What to make for dinner when you're tired
Last checked
When you're tired, don't choose from every dinner there is. Choose from what's already in the kitchen, once, and stop. Keep three fallback dinners for the worst nights, and let the app pick when you can't.
Why it's hard at 5 pm
By the end of the day you've made a lot of choices. Dinner is one more, and it comes with a bad question: what do we even have? So you open the fridge, look, and close it. Then you order out, or make the same thing again.
You don't need a better recipe. You need fewer choices. Three habits do it.
1. Decide once, from what's there
Look at what's in the kitchen first, then pick. A dinner that uses something you already have beats a better dinner that needs a store run.
Start with food that needs using. The spinach that's about to go, the chicken in the fridge. If you know what's on hand, the choice is smaller than it feels.
Pantry Assistant does this step for you. Open Tonight and one dinner is already waiting, picked from what's in your pantry. The card tells you why it was picked, like "Uses the spinach that expires tomorrow". It also shows how long it takes and whether you have everything or are short one thing, with a Get it link to add that thing to your list.
2. Keep three fallback dinners
Some nights even one pick is too much. Have three dinners you can make with almost no thinking, and keep their food on hand. For example:
- A pasta you can make from the shelf.
- Beans on toast, or a quick stir-fry with whatever vegetables are left.
- Something from the freezer, like soup or a bag of dumplings.
Add them to your recipes, and Tonight can pick them. It picks from your own recipes first, then the Starter Recipes.
3. Let the app pick, and say why
Tap Cook this tonight or swipe right to plan the dinner it picked. Not feeling it? Tap the arrow at the top of the card, or swipe left, for the next idea. Tap the time chip to say how long you have, from Under 15 min to Any time. Not this tells the app why, so later ideas get better.
The reason on the card matters. It turns "the app says so" into "oh, right, the spinach". You don't have to think about it, and you can see why it chose it.
If you cook for someone with allergies, the app plans around every Diner's allergies, and each card says whose it checked: "Checked for Alex · check labels". It checks the ingredients it knows about and can miss things, so always check labels.
Plan the hard nights ahead
You never have to plan the week. When you'd like to, the Plan tab holds it, and Fill walks you through every open night with one idea at a time. See the week plan and Fill my week. Mark a night as Leftovers or Takeout, and that night asks nothing of you.
The thaw habit
The saddest 5 pm discovery is a rock-hard block of chicken. Frozen food has to move to the fridge a day or more before you cook it.
For a dinner you planned, the app's Check-in asks "Thaw for dinner": "Move the chicken to the fridge for tomorrow." It comes a day ahead, or more for something big like a whole turkey. Tap Moved it once you've done it, and the app records the food as in the fridge. That's the Thaw Reminder, and it only asks about planned dinners whose food is still in the freezer, while Thaw reminders is on. See The daily Check-in.
The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service says to plan ahead and thaw in the refrigerator (its turkey thawing page, its page on thawing other food). For a whole turkey that is about 24 hours for each 4 to 5 pounds. Even a pound of ground meat or boneless chicken breasts needs a full day. These are estimates, so plan ahead and check the food. When in doubt, throw it out. Check the label and the date.
Download the thaw-ahead card
- USDA refrigerator thaw times for a whole turkey, by weight.
- A full day for a pound of ground meat or boneless chicken breasts.
- How long thawed food can wait in the refrigerator before you cook it.
Download the thaw-ahead card (PDF)
One tap tonight
Open the app, read the reason, tap Cook this tonight. That's the whole routine, and it works better the more current your pantry is. A daily Check-in keeps it that way.