Hit 50 straight dinners from scratch and it caught me off guard

I'm not the type to count stuff like this usually, but I realized last Tuesday I'd made dinner from scratch for 50 days in a row. No takeout, no frozen pizzas, no boxed mac and cheese. Just me, a cutting board, and whatever was in the fridge. It started simple, just trying to use up a bag of onions before they went bad. Then I got into a rhythm where I'd plan meals around one protein for the week. Last night was roasted chicken thighs with a pan sauce and some sad little green beans that were about to turn. The catch is, I'm running out of ideas for variety. I keep cycling between stir fry, sheet pan veggies, and pasta. How do you guys break out of a dinner rut without going back to ordering out?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_eric2d ago

Stick with the chicken thighs but change the seasoning each time. Try a different spice blend every few days like curry powder or jerk seasoning to keep it fresh. That little swap gives you a whole new meal without needing new ingredients.

paul2861d ago

Not true though because with chicken thighs you're still stuck with that same fatty mouthfeel every time no matter what you dump on it. Switching to a leaner cut like breast or even just drumsticks changes the whole base experience more than any spice blend ever will. @the_eric's advice just makes mediocre chicken taste like different kinds of mediocre.

mary_foster9214h ago

Guess I'll just keep being basic with my fatty thighs then. 😅