Weeknight Dinner Survival Tips and Tricks

We get it: The dinner struggle is real. With busy work schedules, kids' practices and homework to get done, everyone's time is crunched. Coming up with an idea for dinner can seem overwhelming. But with these handy tips and tricks, we hope we can take a little bit of the struggle out of meal-planning for your family.

It may seem like an idea from the distant past — heck, maybe your mom even had one! — but using a calendar to plan your week's meals is a real time saver. Of course, you have to put the work in on the front end. If you're a weekly shopper, use a small whiteboard (or just a piece of paper hung on the fridge) to write out each weeknight's meals. Then, fill out your shopping list accordingly. You'll save money and time in the long run. Even if you don't do a big weekly shop, having the calendar will help you know what you need to pick up for that night's dinner and alleviate the "what am I going to make tonight?" question so many of us face.

My favorite way to shake up my family's routine dinners is to make something foreign. If you've got fussy eaters, pick a dish with a flavor profile close to something your family loves. My family's favorite: chicken curry. You can adjust the spice to your family's taste or swap in different meats or veggies. The best thing is if you aren't confident enough a cook to make an exotic meal from scratch, the grocery store's international aisle is full of meal starter kits that just require a protein or vegetable. Done and done! Try something Indian, Chinese or Thai to start out.

Health gurus and big households alike swear by the process of batch cooking. What you'll need to do is plan out your week's meals (hello, weeknight food calendar!) and set aside a couple of hours on the weekend to prep the components of your meals. Getting all your prep work done ahead of time means that you can just throw together a night's meal in a flash. Veggies, meats, stews and even salads can be portioned, packaged up and labeled so that all that needs to be done when it's mealtime is putting the pieces together.