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Solutions to 9 of the greatest challenges and obstacles in cooking weeknight dinners

March 12, 2015 by Kalle 1 Comment

Obstacles in cooking weeknight dinners

Cooking dinner on weeknights could be a challenge when coming home late from work and already hungry. Add kids that need attention and a partner with allergies to the mix and stir, what do you get? a soup of obstacles to cooking weeknight dinners!

We all have different situations, different cooking skills and a different palate of recipes we are familiar with. The reason I started working on IngredientMatcher was mainly because I had a problem with my own weeknight cooking. I found myself staring into the fridge searching for inspiration on what to make, but after a long day at work, the creativity was not on top.

I was inspired to write this blog post after a conversation thread on The Kitchn where people were sharing their greatest obstacles in cooking dinner. What I did was to summarize all the obstacles mentioned and then doing some research to verify and complement this list of top 9 obstacles in cooking weeknight dinners (in no order of priority):

  1. Lack of time
    • Preparing vegetables
    • Thawing
    • Heating up water, etc
  2. Lack of energy
  3. Not knowing what to cook/no plan
    • Using leftover ingredients
    • That will satisfy everyone in the family (taste, allergies, diets)
    • Not knowing what ingredients are at home
    • No inspiration for eating something new and healthy
  4. Cleaning up afterwards
  5. Hungry before starting to cook
  6. Missing the skills to cook without a recipe or adapting one (e.g. which ingredients go well together, cooking time of vegetables, possible substitutions, basic sauce recipes)
  7. Not getting the timing right
  8. Shopping for groceries
  9. Distractions like kids, phone calls, etc

 

 

Having these obstacles could lead to:

  • Eating same old meals over and over
  • Eating processed food
  • Eating out
  • Eating something really simple and quick (cereals, sandwich, etc)
  • Taking an extra trip to the store

 

Solutions to 9 of the greatest challenges and obstacles in cooking weeknight dinners:

#ObstaclesSolutions
1Lack of time
  • Preparing vegetables
  • Thawing
  • Heating up water, etc
  • Buy pre-prepped veggies
  • Prep vegetables in advance (like in the morning or day before) or use recipes that are make-ahead meals
  • Use smart kitchen tools like a mandoline, food processor, immersion blender, microplane, etc
  • Cook big batches and freeze it for a quick meal
  • Prepare some basic components like sauces that you freeze in smaller portions (e.g. in ice cube trays), you could also grate cheese and freeze it, make shredded chicken and freeze in zip-loc bags, chop fresh herbs and freeze it.
  • Use a pressure cooker to cook things faster
  • Load up a slow cooker in the morning and have a hot ready meal ready when you come home
2Lack of energy
  • Snack on a vegetable or fruit
  • Crank up some music
  • Keep a list of fast and simple recipes you like
  • Otherwise same as #1
3Not knowing what to cook/no plan
  • Using leftover ingredients
  • That will satisfy everyone in the family (taste, allergies, diets)
  • Not knowing what ingredients are at home
  • No inspiration for eating something new and healthy
  • Meal planning
  • Keep a list of dishes you really like that you can cook on a weeknight (on a paper stuck on your fridge, on a pinterest board or in some convenient app)
  • Get to learn the basics of some typical "use what you have" or leftover dishes:
    • Creamy soups (vegetables, broth, cream and spices)
    • Pasta sauces (fry some pieces of vegetables/mushrooms/meat, add some liquid like dairy based or tomato based, add spices and simmer)
    • Pasta casseroles (Macaroni & cheese with additions)
    • Pizzas
    • Frittata or omelettes
    • Fried rice
    • Pies or quiche
    • Stews & Casseroles
  • Keep an up to date list of the ingredients you have at home that soon will expire (keep the list on your fridge or use an app)
  • Use the IngredientMatcher app
4Cleaning up afterwards
  • Buy a great dishwasher
  • Make more one pot meals
  • Clean up in between the cooking steps
  • Leave it to someone else in your family
5Hungry before starting to cook
  • Snack on a vegetable or fruit
  • Perhaps a slice of bread will beat of the worst hunger
6Missing the skills to cook without a recipe or adapting one (e.g. which ingredients go well together, cooking time of vegetables, possible substitutions, basic sauce recipes)
  • Check out the great cooking infographics that are out there, like Cooksmarts or Chasing Delicious
  • Take some online cooking courses
    • Craftsy
    • Skillshare
    • Udemy
    • Online cooking schools like:Epicurious, TheKitchn, Taste of Home, TasteMade, Rouxbe, SmartKitchen, America's test kitchen
    • Youtube channels like Hilah cooking, FoodWishes, Gordon Ramsey, ChefSteps, Chow
7Not getting the timing right
  • Read the whole recipe before starting to cook and estimate the time for each part
  • Make a plan in advance when to do the different steps
  • Use the "Mise en place" approach so you have all the ingredients prepared before starting to cook
8Shopping for groceries
  • Keep a well stocked pantry and freezer so you always can whip up a meal even if you don't have fresh ingredients on hand
  • Buy online and get it delivered
  • Use meal planning and buy all necessary ingredients in one go
  • Use an organized shopping list
9Distractions like kids, phone calls, etc
  • Don't answer calls..
  • Have the kids involved in cooking or keep them occupied with something fun they like while in the kitchen (or even put them in front of the TV)

 

This list of solutions will be updated so please enter your email below to be notified when there’s new info.

Filed Under: How-to, Latest, We like

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Comments

  1. Best Rice Cookers

    July 1, 2017 at 2:20 am

    Rice cookers won’t go away into the picture when we are talking about cooking our favorite food. Rice is as much important as having a complete and on time meals every day. The Instant Pot Rice Steamer/Cooker is one of my favorites!

    Reply

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