How to Come Up With Quick and Easy Dinner Ideas

Not everybody has hours to spend in the kitchen cultivating their culinary skills. Between jobs, errands, school, homework and sports, the fact is: busy families need a one-and-done meal solution they can take from stovetop to tabletop in an hour or less! While ordering takeout is oh-so-tempting—it’s not the most cost-effective, nor is it the healthiest way to get things done.

A woman planning dinner at the kitchen island with a tablet.

That’s where a simple brainstorming session or two can come in handy. Here are some ways to come up with quick and easy dinner ideas that’ll keep everyone fed, happy and healthy:

Have a place to consolidate. It doesn’t matter if you’re having an organized, sit-down brainstorming session or you’re jotting down ideas as they come to you; it’s important to have one place for your ideas. Designate a digital notepad, whiteboard, chalkboard or anything else that lets you log everybody’s ideas, share them and organize them later.

Set some parameters. Before you get started, set up some parameters for yourself. What do you consider a quick and easy dinner ? What somebody else feels like is quick might take you some time. Make sure you know your limitations as a cook and what kind of timeframes you’re working with. Yes, you can challenge yourself with a relatively quick meal that requires some multi-tasking on the stovetop but practicing those might be a good idea when you’re not in a time crunch. Be sure you know what you can do for the first few quick dinner ideas to start.

All your ideas in one place

Keep your thoughts, content, and lists handy with OneNote

Learn more

Anybody who cooks for someone with dietary restrictions knows that it can sometimes be difficult to find dishes to fit these needs. Keep in mind that you can usually substitute things like peanuts, dairy, gluten, and others. If it helps, keep a list of substitution ingredients close by as you search for inspiration for quick dinner ideas.

Be open to new ideas. Sometimes we pigeonhole ourselves into our same old ideas. There are always a few tried-and-true methods to solving a problem, and we get incredibly comfortable with them. Our quick meal ideas might include things like boxed macaroni and cheese, a plate of nachos, or scrambled eggs. Sure, they get the job done, but they’re all things we can get tired of when we’re trying to make a fast meal four nights every week. You might also find that there’s an easier dish than some of your usual go-tos. It’s important to be receptive to new ideas as you come across them, so you’re not stuck using the same solution to every problem.

A woman smiling in the kitchen with a bread cloche on the stove.

“The fact is: busy families need a one-and-done meal solution they can take from stovetop to tabletop in an hour or less!”

Make categories to organize. It can help to organize your ideas into groups after they’ve come in. While you’ll be organizing your ideas into categories after you’ve brainstormed them, don’t make your categories according to the ideas you have. You can easily build categories independent of the list of ideas you have, then fit each into its proper space. Meaning, create categories that can include your ideas but don’t make them based on your ideas. When you’re trying to come up with quick dinner ideas, maybe you would make your categories “Kind of quick,” “Quick,” and “Super quick.” Along those lines, your easy dinner ideas could be “Kind of easy,” “Easy,” and “Super easy.” Once your ideas are organized, it’ll be easier to digest them and decide which ones fit what you’re looking for.

Re-evaluate your ideas later. After trying out your ideas for a few weeks, go back and re-visit your brainstorming sheet. Which ideas worked well? Which didn’t? Keep your brainstorming sheet handy, so you can go back and add more ideas later or to note changes you’ve made along the way. You can build on the categories you’ve established and the ideas that have worked best to this point.

Brainstorming doesn’t have to be a long and drawn-out process. You can take a little bit of time here and there to come up with quick and easy dinner ideas or anytime you need fresh, out-of-the-box ideas.