Getting Dinner on the Table Fast

Don’t get stressed out about dinner. Get dinner on the table fast with these quick and easy tips. 

I like cooking but with everything I need to do each day I often don’t have a lot of time to cook. I know this is a problem many of us have. We want to make healthy meals but we get to the end of the day and there just doesn’t seem to be time or energy.

When I talk to people about what they struggle with the most when it comes to homemaking it seems this is top of the list. It’s a problem that is adding to rising obesity rates as well. Research has found that people who eat at home eat around 137 fewer calories every day. Just with that one change.

Eating at home also has been shown to save money, provide better portion control, bring the family together, bring more healthy ingredients into your diet, and even save time. Running out for food really is often more time consuming than cooking an easy meal at home, especially with some tips I’m going to share.

There are so many things you can do to save time and stress when it comes to cooking at home. Not every method will work for every family but if you try a few you are sure to find one that works for you.

How to Get Dinner on the Table Fast

Meal Planning

Meal planning is something I learned early on in my marriage that makes a huge difference. The times that I am the most tempted to turn to take out is when I haven’t planned a meal for that night. When you have a meal plan you can make sure you have all the ingredients on hand and that anything that needs to be prepped ahead of time is ready.

Resource: The Guide to Meal Planning

Meal Planning Services

If you hate meal planning there are great options out there that do the work for you. A really great one is Eat at Home. You get four different meal plans each week- wholesome traditional, slow cooker (which often has Instant Pot instructions), traditional, and no flour/no sugar. The plans also come with color-coded shopping lists making everything so easy.

Freezer Cooking

Freezer cooking is a really great way to speed up dinner prep. There are different ways you can do it. You can make a bunch of meals one day and freeze them, or my favorite method is to double things you cook for dinner and stick one in the freezer for later. It cuts down on mess and time. There are also services like MyFreezEasy that create freeze cooking plans for you, making it even easier.

Resources: Intro to Freezer Cooking and 50 Healthy Freezer Cooking Meals

Instant Pot 

Instant Pots are electric pressure cookers. They can help reduce cook time for many foods and also make cooking easier. Being able to cook frozen meat quickly and safely has been a huge time saver for me. I often forget to thaw meat, even with a meal plan, but I can throw it in my Instant Pot and it cooks in no time.

Resource: Why You Need an Instant Pot

Slow Cooker

I personally don’t have a slow cooker. There is a slow cooker setting on the Instant Pot that I use sometimes. For many, a slow cooker can be a huge time saver. You can put your food in it in the morning and by dinner time it’s ready to go.

Meal Kit Delivery Service

A newer option to make dinner easier and faster is meal kit delivery services. It cuts down on shopping and planning. You get the meals delivered right to your door and you just have to prepare them. There are several options out, two of the most popular are Hello Fresh and Blue Apron.

Eating healthy food at home has so many benefits that it’s worth the time to find the best method for your family. It may take some trial and error but in the end, it will make a big difference.

If you want help meal planning, sign up below to get the free Guide to Meal Planning. You will get other great freebies like the free Once a Month Grocery Shopping Guide as well.