Dinner Ideas - Minneapolis,MN

allrecipes.com is a fantastic website, I use it all the time. I don't make the same things every week, I get bored. I also have a cook book from Cooking Light that is great, but you can find all the recipes on their website too.

I love the Betty Crocker website and use it often. You can search recipes by main ingredient, time to prepare and healthy choices.

Hi S.-

I cook A LOT...fortunately...so does pete! He is probably a better cook (read gormet)...I am a 'hearty' cook...used to cooking for the 'masses' (read 'gormond' lol.

I get a lot of ideas from food.com

The one night a week that IS consistent is a 'potpourri' night...(a mix of any leftovers found when cleaning out the fridge!! Just sounds better!)

Best Luck!
Michele/cat

Whenever I don't know what to make, I go to allrecipes.com.

I just started on the website.... RELISH. I absolutely love it. They come out with a new menu each week, plus you have access to all of the previous menus and they have all kinds of other menu list, such as budget friendly, crockpot, kid friendly and the list goes on. You then click on whether you want it for your weekly menu or a freezer option. Once you have picked out 5-7 meals, you click another button and up comes your entire shopping list. It has a list of things you probably have on hand and then what else you might need. It is all coded so if you decide you don't want to do one of the dinners, it is easy to cross off the items. Also, each entree comes with a side dish too. When you print, the shopping list and menus print out. It really is awesome and really helped me in planning for the week and menus that weren't the same every week.

I don't have a routine but I do generally know what will be cooked for the week if I'm cooking. Generally I have a roster of staples like spaghetti, taco's or enchilada's, or anything over some kind of flavored rice.

Since my boys all have the responsibility of cookiing for the family, they each have their favorites they like to whip up. They even go through the cookbooks I have and request I buy certain things for special recipies.

My favorite thing is my crock pot. I can toss all the ingredients into the pot and let it do it's thing. When I come home it's done and delicious or when I wake up in the morning it is done and delicious.

My favorite cookbook is the Betty Crocker cook book. It has real good meals that are simple and delicious.

What I do may be goofy, but it works for us....there are some main things I will either use often or are good in a pinch (honey for tea, rotel tomatoes, some seasoning packets, dry pasta, creams of mushroom and chicken, etc---stuff we use all the time and keep a "stock" of). When making my weekly menu, I look over the sales ads and what I have in my house already so we're not wasting anything.
With all that in mind, the way I make my menu is like this: I write out the days of the week and leave spaces for 3 meals and snack between each day, and then fill it out in order of meals. For breakfasts: cereal w/bananas, oatmeal, yogurts, whatever during weekdays. On Saturday morning we have porridge and Sundays we have a big breakfast (pancakes or french toast with fruit, or egg, bacon, biscuits, and broiled tomato, etc). I'll just plug that into all the days, and write on a shopping list what I need to make that happen this week. I write on my shopping list whatever I'll need to buy, everytime I write down a meal. Easier to write items to purchase as you plug in items on your menu; otherwise you can forget something important and have to go to the store again later, which I really hate to do. I do my snacks next because they're pretty easy and usually involve really basic stuff: fruit, cheese crackers, veggie sticks, peanut butter, etc. Then I do dinners....the harder one. I try for one day of each: chicken, beef, vegetarian, pork, seafood, and a soup or stew. That's 6 days. The 7th day "mystery day"...might be leftovers if there's enough for everyone, or a homemade pizza, or a day when we try something new that I haven't cooked before. I have my recipe box with my recipes that we really like (you know, with the dividers for that divide stuff into appetizers, meat, fish, soup, poultry, soup/stew/sauce, salad, vegetarian, etc, etc). I'll pull out a recipe for different things (even if I don't need to actually follow the card) and put those 6 recipe cards up at the very front. As I use them, they go in the back of their section so they won't be used too often or every week like a lot of people tend to do. Otherwise, you just get sick of spaghetti every week (or whatever). It helps me cook different meals every week and not fall into ruts as easily (don't get me wrong, I fall into ruts, especially with sides--what goes with what--that's my weakness).
I make my menu and shopping list at my desk, and can just glance over at the calendar as I'm making it....I plan for crockpot meals, leftovers, or something very quick/easy on the days we have loads to do. I will plan the more involved or longer cooking meals on days we don't have as much to do. That keeps the stress levels down for all. Thursday is often our "mystery day" because that's the day I go to the farmer's market and pick out a new thing every week to experiment with. Dinner may depend on what we find and bring home from the farmer's market that day. If all else fails and I haven't come up with an amazing find that week, the "crepe lady" at the farmer's market can make us a goat cheese, spinach, pesto, tomato crepe to share, a strawberry, nutella, cream crepe to share, and I can add some gnocchi, vegetables, and sauce as a side......or we can make a homemade pizza.
Once I've plugged in all the dinners for my menu, I can write in the lunches: sandwiches and fruit, or pasta salad, or I can send my husband to work with leftovers (often there's a lunch sized portion of leftovers, but not a meal for everyone), stuff like that. I am pretty accurate on guessing what meal will be a leftover for Jeremy's workday and what day he'll need sandwiches or something.

I don't like the idea of the weekly "set" schedule, too boring, but the weeks I'm feeling 'organized', I do plan our dinners out in advance, then shop.

I wrote (on a page of a small notebook--O. per meal) every meal and the ingredients for it on a page, then I pick about 5 (to allow for O. night out and O. night of leftovers), check what ingredients I already have, then write on my shopping list the stuff I need to buy for the week. It works for me. (WHEN I do it! lol)

When my kids were younger I used to have a nightly theme, it was like Mexican Monday, Italian Tuesday, Fun Food Friday (that would be like pizza or mac n cheese) there was more but that's what's coming back to me now!
My absolute favorite website for recipes and cooking is allrecipes.com. Really easy to use and you can search many ways, by ingredient, family friendly, budget, etc. Includes lots of photos and reviews.

My family loves this site - http://www.foodsensitivityjournal.com/

When I was busy with work and 8 people to feed, I used to prepare many things the night before and stick it in the fridge to cook the next day. Some things were crock-pot foods, and others were ready to be stuck in the oven (like meatloaf). We all helped with making a huge salad with lots of things - lettuce, celery, tomatos, cucumbers, etc. and that would last about 3 days, so about twice per week we made that in advance as well.

ok, we usually had a big meal like a roast or something on Sunday, then
Monday was chicken night- I usually stick with baked chicken, grilled chicken but i have a recipe for a rice and chicken dish you make on the stoptop
Tues actually was Taco nights because hubby worked late and kids loved tacos. We also did enchildad's, we quesadiallas anything mexicany.
WEds was some sort of sandwich type thing, like Sloppy Joe or if we had a pork roast on mon we would have pulled pork in the crock pot, or just soup and sandwhich.
Thurs was spagehetti or if i had extra time lasanga or stuffed shells
Friday was pizza either take out or made at home, in a pinch we do english muffin pizza's and the kids love it.
Sat was supposed to be leftovers but we never totally stuck to it.
HTH
I"ve heard of the pioneer woman blog that might have recipes. Flylady.net has an associate that does meal planning maybe saving dinner--Leanne Ely?? there are probably some free recipe things but if i remember right you subscribe to get the full meals,recipies and shopping lists etc.

If you are really stuck on planning and coming up with different ideas, there is a site, www.savingdinner.com, and they sell you a preplanned menu of dinners for the week, I think you cna buy 3, 6, 9, months worth or a whole years worth. She includes 6 meals, the recipes and instructions to make them, and a complete grocery list at the beginning of the packet, they get e-mailed to you. It is no more cost than buying a cookbook, but so much more information, and it gets you to try new stuff. You can buy for different types - diabetic menu, weight loss, heart healthy, family friendly, crock pot only, vegetarian, frugal....and for different sizes of family - 2 to 6 people, she also have plan ahead stock the freezer with your own homemade freezer meals menus, too. She plans them to correspont to seasonal produce as well.

Before we had kids, I used these all the time, as I was learning to cook. I still have them all in a binder and refer to our favorites often.

Check them out if you want to take out the planning part of the equation!

Jessie

I posted this on anther question a few weeks ago. I thought it would help you too.
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I have a family of 5. Two adults two teen boys and one tween. I also was umeployed for year. So I try very hard to keep costs down and still serve good food.
Chicken legs are cheap and easy to use.
Toss legs into baking pan. Cover with can of stewed tomatoes.Add sliced onion and garlic. Bake for 30-45 min. Until meat starts to pull away from the bone. Serve over rice or noodles with salad or veggie on the side. Can use thighs or white meat but dark meat is cheaper.
Also cover with Cream of mushroom and bake for 1 hr. Or crunch up potatoe chips or cereal in a large baggie. Dip chicken into bowl with cream chicken then shake in baggie to cover. Line in baking dish, drizzle melted butter over and bake.
I make my own version of Hamburger Helper. 2 lbs of ground meat and a large family box of macaroni. I cook the meat like taco meat with lots of spices then add cooked macaroni and cheese packet.
Fried Rice. I use any left over meat. It takes 6 cups cooked rice to feed my crew. I add scrambled egg, peas, green onions and any kind of meat I have on hand.
Another favorite for my family. French Bread pizza. Buy a large loaf of french bread, we use two. Cut lengthwise. Cover with canned pizza sauce or left over spaghetti sauce. I cut up left over meat or any lunch meat. This is also a good one for the kids to do themselves. Cover with cheese and back until cheese melts.
We have Taco Tuesdays. Another fun night for the kids to make your own. Brown the meat add spices. When done line the table with all the fixings, refried beans, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and the meat. I use the already made tostadoes.
There is so much you can do for little money and still make good food and have fun.
Good luck and GOD BLESS!!
D.

Hi S., I have posted this question several times over the years I've been on here if you want to look back at my questions. Also, if you send me your email address, I have cut and pasted a lot of easy recipes that moms have put on here into a word document that I can email you or anyone else that wants it.

I cook Mon, Tues and Wed. Thursday is leftovers from those 3 days and Friday is family pizza/salad night when we watch a kid movie. Saturday and Sun we just wing it.

It has helped me to cook a ton of boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the crockpot on low all day with some seasonings, like taco. then when its done I cut it up and put it in zip freezer bags in servings I can use for soups, salad, pastas, tacos, sandwiches, etc. Same thing for brown hamburger/turkey, I do about 6 pounds at a time and freeze the same way.

I plan my menus from scratch as well. I don't think I would go the routine route, we'd all be sick of it. But I do have all the favorite recipes and menus in one spot to make it easy to peruse. I have some meals frozen and in the deep freeze for nights I really don't want to cook. I also usually have some really, super easy meals on hand to use when I need it.

allrecipes is my favorite for ideas. I also get a lot of great recipes from cookinglight.com. They are usually healthy and many are really fast.

I have been a SAHM for the past year and have just become burnt out on trying to make everyone happy with meals! I will be going back to work when school starts and have decided to do the schedule thing you mentioned- just to keep my sanity! I was thinking have an established routine like taco tuesdays, but give each person a day to choose a meal. That will take the heat off me 4 days a week! (I will still cook it, but I don't have to think about it!) I have also started offering a PB and J for my picky eater if she chooses not to eat what the rest of us have. The deal is that she has to make it herself and clean it up herself. That way she is taking the responsibility for taking care of herself. I have used the kraft website as well as allrecipes.

My sister plans by the MONTH. Seems overwhelming, but now that she's used to it it helps a lot with planning, shopping, budget, etc. They fill in a calendar so they know if there is a night someone is not home or whatever, they include leftover nights. The only down side I see is shopping by what's on sale, which is what we kind of guide our menu on: Oh, we haven't had pork tenderloin in a while and it's on sale this week. Etc. We try (and I emphasize "try" b/c some weeks it's just crazy) to sit down with the local fliers on Sunday mornings and plan for the week based on what's on sale and/or what we haven't had in a while.

I have our Band's cook book -- if you want one for $5 PM me.
Every recipe in there is tried and true and is easy and delicious!
LBC