Mum shares 'genius' meal plan hack to take the stress out of weeknight dinners

Weekly planning done in less than 30 seconds? Yes please!

Let’s be real, deciding what to make for dinner each night is not enjoyable for anyone.

It can be overwhelming to sift through dog-eared Coles magazines or scroll through a thousand screenshots on your phone, and as a result, you often end up cooking the same thing as always.

But one mum has devised a simple yet genius solution that lets her avoid the endless searching and decision paralysis.

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Image: Facebook

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The nifty organisation system

Taking to the Slow Cooking Australia Facebook group, she shared her nifty trick, which involved categorising all possible dinner ideas into one easy to navigate book.

When planning for the week, she selects five meals from different categories to ensure her family eats various foods.

The mum posted photos of every page of her handwritten meal idea book, along with the caption: “My categorised dinner ideas that help me choose what to make each week.” 

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Weeknight dinners, sorted

Here are some of her ideas to kickstart your own book, should you choose to follow this mum's lead.

Seafood:

• Lemon butter prawns or fish
• Fish and rice
• Fried rice
• Marry me prawns/fish
• Honey garlic fish/shrimp
• Jambalaya
• Cajun seafood

Pasta:

• Alfredo
• Feta pasta
• Ramen stir fry
• Marry me pasta
• Tuscan pasta
• Cajun pasta

Turkey:

• Turkey sausage + potatoes
• Turkey sausage + rice
• Turkey sausage + cabbage

Other:

• Pizza
• Garlic bread pizza
• DIY pizza pockets

Beef:

• Burgers
• Tacos
• Spaghetti
• Steak kebabs
• Fajitas
• Lasagna
• Pot roast
• Beef and broccoli

Chicken:

• Baked BBQ chicken
• Lemon butter chicken
• Quesadillas
• Chicken fried rice
• Bang bang chicken
• Gyros
• Chicken pot pie

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"Nice work!"

Fellow cooking enthusiasts praised the mum for sharing her list in the comments.

“Yummm, love these ideas, thanks for sharing,” said one.

“OMG, I love Marry Me chicken too!” wrote a second, while another user added: “Agree, Marry Me chicken is the one TikTok recipe that’s actually good.”

“Nice work! Going to try and pull together all my family’s favourite recipes,” concluded another group member.

Everyone happy at meal times. Image: Supplied

Still stuck for ideas? Try this ChatGPT hack

If you're still looking for some inspiration to break out of a dinner rut, consider taking a leaf out of this Melbourne dad's book, who decided to test if ChatGPT could help him plan his weekly meals.

"We started receiving unfamiliar produce in our weekly fruit and veg box, like kale and bok choy. I had been using GPT-4.0 for other tasks, so I thought I'd try using it to suggest meals based on our ingredients for the week," he told Kidspot.

While it might initially seem like a daunting task, Jonathan, who utilises AI for various purposes in his work as a high school science teacher and also when creating new craft activities for his toddler, insists that it's straightforward to use.

"You simply input the ingredients and quantities you want to use, like those from the veg box. I also specify that I want to incorporate pantry staples and protein, and that's all the information it needs to generate pretty good suggestions for a week's worth of dinners," he explained. "You can be as detailed or as general as you like, but through trial and error, I've found that the more information you provide, the better the result."

Find out exactly how to do it here. 

Originally published as Mum shares 'genius' meal plan hack to take the stress out of weeknight dinners