If you look at social media, homemade meals can feel overwhelming. Perfectly curated plates that look like they came out of a restaurant kitchen, a table scape that looks professional (fun fact I only learned was a table-scape was a few years ago!), multi course meals that appear to take hours to prepare. I love cooking homemade meals for my family but I do not like being in the kitchen for hours on end and exhausting myself over 1 meal.

What if homemade could be simple, flexible, and fit into your life however you want and need it too? Over the past few years I have learned how to make homemade meals simple and less stressful. This post will give you some practical tips for cooking more meals from home with love but without the stress and exhaustion you’ve experienced before.

There are infinity options when you make a homemade meal. Truly you could make everything from scratch: the bread, the butter, you’ve milked a cow for the dairy, gotten fresh meat from a local farm from the protein, and also grown your own vegetables. And there is no shortage of supply of people doing this on social media and literally having fresh everything at every meal.

Due to a variety of life circumstances, I can’t make every single ingredient from scratch and I also have realized that for me, seeking that rigid perfection takes the joy out of cooking. I love making sourdough bread for example, but usually I will make around 1-2 loaves a week. And some weeks or months I make 0 loaves especially if we are sick, traveling, or exhausted. If I were to try and make sourdough bread fresh for every meal, it would make this a rigid task and take the joy out of the process for me!

I also want to give a huge shoutout to some demonized processed foods that I utilize frequently to cut down on prep time and make dinner easier. As a sort of crunchy person I try to limit ultra processed foods in my house for a variety of health reasons, but I also acknowledge that some processed foods can be superheroes in getting dinner on the table. I’m thinking of:

• Canned sauces
• Microwaveable rice that is ready in 90 seconds
• Curry paste or packets
• Onion soup packets (very versatile flavor ingredient!)
• Seasoned frozen veggies
• If you’ve read some other posts you know I’m a huge fan of Bacchan’s Japanese BBQ sauce which will make any meal taste amazing!
• Pre-made guacamole or hummus

Think of foods you love and eat frequently and what you would put on your list of food superheroes! The goal of this post is to make homemade food feel appealing and do-able even in a busy season of life. I think there can also be multiple motivations for cooking homemade. For my family, we do this to try and eat healthy and nutritious food, to cut down on the cost of eating food at a restaurant or take-out, and to create a family culture where sitting down to connect over a meal is cherished. I also try to get my kids involved in the kitchen as much as I can (and not on days where I am overstimulated and irritable). I have some tips on this below.

Here are some simple, practical, and immediately actionable tips you can start using today to make homemade meals more of a reality in your home.

1. Shop for homemade. Aside from being out of specific items, when I go grocery shopping I typically shop without a formal list (gasp!). Rather I am shopping for categories of foods or foods I know I can use in multiple ways. As an example. I almost always get ground beef and tofu as protein options because they are both extremely versatile protein sources. We could have tacos with the ground beef, or sloppy joes, or a shepherds pie, or chili. The tofu can be used in my family’s favorite grain bowl, as part of a tofu scramble, or seasoned and mixed with beans for tacos and fajitas. I also always get frozen streamable veggies that I know can be added to many meals. My family likes broccoli, the California medley (broccoli/carrots/cauliflower), mixed veggies, and shelled edamame. I almost always get a large bag of potatoes and a large bag of onions and minced garlic as well.
2. Get your kids involved . This makes meal time feel less stressful because they are involved and occupied and not nagging you to watch another show, give them a snack, or fighting with sibling. Sometimes I will separate and have 2 in the kitchen and 1 at the table doing something different. My kids love to help chop veggies. and that can be a good activity to keep them occupied while I am cooking. Things like chopping potatoes are great because the size really doesn’t matter especially if you are boiling them for mashed potatoes. We have some kid friendly knives that they use to chop. They also enjoy stirring pots, pouring ingredients, or helping to set the table.
3. Use leftovers strategically. Honestly, I’m not a huge leftover for dinner person. Many times I pack leftovers to take the work to ease my work meal prep before my 12 hour shifts. Instead of serving full leftovers for dinner I will try to work the left over into a new meal that requires little prep. For example if I have a leftover protein in the fridge (grilled chicken, air fryer tofu, ground beef) I will add a carb/grain and salad to make a new meal. Let’s say you had leftover ground beef from taco night. If they have taco seasoning on them you could make baked taco wraps using quesadillas and cheese. You could make taco bowls or you could even throw them into a soup. Chicken is even more versatile-think wraps, tops on salads, soups, etc.
4. Double recipes. This can serve as a meal for another night that week or can be frozen for another time. My family loves Shepherd’s Pie and whenever I am making it I try to make 2. You are already prepping all of the ingredients and turning on the oven, may as well cook for future you too!
5. Plan a no-cook or low-cook night. I usually do this on nights we have activities like swim lessons. I need something quick and easy with minimal cleanup. We love to do eggs, toast and sausage, plain yogurt with jelly, or even a bowl of cereal some nights. Give yourself grace and a break, You don’t need to cook an intricate meal every night and you can embrace these simple meals and use them strategically to keep yourself from burning out.

It can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that homemade meals have to be perfect. Perfect plating, perfectly paired with sides, desserts, multiple courses, perfectly healthy, perfectly homemade with hours spent preparing. I am here to you remind you that homemade meals can be simple and easy. It might be a big shift to cook homemade at first, so start small and manageable. Start with 1 night a week where you make a homemade meal and commit to a sit down family dinner. Buy store bough rolls and serve them warm in a bowl lined with a tea towel. Set out candles and jazz music for dinner. Have everyone go around and tell a story from the week. Keep the focus on your connection as a family, not the perfect curation of a meal that looks like it came from a Michelin star restaurant!

Thank you for reading, I hope you found some useful tips and encouragement that you can cook homemade without it feeling stressful or overwhelming. There is no right way to do this and I assure you that over time it will start to feel easier and fit seamlessly into the rhythm of your life. And remember, if today is a low energy or low bandwidth day, proudly serve cereal for dinner and light a candle alongside it!

Let me know how you make homemade meals simpler in your house down in the comments below!

Meg