How often have you made it to the end of the day with no idea what is for dinner?
This is not an existential worry for me, because I could happily rotate between the following list of go-tos: cereal, grilled cheese, mac ‘n cheese, spaghetti and meatballs, tuna sandwich, and an omelet. Unfortunately, these days my husband and two children do not consider these options suitable for dinner. They have very high standards.
I used to travel a lot for work, and as a result, I was a late bloomer in the cooking department. I thought things would change when I took a job without travel and got married, but it turns out my husband enjoys cooking waaay more and is quick to point out he is faster at it. He’s not a planner though, so in the beginning of our relationship I would choose a meal to cook, carefully sourcing the ingredients aisle by aisle, and lay everything out on the counter with the recipe neatly next to it. Before you know it, he would swoop in, whip it together, and steal all the credit, thus perpetuating my inability to cook.
Fast-forward a decade, and my standards for what constitutes a proper dinner have increased. Yet here’s what I am still left wondering: Who works a 9-5 and has time and energy to figure out what’s for dinner and cook it and clean up the mess?
I’ve never been successful planning ahead and picking up ingredients on the way home like they do in Europe….. by the time I make it through the aisles, my kids have beat me down. After the extra stop and the added task of putting away groceries, dinner is sure to be served late to a hangry crowd. Not only that, it’s not just a matter of cleaning up the pots and pans afterwards, because with young kids under foot the whole house becomes turned upside down as soon as you turn your back. It’s difficult to care much about what they’re doing while you’re stressing to get dinner on the table.
In fact, on my night to cook I have been known to simply pick a restaurant. I have all of the cheap eats in a five mile radius mapped out (a page from my work travels playbook). Cooking – check. Cleaning – check. Home in time for bedtime with time to spare- check, check, and check.
I know what you are thinking: “What about planning/shopping on weekends?” Weekends are for
laundry. That’s a whole separate battle. But by the time I get to the bottom of the pile, it’s Sunday night.
Over the years I tried to study my way to a solution. I’ve read about a thousand make ahead cookbooks and tore recipes from magazines. While all the ideas and inspiration are useful, they don’t translate into the world of a busy parent who is just barely keeping their $H@# together.
I always sensed the solution was in the pantry and a well stocked freezer. But that would take some time and planning and experience one cannot simply gain without rolling up some sleeves and getting down to business cooking.
Obviously, it would take an act of God for me to change my ways. So when a freakin’ pandemic hit forcing all of the restaurants to close, and clearing our social calendars for the foreseeable future, I had a lot more time to reflect on the problem and drive towards meaningful solutions.
I started with small steps, which I’d already been building towards mentally. Over the years, it turns out we’ve practiced for this type of event (a pandemic!) as we built a repertoire of go-to meals moving far beyond my original list of survival foods. When I say “we” I want to be clear it’s been my husband who has exhibited the motivation and drive to master and perfect our family menu through repeatedly making the same favorites over and over again. My contributions generally come in the form of suggestions of what I’m hungry for and also, more importantly, making sure that we always have most of the ingredients on hand at any point in time for a few of those dishes.
I like to make sure we always have fruits and vegetables on hand to ensure we can build in nutritional elements. This game changer increases your chances of turning a forgettable dinner into something halfway decent.
Maybe you have frozen chicken on hand and you realize that if you slice up some mango and make a side of rice, all of a sudden you can make “mango salsa chicken with rice” and add a salad to round things out. Instead of sadly pointing to frozen chicken and shrugging as you grab your coat to head to the restaurant, it’s quicker to throw together what’s on hand.
With the right pantry, freezer, and weekly staples, you can move from stressed to desserts (that’s stressed backwards). You got this.
