November 2, 2026 | by Dorothy Rosby
There’s about 45 seconds between the time the family walks through the door at the end of the day and the time the kids start asking, “What’s for dinner?” I’m an empty nester, but there’s still someone asking “What’s for dinner?” Me. And there are days I don’t even wait 45 seconds.
I’ve found I’m more likely to have an answer if I’ve bothered to plan. You know that old saying: A failure to plan is a plan to eat fried egg sandwiches for supper.
In an effort to plan better—and have enough eggs for breakfast—I went to the source of all wisdom, the internet, for some meal planning tips. I still had a fried egg sandwich for dinner last night. But, maybe these will work better for you:
Spend time each week looking through recipes. Good idea, but be careful. I once had three eggplants rotting in the refrigerator because I was so taken by a photo of Eggplant Parmesan I’d seen in a women’s magazine. I guess I was less taken with the idea of making it.
Create a place for recipes. I’m proud to say I have a three-ring binder full of recipes I’ve tried and liked. I’m not as proud to say I also have an entire drawer stuffed with recipes clipped from magazines. I call it my Dream Drawer because I dream that someday someone will come into my home and cook them for me.
Include your family in your planning. One website suggested family cooks ask the family what they’d like to eat in the coming week. If you’re out of ideas, why not? And then you could ask them to make it.
Plan for leftovers. I love leftovers. I’m not sure my family feels the same. But I’ve found that if I cook enough on Sunday, I can get out of cooking for the next four days. And freezing meals saves time later. Unfortunately, if we didn’t like it the first time, chances are good we won’t like it any better after it’s been sitting in the freezer for a month and a half.
Always make a shopping list. And I’d add, always remember to bring it to the store. That saves you from having to rely on memory which, in my case, is notoriously unreliable. Witness the fact that I keep forgetting to bring my list to the store.
Many times, I’ve come home, tired and hungry, planning to make something quick, like spaghetti with meat sauce, then realized I’d forgotten to pick up one of the ingredients—like the spaghetti.
Finally, get organized. You know what happens to perishables in a disorganized refrigerator. They perish.
Even nonperishables can’t last forever. I keep buying things I already have because I don’t know I have them. That explains why I have two 14-ounce containers of mustard. The label says 14 ounces equals 79 servings. That’s 158 servings of mustard in a home where there are no hot dogs—that I know of.
(Send Dorothy Rosby your favorite recipes, especially those that use mustard.)
Dorothy Rosby is a blogger and humor columnist whose column appears regularly in publications throughout the West and Midwest. She’s the author of four books of humorous essays all available locally at Mitzi’s Books in Rapid City and on Amazon.