Do you dread thinking of what to cook at the end of the day? Is dinner a full-contact sport at your house? Are there pans flying and arms flailing as you dig through the pantry or fridge, foraging for anything even remotely edible?
How often do you end up settling for something in a box, from a can, or dredged up from the remote corners of your freezer?
If you had to count, how many frozen, boxed, or canned meals have you eaten in the past two months? You don’t have to share it here, but that’s a good number to have in your head whenever deciding what to eat for dinner.
It sucks to be hungry and tired at the same time, and what sucks even more is that for many, this is the American weekday dinnertime experience. No fun. The exact opposite of fun, really.
I’m done with last-minute crap dinners. They don’t serve me physically or emotionally, and I’ll bet they’re not truly working for you, either. Am I right?
One Dish, A Week’s Worth of Dinners
Spanish rice is a super simple recipe that has a whole world of possibilities for home cooked meals. When I know I’m going to have an insane week and don’t want to deal with thinking about what to cook for dinner every night, I make a big pot of it on Sunday night – and it only takes 20 minutes, dont’cha know – which then feeds me for the rest of the week, in literally FIVE MINUTES a night.
I heat it up and throw it into corn tortillas with some chopped avocado, or I toss it with black beans (one of the few canned foods I heartily endorse) and eat straight-up with a spoon. If I’m feeling really fancy, I sometimes I’ll use it as a layer for my hearty, healthy brown rice chicken enchilada casserole. With this stuff in my fridge, it’s so easy to come up with something for dinner because I’ve already got half of the work done.
My Spanish rice can be made with white rice or brown rice, depending on what you prefer, and you can swap out the beef for ground turkey or whatever protein you prefer. And… it freezes perfectly so you can save it for weeks. Huzzah! Eating healthy on a budget had never been so delicious. And, you don’t even need to know how to cook – it’s so simple, I learned how to cook this dish when I was 12 years old. (True story.)
To-do this week:
Really, truly think about how many convenience meals you’ve had in the past two months. While there’s nothing wrong with the occasional can of soup, do you rely heavily on prepared foods when dinner rolls around? Think about this over the next few days, especially when it comes time to pick something for dinner!
This content was originally posted on FearlessFresh.com.
