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What to cook tonight? How to answer the question once and for all

Updated on

The question comes every day, usually when the fridge is already open and everyone is hungry. Here are quick ideas for tonight and a method that stops the question from coming up at all.

Seven ideas for tonight

All ready in about twenty minutes, with ingredients most homes have:

  • Pasta with tomato sauce and tuna or vegetables
  • Jacket potatoes with beans and cheese
  • An omelette or pancakes, sweet or savoury
  • Fried rice with vegetables and egg
  • Quesadillas with beans, sweetcorn and cheese
  • Vegetable soup with bread and cheese
  • Tray baked vegetables with feta

Why the question is so tiring

It is not the cooking that wears you out, it is the deciding. In the evening, after a full day, there is little patience left for decisions. On top of that, everyone in the family wants something different. Moving the decision to a calmer moment, the weekend for example, takes the pressure off the evening.

The method: decide once instead of every day

Instead of thinking again every evening, plan once for the whole week. It sounds like work, but it only takes a few minutes once you have a list of dishes everyone likes.

  • A list of twenty dishes that go down well at home
  • Theme nights, for example pasta on Tuesday and pizza on Friday
  • One evening a week for leftovers
  • One shop for everything on the plan

Let the family decide too

Arguments at the table usually start because someone feels left out. When everyone names their favourites and may say what they will not eat, the whole family stands behind the plan. Children tend to eat more happily what they picked themselves.

And if nobody feels like it after all

A good plan is allowed to change. Swap two days, move a dish to next week or have a leftovers night. What matters is that the question does not start from zero again.

The answer is already there, with Yadlo

Yadlo takes the question off your hands: everyone rates dishes with a swipe, and Yadlo plans the dinners for this week and next. If something does not appeal today, swap it for another dish with one swipe. In the morning your iPhone shows what is for dinner.