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Let me start by saying: I love recipes. I’m deeply grateful to every food blogger who’s ever shared their grandma’s secret sauce, their one-pot weeknight dinner, or their go-to comfort food. But…I also have some gripes.
Not with the people writing the recipes, but with the recipe experience. Especially when you’re just trying to get dinner on the table before everyone in your house turns into a hangry monster.
If you’ve listened to the Plan to Eat Podcast, you may have heard me rant about any one of these problems, but here are a few of my recipe-related frustrations, and what I do about them.
“Quick” Recipes… with 17 Ingredients.
When I see a recipe labeled as “quick,” I expect the prep work to be quick too. My definition of a fast dinner includes a short ingredient list because chopping and measuring 17 different items doesn’t exactly scream efficiency.
If you’re trying to get dinner on the table fast, don’t let the “quick” label fool you. Read the full recipe first, especially the ingredient list. Sometimes that 20-minute dinner comes with an additional 20-minute prep.
Cook Times That Are All Out of Whack
Tell me if this sounds familiar: The recipe says it takes 30 minutes. You’re 45 minutes in, your kitchen looks like a tornado hit it, and your kid just asked for a snack again because dinner’s still not ready.
Sometimes recipe cook times feel wildly optimistic. Maybe I’m a slower chopper. Maybe I pause too long to reread the instructions. Either way, I’ve learned to treat most cook times as a rough suggestion.
My solution: I keep a stash of actually fast recipes I’ve made before. In Plan to Eat, I tag them as “fast dinner” or “quick weeknight,” so when I need something reliably quick, I’m not rolling the dice on a new recipe’s time estimate.
Where’s the Salt?
This one’s less about timing and more about taste. A lot of recipes just don’t call for salt and I can’t understand why.
I get it, some people need to limit sodium, while others assume the cook will season to taste. But if you’re new to cooking or just following a recipe closely, a no-salt dish can turn into a flavorless flop.
My advice? Taste and adjust. Don’t be afraid to season your food, even if it’s not written in the recipe. And if you want to feel more confident about cooking decisions, I recommend Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat. It vastly improved my cooking skills.
“Easy” Doesn’t Always Mean “Quick”
Another sneaky label! I’ve fallen for this trap plenty of times. Sometimes “easy” means you don’t need fancy equipment or advanced knife skills. But that doesn’t mean it’s fast.
You can absolutely have an easy recipe that still takes an hour, especially if it involves roasting, simmering, or assembling anything. Again, the best way to avoid weeknight surprises is to read the whole recipe beforehand. Or better yet, try it out once on a weekend before adding it to your weeknight rotation.
What Can You Do About It?
You don’t need to give up on new recipes entirely. What’s helped me is having a personal stash of recipes I trust. I use Plan to Eat to save, tag, and organize my go-to meals, so I know which ones are fast, flavorful, and foolproof. It lets me import any recipe from the web and keep it in a single, organized place, with notes, categories, and all the edits I want!
So when it’s 5:30 p.m. and I need to get dinner started, I can open the app and know exactly what I’m cooking without surprises or hangry meltdowns.
Take Control of Dinner Time
If you’re tired of recipe roulette and just want meal planning to be a little less stressful, try Plan to Eat free for 14 days. Import your favorite recipes, tag the winners, and build a meal plan that actually works for you.
