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Sound familiar? I ask this question 3-4 days a week. I’m lucky that Ultimate Sportsfan is a good cook and even likes to cook. But sometimes he asks me what he should make, too!
I find that we often have the same meal week after week. I don’t eat meat, so we have a lot of pasta and rice dishes. Most weeks we also have veggie burgers. This week I think we’re going to have pasta about 4 times. We’ll probably end up having it back-to-back.
I know I’m not the only person who thinks about this. We’re having dinner at a friend’s house Saturday night, and she called me today to ask what she should make. The dinner’s been planned for about 2 months, so she’s had plenty of time to think about it. It’s just so hard to decide! Some days nothing sounds good.
We went out to dinner last night, and that is my favorite way to deal with the what-for-dinner issue. But if we did that, we’d be in debt and weigh 400 pounds.
So how do you solve the what’s-for-dinner dilemma? Do you end up having the same thing week after week? How do you spice it up? And do you have any picky eaters (like me!) at home?
Filed in: Jaunty Post
Apr 26th
2007
10:51 am
Shirley Karr Said:
We struggle with this too, Shana. Especially with just two of us, it’s oftern cheaper to hit the drive-thru on the way home than prepare a meal.
I went to a kitchen management workshop last weekend and learned most families have an average repertoire of 10 recipes/meal plans they use 80% of the time. (I had trouble listing our 10 without including Taco Bell/Time and Papa Murphy’s Pizza.) The teacher’s advice was to sit down as a family and come up with your 10, and shop to stock the freezer/pantry accordingly.
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Apr 26th
2007
11:19 am
RobynDeHart Said:
Would you believe I almost blogged on something similar today?
I have mastered the art of cooking for 2 and cooking fast. I don’t do a lot of vegetarian cooking though, but we have done hummus and taboula on occasion. I have a master list of my regular dishes with sides and I make out my menus and grocery shop from that. I like to try new recipes often and use allrecipes.com for that becuase you can search for ingredients. And I watch the Food network a lot and get ideas from there. Try this for some new recipes, Shane. http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Everyday-Cooking/Vegetarian/Main.aspx
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Apr 26th
2007
11:36 am
ladydawgfan Said:
I am one of five kids in the family and we weren’t allowed to be picky eaters. My mother said quite clearly that we had two choices for dinner, Take It or Leave It. If we chose Leave It, we didn’t get anything else to eat the rest of the night. Sounds rough, but IMHO, pickyness, other than Shana’s aversion to meat, is usually about power and not the food in question. My mother’s favorite saying: “This is not a cafeteria and I am not a short order chef. Sit down and eat!” Her attitude cured the picky eater tendency pretty durned quickly!!
As to recipes, we have a variety that are used, including some meatless ones for Fridays during Lent. I am also lactose intolerant, so many are also dairy-free. We like to try new recipes every once in a while, and occasionally find a new favorite to add to the list. Another way to spice things up (and use up leftovers) is to make Mulligan Stew, AKA Refridgerator Stew. Add spices and noodles or rice and a purchased unexpected vegetable, and you end up with something different every time.
BTW, Shana, AllRecipes.com has some wonderful vegetarian recipes, including pizza and burritos. The link is here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Everyday-Cooking/Vegetarian/Main-Dish/ViewAll.aspx
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Apr 26th
2007
11:37 am
Kristol Said:
I hate trying to plan meals. The only night that I don’t cook is Friday Night which in our house is pizza night. I ask my hubby and kids for ideas on what we will fix, and I get the same responses everytime. Hubby suggests lasagna, meatloaf or baked ziti, oldest son wants spagetti, youngest son wants chili dogs, and my 2 daughters want salads. Every weeks we have at least 1-2 of these, I’m sick of it!!! I try new recipes and some work for our family and some don’t. In the fall and spring we have baseball along with my girls year round dance, so on those nights we tend to have prepackaged skillet meals or crock-pot meals. I do have 2 picky eaters that fight with me about eating something because it’s gross. My hubby usually loves the things the kids hate and he hates the things they love. I can’t usually make everyone happy on the same night. As for grocery shopping I go every Monday morning and get my weeks worth, somtimes I may need to go back for extra stuff we run out of though.
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Apr 26th
2007
11:39 am
Kristol Said:
I also love allrecipes.com, 99% of my recipes come from there.
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Apr 26th
2007
11:41 am
ladydawgfan Said:
LOL, Robyn. Two great minds with but a single thought. You posted the same site for Shana that I did!!!
BTW, look for the California Grilled Veggie Sandwich recipe. You WON’T be sorry!!!
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Apr 26th
2007
1:54 pm
catslady Said:
I’ve been cooking for 38 years and it does get to you after a while. I used to be a pretty good cook. When I worked and it was just the two of us I would cook all kinds of meals. Then the kids came and you definitely start changing the menu. Now I’m back to two again but just don’t have that urge to experiment much any more. I never know my husband’s schedule and after spending time cooking a nice meal and no one around to eat it and he’s not thrilled with leftovers we now end up doing a lot of take out or simple meals lol.
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Apr 26th
2007
5:03 pm
Margo Maguire Said:
Hmmm… I wish I could help you with vegetarian dishes. It would be a real challenge for me to learn to cook healthy, vegetarian meals. If we were vegetarians, my family might see a complete protein once a week …
I actually don’t really like meat. But darned if I know how to get enough protein into everyone without it!
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Apr 26th
2007
6:57 pm
Shana Said:
Thanks for the links to allrecipes.com. I’m going to check it out. We could use some variety. I’ve been at the Romantic Times convention all day to today, and YSF was nice enough to cook dinner tonight. I bet tomorrow it’s my turn.
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