Make a Standard Meals List

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Ever wonder about what to cook for dinner? Or you're walking around the super market without any ideas as to which ingredients you should be buying? This happens to us all the time, and we sometimes just end up ordering pizza to avoid the problem altogether. Doesn't seem very efficient, does it? As we were fidgeting over what to cook for lunch for the zillionth time that month, it hit me. We should be able to organize this better.

Some people suggest you write up a weekly menu, planning every meal for that week and doing all your grocery shopping at once. Once we have kids, this will probably be how we do it too, but for now, what we have in the house depends on which vegetables we can find cheap and fresh at the supermarket. That depends on which day we go and what season it is, as well as on how many old Chinese ladies have gone through that morning picking up the cream of the crop.

So instead, I decided to write a list of dishes (Chinese and American/European) that we can cook well and without much trouble, so that all I have to do is look through my fridge, see which ingredients are available, and cook a dish based on that.

Take a piece of paper and a pen/pencil. This is really all you need. You don't really need a fancy notebook or organizing system. No need to over-complicate your simplification! 
Think of the different meals you've cooked last week, the ones that didn't require you to use a recipe because by now they've become routine. Write them down.
Alternatively, write down dishes based on which ingredients are prominent in them, or base them on the staple food of that dish (all pasta-dishes, all rice-dishes, all potato-dishes, for example). 
When you've finished this quick first list, check to see if all these dishes include vegetables and protein. If not, think of what you can add to them to make them complete.

Put this list on your fridge, or somewhere in your kitchen where it's easy to grab quickly. Keep a pencil close to it, so you can add as you go along and jot down other ideas for combinations or switching ingredients (we cook a Chinese dish that has eggs and tomatoes, for example, but can replace the tomato with some other vegetables, like zucchini for variety).

This can be a great way to economize as well, since it encourages you to use the ingredients you already have handy and not let anything go to waste. It's also a good reminder of how many various dishes you already know how to cook, and to eat a more varied and balanced diet.
Any ideas for easy, quick meals that take little time to cook or prepare?