The Answer to "What's for Dinner?"
"What's for dinner?" Let me help you answer that never-ending question with a system to ease the planning and making of dinners, and with recipes that are simple and delicious for your whole family!
The question “what’s for dinner?” is one we’ve all heard over and over again! In my quest to streamline the behind-the-scenes work of parenting, figuring out a system to easily plan and make dinners was one of the first things I tackled. After years of trial and error, I came up with a “Dinner Meal Planning” system that works great for my family! I create our Dinner Meal Plans every Sunday when I am writing out my family’s wall calendar (aka our “Map of the Week”). This is the system I follow:
STEPS TO “DINNER MEAL PLANNING”
Take stock of what is in the fridge, freezer, and pantry to see what can be put together for dinners and make a list of what is there
Look at each weekday’s schedule to note how busy you are each day and start to think about what you actually have time to cook each night (be realistic!)
Look to see which days your kids have hot lunch at school so you can choose something different than that for dinner (not only for taste but also for nutritional variety)
Look at your family’s favorite dinner recipes for ideas of what to make and begin to write down what you’ll have each night for dinner, taking into account what you learned in steps 1, 2, & 3
When you see that there are more dinner needs than what is in your fridge, choose a recipe based on steps 2 & 3 and then make a list of items you need to get at the market before that night’s dinner
A major key to making this Dinner Meal Planning system work for my family is having a packet of recipes that we love from which I pull ideas for weekly dinners.
I’ve been writing this Substack filled with “Type A Mom’s Trusted Tips” weekly for 6 months, and by far the most popular Substack article has been my easy dinner recipes article. That interest in easy recipes, and my desire to help us all streamline making dinner, gave me the idea to formalize my stack of dinner recipes into a “Dinner Recipe Book!”
I’m so excited because Type A Mom’s Dinner Recipe Book is now ready to share with you! This Dinner Recipe Book is filled with 22 recipes that include poultry, fish, meat, and vegetarian options. The recipes are simple to make (no chopping onions!) and only use easy to find ingredients. There are cook and eat right away recipes, and there are also slow cooker recipes and make and freeze recipes so you can “help your future self” on busy days! I’ve also listed the kitchen tools and the pantry items needed so you can be prepared to make anything in the book. And, of course I’ve included a Type A Mom Tip that is helpful and specific to each recipe😊
I made this Dinner Recipe Book to help us all quickly and easily get dinner on the table so we can spend more time enjoying our families, and I truly hope it helps you and that you love it!
❤️,
Amanda, your Type A Mom friend