Add Category
Trying to figure out what's for dinner each day can be exhausting.
Luckily, there are simple ways to streamline the process, which can save you time, money and brain space on busy weeknights.
You could consider planning ahead, sticking to a single cuisine for the week or prepping ingredients ahead of time.
Food blogger and former hospitality worker Liz Miu says it could even make you a better cook.
Make a meal plan for the week, then shop
Food creator Liz Miu is a "list girl".
Based in Marrickville, Sydney on Gadigal land, Liz writes out what she's planning to cook for the week ahead and uses it to write her shopping list.
To make shopping as efficient as possible, she includes ingredient quantities and organises her list according to the layout of the shop. For instance, starting with fruits and vegetables if they're by the entrance.
Choosing a cuisine for the week can reduce food waste
Home cook and food writer Gemma Plunkett recommends taking inspiration from commercial kitchens by choosing a type of cuisine for the week.
"There's a lot of ingredient overlap," she explains.
She says it can make using all the coriander, the remaining half of the coconut cream, or the rest of the bean shoots easy, meaning less ingredients to buy and less food waste.
Gemma's cooking on Gadigal land, based in Potts Point, Sydney and she also has a "theory" that the "more you cook at home the cheaper it gets".
Building your pantry and using it regularly means you're not left routinely turfing a bottle of oyster sauce you've bought to make one serve of pad thai.
Prepping ingredients can make cooking easier
After shopping Liz normally goes "straight from the shop into an ingredient prep".
She says this method "makes so much sense because this is how you operate in a [commercial] kitchen [where] everything is prepped to make it easier", and it works for her household of three busy adults.
She washes almost all her fresh produce right away, and then slices and dices it.
"I pretty much don't have to do any chopping for the rest of the week," Liz says.
This prep can take time (about three hours if she does it all at once), but she says it cuts down cooking during the week to be anywhere between five minutes to half an hour for a "family meal" for three. The prep cover lunch and dinner for the household Monday to Friday, but often rolls into the weekend.
Her other trick? Having quick toppings in the fridge — like crispy chickpeas, crunchy breadcrumbs or pickled onions — to enhance simple meals.
Start a freezer list in your phone
Gemma is a self-described freezer "advocate", having grown up in a regional area where a trip to the shops wasn't easy.
She often makes batches of ragus and curries to freeze.
To keep track of what's to hand, Gemma has a "note on my phone of what's in the freezer".
She says this written inventory helps because looking through a fully stocked freezer can be "daunting" when you're deciding what to have for dinner.
She says dating food in the freezer is also important as you can't freeze it indefinitely.
Streamlining your food storage
Both Liz and Gemma recommend using a single brand of storage containers if you can. It makes stacking and storing food easier and will mean less time trying to find lids that match.
Choosing a transparent option makes it easier to see what's in your fridge.
ABC Everyday in your inbox
Get our newsletter for the best of ABC Everyday each week