The meals you actually make matter more than the ones you think you should make.
After spending over a decade coordinating multi-course tasting menus in fine-dining restaurants, you'd think I'd come home and cook elaborate meals for myself.
I don't.
Most nights, I make things so simple they barely qualify as cooking. No recipes, no measuring, minimal technique. Just assembling good ingredients in ways that taste good and require almost no mental effort.
This isn't laziness. It's sustainability.
During my hospitality years, I watched countless people burn out trying to maintain elaborate home cooking routines. They'd buy fancy ingredients, collect recipes, stock their kitchens with equipment. Then after a few weeks, they'd default back to takeout because the effort wasn't realistic.
The meals that actually stick are the ones that fit into your life without friction. That means simple enough to make tired, fast enough to not feel like a project, and satisfying enough that you don't feel like you're settling.
These seven meals are what I actually make week after week. They're not impressive. They don't photograph well. But they're the difference between eating real food and ordering delivery for the fourth night in a row.
1) Rice bowl with whatever
Cook rice at the start of the week. Everything else is improvisation.
The base is always rice. Short-grain brown rice because it's more forgiving and has better texture. But honestly, any rice works.
Then you add layers. Something with protein. Roasted chickpeas, pan-fried tofu, leftover beans. Something with vegetables. Roasted sweet potato, sautéed greens, raw cucumber and tomato. Something with fat and acid. Tahini thinned with lemon juice, avocado, good olive oil.
The combinations are endless because you're not following a recipe. You're just layering flavors and textures until it feels complete.
This is what I ate constantly in Bangkok. Morning markets, street vendors, small restaurants. The base was always rice. What went on top changed based on what was available or what sounded good.
Total time from fridge to eating is maybe ten minutes if the rice is already cooked. No recipe needed. No measuring. Just building a meal from components.
2) Pasta with garlic and whatever greens are around
Boil pasta. While it cooks, slice garlic and grab whatever greens are in the fridge.
When the pasta is almost done, heat olive oil in a pan. Add the garlic, cook until it just starts to color. Add the greens, cook until they wilt. Add a ladle of pasta water. Toss in the cooked pasta.
Finish with more olive oil, red pepper flakes if you want heat, maybe some lemon zest. That's it.
The greens can be anything. Spinach, kale, arugula, chard, even broccoli rabe if you're feeling bitter. The pasta can be any shape. The technique stays the same.
I learned this working in Italian restaurants where simplicity was the entire point. Good ingredients, minimal intervention, let the flavors speak.
This meal takes 15 minutes start to finish. It costs maybe $2 per serving. And it's satisfying in a way that fancy meals often aren't.
3) Loaded baked sweet potato
Pierce a sweet potato. Microwave for 8 minutes. Done.
While it cooks, prepare toppings. Could be black beans with cumin and lime. Could be sautéed mushrooms and onions. Could be chickpeas with curry spices. Could be just tahini and herbs.
Split the sweet potato, add your toppings, maybe drizzle some hot sauce or extra olive oil. You've got a complete meal that required almost no active cooking.
The sweet potato itself has enough substance that you don't need much else. The toppings add protein and flavor, but they're simple preparations, nothing complicated.
I make this when I'm too tired to think. It requires maybe two minutes of active attention. Everything else is just waiting for the microwave.
People who insist microwaves ruin food haven't tried this. The texture is perfect. Creamy inside, skin still intact. Faster than the oven and the result is identical.
4) Fried rice from leftover rice
This only works if you already have cooked rice. But if you do, dinner takes ten minutes.
Heat oil in a pan. Add whatever vegetables need using. Could be frozen peas and carrots. Could be fresh bell peppers and onions. Could be leftover roasted vegetables.
Push everything to the side. Crack an egg into the empty space, scramble it. Or skip the egg entirely if you're avoiding it.
Add the rice, break up any clumps. Add soy sauce. Stir everything together until the rice is hot and starting to crisp in spots.
Finish with sesame oil, green onions if you have them, maybe some sriracha.
This is the meal that convinced me to always make extra rice. Day-old rice actually works better because it's drier. Fresh rice gets too sticky.
Total cost is whatever the rice and random vegetables cost, which is basically nothing. Total time is less than the delivery driver would take to arrive.
5) Simple soup from cans and boxes
I'm not talking about opening a can of soup. I'm talking about building soup from pantry staples.
Start with vegetable broth. Add a can of tomatoes and a can of chickpeas or white beans. Add whatever frozen or fresh vegetables are around. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Season with whatever makes sense. Italian herbs and parmesan. Curry spices and coconut milk. Cumin and lime. The base is the same, the direction changes based on seasoning.
Serve with bread or over rice if you want it more substantial.
This was my go-to during Thailand's rainy season. Hot soup, minimal effort, endlessly variable. I'd make a pot and eat it for days.
The technique is so simple it feels wrong to call it cooking. But the result is satisfying, nourishing, and costs maybe $1.50 per serving.
6) Scrambled eggs or tofu with toast
Breakfast for dinner is underrated.
Scrambled eggs take three minutes. Scrambled tofu takes maybe five. Both are complete proteins, both are satisfying, both pair with toast and whatever else you want to add.
I'll often throw in vegetables. Spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, whatever needs using. Sometimes cheese if I'm feeling it. Sometimes hot sauce and avocado.
The toast is crucial. Good bread, actually toasted until it's crisp, not just warmed. Maybe with butter, maybe with olive oil and salt.
This is what I make when I've completely run out of motivation. It requires minimal technique, minimal ingredients, minimal cleanup. One pan, one plate, done in under ten minutes.
My parents were teachers who valued education over material wealth. Growing up, we had simple dinners. This was one of them. It took me years of working in fancy restaurants to realize those simple meals were actually perfect.
7) Noodles with peanut sauce
Cook noodles. Make peanut sauce while they cook. Toss together. Add vegetables if you're feeling ambitious.
The sauce is peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, a bit of maple syrup or sugar, water to thin it. Whisk it together. That's it.
The noodles can be anything. Soba, rice noodles, regular pasta. The vegetables can be anything. Shredded cabbage, cucumber, carrots, bell peppers. Raw or cooked, doesn't matter.
This meal is so simple it feels like cheating. But it's satisfying, filling, and tastes like you tried.
I ate versions of this constantly in Thailand. Every region had their own take. The base was always noodles and peanut sauce. Everything else varied.
Now in Austin, I make it when I want something that feels special but requires zero actual effort. My large dining table has hosted friends eating this meal, and nobody realizes how little work went into it.
Final thoughts
The gap between what people think cooking should be and what actually works is huge.
Cooking culture pushes elaborate meals, fancy techniques, Instagram-worthy presentations. But that's not sustainable for most people's actual lives.
These seven meals work because they require minimal decisions. You're not following recipes or measuring precisely. You're working from frameworks that adapt to whatever you have on hand.
That flexibility is crucial. If a meal requires specific ingredients, it only works when you have those ingredients. But if a meal works with whatever's around, you can make it anytime.
After returning from Thailand to the US, I had to unlearn a lot of professional kitchen habits. The perfectionism, the complexity, the need to make everything from scratch. Those things have their place, but not on a Tuesday when you're tired.
The meals I actually make are simple to the point of being boring. But they're the reason I cook at home instead of ordering delivery. And cooking at home, even simply, is better for my health, my budget, and my overall well-being.
Start with one of these frameworks. Make it a few times until it feels automatic. Then add another. Eventually, you'll have a rotation of simple meals that require almost no mental energy but still feel satisfying.
That's not settling. That's actually solving the problem of how to eat well consistently without burning out.
The most important meals aren't the fancy ones you make occasionally. They're the simple ones you make every week.
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