There are few questions that we HAVE to answer every day. None is more relentless than the question of dinner. It doesn’t matter whether you live completely alone or in a commune. It doesn’t matter if you are a vegetarian or a carnivore. It doesn’t matter how much money you have. Every single day someone in the household must answer the question and then get the meal on the table. If you live alone, at least the only opinion you must consider is your own. Everyone else has a regular chorus of opinions and requests pouring in.
If you are very poor, the answer to this question is easier—though certainly not happier. The answer is probably Ramen, or maybe a 99 cent burger at a fast food place. Not healthy or inspiring. Cooking at home even on a tight budget will make your entire life more enjoyable. And healthier. Ramen is not the only choice.
But, for most of us it is more complicated. We have choices to make. Eat out (again), even though it will blow the food budget and is less healthy? Not if you are a frugalista. Take out? Same problem. Expensive and packed with unwanted calories and salt.
That leaves cooking at home, as I recommend strongly in all my writing about food. The reason we are attracted to take-out or going out isn’t the superior quality in most cases, but rather the convenience factor. Making a big pot of something and serving it everyday would solve that problem, but would also generate cries of discontent from our audience—maybe even mutiny. This is true even if you live alone. So, what to do? Try these tips to break the dinner code:
Find out what your household REALLY thinks about the menu. Making what they like ensures clean plates and less hassle. If they are partial to things that take a boatload of work, parcel those evenings out, and make them clean up!
If you live alone you have to answer the same question. Are YOU happy with your meals? Are you buying things you don’t even like out of habit or because you think it is “good” for you? It may seem odd, but I have done it and seen others do it too. Don’t buy things you are lukewarm about, much less things you actively dislike. No matter how cheap or what study claims it is a superfood.
Shop once a week, and take advantage of specials. Try to get absolutely everything you need so as to avoid surprises at 6 PM when you and everyone else is hungry. In order to know what you need you must make a menu. I make mine on Fridays and shop Saturday. You need a calendar with big spaces and a pencil with an eraser, in case plans change.
When you do pre-shopping day planning think about all the activities that will be coming up that week. Where will you and your household be when hunger strikes? If you know you have an activity planned for right before or at dinner-time you have to figure out ahead of time how you are going to handle it. You could bring something along, in which case you need a portable dish. You could wait and eat at home, in which case you need something fast, like pasta. Or you could just grab something if you must. Just have a plan.
This exercise will also cut food waste. We waste food because we overbuy perishables and because our plans change.
Buy a stock of cheater foods—pasta, cheese and crackers, cans of things you like. These will be very helpful when you are tired, cranky, and too hungry to think straight. Also good when your dining companions have these problems. There are literally thousands of recipes for meals under one half hour.
Have a plan A, but also a plan B in case something comes up. For example, if you were planning on BBQ, but get invited to happy hour or a surprise kid’s soccer game, you might shift to a pasta dinner that night. If you already had something out of the freezer but get invited out for a meal, it will keep. Just remember to adjust the weekly plan so nothing perishable gets lost in the back of the fridge.
Now that you know what they (or you) really want and you have a plan, go ahead and make a few large batches of things. Just don’t serve it day after day. Have the stew or casserole or whatever it is the night you make it. Then put enough for one more meal in the fridge, and serve it two nights later, or for lunch the next day. Really good leftovers get eaten. If it gets ignored ask yourself why. Maybe that dish is not for you and yours.
The rest freeze in meal-sized portions. Do it right away. Letting it sit will not improve it. If you do this a few times you will start to have a stash of quick, easy, and not over-served dinners.
While you are at it, make and freeze some meal-builders such as homemade tomato sauce. This is one of the smartest, most frugal things you can do. Be sure to have freezer containers at the ready the minute it is cool enough to put away. Use containers with enough for one meal, whether it is just you or service for eight. For example, I would use half cup containers or maybe even ice cube trays. For a family of four I would freeze sauce in pints.
Change your meal plans with the seasons. Not only does this allow the use of produce when it is cheapest and at peak, it also plays in to a natural desire for change and tradition. The Watermelon Salad of July would be cloying in January. And holidays have their own special foods, generally in harmony with the passing seasons. Playing with this will make the whole process more fun. And fun means easier to do.
Very practical and exactly how I was raised.