Weeknight cooking has one job: to be good enough that you actually want to make it, and fast enough that you actually will. These are the dinners worth keeping in rotation — minimal effort, maximum payoff, nothing you need a special trip to shop for.
The rotation
- Garlic butter pasta — good oil, garlic, chilli, parmesan and whatever green you have. Ten minutes, endlessly adaptable.
- A proper grain bowl — a base grain, a roasted vegetable, something creamy and something crunchy. Build it once and you’ll build it forever.
- Traybake everything — protein and vegetables on one tray, hot oven, walk away. Washing-up: one tray.
- Eggs for dinner — a soft omelette or shakshuka is quietly one of the best meals there is.
- The good soup — a blitzed vegetable soup with crusty bread is a whole dinner, and freezes beautifully.
The real trick
Keep the pantry stocked so dinner is a decision, not a shop. Good oil, garlic, tinned tomatoes, pasta, eggs and a hard cheese, and you’re ten minutes from something worth eating on any given night.
