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How many times a week do you find yourself asking “What should I make for dinner tonight?” or worse yet, have a family member asking “Mom, what is for dinner?” and realizing that you have no answer.
It’s the worst! Somehow, regardless of the fact that our family needs dinner every night, it can feel challenging to actually figure out “what is for dinner tonight”.
But no longer! Today I’m going to share some structures that will help you more easily answer this question once and for all.
Listen in (above) or watch (below) and read on to get the tips, tricks, and templates you need.
Use Structure to Decide What is For Dinner Tonight
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again “structure creates freedom”. With millions of recipes on Pinterest and Google, all of the produce available to us all the time, and DoorDash on speed dial, we are simply faced with too many options.
The answer to more easily deciding for dinner is actually
Tip #1: Use your Calendar to Structure Your Dinners for the Week
This one is simple and maybe even obvious, but also overlooked.
Here’s how to do it:
- At the beginning of the week, get out your calendar and decide what nights you’ll need to make dinner
- Then decide, based on your schedule, how much time you’ll actually have to make it
- Pick a meal that fits into that schedule
In the podcast episode I shared the example of using a slow cooker meal on a busy night when we’ll be getting home right at dinner time. Whereas, on weekends I might plan to make a recipe that’s a little more involved that we’ve been wanting to try.
See? Simple.
Also, these green chili chicken tacos are one of our favorite slow-cooker / Instant Pot recipes for busy nights.
Need some ideas for simple weeknight meals? Here are 11 healthy recipes with no chopping required.
Tip #2: Create a Master Meal Plan of “What is for Dinner Tonight”
I know, this sounds so sophisticated, but, honestly, it’s pretty simple. Take out a calendar with every day of the week on it and write down what type of meal you’ll have each night.
Pro tip: have your family help you decide so that you have ultimate buy-in.
Then, each week when it comes time to meal plan, just layer in a meal that fits that category (sometimes it will be the same and sometimes it will be different).
Here are some examples from our family:
Want to make your own template? Grab a copy of mine here.
Tip #3: Create theme nights for different cuisines
This is a similar idea to what I shared above, but it’s perfect for adventurous families who love to enjoy different cuisines. Also, if you order in or eat out a lot, it can also provide structure for deciding where to eat.
Here’s what that might look like:
Conclusion: Figure out once and for all what is for dinner tonight
Hopefully by now you’ve noticed that the key to stop wondering constantly what is for dinner tonight is to decide on a structure for family meals once and stick with it.
Above, I’ve provided some ideas that work for my family including:
- Meal planning based on your calendar for the week
- Creating a master meal plan
- Creating theme nights with different types of cuisine
Which one are you going to use for your family? Let me know over on Instagram.
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