As warm summer evenings approach and we’re faced with another year of determining what's for dinner, we're sharing a glimpse at how BHG readers gather for a meal. Welcome to our new series, Dinner Diaries, where we're asking readers to anonymously share how they get dinner on the table, including grocery shopping, budgeting, cooking, and their favorite family recipes. Here, a family works together to get meals on the table. They also distribute the labor of shopping and cleaning. Find out how they create delicious dinners using pantry staples like rice and beans.
- Occupation: Owner and Designer of an Interior Design Firm
- Location: Cypress, TX (Houston area suburb)
- Age: 52
- Cooking for: 3
Q: How often do you go grocery shopping?
The big shop is once a month, and get small or perishable items as needed via curbside. For veggies, we "shop" the garden, which is one of the best feelings ever!
Q: What's your average weekly grocery budget?
$150 max.
Q: Do you make a grocery list?
Absolutely. I would buy all kinds of crazy things otherwise! Our list is the same month over month but if I want to try something new or that I don't make often, I have to add it to the list. The whole family adds to it as needed.
Q: What grocery stores do you shop at most frequently?
HEB and Kroger.
Q: Who is going to cook dinner?
I am. Hubby might grill sometimes and he almost always makes the rice for me.
ILLUSTRATION: CORINNE MUCHA
Q: What are things you always have in your fridge or pantry?
Dried beans and grains are always in the pantry along with canned tuna, olives and capers, shaped pastas, potatoes, and onions. I always have to have garlic and ginger around too!
Q: How do you share the labor of cooking, cleaning, and grocery shopping?
I usually cook, hubby cleans. In general, whoever cooks, doesn't clean but I tend to clean as I go so there's never really a big mess in the kitchen. We "share" the grocery shopping. I normally order curbside and hubby may pick it up. Typically, if we need something quick, hubby will stop in for that.
Q: What are your go-to meals or family-favorite recipes?
Chicken and rice pilaf is our son's favorite. I make it a ton of different ways including curry-style, Mediterranean-style, paella-style, you name it. We usually have a version of this once a week.
Q: Do you cook daily or do you meal prep for the week?
I cook every day.
ILLUSTRATION: CORINNE MUCHA
Q: What was the last meal you cooked at home?
Salisbury steak, by request
Q: Would you make it again?
Of course. Sundays are steak night in our home. That typically means a true beef steak (ribeye) but can also mean Salisbury steak, tuna or salmon steak, or a roast.
ILLUSTRATION: CORINNE MUCHA
Q: Do you often have dessert with dinner?
Not really. I try to keep some homemade cookies or a cake around at all times but my family just eats them whenever they feel like it, not necessarily for dessert.
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