It’s estimated that in your lifetime, you will eat about 28,000 dinners. And that’s a lot of figuring out what to eat – which becomes more challenging depending on life stage, familial circumstances, or health goals.
For many people, dinner becomes one of the most stressful meals to plan. It could be because it falls at the end of the day when we’re exhausted from running around and doing life; or because we need to transition from our workday to home life, and it typically starts with getting dinner ready and the table. Let’s not forget about the pressure to have a picture-perfect dinner that hits all major food groups, so we don’t have immense guilt about serving something that’s not good enough.
Today, there are so many resources to find recipes – which can add to the overwhelm instead of helping to make it better. If you’re in the market for some good dinner ideas, here’s how to make it easy on yourself – so that you can find a way to enjoy the thousands of dinners coming your way.
Before You Search: Define the Meal
I get the temptation – head on over to Pinterest or your favorite recipe site and start looking at all the beautiful images of meals. In no time, you’ll have a board that has a ton of meals on your wish list. This can feel even more overwhelming – similar to the effect of having so many shows available to stream, that it feels like you don’t have anything to watch.
Before you start looking for dinner ideas, think about what would be ideal.
- Do you have any dietary restrictions or health goals you’d like to meet? (e.g., high protein, low sugar, etc.)
- Are you seeking a certain type of cuisine, number of ingredients, or dietary type (e.g., mediterranean, keto, etc.)?
- Are you cooking for yourself or multiple people? (Planning dinner for my toddler and myself means that I am cooking for myself, and adapting what I can so he’d eat it)
- How much time do you want to spend in the kitchen? (Think about this for prep, too! More ingredients, more kitchen time.)
- What do you actually want to eat? (Food photos are beautiful! But do I really want to eat a fully baked Cornish hen on a Tuesday? Probably not, so good to use to prioritize!)
With this in mind, it’ll make it easier to find dinner ideas that are appealing to what you want to eat, your budget, and your health goals.
Best Places to Search for Dinner Ideas
For me, I’m always looking for dinner ideas that are simple and don’t take a lot of ingredients. If I can use leftover ingredients from yesterday’s dinner, even better. I like to look for some of my dinner ideas in a few different places.
The best description I’ve heard for Pinterest – it’s a visual search engine. And I love this, especially when it comes to cooking. You can search for just a few ingredients or look for recipes based on what goals you’re trying to hit (like Whole 30). Caution: This can be a bit of a rabbit hole, and you might find yourself spending way more time looking for recipes that you originally anticipated.
I am a late adopter, but lately, I’ve been finding a lot of my recipes on Instagram! Usually I will find a reel from a health/fitness person who shares their top recipes. The best part? A lot of the times they are sharing crockpot recipes, which are my favorite because those are extra easy!
These are the last three people that I have saved meals from on Instagram:
Google Search
Some of my favorite recipes have come from a simple Google search! I may be old school, but I like using Google because it can bring me to some blogs and other sites that I may not otherwise find.
There are a lot of recipes that come up when you search on Pinterest, so this can open it up to other sources for recipes. And sometimes, once you find one recipe, you might find a whole library that you love (looking at you Mel’s Kitchen Cafe).
Cookbooks
OK, this sounds really 1992, but cookbooks! There are SO many good cookbooks out there. I know it’s kind of risky to buy a cookbook without using it, but did you know that you can borrow them from your local library to try it out first? Win win!
Some of my favorite cookbooks include:
- Run Fast. Eat Slow. (The recovery quinoa salad and superhero muffins… so good!)
- Run Fast. Cook Fast. Eat Slow. (This is a sequel to the first, so many good recipes in here, too!)
- Runner’s World Cookbook (Even if you’re not a runner, so many good healthy recipes!)
- Cook Once, Eat All Week (If you have time to meal prep, this is the way – so many good, creative meal ideas, too!)
What About AI for Dinner Ideas?
I wrote about my experience using AI for meal planning, but I will look at AI for dinner ideas from time to time. I find that it can be pretty hit or miss, mostly because it doesn’t have the intel on what recipes I love and how things have turned out.
There have been a few recipes that have turned out really good, but I’m a little “meh” about it because it’s not reliable or consistent. I am usually short on time when I’m looking for meals, so I like to go to a few trusted places to find recipes, first!
Organizing Your Dinner Ideas
Getting your dinner ideas in one place can be the trickiest part. Traditionally, my recipes have lived in my email, Instagram account, Pinterest, cookbooks… everywhere. Then what happens; I’m ready to start meal planning, forget about my favorite recipes or even those on my “to try list,” and I start all over again.
Having a digital recipe box makes this so much easier. Bringing it all together in one platform means that you can see everything and plan from that.
That’s where Weekly Table can come in! Import your recipes in a few clicks, and using our meal planner technology, build a menu that works for your needs. Generate a grocery list in just a few clicks and you’re ready to turn on cook mode in your kitchen!
Ready to get started? Start your Weekly Table account for free and end the mental load of figuring out what’s for dinner.
