What's for Dinner?

Three seemingly simple words.  One very basic question.  Yet almost impossible to answer.  "What's for Dinner?"  There are about 2,000 plant species which are cultivated for food.  There are hundreds of proteins to choose from.   And starches..more than enough options.  Dinner can be fried, sautéed, boiled, broiled, poached, steamed, grilled, heck even eaten raw.  So why is it so hard for a family of four to figure out how to nourish itself when the sun begins to set?  The obvious answer to this question is that there's too much to choose from.  But if you ask me, it's a lot more complicated than that.

They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Which must make dinner those most confrontational.  When you eliminate all of the dislikes, the impossible to get items, the expensive splurge ingredients and the unidentifiable, iced-over packaged goods buried deep in your freezer, you've probably only really got 10-20 possible options.  You would think it would be easy to agree on just one each night.   But it's not, and most nights, coming to a consensus requires a minor war to break out first.  And I think I've boiled it (pun intended) down to a few causes:

• We're just too tired to cook.  There's really no escaping this feeling, especially as the week drags on.  But if we were smart and planned ahead, and maybe watched a few Rachael Ray shows over the weekend, we'd be prepared with an agreed upon menu for the week.  We'd have meals prepared over the weekend for quick reheating or have simple recipes lined up making dinner a snap.
• We were too lazy to defrost something from the freezer last night.  Yes, the day was crazy and we were tired and just wanted to go to bed.  But last night, when our bellies weren't doing their best "Little Shop of Horrors" impression, was the best time to decide what's for dinner today.
• We're all too damn picky.  The purpose of eating is to stay alive, and while our taste buds want to soak up the good life, it won't kill any of us to eat rice two nights in a row.  Or to have a sandwich or some scrambled eggs and just be done with it.  But we're always searching for the perfect choice.  And let's be real, not many of us ever finish dinner and say "That was the best home cooked meal I've ever had and debating what to eat for an hour and a half was worth it all!"
• There's just so much to do tonight.  True enough.  There's homework to finish and school lunches to pack.  There's some lingering work from the day to wrap up.  The garden needs to be watered and the laundry needs to be done.  It's hard to focus on taking the time for a nice family meal so we start thinking about short cuts and boxed food.  But we're torn up with guilt over just how bad that stuff is for us.  And in the end, we don't take the time to relish in each other's company.
• We just can't agree.  So the first four reasons are nice and logical.  And I think they can all be conquered.  But then there's this dreaded fact.  A family of four rarely agrees on anything.  Every decision is a battle.  Every decision a chance for each of us to flex our muscles, to show who's boss, to take control and get what we want.  I'm not sure I have the magic bullet for this one, but perhaps if we establish some rules and a game plan, we can make it work...with some compromise.  So here's a quick idea my family will put to the test this week:
• We'll each choose two staple ingredients we want to eat this week.
• We'll brainstorm dishes we like to eat with those ingredients.
• Then we'll each choose a main dish for the family to eat one night.
• We'll make sure at least one night's dinner is cooked in a crock pot.
• We'll leave one night open to bring in a quick dinner and one night to go out for dinner.
• That leaves just one night open, so I guess we'll let the dog choose that one!

I'll report briefly on how the week goes next Friday.  In the meantime, I'd love to hear from you on how your family conquers this age-old question, or I'd invite you to try my idea along with us this week and let us know how it goes!