Meals that Are Simple

I remember a television commercial that used to drive me crazy. It begins just after a family has finished eating dinner. Dad and the children are in the family room, having fun. But Mom is stuck in the kitchen, cleaning up. Poor Mom is washing the dishes, while everyone else is playing. The solution? According to this commercial: buy paper plates! At the end of the commercial, after the family has eaten on paper plates, Mom is in the family room, joining the fun with everyone else.

That commercial taps in to a real frustration: having dinner at home can be a lot of work. Watching that paper plate commercial, the viewer gets the distinct sense that most likely Mom did all the work preparing for dinner, too: planning, shopping, cooking, and setting the table. Disposable plates might seem like part of the solution to the daily frustration.

Of course, there is another way, a way to make food simple.

Sitting down to an everyday celebration can seem a monumental task when you ask yourself, “Okay, what am I going to make for dinner?” on your way home from work. The drive-through window, the frozen entrée aisle at the supermarket, and the stack of take out menus at home are all appealing at 5:30.

There is nothing wrong with asking the question, “What am I going to make for dinner?” In fact, it is a great question, when you ask it early enough.

How early? I recommend asking that question for the entire week as you plan meals in advance. You may be thinking, “I thought this is supposed to make food simple? Planning in advance doesn’t sound simple.” While advance planning may not sound simple at first, trust me, it is. Not only does planning simplify your meal preparation, it will also save you money and save you time.

Start planning by deciding your dinner menu for the week. You can come up with ideas by scanning cookbooks, watching television cooking shows, or thumbing through the recipes in this book. Have a hectic Wednesday coming up? That may be the perfect time to have a dinner you can prepare in a flash. Have a late day on Friday? Then Friday may be the day to break out the slow cooker and plan a little preparation time in the morning so dinner will be ready when you get home.