This Week in My Kitchen

As someone who very rarely eats out, I get lots of comments and questions about always cooking at home.

That’s just not possible.

How do you always come up with new ideas?

Don’t you get tired of cooking?

What are you actually cooking all week?

Look, I could see how it seems like a lot if you’re someone who doesn’t really care about food or hates cooking. But I love food and cooking. So that’s one part of it.

But the main reason I’m able to cook 90% of our food at home is because I have tried and true strategies in place.

I rely on a handful of simple strategies that make weeknight dinners easier without sacrificing fresh ingredients or flavor.

So instead of just sharing recipes, I thought I’d take you through a real week in my kitchen — including what we ate, why I chose it, and the little systems that make it all work.

This week includes:

• my meal planning framework

• breakfast & lunch meal prep

• five weeknight dinners (and why I chose them)

• how I use up backstock

• how I make leftovers work for us

I think this is the main step people are missing. They just pick 5 new random dinners for the week and then wonder why at the end of the week they’re burnt out on cooking with a fridge full of random leftover ingredients that will probably go to waste.

The systems I have in place, along with a well stocked fridge, freezer, and pantry, are what help me cook almost all of our meals at home.

Let me take you through my planning process step by step. I do this every week, the day before I go to the store, and it takes me about 20 minutes start to finish.