The Dreaded Question: “What’s for dinner?”

“What’s for dinner?”

It’s not only the question we get asked by our families day after day, but also the question we ask ourselves all the time! And it can even keep us awake at night! I know it keeps me up. I will also find myself not paying attention to life events because I’m thinking about what the next night’s dinner will be. I’m so envious of those people who can sit down and come up with an entire month of dinner menus. I’d love to just come up with a week’s worth. I sometimes have a day or two planned, but that’s not the norm. Since my hubby has been “semi-retired”, he does a lot of the cooking. He loves it! What a huge help! Thank you, Honey! Don’t get me wrong, I love to cook. It’s my fear of not pleasing my family that holds me back. I want to make something new each time. That’s silly, I know! I am a pretty good cook and have shared a lot of recipes on this site already. I just need better planning skills. How about you?

My mother was pretty good at planning, but honestly, that was mainly because almost every day was already predetermined. Sundays were for fried chicken, sometimes made in the since banned “The Chicken Bucket” pressure cooker. Sad, that was the best fried chicken I’ve ever had. Come to think of it, my mother was utterly terrified of the thing. It never caused any problems at our house, but I guess it caused some house fires elsewhere. When she wasn’t using The Chicken Bucket, she made Shake n’ Bake chicken. My paternal grandmother always came over on Sunday. I loved Sundays, because Gram and I would watch Wrestling together. It was called WWF then. We would also watch Disney and The Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom animal show. Gram would yell at the TV and there was no way you could convince her that the wrestling was fake. It is, isn’t it?  Monday was leftovers, or a casserole made from leftovers. I still try my best to keep that tradition alive. Every other Tuesday was a dinner out!!! My father was an electrician at the local VA Hospital. He got paid every other Tuesday. So, we would go out to eat and then grocery shop. The other Tuesday was for a new recipe. She was an amazing cook, and no one could beat her desserts! Wednesday was spaghetti and meatballs. Homemade, of course! Thursday was either pork chops, lamb chops or country ribs. Friday was usually soup or stew. Her stew was the best! Saturday was a tossup. It could be leftovers. It could be a new recipe. It could be a meal out, because we went for a ride or to the lake. Wow! I miss those days!

And then came the holidays. Ham for New Year’s Day and Easter. Turkey and all the fixings for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Christmas dinner was the same as Thanksgiving except for the desserts. Instead of Pumpkin Pie and Minced Meat Pie, Christmas had English Christmas Pudding with amazing Hard Sauce. I grew up with mostly British food. Except for the Polish, Jewish and German food influence from my father’s side. Oh, hard sauce, in case you don’t know, is incredible! Imagine the thickest, most wonderful buttercream icing you have ever had, but one million times better.  Melted over the world’s best homemade English Christmas Pudding. Sweet, buttery, decadent, and oh so warm and melty!

Ok, enough daydreaming about my childhood food memories! It’s time to get down to the business of making dinner menus and prep easier, more fun and doable! I’m on a mission to get a routine down. A dinner menu planner created!

I’ll be sharing my own dinner discoveries in future posts, so stay tuned! If you have tips, tricks, or clever ideas for meal prep and planning, I’d love to hear them. Drop me a note through the contact page above or leave a comment below. I’ll be buzzing through your suggestions and sharing them with the hive. Let’s make dinner joyful, simple, and maybe even a little fun again!

Until next time – may your fridge be full of dinner ideas! And you family always love what you put in front of them! If not, let them go make their own dinner! 😆

If you enjoy what you see, please React, Share, Follow, and Subscribe. I’m also working hard to qualify for the Amazon Associates program, so if something catches your eye, I’d be grateful if you’d consider purchasing through my links. I only recommend products I genuinely use and trust.

Thank you again for being part of the hive!