While waiting for the school bus this week, one of the neighborhood moms stopped me to say that she was stuck in a dinner rut and needed to sit down with me to discuss new ideas. So we made a date, and while the children played, we sat down with a piece of paper and made a new plan for their family. She left with renewed inspiration and a list of ideas and recipes for new dinner preparations and menus. Here’s how we did it (and you can too!):
10 Solutions to Solve a Dinner Rut Dilema
- Write down what you are currently doing (cooking, take-out, eating out) and identify what you would like to do differently. Sometimes just understanding the rut makes it much easier to solve. Do you need more time (do more prep ahead of time), do you need more ideas (look for inspiration), do you need more skills (take a class or watch a tutorial ), etc.
- Make a menu at the beginning of the week when you are feeling inspired and go grocery shopping so that you have all the ingredients when it is time to make dinner.
- Make the same things in a new way. If you always cut up a rotisserie chicken, shred the meat for tacos or BBQ sandwiches; or debone the meat and chop for chicken salad or chicken chili.
- Search for new recipes or new ways to prepare foods on Table365 under the Search Table365 box in the right hand column. Type in the name of an ingredient or dish for recipes, information, and inspiration. Print out the Table365 inspiration lists for lunches, snacks, and menus and post them inside your kitchen cupboard doors or pantry for easy reference.
- Embrace seasonal fresh foods that are at their height of taste and nutritional value. Create meals that feature a food in-season as a way to expand beyond your usual grocery list. (see Table365 Q&A for spring seasonal foods and recipes).
- Find inspiration by using themes and holidays for new menu ideas. Themes like Meatless Monday, Souper Sunday, Taco Tuesday, Pizza Friday, can help creativity by categories. If you plan to make soup one night a week, every week, you can easily find 52 soup recipes so that you never have to repeat the same soup twice. Monthly holidays are fun to commemorate with a themed dinner: Cinco de Mayo, St. Patrick’s Day, Fourth of July, etc.
- Create variations on an ingredient or dish. If your family really likes salmon, use canned salmon in a pasta sauce, grill salmon fillets, top salad with poached salmon, serve lox on bagels with cream cheese and fresh dill, make salmon chowder, grill salmon burgers, pan-fry salmon and serve with rice and sautéed greens. You can come up with a new way to prepare and serve salmon once a week for months.
- Brainstorm with your family about their favorite foods and meals (then use the brainstorm to create new menus). Keep a list of family favorites and refer to it when you need a reboot.
- Serve dinner in a new way. Eat in a different room, have a picnic on the floor, eat outside in the yard, let the kids make the dining room into a restaurant and serve the dinner. Just serving the usual foods in a different way will make it seem new, and may inspire new menu items to fit the location or method. Try this: Instead of serving a taco salad, set a buffet with all the items that go in the salad and let each family member build their own bowl.
- Share ideas and foods – have a potluck with friends. Whenever I am joining friends for dinner, at their house or mine, I feel more inspired to try new recipes or make something out of my standard repertoire. Thinking of their preferences or dietary needs makes me more creative. Invite some friends over for a potluck dinner. In addition to the fun of sharing a meal, it will lesson the work for all the cooks, enhance your creativity in planning the meal, and introduce new offerings to everyone.
Bon Appetit!
