A few weeks ago, I was telling one of my friends that I was planning on moving in with my boyfriend and she asked me what we would eat. I’m not exactly an expert cook and neither is he. So I tried thinking of things we each knew how to make and struggled to come up with 10 things.
I know how to make pancakes and fried rice. I can do meatballs. I’ve heated up frozen food plenty of times. Well. Do those things count?
He’s better at making eggs than I am. He’s good at cooking tofu and can make a great stir fry with frozen vegetables and bottled sauce. Besides that, he makes a really good pizza dough from scratch (not frozen!).
Between the two of us, I knew we could cook up with some good dishes, even with our limited experience. And we have! In the past two weeks, I’ve made some delicious dinners that I’m sure to try again. Not to brag, but I’m bragging. This way you all can try out the recipes I’ve already tested!
Some of my favorites so far:
Claire’s Co-Worker’s Sichuan Chicken Wings (pictured above) from The Portlandia Cookbook
Waldorf Salad from The Everything College Cookbook
Lemon chicken stir fry
Chicken tortilla soup – I read through this recipe from The Kitchn and improvised.
Spaghetti and meatballs
Ramen noodle upgrade
Here’s my meal plan for next week.
Sunday: Dinner out with friends
Monday: Chicken pot pie
Tuesday: Leftover chicken pot pie
Wednesday: Linguine alla carbonara with bacon
Thursday: Posole
Friday: Tofu stir fry
Saturday: Date night out for Valentine’s Day
How weird is it that it’s only Thursday and I’ve already planned out all my meals for the following week? A little weird. Also, I don’t want it to be a normal thing that we (or in this case, I) eat out twice in one week, but this is a special case. We’ve got something to celebrate.
Hats off to Kerry of Welcome To Ladyville who posted what she’s been cooking last January. I remember reading it at the time and thinking about what it would be like to plan out my meals. I’m used to seeing my mom do that but now it seems funny to be writing my own meal plan.
Do you write out meal plans too? What are your favorite easy, budget friendly meals?
Modern Notebook 