

I think it helps to plan what you're getting at the grocery store b/f you. I would pick about 8 recipes to cycle through and make sure you have your shopping list.

I like this cookbook as a reference on how to stock your pantry:

http://www.amazon.com/Monday---Friday-Cookbook-Michele-Urvater/dp/1563057484/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1364500410&sr=8-1&keywords=monday+through+friday+cookbook

(You could probably get it from the library.)

I also like this one for basic but tasty recipes:

http://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Food-Great-Fast/dp/0307354164/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1364500502&sr=1-2&keywords=everyday+cooking+pbs

[Anonymous]

We eat the same "type" of food every day of the week:

Meatless Monday (usually veggie stirfy or something with beans or eggs); Taco Tuesday (Mexican); Seafood Wednesday; Soup/Salad/Sandwich Thursday; Friday/Saturday: out one night and Italian (or homemade pizza) the other; Crock Pot (or Roast) Sunday.

Obviously this doesn't happen every week, but it really works for us and we plan our menus about 2 weeks out.

[Anonymous]

We order a box of vegetables from washingtons green grocer each week and I come up with enough things to use them up.

[Anonymous]

I pick a protein, a starch, and a veggie

[Anonymous]

I keep a well-stocked pantry. I always have sandwich bread, pasta, rice, beans, canned tomatoes, frozen peas, and tortillas, as well as some other grains like couscous and quinoa. So a lot of times I'll end up making something like chicken and veggies in an olive oil sauce over pasta, rice, or grains, or grilled sandwiches with roasted veggies, quesadillas, etc. When I grocery shop on the weekends, I buy fresh meat and produce for the week depending on what's fresh. I rarely worry about what to cook with it, knowing that I have the staples at home to make something even if it's kind of basic.

I also read a lot of food blogs so I get inspiration from them when I'm in a rut and just don't feel like cooking any of the usuals.

[Anonymous]

Which food blogs do you recommend when you need some inspiration?

[Anonymous]

I read through the grocery coupons and see what's on sale. That usually makes me think of a few meals that use whatever is on sale that week. I also subscribe to Bon Appetit and check out other recipes on epicurious.com. Then I make up my list of meals before going to the grocery, so I'm sure to have everything I need on hand.

[Anonymous]

It's Monday through Thursday that feels like a particular challenge in our house, because of work, school, sports practices. I've built up a little repertoire of easy weeknight recipes from various sources including this site http://www.myrecipes.com/quick-and-easy/dinner-tonight/ and epicurious. I have created a special folder for "easy weeknight meals" and save anything that catches my fancy. Each weekend I put the ingredients for maybe two of these recipes, and put the ingredients on my shopping list. Then I have a few stand-by, no-brainer meals. Like, I always have a jar of pasta sauce and a box of pasta. I always have a box of Zatarain's red beans and rice and a pound of kielbasa. I doctor these up depending on what I have in the fridge --ie chop up some olives and capers and throw them into the pasta sauce. Plus, I always have something in the freezer like chili.

So, with pretty little effort, from Monday through Thursday, we have a few "interesting" options, and a few of the stand-by/no-brainers/freezer items.

Friday night we usually go out for dinner or order in. Saturday and Sunday we either grill (even in winter) or so some sort of "fun" thing that's a little too much of a pain to do during the week.

[Anonymous]

Could the posters who have a rotation post what is in their rotation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We eat the same "type" of food every day of the week:

Meatless Monday (usually veggie stirfy or something with beans or eggs); Taco Tuesday (Mexican); Seafood Wednesday; Soup/Salad/Sandwich Thursday; Friday/Saturday: out one night and Italian (or homemade pizza) the other; Crock Pot (or Roast) Sunday.

Obviously this doesn't happen every week, but it really works for us and we plan our menus about 2 weeks out.

I love this! It's so elegant in structure!

For us, I try to think about structuring around a main protein: fish, beef, chicken, pork. Then I think about how I want the protein prepared and build a starch and veggie around it. So maybe I do a beef pot roast, which goes with potatoes and broccoli. Or I want shrimp, so I do scampi with pasta and spinach. I also use my slow cooker a lot because I'd rather spend my evenings playing with DD than standing over the stove.

I aim for 4-5 meals per week, with one night as Leftover Night (because we always have a bunch of leftovers, even if we take some for lunches), and one night we do Appetizer Night. We buy different appetizers from Trader Joe's, Safeway, Costco, etc., and try them out. Serve with salad. Sometimes, we include edamame, hummus and pita, crudite, etc. It's just for fun.

Weekends, we go out one night and the other night, I might cook something more elaborate just because I have the time.

I should note that DH does cook, but very rudimentary stuff, i.e., pizza on pre-made dough, meatloaf and mashed potatoes, roast chicken, etc. I love to cook and try new things, so I happily take on the bulk of the cooking.

[Anonymous]

Plan, plan, plan. I hate doing it, but i spend about 45 minutes on friday or saturday planning out 5-6 meals for the week, and doing a shopping list. I do it with a glass of wine and my cookbooks, after the anklebiters are asleep. I have a repertoire of probably 20 easy recipes, many that have some prep i can do the night before. Sometimes i include something i can make on the weekend that keeps for a weeknight, like a stew or pulled pork in the crockpot, or something that takes some weekend prep like meatloaf that can be put in the oven the second i walk in the door. I go to the supermarket once a week. If i had to figure out what aas for dinner when i got home every night, even with a fridge full of food, we'd eat way more takeout - i just cant face it after a full day of work and 2 kids dying to see me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Could the posters who have a rotation post what is in their rotation?

Monday- Meatless Monday. Usually some kind of pasta or seafood.
Tuesday- Taco Tuesday. Not always Tacos, but some kind of Mexican/Tex Mex.
Wednesday- Whatever Wednesday. Something in the crock pot.
Thursday- Throw out Thursday. Leftovers.
Friday- Pizza! Delivery or make your own.
Saturday- Breakfast
Sunday- We always go out for a big meal after church. It's everyone for himself Sunday evening.

Easy!

[Anonymous]

I also think it helps to have good spices on hand like Penzeys and condiments. Flavors change the same piece of fish/meat into something completely different. Mustard glaze on salmon or pork loin vs. ginger, garlic, curry spices on the same main ingredients switches up a meal.

I like the ground bison meat (less fat than hamburger and I think it tastes better). Sometimes I make burgers and some nights it's taco night. (Taco night is usually determined by the ripeness of the avocados for guacamole.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which food blogs do you recommend when you need some inspiration?

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/240582.page#2492385

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/190115.page#1810323

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/164913.page#1523902