I’m going to start off this post by saying that I am clearly not a food blogger. But, I get lots of requests from family/friends/coworkers on how I cook so often. Z and I almost never eat out during the week, and I cook dinner almost every night. I wanted to put together a few tips for cooking during the week and a few of my favorite easy (like actually easy) weeknight recipes!
First of all, planning is your friend. You don’t need a detailed list of every single meal for the entire week, but at least have an idea. For example, a few weeks ago I planned for us to have penne alla vodka Monday, fish with vegetables and potatoes Tuesday, a big salad Wednesday and Thursday, and Indian butter chicken on Friday. Planning out your meals, or even having a rough sketch, helps with grocery shopping, prepping, and of course cuts down on food waste and will save you money!
This is tricky, but the best way to find easy recipes is by trial and error. Sure, Pinterest says this meal takes 30 minutes, but that’s if you have a sous chef who has perfectly prepped and chopped every ingredient and measured it out for you. Yeah, no thanks. Find meals that you can actually make after a long day of work without having to have a snack halfway through cooking!
Some of my favorite easy weeknight recipes include:
- Penne alla vodka. This is Z’s favorite, and if it was up to him we would have it 2-3 times a week!
- White wine sauce. I make this at least once a week, and will add whatever I have on hand,be it chicken, shrimp, or a bunch of vegetables. It’s probably the easiest recipe I know and requires only a few ingredients that I always have on hand.
- Sheet pan dinners. I used to hate sheet pan dinners, as every ingredient seemed to cook unevenly and didn’t make up for the lack of cleanup. However, I’m starting to hit my stride. You can add whatever protein and sides you want. I usually top them with some kind of lemon/olive oil/herb combination (can you sense a theme here?). Lately I’ve been making some combo of chicken or fish, tilapia, and regular or sweet potatoes.
- Anything in a slow cooker! I love being able to throw a bunch of ingredients in and let my Crock-Pot do the rest! Some of my go-tos are chicken tacos, Guinness beef stew, and pozole soup.
Cooking every night doesn’t have to be a chore. I know some people like to prep everything on Sunday, but I’d rather just have an arsenal of easy meals that I can switch up throughout the week.
Do you cook every night? Do you have other tips that make it easy? Let me know!
