Back to Routine: Easy, Stress-Free Weeknight Meals Your Family Will Love

The hardest part of making dinner is figuring out what to cook in the first place. Oh—and finding time to do the cooking.

Between the chaos of work, school, keeping the house clean-ish, and needing at least six hours of sleep, it's nothing short of a miracle that most of us manage to even eat dinner.

Our food writers and editors want to help. We're here to make life less complicated with kitchen shortcuts, freezer finds, and realistic meal plans. You can have good food for dinner on the table, even on weeknights—and yes, even Mondays. If you have 15 minutes and a handful of ingredients on hand, we'll make it work.

What's for dinner tonight? Scroll down for a quick, easy answer.

— Associate Editorial Director Laurel Randolph and Senior Editor Lara Eucalano

3 Recipes That Guarantee a Weeknight Win

I have a shortlist of recipes that appear on my meal plans week after week. It's nice to be able to rely on something familiar, something I can shop for and prep with my eyes closed. (Spicy Tofu Stir-Fry, I'm looking at you.)

To find good ol' reliable recipes for your repertoire, we asked a few beloved creators to share their trusted standbys. Here's a trio of recipes that deserve a spot in everyone's regular rotation:

• Baked Chicken and Rice: Yumna Juwad of Feel Good Foodie took inspiration from her mom's casseroles for this simple 9x13 recipe.
• Broccoli Pesto Pasta: Jeanine Donofrio of Love & Lemons shares the best way to sneak green vegetables onto kids' plates.
• Chicken and Stuffing Casserole: Blair Lonergan, aka The Seasoned Mom, has been making this dish since her bridal shower 20 years ago, so you know it's a keeper.
  

How To Create a Flexible Meal Plan

I don't have the desire to track my family's meals for a year, then look through my notes and take away thoughtful insights. I assume most of you don't have that desire either, but fret not—food writer Meghan Splawn did it for us and shared her findings.

TL;DR: You're likely over-buying for aspirational dinners and under-buying for shortcut meals. For a more manageable week, stock up on pantry and freezer staples. Save the fun cooking projects for holidays or Saturdays that (gasp!) aren't fully booked.

Read the Full Story: I Tracked My Family’s Dinners for a Year—Here’s How It Made Weeknights Easier

Weeknight Dinner Plans Made Easy

If you prefer a straightforward weekly meal plan, Micah Siva is here for you. She's a chef and registered dietitian, and she builds family-focused menus, delivered to your inbox every Monday morning.

Check out a month's worth of meal plans below, then sign up for our daily newsletter for more.

• 5 Delicious Dinners I'm Making This (Busy) Week
• 5 Quick Dinners for Busy Weeknights
• 5 Dinners for When You’re Short on Time
• 5 Easy Dinners for the Dog Days of Summer
  

I'm partial to Simply Recipes, but I have to admit, our friends at Food & Wine, EatingWell, and Southern Living have good ideas, too. Keep all the recipes you love together using MyRecipes.

Save recipes from 10 different food sites, then sort them into collections. Scroll through MyRecipes whenever you plan meals for the days ahead or need inspiration for dinner.

The Cookbooks We Keep Next to the Stove

I have two oft-used cookbooks in my kitchen: an ancient, tattered edition of the Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book and a hardback Cook's Illustrated Cookbook. I couldn't make banana bread, from-scratch frosting, or roast chicken without them.

Some people are lucky enough to find more than recipes among the pages. If you need a reason to peruse the cookbook corner at your local bookseller, well, I have three:

• Ina Garten's Make It Ahead helped new mom Candace Nagy take the stress out of cooking
• Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution taught Mackenzie Schieck how to cook without recipes
• Jessica Battilana's Repertoire unstuck Lou Perseghin from a weeknight dinner rut
  

How To Make the Freezer Your Best Friend

I can't tell you how often I reach into my freezer to pluck out something for dinner. I live for days when I can pull leftovers of an already-made meal out from the depths. Usually, though, I grab something I can build a meal around, like frozen dumplings or a bag of frozen gnocchi.

Not everything you cook has to be fresh or from scratch every night. Stock a handful of essentials in your freezer and watch your meal prep time drop from an hour to 15 minutes. Wherever you shop, we have a list of staples for you:

• 7 Aldi Freezer Finds That Make 15-Minute Meals Possible
• 7 Costco Freezer Finds I Can't Live Without
• 7 Kroger Freezer Staples for Fast Weeknight Dinners
• 6 Trader Joe's Freezer Finds I Never Leave the Store Without

Don't sweat it—dinner will be ready in no time.

Enter the Simply Recipes Family Dinner Recipe Contest

Simply Recipes offers over 3,000 family-friendly recipes that millions of home cooks turn to for dinner on the busiest weeknights. A satisfying pasta, crispy chicken, and an ooey-gooey casserole, each under 30 minutes? We got you! We’ve been creating and testing (and re-testing) our recipes for over 20 years. Now it’s YOUR turn!

We want to shine the spotlight on your family’s go-to weeknight dinner recipe. Does your recipe have what it takes to earn a spot on Simply Recipes? Enter our Family Dinner Recipe Contest for a chance at $500 and glory!