It can be difficult to decide what to cook for dinner after a long day at work.There are a few things you can do to make the decision simpler.If you think about what you want to accomplish with tonight's dinner, you can pick a recipe.Maybe you don't want to spend money on new ingredients or you want leftovers for tomorrow.To make a more inspired decision, use an app or website.You can plan out your meals for a week or more if you don't want to have to decide what to cook for dinner every night.You will be cooking in no time if you decide to use any method.
Step 1: If you have a budget, choose a recipe with cheap ingredients.
How much money do you have left to spend on dinner?Pick a recipe that will cost you nothing more than this amount.You can look at what you have, think about some options you could make, and then estimate how much the extra ingredients would cost to help you make a decision.If you only have $10 to spend on dinner and you don't have any ingredients in the house, you could buy a pack of spaghetti and a can of tomato sauce to make a simple pasta.If you already have some ingredients, such as pasta and sauce, you could buy some ground beef or garlic bread for less than a dollar.
Step 2: If you don't want to shop, pick a recipe that you can make with what you have.
Look at your fridge and pantry.Imagine making several meals out of the ingredients you have and then choosing the one that sounds best.If you have flour tortillas, ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese, you can make a simple taco.
Step 3: When deciding what to cook, take any restrictions into account.
Rule out recipes that are not healthy for you.It is easier to decide what to make for dinner with this help.If you are cooking for anyone else in addition to yourself, make sure you know if they have any restrictions.If you are cooking for someone who is allergic to peanuts, make sure the recipe doesn't contain any traces of peanut.
Step 4: If you want to have leftovers, cook something large.
If you want to have leftovers for lunch or dinner the next day, choose a recipe that will result in large portions.Pick recipes that will leave you with leftovers that can be used in other ways.If you roast a whole chicken one night, then you can make chicken sandwiches with the leftovers for lunch the next day, and chicken soup the day after that.
Step 5: If you don't want to do a lot of dishes, choose a one-pan or one pot recipe.
If you feel lazy, make a casserole or one-pan chicken and rice.These types of recipes don't require much more than basic prep work before you cook them.A stir fry is an easy one-pan recipe.All you have to do is cut everything up, throw it in a wok or frying pan, and cook it for a few minutes.
Step 6: If you want to be hands off, make a slow cooker recipe.
You can find a slow cooker cookbook.It will be ready by dinner time if you put everything in the slow cooker the morning or afternoon.soups, stew, chili, or things like pulled pork and chicken are examples of easy slow cooker recipes.
Step 7: To find something that sounds good, browse recipe websites.
If you have an idea of what you want to cook, type in "recipes" on any search engine to pull some sites up or narrow down your search with other terms.Pick a recipe that catches your eye from a list.If you know you want some kind of Thai food, you can use a search engine to find it.If you are a vegan, you should type in vegan recipes.
Step 8: If you don't have any ideas, use a meal wheel site to pick something.
You can spin a wheel that tells you what to eat.If you don't have any preferences or ideas about what to cook for dinner, use one of these.The meal wheels can give you a category of food you can use to narrow down your choices, but they usually don't get too specific with recipes.If you want to use the wheel to help you choose between recipes, you can modify some of them.
Step 9: You can use an app or site to find recipes for things you already have.
There are many websites and apps that allow you to enter your ingredients in your fridge and pantry and then tell you what recipes you can make with them.Use a search engine to find a site or a list of apps.It is helpful if you need to figure out how to use up a certain item before it goes bad, but you don't know what to do with the other ingredients.
Step 10: You should plan your meals.
You can find meal plans on a search engine or download an app.Pick a weekly or monthly meal plan so you know what to cook.If you want, you can make your own meal plan.You can make a calendar of which meals you will cook on which days by gathering together a bunch of recipes.
Step 11: If you live with your family, you should plan meals for multiple people.
If you need to cook for a partner or family, look at the serving sizes for any recipes you plan to make.It's a good idea to consult with other people to make sure they're happy with your meal plan.If you download a meal plan for 1 person and you live with a significant other, double the ingredients in each recipe.If you only cook for 2 and don't want any leftovers, you can cut the quantities of ingredients in half.Make sure you know about any restrictions the other people have on food.
Step 12: It's a good idea to shop ahead of time for all the ingredients.
You need to make a shopping list of all the ingredients for the next 7 days.Pick a day and time that works for you to go shopping.If you use a meal planning app, they usually have an ingredient list that you can use as a shopping list.
Step 13: After shopping, prepare as many ingredients as you can.
When it is time to cook, you should chop things like vegetables ahead of time.You can store parts of your upcoming meals in the fridge for a week or so.You could cook a lot of tomato sauce for pasta and some chicken breasts for other recipes.
Step 14: You can build flexibility into your meal plans.
Cook with common ingredients throughout the week.It will be easier to prepare versatile ingredients ahead of time because of this.If you make a lot of tomato sauce, you can use it on spaghetti one night and on a pizza the next.