What’s for dinner?

Gluten free chicken nuggets with hummus and rice pudding cup

 Bluekitchen:

Don't know if this is off topic but... what do you use to organize recipes you find on Youtube, Tiktok, food blogs etc? How do you plan your meals? I have tons of recipes I want to try but when I actually have to cook after a long day of work I kind of low-key panic and just revert to familiar favorites. It was easier to plan meals during the pandemic when I worked from home, but now I report to the office and get home really late and often exhausted. Would love to hear your tips/systems/routines.

I just keep two very simple master recipe lists - 1. my tried and true favorite dishes and 2. recipes I want to try; both with just the relevant link next to it. I have it saved online (I use Evernote for all my notes) and just add and delete recipe links as I go along. That way I can access them anywhere and pull them up on my phone  when I am at the store to quickly check if I have everything I need.

There are lots of fantastic recipes out there it is easy to get overly ambitious with all the fabulous YouTube videos but I learned long ago it only makes sense to focus on relatively simple ones with less preparation (and cleanup) time. Most of my favorite dishes come from Gordon Ramsey's cookbooks and the Nobu cookbook. 

 Bluekitchen:

Don't know if this is off topic but... what do you use to organize recipes you find on Youtube, Tiktok, food blogs etc? How do you plan your meals? I have tons of recipes I want to try but when I actually have to cook after a long day of work I kind of low-key panic and just revert to familiar favorites. It was easier to plan meals during the pandemic when I worked from home, but now I report to the office and get home really late and often exhausted. Would love to hear your tips/systems/routines.

@BlueKitchen, that's a great question!

I usually get my recipes online via recipe blogs or through Instagram, but I find that it gets messy because then I have a million screenshots and links bookmarked to "try" but never get to them. My sister got me a recipe tin years ago with cute little tabs (dividing the recipes by type/the staple ingredient) and recipe note cards (with just the ingredients and instructions), and that's what I have been using ever since. I find it so much simpler to use and follow when I have it all written down in one place and don't get too overwhelmed with everything else. If it's a recipe I tried and liked, it has a section on the card to write the date and rate it too! I just end up putting a sticky note on my favorites so I can go back to them easily.

@PBG, your method of keeping things together online on Evernote is so convenient! I think my problem would be I would keep adding notes to it if it's unlimited space to write in lol so having finite space on the cards makes me not delve too much into the note writing and more on actually trying the cooking!

Cooking after work can definitely seem daunting after such a long day. During the weekdays, I try to make more one-pan meals (put veggies and meat or fish in one pan and just bake/broil after seasoning), which takes less active cooking time. These are also great for having leftover meals too. Or I would try to make things that don't require actual cooking or very little active cooking (like sandwiches or tacos). Similar to @Butterfly, I save trying big meal recipes for the weekends or my days off.

Hope you find something that works for you! :) 

Rolled beef and cheddar tacos and rice pudding cup 

PBG, Butterfly and Daydreaming -- Thank you for these great ideas! Will definitely try these -- and the quick dinner ideas too. I have been wanting to meal prep and cook on weekends, but I end up napping LOL.  I need motivation and stronger coffee.  

The recipe tin got me thinking! Butterfly, those recipes from your mom and grandmother sound precious. I have some family recipes that I memorized/learned from years of watching my mom do it, maybe I should write those down for the kids. Unfortunately they never wrote those down because they never measured anything. They closed their eyes and were guided by the spirits of their ancestors, lol. 

 The Butterfly:

My paternal grandmother was this way.  I don't think she owned a measuring cup.   She cooked for 11 kids of all ages on a farm, so it was also in mass quantities! XD

Wow, that's a lot of cooking! I love how she was on a farm too. My guilty YT pleasure are those homestead videos where they pick everything from the garden and have massive kitchens full of homemade preserves. Pantry envy! 

That said, I would never homestead because I am a terrible gardener. I live out my farming fantasies through videos and food/city-dweller-goes-to-the-country dramas. 

 Bluekitchen:

I had leftover supermarket rotisserie chicken, so I made it into pho. Used Marion's recipe: https://youtu.be/5WCgNZRUH8k?si=QUkJOeSLWMLsAX-8

 

How was it?