‘What’s for dinner?’

Meal planning used to be so easy. You had a great big Sunday roast, then repurposed the leftovers every night during the week until it was time for fish on Friday. But those days are gone and we have replaced the old traditions with new ones. We now have a plant-based meal on Meat-free Monday to make up for all the meat we ate on the weekend. Then comes Taco Tuesday, invented to use up all the vegies left over from Meat-free Monday by placing them inside tacos with cheese and salsa. Wednesday arrives before we even have to think about what’s for dinner.

Credit: Simon Letch

Planning ahead is the best way to minimise waste, save money, reduce those whirlwind, midweek shopping trips to the supermarket and prevent the designated meal-planner from going bananas. That eternal question, “What’s for dinner?” actually has an answer: “Chicken yakitori.” How come? “It’s Wednesday, that’s how come.” It’s also the best way to take all the fun and spontaneity out of your week. You have to spend hours sitting down with recipe books and shopping lists, and get locked into having to eat something you don’t necessarily feel like on the day.

For me, those three magical words, “What’s for dinner?” are the highlight of my day. Suddenly, I get to think about exactly what I want to eat and when I want to eat it, which is my definition of a good time. Thai duck curry? Pan-roasted mushrooms with polenta? Mussels and chorizo?

I get to think about exactly what I want to eat and when I want to eat it: my definition of a good time.

Planning ahead feels stifling, unspontaneous, grown-up. It doesn’t allow for coming across a great Chinese barbecue-meats shop and immediately turning dinner into soy chicken and rice. Or transforming those leftovers the following night into a dirty fried rice with a fried egg.

Or accidentally having a very big lunch and just wanting a bowl of soup and toast for dinner. Or for your food-writer partner testing three different recipes for porchetta which you’re forced to eat for dinner or they’d go to waste.

Unless you have three kids, a taxing office job and are caring for an elder, planning feels like yet another of those things we’re told will fix what is wrong with our lives, when in fact, there is nothing wrong. Now, he says, going to the fridge and smiling happily: what’s for dinner?

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