As a person who loves to cook, and thoroughly enjoys making elaborate meals from scratch (while dirtying every dish and utensil in the kitchen in the process), I learned the hard way that cooking that way all the time is not sustainable. If you hold yourself to a standard of making gourmet, time-intensive meals every single day, it will quickly become a part-time job—and worse, you’re likely to disappoint yourself when you fail to meet this difficult standard.
To be effective in real life, some meals need to be simple. Delicious, but easy. Healthy, but extremely quick to make. For the days when you’re hungry the moment you open the fridge; for the days when you pull yourself away from a project only when your stomach cries loud enough to demand immediate attention; for days when you’re so overwhelmed you can’t squeeze in another obligation or your brain might explode*.
Take today’s tip to heart, and you’ll thank yourself later when you’re having one of those days:
When making your meal plan or shopping list, always include at least one super-simple dinner.
And by super-simple, I mean you can make it in ten minutes or less, and it involves little to no adulteration of food aside from perhaps cutting it in half…or throwing things in a bowl…or stacking some stuff (see fancy sandwich, below).
This doesn’t mean the meal has to be unhealthy, processed or boring for your tastebuds. How about these five ideas from the top of my head:
- Make a simple, fancy sandwich with high quality ingredients
- Grilled cheese and tomato soup, baby
- Eggs, toast and roasted potatoes with oil/salt/pepper/rosemary (my dinner last night!)
- Bread with pesto dip, with a side of fruit or veggies
- Leftover chicken + BBQ sauce + bun
Better yet, start making your own list of super-simple dinners, and keep it next to your cookbooks for easy reference.
PSSSSST: My brand new {ever-so-reasonable} Meal Planning Kit will launch July 18, which includes a Meal Planning 101 guide, Meal Plan & Shopping List printables PLUS a bonus of 10 super-simple dinners to add to your repertoire. The guide is available for pre-order right here.
Want to make my day? Leave a comment below and tell me your favorite simple dinner! (No idea is too simple—I’ve eaten popcorn for dinner, I won’t deny it.)
* Slight dramatization.
