Finding the time and energy to cook home-cooked meals during the week is difficult. With ingredients shortcuts, make-ahead recipes, and leftovers, it doesn’t have to be as stressful. These tips will make weekday dinners easier.
Meal Plan
Plan your weekday dinner menu in advance so you won’t have to waste time figuring out what to cook. Use Saturday or Sunday as a day to plan out your meals for the week, to check what you have in your pantry, to write a grocery list, and to do your shopping.
Add Prepackaged Groceries
Prepackaged salads, canned beans, and pre-cut broccoli cut down on the time to prepare dinner. You can also shop the deli counter and salad bar for already made pasta salads, beans, and hot items.
Simplify Recipes
During the week, only make recipes with short ingredient lists and make shortcut dishes that don’t have lots of ingredients but are rich in flavor.
Freeze
Use the weekends to make your meals ahead of time. Cut and freeze vegetables and cook and freeze meats for the week.
Reuse Leftovers
Side dishes like mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables can be use over and over again or they can create new meals.
