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It helps if you sit down and plan your meals for the next week before you go to the groceries. I do this not just for time- saving, but money- saving, as well. If I am able to prep a lot on a specific night and then freeze, I will do that, too.
I have found it works best when I try to plan meals that use the same, versatile ingredients. That way, by the time I get home and am pulling stuff out of the fridge, half of it is already prepped from the prior night.
This is great advice, because it sounds like what the OP is doing:
Quote:
Originally Posted by keraT
most days I eat dinner first unless its a simple meal I am making. most days I eat first and then cook for the next day while eating dinner or after dinner.
isn't a very efficient use of her time and resources.
As a single person, it's often hard. There are some things I will eat until they are gone - I'll buy hamburger, tenderloin, boneless tenders, and some cuts of steak and eat that after work. I'll occasionally take leftovers but am not a fan of leftovers at all.
I usually cook a fairly large meal on Sunday, and then eat that for lunch (i eat a late lunch, like around 3-3:30 in the afternoon) for the rest of the work week..... I am single, so don't have a family to accomodate....
I cook every night, I work 4 days/week. I get home at 4:30, so it's not too terrible to spend an hour in the kitchen, and I do like to cook. I do whatever prep work I can do ahead of time on the weekends. And the hubby has a somewhat flexible schedule, so if I need him to turn on the crockpot, like today, he can usually manage to make it work. He can also make a beef roast IF I have everything he needs. That's the extent of his cooking though. If we have leftovers, he'll eat it for lunch, unless I tell him not to, which I will do if there's enough for both of us for another full meal.
When I was working and had kids at home, I cooked every day. I used the slow cooker many times. With microwave and slow cooker it doesn't take much time. I kept the casserole-type things that cooked in the oven for weekends.
One of the things that was helpful to me was that I sat down and wrote out a dinner menu for every day for six weeks, labeling weeks one thru six. We rotated through this menu every six weeks. I had a master shopping list which covered everything I bought from the store which I printed every week and posted on the fridge by the dinner menu chart. Any items that needed to be bought were checked and I made sure I bought that week's dinner menu ingredients as well.
So I always knew what I was going to make and I always knew I had all the items needed to make it. It also had the added benefit of keeping the kids and the husband from going, "what's for dinner?" It was on the fridge. They always knew. My son's best friend knew, too, and it was uncanny how often my son asked if he could stay for dinner the nights his favorite meals came around.
Last edited by Achelois; 01-28-2016 at 04:11 PM..
Reason: Typos.
It seems like majority of people cook daily with 1-2 day skip. How do you guys find the energy/motivation to cook everyday? How do you not get irritated or made at the cooking process? how long does it take to cook and how do you fit other activities in your evening (gym, tv time)?
I can usually make eggs, a hamburger or some chicken in about 20 minutes. I put the food on the stove then go sit down and watch tv or fold laundry or something like that.
Think about investing in a crock pot and a slow rice cooker. Each of these appliances allows you to make food that will provide you with several days worth of left overs.
Other easy meals include canned soup, store bought frozen veggies, frozen pizza, basically any type of Mexican food, cereal, top ramen, guacamole..
PS. Eating out all the time is expensive and unhealthy. After reading this thread it's no wonder there are so many chunkies in this country.
Bought the latest Crockpot with the stirring technology and bells and whistles. Used once 1 time but looks great on countertop. * For Sale - Crockpot - Cheap*!
Latest fail was Crockpot so I am in Organic Frozen Dinner mode.
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