How to Spend Less Time Thinking About Dinner

Have you ever noticed how often thoughts of dinner turn into a daily question (rather an annoying question, as it happens) instead of thoughts of an actual meal?

After all, you finish work or whatever it is you’ve been doing, get home, and then you’re confronted with the decision about what to make for dinner - every single day. And in the end, you’ll probably spend more time thinking about dinner than actually making it or eating it. 

Interestingly, cooking isn’t usually the problem, and a lot of the time it’s the decision-making that takes up all the energy because by the end of the day, most people have already made countless choices about work, family, errands, and everything else life throws at them. With that in mind, here’s a few ideas about how to spend less time thinking about dinner. 

Stop Expecting Yourself To Be Inspired Every Night 

One of the easiest ways to make dinner more stressful is by treating every meal as though it needs to be a brand new idea. Of course, it’s great to try something different from time to time, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with having a handful of meals you regularly come back to. In fact, that’s exactly what most people do. 

Having a small collection of reliable recipes means you’re not starting from scratch every time, and it takes away a lot of the mental effort that tends to come with deciding what to cook. 

Think About Tomorrow Before Today Ends 

This is a really easy thing to do, but it might not be all that obvious because you’re so focused on today, but the truth is that a lot of people only start thinking about dinner when they’re already hungry, and that’s usually the point where decision-making gets a lot more difficult. 

However, if you spend just a little time deciding on what to have for tomorrow’s dinner before you go to bed today, that’s going to make things a whole lot easier because you’ve taken away the problem in advance, and you can prepare for it too. 

Make Use Of Preparation 

A little preparation can go a long way and save a lot of time, and once you get into the habit, it basically becomes second nature. And we’re not saying you’ve got to spend the entire weekend batch cooking (although some people love doing that), but if you could chop your veg in advance, prepare ingredients ahead of time, or make larger portions so there’s enough left over for the next day, that’s really great. 

Or you might want to take things a step further and try whole food plant based meal prep, which can be extremely useful because once again, you don’t have to make any decisions, and the hard work’s done for you. 

Keep Things Simple 

It’s easy to convince yourself that every dinner needs multiple ingredients, several side dishes, and a complicated recipe, but the reality is that good meals can be very simple, and those are the ones to focus on if you want to stop thinking about dinner too much. 

Some of the easiest dinners are usually the ones people keep going back to again and again because they’re reliable, satisfying, and don’t take up half your evening just to put on a plate.