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When You Don’t Want to Cook but Have to Put Dinner on the Table

I think we have all those nights. You really don’t feel like cooking but you have to (or want to, to keep to your budget).  It’s so tempting to get takeout somewhere or order a pizza.  When I gave into temptation. it often seemed like it was just as much trouble to go get something as it was to cook. What I really needed was some fallback menu ideas that I could fix even when I was braindead.

These days my fallback dinner is often tostadas.  I heat some refried beans, grate a bit of cheese, chop a bit of lettuce, chop some tomatoes and green onions or take out some salsa, and fry up some corn tortillas.  It tastes great and is filling and satisfying. If I have some perfectly ripe avocados to put on top, it is a feast!

Egg dinners are also often on my menu on those nights. Scrambled eggs with toast, or an omelet or frittata.  Other breakfast for dinner foods like pancakes and waffles are good too.

I’ve published more of my ideas for really quick and easy dinner ideas here.

What’s your favorite dinner to fix when you are too tired to think? I’d love to add onto my list with your ideas.

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2 responses to “When You Don’t Want to Cook but Have to Put Dinner on the Table”

  1. Ellen Avatar
    Ellen

    Sara, Thanks for sharing! The egg drop soup sounds easy and comforting. Do you add the rice to the scrambled egg? I’ve not heard of that. Like a frittata with rice? Tuna melts are a definite for nights like these.

  2. Sarah Avatar
    Sarah

    Things we do on “scroungy” nights as we call them:
    egg drop soup: 3c boiling chicken broth or miso, 2 lightly whisked eggs, 1 green onion, pinch of white pepper
    pancakes, crepes, biscuits, other easy breakfasty foods
    pancake soup: beef broth, leftover unsweetened pancakes sliced into thin “noodles”
    onion soup: 3c beef broth, 1 thinly sliced onion, cook until onion is soft, serve with french bread
    leftover rice with scrambled eggs, salt and pepper, ketchup optional
    bean and cheese burritos, maybe add scrambled egg, leftover rice or potatoes
    nachos with beans and salsa
    cook rice and veggies in broth, add leftover cooked meat if you have it, for a quick pilafy dish
    tuna melts: open faced tuna sandwiches, cover with cheddar, put in toaster oven or under broiler until warm and gooey
    hamburger/hot dog bun or english muffin or whatever bread “pizzas”

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