Here are my easy tips for making dinner at home. There are many benefits to making and eating dinner at home, including saving money, eating healthier, and enjoying time around the table together. In this post, you’ll find my best tips to help you get dinner on the table each night for your family.
Tip 1-Start the Night Before
For me, a homemade meal starts the night before. I keep all my meats in the freezer. Each evening, I go out to my garage and look in the freezer. I decide what I want to make the next day based on what I have in my freezer, fridge, and pantry. I put the meat in the fridge to thaw for the next day. This works well for me and keeps me from pulling too many things out that I don’t end up having time to make.
Some people like to pull out several types of meat at the beginning of the week and have them thawing in the fridge. Do what works for you! Knowing what I’m making for dinner the next day and having the meat thawed is a huge help in making dinner at home.
Tip 2-Keep Your Kitchen Stocked With the Basics
Try to keep the basics for making meals that your family likes on hand and have a regular grocery shopping day. The basics would typically include things like meats, potatoes, rice, pasta, vegetables (fresh, frozen, or canned), and dairy items like milk, cheese, and cream. This makes putting a meal together easy without the need to run to the store.
Tip 3-Make a List of Easy Dinners that Don’t Require a Recipe
Having some go-to meals that you can make quickly and without much thought go a long way when it comes time to cook dinner. When you get in the groove of making your go-to meals, it will make grocery planning and shopping easier too, since you’ll mostly be buying the same things on repeat.
See my favorite easy meals HERE:
Toscana Soup
Chicken Enchiladas
Chili
Breakfast for dinner
HERE is my favorite easy mac and cheese recipe, which takes only 5 minutes to cook in the instant pot!
Tip 4-Use Time in the Kitchen Earlier in the Day for Dinner Prep
One of my favorite easy tips for making dinner at home is to take advantage of the time you’re in the kitchen earlier in the day to do some dinner prep. This could be while you make breakfast or lunch or whenever you have more energy to get in the kitchen. I love doing this, because inevitably, my energy is low right at the time I need to get in the kitchen to make dinner!
This might look like cooking the chicken for the night’s pot pie while I’m at the stove making breakfast. Or putting together a sauce or spice mixture. Or prepping similar ingredients all at once. For example, if I’m slicing onions for hamburgers at lunch, I would also chop the onions for dinner that night. This method also saves on cleanup.
Tip 5-Dinner Double Up
Cook once, eat twice! When it’s convenient, make a larger batch of whatever you’re cooking and freeze the extra for dinner another night. This works well with things like soups, chilis, and casseroles that can easily be made in larger amounts. Make twice as much taco meat and you have another dinner that just needs to be heated up. Pork or beef roasts that typically make more than our family can eat in one meal and are another good option for freezing the extra.
You can also make things like cookie dough in double batches. Scoop the extra onto a baking sheet and freeze the dough balls to be baked later. This is such a big help when you need to bring a dessert. Or just bake a cookie or two without making a whole batch.
Tip 6-Take Advantage of Your Freezer
Freezer meals and batch cooking can help you make dinner at home so easily. The idea behind this is to assemble all of the components of a meal into a plastic freezer bag and freeze it until you need it. On the day you’re going to make it, take it out of the freezer and dump the ingredients into the crock pot, instant pot, or baking sheet and cook.
A second way to make your freezer work for you is to make some components of meals ahead. Then freeze them to make dinner come together more quickly later. I like to make shredded salsa chicken in big batches and then freeze it to use later in taco soup or enchiladas. I make pork shoulder roast and then freeze the meat to use later in pulled pork sandwiches or carnitas tacos.
Tip 7-Recognize Your Season and Limitations
Know what season of life you’re in and how much time and energy you have to devote to cooking so you can be realistic with yourself. If you are in a busy season, don’t expect yourself to make a lot of new recipes or elaborate dishes. Keep it simple! Stock and use at home convenience meals when needed. These can be things like frozen breaded chicken or fish, canned soups or chilis, or frozen lasagna. Fresh fruit and raw veggies are great as side dishes. If you are in a season where you have more time to experiment in the kitchen, then by all means do it!
Tip 8-Enlist Help Making Dinner from Others in Your Home
Kids can be great helpers in the kitchen. Allow them to help with the tasks they are able to do, such as mixing up batter, chopping veggies, and setting the table. Cooking is a great skill and the more they learn, the more they will be able to help.
I hope these easy tips for making dinner at home help you get dinner on the table each night so you can enjoy the benefits of more time and less stress.
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