Dinner on a busy weeknight can be easy, nutritious and take less than an hour. After a long day, usually the last thing I want to do is cook an elaborate meal. However, simple meals make the task less daunting and take minimal energy.
Weeknight dinners do not need to be elaborate and time consuming. In fact, I have found cooking simple meals saves me time, feeds my family and keeps us from eating out, thus saving money!
Thaw Several Meats
More often than not, where I go wrong with weeknight cooking is I forget to pull a protein out of the freezer. The thought of having to not only cook dinner but also take the time to thaw out the meat just makes the task more discouraging to me.
My solution to always having a protein ready, is to grab it in bulk. On Sunday’s I pull out a variety of meats from our freezer and place them in the fridge to thaw. This ensures we have a protein on hand for meals during the week.
I pull out a variety of meats to avoid eating too much of the same thing throughout the week. I try to pull one of everything from the freezer every week: chicken, pork, fish, & a red meat option. Oftentimes we have a red meat option two or three times a week. By having several meat options available for dinner we keep dinners from being boring and from having the same thing.
No Structured Meal Plan
I don’t usually have a meal plan beyond knowing what protein sources we will be eating throughout the week. Rigid meals plans are hard for me to stick to.
Rigid meal planning fails me for various reasons:
- I either don’t have all of the ingredients on hand
- Sometimes the meal I had planned does not sound good
- Other circumstances result in a change of plans.
So I’ve learned if I at least have some sort of meat pulled out, I still have some flexibility and we will still have a home cooked meal most weeknights.
If I want a more structured plan, I’ll look at what I have on hand and then write down any meals that can be made from those items. This is especially helpful when I am trying to avoid going back to the grocery store and spending more money. Alternatively, at the beginning of a new month I intentionally purchase the necessary ingredients to make specific meals.
Use the small appliances
When I am in a pinch for time I like to choose cooking methods that require the least amount of hands-on time. This means if I want rice with dinner I use my rice cooker or Instant Pot, so I can do other things for dinner while the rice is cooking.
If I don’t have any meat thawed, I will choose something that I can dump in the Instant Pot. The Instant Pot will thaw and cook 2 frozen chicken breasts in about 45 minutes. And if I am using the Instant Pot to thaw my chicken I will turn dinner into a one pot dump and go meal.
When we had an air-fryer I would use it to cook pork chops, tater-tots and veggies. Because an air-fryer does not require the same amount of time to heat up as an oven.
The Instant Pot is one of those items that I have absolutely loved having on hand! I have always been a busy body and my Instant Pot has saved me more times than I can count when it comes to making a quick and easy meal and saving me from having to order take out. If you have the money, I highly recommend getting one!
Keep it Simple
Not every meal I cook is fancy and the ones that look fancy are often times a result of presentation rather than effort. More often than not I cook my meats in a basic way, so they will be done in about 30 minutes. I am usually quite hungry by the time I get home from work, so I really don’t want to wait too long.
Ground meat
I like to make meatloaf, tater-tot casserole or tacos with my ground meats. Browning meat usually takes about 15 minutes and is rather low maintenance. And of course spaghetti is always a favorite in our house!
Red meat
I usually cook our red meat rare to medium rare so the cooking time is already low. Meat cooked to medium/medium well takes longer.
To get a quality steak, the steak needs to be taken out of the fridge and allowed to warm to room temperature before cooking. So to keep my work effort light I will usually ask my husband to pull the steaks out of the fridge and rest on the counter when he gets home. This way by the time I get home the steaks have had about 30-45 minutes to come to room temperature.
Chicken
Since chicken needs to be cooked to a specific temperature (165 F) the cooking process can sometimes take longer than 30 minutes, depending on how thick the chicken is. Chicken can be grilled, baked or boiled to be shredded.
Chicken Thighs – Oftentimes I choose to bake or grill our chicken thighs. The prep usually does not take me longer than 5 minutes. I give the chicken a simple seasoning and call it good.
Chicken breast – I usually cook chicken breast for shredding or for fajitas. For shredded chicken I put the chicken breast in my Instant Pot or into a water to boil. Both processes will take about 30 minutes. If I am making fajitas, chopping the chicken into strips takes 5-10 minutes and cooking the chicken takes about 15-20 minutes.
Pork
My favorite way to cook pork chops, especially if they are thin, is to bake them in the oven so they stay moist. I don’t like dry pork chops and I have not successfully grilled thin pork chops without over cooking them (I’ll figure it out eventually). Baking pork chops while covering them with foil or an oven safe lid, keeps them moist and takes about 20-30 minutes.
Fish
Baking fish or grilling fish is one of the simplest ways to cook fish in 30 minutes. We also really like having a good fish fry. However, frying fish requires more prep than baking and grilling, so when I am in a rush I choose to bake or grill my fish. Fish, like pork, can easily be over cooked and dry out. I prefer to cook my fish “tented” (covered) to make sure I do not dry it out. Tenting the fish has proven to cook the fish in approximately 25 minutes, depending on the size of fish.
The Sides
I try to always have a vegetable to pair with our meats. Typically I always have some kind of frozen vegetable in the freezer that will heat up quickly in the microwave. Vegetables can be cooked on the stove top or baked in the oven in 30 minutes or less, generally. Baked cauliflower, broccoli and carrots is a great option!
I strive to have a starch with dinner, but I don’t always succeed. My go to starches are potatoes, pasta or rice.
Potatoes
Potatoes generally take the longest to cook depending on how I want them served. To quickly cook potatoes, I dice them into half cubes, drizzle with a quality oil and simple seasonings before placing them into the oven for baking. I have found mashed potatoes require me to dirty more dishes and require more of my time, so I seldomly make them anymore.
Rice
Rice is relatively hands off. If cooking in a rice cooker or Instant Pot cooking rice is a set it and forget it type of preparation. If I want to cook rice on the stove I need to pay a bit more attention to make sure I have the heat on the burner just right. All three methods for cooking rice take less than 30 minutes.
Pasta
Pasta can usually be made in 15 -20 minutes. Most pasta has a cooking time of approximately 11 minutes and I can typically get my water to a boil in 5 minutes. I like to finish my pasta off by adding a quality fat like avocado oil or grass-fed butter with some simple seasonings.
I have also learned, that having some pre-made marinaded meats ready to go in the freezer is a huge time saver!
When in doubt and in a rush to get dinner on the table remember to keep it simple. Over-thinking it can waste time and delay meal time with your family.
I would love to hear from you and your thoughts on a quick and simple meal. If you have a favorite recipe, don’t forget to share it!
I have two YouTube videos on Easy Weeknight Dinner ideas!
Hello!
Good cheer to all on this beautiful day!!!!!
Good luck 🙂
Thank you
This is great advice! I struggled so much when I moved out, this is going to be so helpful!