What do you eat for dinner?

Carmina - posted on 07/04/2011

im from australia and my family is big on christmas. my parents are divorced so on my mothers side its traditional roasts we have a huge family so theres basically a roast of each meat like turkey chicken beef lamb and pork haha with roast vegies steamed vegies gravey and xmas pudding for dessert. on my fathers side its more bbq with seafood and red meat and lots of salads and nibbles mmm yummy :) gotta love christmas!

Michelle - posted on 05/15/2011

I have 3 kids 3 and under so I don't have time to do more then freezer meals and crockpot meals these days. I don't have a menu per se. I mostly pull stuff out of the freezer or throw stuff togethether in the crockpot in the morning. About once a month or so I spend a whole day making meals to freeze and use. We probably go out once or twice a week if that and we don't usually have people over because there's not usually time and it's too crazy on a daily basis right now (we used to). It is normal in the US to make burritos and tacos for dinner. It's easy to do and so meets the criteria for dinner in my house for sure.

Carmina - posted on 05/15/2011

hehe love this post good question about our lifestyle in aus! ive always wondered that! i dont have a set menu for every week but i do have a menu for the week that i shop according to. i cook every night always making sure both meat and lots of vegies are included, and one night a week i make vegetarian (pumpkin or vegie soup, too easy!) we get take out maybe once or twice a week for lunch but it is usually subway. we eat out maybe once a fortnight, my son is at an annoying age to take out in public he hates to sit still and i cant enjoy myself lol!

Helen H - posted on 05/15/2011

thats a good question maybe i should try it, we live in a remote place in Papua New Guinea and its hard to go without vegies..coz we love our vegies and with 3 little daughters its bit hard to get things done...i always cook at home and never get take away, i simply vacuum seal meat/fish chicken in portion and take out and cook how we prefer to have and with having a flour wave oven all our meal is cooked in one go...but at times i sit and look to see new recipes and circle of moms have some great ideas that i love...

Danielle - posted on 03/03/2011

Yes...we in the USA make tacos and Burritos! In fact my kids LOVE taco night. I get all the fixings and set them on the table and let the kids build their own tacos (hard and soft) and an Impromtu BBQ is the best fun had in the summer. I like to go through the fridge and freezer and grill up everything from hot dogs to veggies. AND last but not least....I practically buy the same things from the grocery store each month...cheesestick, chicken strips, pickles various fruits and veggies.....etc. Same ol same ol! but if I try to switch it up I end up eating left overs for 3 days....

Kelly - posted on 02/03/2011

That sounded absolutely delicious, Emma! But what is "tasty cheese"?

Stifler's - posted on 02/03/2011

http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/Bac...



This is what we eat most Friday nights for "dinner" at the Millins. That and party pies when they ring us up and tell us to come over. LOLOLOL. It's awesome to just have laid back dinner with no health aspect sometimes. It's also delicious and there's always a plate of cheese, kabana, cocktail onions, gherkins and Jatz somewhere in there on Friday night.

Deborah - posted on 02/03/2011

Hi
I'm in the UK. I cook mainly from scratch and try to have at least one fish meal and one veggie meal each week. I have a plan at the beginning of the week and usually cook 2/3 meals on a Sunday and keep in fridge or freezer so that I have something ready when I get in from work.

I don't do desserts on weekdays but always cut up a big plate of fruit and leave it out. Everyone just picks at it as they walk past.

Shari - posted on 10/15/2010

To be honest, I just started to make dinner from actual recipes...which is neat. Other than that, other days I will usually just whip something up but still tastes really good. Every once in a while is okay but if you can't make good homemade meals for dinner don't feel too bad about it.

Shana - posted on 10/15/2010

Hmmm. Well dinner always consists of 2minute noodles for me. My partner lost his job so I am the only one working...part-time even. So after paying for bills and baby stuff..we are left with 2 minute noodles. Every meal of the day. Lol. Sometimes I wish I was a baby so I get all the good food :P

Betty - posted on 10/15/2010

Hi Emma and friends !
I know you have lots of replies by now, but still so interesting to read every one and see how other people in the world cook.
I am from Ontario, Canada. I agree that Taco Bell is not real food. My guess is that teens going out for a late night snack, is what keeps these places open. I make tacos, burritos, & taco salad at home. The meat is recognizable, unlike at Taco Bell.

By the way, Cob Loaf sounds amazing, and feel free to msg me the recipe ! :)
So here is how I cook. I almost never use a recipe, unless I am making something for the first time. I make things up, and I would say I'm pretty good at cooking. I actually have an entire album of food pics on facebook. And people always comment on them and ask for the recipe. To which I reply, I dont have one, I made it up ! Haha
Anyway, I love to make Chicken Pot Pie, Roasted Potatoes, Stirfrys, Chinese Fried Rice, Zucchini Lasagna, Stroganoff, Meatball subs, Chicken a la King, Mexican anything, Sweet Potatoes, Asian Noodles, Greek Chicken Salads, Sausages and Rice, Eggplant with basil and Old Cheddar, and anything that uses fresh vegetables and herbs from my garden. If I can find a way to use all my homegrown tomatoes, zucchini, potatoes,celery,onions etc, then I will.
I grow a lot of extra, and then I freeze it to use over the winter.
I don't often plan out a week, but when I do, I find it helpful/ less stressful. Maybe I should do it more often, but it requires a lot more planning, and I have two young kids.....so that idea goes out the window !

I too, love BBQs, and love to have people over, but it tends to happen in the summer when our lives are a little more laid back.
Love to read everyone's ideas; keep them coming !
Maybe we should get some kind of recipe exchange going..... ;)
Thanks for the great question !

♏*PHOENIX*♏ - posted on 10/15/2010

I eat just as much Korean, and Vietnamese food as I do American. Since my husband is Korean he cooks yummy dishes, not to mention his mother is always cooking something as well. Its nice to sit back and let him cook for a change.
I cook a variety of things…Mexican, asian, Cambodian, American….I go to foodnetwork.com a lot to get new recipes…and being that im Black I like the good ole’ Soul Food as well :-)
My husband does the impromptu BBQ quite often!…..he loves a good med-rare steak right off the grill. I like fresh grilled veggies Mmmmmm…sometimes its just him and me out by the grill at 12-1 in the morning..so romantic..LOL

Cara - posted on 10/15/2010

I make various things each night. My husband and I only have his income so going out to eat a lot is not an option. I make different things each week. anything from homemade eggrolls, enchiladas, baked chicken with veggies and some other side, home made hamburgers, spaghetti, lasagna, tacos. It really just depends on how busy my day way and such. I also buy quick fix dinners like Voila! they taste good and are great for when you've had a bust night (or forgot to thaw meat for dinner or something. lol) And every now and then we just have left overs for dinner :) I'm not totally sure what a cob loaf is tho. Maybe we call it something different here. I almost always make tacos or burritos at home instead of going out for them, they usually just taste better. lol I rarely ever use a cook book. I tend to just start making something and go my own way with it. That makes it hard when someone comes over for dinner though since they ma ask for the recipe and since i just kinda add things as I go I usually don't know exactly how much of everything i put in. I just add stuff til it smells/tastes right

Mariam - posted on 10/15/2010

Good question Jane! Carrots are good for your eyes because they contain beta-carotene, which helps protect vision. But unlike Bug's Bunny, you and your children need to eat more than just carrots to have healthy eyes.

- Mariam
Airwear Representative
Essilor of America

Jane - posted on 10/15/2010

No carrots (specifically) at all? :-) I wasn't aware of what is good for eye health but all of these are healthy for other reasons, too, and I'm glad to see that we normally do eat some of them every day. Thank you!

Mariam - posted on 10/15/2010

Do any of you think about eye health when planning family dinners?



Eating for healthy eyes begins with a well balanced diet. Here's a list of Top 10 Foods for Healthy Vision:

o Cold water fish

o Spinach, kale and green leafy vegetables

o Eggs

o Garlic, onions, shallots and capers

o Soy

o Fruits and vegetables

o Blueberries and grapes

o Wine

o Nuts and berries

o Virgin olive oil



Do you include some of these foods in your every day cooking? If not, try out some new recipes tonight!



- Mariam

Airwear Representative

Essilor of America

Morgan - posted on 10/14/2010

Sadly, none of our friends ever come over for last minute BBQ's. But I do a TON of from scratch cooking. I'd say we eat out about 2-3 times a month normally. My daughter has a wheat allergy though so it's very hard to find food she can eat at most places. I never make the same thing twice in 1 month. I have a very diverse set of foods I cook. Spanish, Mexican, Indian, Asian, Cuban, German, and a few Irish dishes. I love cooking so very much. Tonight actually I made from scratch Spaghetti Sauce that was Vegan Friendly and served it over Gluten Free Bowtie pasta. :) When my hubby is gone I eat a strictly vegetarian (mostly Vegan but I throw the occasional cheese in every once in a while) and Gluten Free diet. It's actually helped me to loose every bit of my pregnancy weight and even a few extra lbs. ;)

Sal - posted on 10/14/2010

i try and eat seasonally, so buy what in season and is the best price on shopping day, that goes for fruit, veg and meat, so our menu varies week to week, but i find by having a good pantry what i buy fresh doesn't really matter. we eat out sometimes for dinner but rarely and i think only occationally buy takeaway to have at home (honestly twice in 6 months) mainly because of lack of anywhere to get ti, live in a small rurual community, i am a pretty good cook and almost everything is made from scratch, chinese, pizza, thai , sushi cakes and bicsuits, all of it. we eat a combniation of basic dinners, veg and meat and something more adventurous, love trying new things, and as hubby does a lot of nights we have a lot of easy to microwave dinners live curry, spag bol, or casseroles...we get to the beach quiet often and almost entirerly live on bbq's there, love them....also for a lazy dinner our favorite is a ploughmans plate-our favorite cheese, cold meats, pate, crusty bread, pickels and olives, or anything else we like the look at at the deli, a glass of wine and no kids!!!

no cooking aand no washing up...we are in aus and the last 10 years we have lived at the beach or out west nsw, very hot xmas, so lots of cold meats and salads, this year in our new home it is pretty cool all year so hoping to get a hot lunch/dinner (my hubby will have to work part of the day) and a hot poudding...yummmm

Chessa - posted on 10/14/2010

I'm from the USA, originally from New York but living in Alaska currently. I make a menu and do my grocery shopping according to what ingredients I need, like a lot of others have said. We shop once a week, and I usually plan for six different dinners and have one night of leftovers. We usually eat leftovers for lunch too, so I don't have to worry about buying separate lunch stuff :) My husband is in the Army and we recently moved, so we don't know that many people here and don't get impromptu guests. One of his friends from work comes over about once a week for dinner.
We switch up dinner a lot. I love trying new recipes, whether it's from a cookbook I already have or finding stuff online. I try to balance proteins, and when I'm making my menu I try to have at least one chicken, one pork and one beef dish. Usually at least one night has pasta. But I try my best to make sure I have at least one of each. We generally do either a veggie or a starch, but generally not both. The only frozen food we do is veggies. No frozen meals. I also bake all my own bread (sandwich loaves, and also buns and rolls) so I figure that into my meals too.
We don't usually go out to eat, and NEVER do fast food. We'll maybe go out to eat once a month, for lunch on a weekend or something. Since moving to Alaska the cost of living is higher here, and going out to eat is so much more expensive than in the lower 48.

Good Day! - posted on 10/14/2010

We make rum balls!

Christmas around here will usually include some kind of gumbo, ham or turkey, various casseroles, pork n beans, homemade rolls, and every kind of pie you can imagine...pecan pie, chocolate pie, apple pie, pumpkin pie

Stifler's - posted on 10/14/2010

I live in Emerald, QLD so it's about that here too lol!

Renae - posted on 10/14/2010

Oh and when talking about christmas I should add that I live in Western Australia so on Christmas day it is usually something around 40 degress (which is 104 degrees F according to google conversion) so that's probably why we dont usually have hot pies - its too damn hot! lol

Stifler's - posted on 10/14/2010

Except last Christmas we had pork and roast chicken and vol au vents at our friend's place.

Stifler's - posted on 10/14/2010

Yeah I was just wondering how many different things people make. I thought I wasn't that inventive but I realise after reading the posts that I've made a lot of the things people have mentioned that I didn't mention in the OP. We have leg of ham and a turkey maryland and veggies and home made shell salad at Christmas too. And rum balls! Does anyone else make rum balls? I make them with gingernut biscuits and OP Rum and roll them in chocolate sprinkles lol. I've always wanted to try pumpkin pie too but no one makes it for Christmas here.

Kristin - posted on 10/14/2010

We put together a menu each week and then do the shopping. We plan in grilling/parties. Love to do taco's at home, but like to just pick them up too. We try to keep the take out to a minimum though, get's spendy quick.

I love to look at cookbooks. So, if I feel like I am in a rut, I peruse and sometimes borrow one from the library. With small kids though, some repetition just naturally occurs. I try to base it all around fish and vegetarian nights once or twice a week, and then sales and seasonal items. As the boys are getting older, I try to involve them with assembling the menu for the week.

Is this what you were wondering about? Hope it helped.

Alison - posted on 10/14/2010

I use My Family Meal Planner Light to plan/prepare my meals. It is great and I love the fact I don't have to think to plan meals or repeat the same things over and over again for dinner! Their are meals for every week of the year and I spent the money to get the magnetic shopping list so now all I do is tear it off and add other items I need on the back.

Lu - posted on 10/14/2010

I'm in Minnesota, USA and we like casseroles here. I love tatter tot casserole, green bean casserole, pizza casserole... Just add it all to a dish and bake! :-) We love eating out but it can be such a hassle with three kids and it can get pretty pricey too, so we just eat fast food about 2 times a week, usually on weekends. I make a list of recipes we like, spaghetti, homemade pizza, stir fry, chicken alfredo, stroggonoff... and add a couple new recipes I want to try out. I end up with a list of 10-15 meals and buy all the ingredients for them, so everynight I can just look at the list and decided what to make since I know I have everything on hand and I'm not tied down to a schedule. I have one big grocery shopiing day for the month, and then just go back for produce, milk, bread... I only cook supper about 4-5 times a week and have easy things like mac-n-cheese, sandwiches or frozen pizza on the weekends. We do breakfast for supper once a week too. I'm originally from Brazil, so every now and then I add some Brazilian food to the list (my version of it since I never really learned to cook there) I can't stand the smell of fish, so no sea food around here, and I'm not too wild about pork either, so we have a lot of chicken and beef meals.

Kathy - posted on 10/14/2010

I do have a select number of dishes that I like to make every week, because they are my families favorites, such as Beef Stew with sourdough bread, Mexican Chili with nachoes, Baked chicken with rice, and Spagetti with Meatballs. However, to make things a little more exciting, I will select a new recipe once a week and try that. Last week I wanted to try Spinach Quiche with bacon. My kids and husband LOVED it, so I made it again. My kids like it when I make things they know and like, but I like to spice things up to make it fun for ME! We go out to eat at least once per week, usually on Friday or Saturday. We also like to go out for lunch right after church on Sunday. Since I am a Pampered Chef Consultant, I also get to try out all of the latest recipes for my job. If you ever need some recipes, let me know. I have a website, or you can just go directly to PamperedChef.com

Jenn - posted on 10/14/2010

In Canada we call corn dogs - dixie dogs. Oh and at Christmas we usually do Turkey, stuffing, winter vegetables like squash, brussels sprouts, potatoes, etc. and pies for dessert - usually pumpkin and apple.

Stephanie - posted on 10/14/2010

I Like to cook, BBQ's just don't seem to be an option , it's kinda sad seen as we bought an outside grill and havn't used it more than 2 times since.I would love to come to your place.... I have always loved Australia, never been , hope to some day, LOL doubt ful, who knows. Time is scarce in my neck of the woods.'

Renae - posted on 10/14/2010

So glad someone brought up christmas. I think in Aus we do christmas similar to you guys. In our family (well in-laws - my family are a religion that doesn't celebrate christmas so I didn't grow up with it and its still a novelty for me) we have roast turkey, leg of ham, vegies, salads, and sometimes a couple of curries (inlaws are asian) and usually christmas cake, trifle and pavlova for dessert. Aussies also usually have seafood at christmas, always prawns (called shrimps in USA I believe) and sometimes cray or lobster too. On American TV they talk about pumpkin pie at christmas time, we dont make that here that I know of.

This was an awesome idea for a thread Emma.

Stifler's - posted on 10/13/2010

So corn dogs are pretty much what we call Dagwood dogs or pluto pups?

Stifler's - posted on 10/13/2010

I do the internet search for recipes thing sometimes too. I made homemade Pirogi once, it was awesome. And lamb shanks in the slow cooker.

Brandy - posted on 10/13/2010

oh yeah and corn dogs arent gross theyre pretty good but theyre like junk food they are hot dogs on a stick they arent wrapped in corn bread lol the batter is like a corn bread batter but the hotdogs are dipped in the batter and then deep fried its kind of a sweet taste they also make sausages on a stick dipped in a pancake batter! and sloppy joes are ground beef cooked in a sauce that is tomato based sometimes its made sweet and sometimes its spicey and some people add minced onion and green peppers to the mix and then you scoop it slap it on a bun and try to eat it without all of it falling out lol its actually pretty good but we buy our sauce in a can its called manwich

Brandy - posted on 10/13/2010

i live in a small town in ohio in the US. every week when we get paid i make out a grocery list which consists of counting out the days making a menu of breakfast lunch and dinners for the week and then writing down what ingriedients i need. we dont have alot of money but im diabetic and my husband is soo picky so we eat alot of the same stuff every week, my goal is to make it easy affordable and as healthy as i can. we usually have every week
porkchops parmesean spinach noodles and broccolli
smoked sausage baked with bbq sauce mac and cheese and corn
chili or tacos
spagetti green beans and garlic toast
chicken either in a casserole, fetechini alfredo, or fried
homemade pizzas
cheeseburgers and fries
and if we have more money i will buy roast or steak. i love going out to eat but i dont care for fast food (its too salty) if we want fish we usually go to a restraunt like red lobster because we live in the midwest so fish is expensive and usually its not very good because its been frozen.
we do have cook outs (BBQs) but its usually just us we cook things like steak hotdogs brawts and hamburgers and sometimes chicken, usually we cook out in the late spring to the mid fall because we get snow here and it can come anywhere from november until mid april. but we always cook out with family on independence day labor day and memorial day and usually on mothers day,

Bonnie - posted on 10/13/2010

I don't go by a planned menu every week, but when we go shopping I think of things I would like to have/make and get them so I have them on hand. We have a deep freezer so that helps a great deal in stocking up when there is sales. I often make the same dinners, but not within the same week, so they do get rotated week to week. Some examples of meals are, breaded chicken, chili, pasta dishes, stir fry, tacos, hamburger helper, breakfast dishes, pork chops, whole grain rice dishes, salads.
We don't do fast food all that often. Maybe once a week if that. We go out to eat maybe once every 2 or 3 months. As for BBQs, we do have BBQs when the weather is nice, usually within 3-4 months out of the year. There are some people who use their BBQs out of their garage in the winter time though. The odd time we will do impromtu BBQs.

Jane - posted on 10/13/2010

It sounds as though most of the people who have responded plan ahead a lot better than I do. We have some favorite meals that I will prepare a few times a week. The rest of the time, I usually find a new recipe on the internet and try it, although it is often with the same kinds of ingredients that we like and that we have on hand. I love to cook with the crock pot, although I don't use it as often I really should. (When I use it, I love knowing that dinner is "taken care of" all day and it gives my children more time to play outside after school, since they require my supervision and I can drastically cut down on the time I must be inside cooking for dinner.) I usually buy whole chicken, ground beef, ground turkey and boneless, skinless chicken breasts each week to have on hand for whatever I fix. My fast dinners are fish sticks, frozen pizzas or an occasional Stouffer's Frozen lasagna or something, although I truly prefer not to feed my family stuff so processed.

Cob loaves sound WONDERFUL! I'm going to have to look for some recipes.

Deanna - posted on 10/13/2010

Actually yes. At least our family is just like yours but I do like to try new recipes. We switch back and forth from planned meals to whatever we feel like. However, we have a regular fridge, a deep freezer, and a store room for dry goods so we always have a pretty good stock of things. We grow some of our own fruits and veggies during the summer and the kids love that. Our family doesn't go out that much but I do make our meals everyday. I homeschool so we have certain things we get with each meal. Fruit is for breakfast and lunch. Veggies are for lunch and dinner. As for impromptu BBQ's we do, kind of, we plan ours for a couple of days as our earliest but mostly because most people are so busy. They don't slow down and enjoy the simple things and it isn't as easy for the to do so.. We make tacos, burritos and nachos at home. Not sure on what a cob loaf is but am willing to try it if you want to send me a recipe. We are almost done with our stew I made this weekend for a get together we had. ( I made way to much and we are just now getting it all eaten. lol We have eaten it everyday since so it doesn't go bad. )

Hope this helps and finds you well.

Kimberly - posted on 10/13/2010

Corn dogs are hot dogs (not sausages), wrapped in a bread-like batter then deep fried. Kids love them! They make them pre-cooked and microwavable now in the freezer section. I'm not a huge fan, but occasionally at a fair or festival I'll splurge, for a walk down memory lane.

Oh! Those microwavable bags of frozen veggies! I love those! they've saved many a dinner. I want to thank whoever invented those!

Kimberly - posted on 10/13/2010

That sounds fun! Yeah, we do the bbq thing too. I love the smell of a bbq in the summertime. In Seattle, we LOVE salmon! At least I do! Salmon, broiled or mashed red potatoes, or rice, asparagus or corn and something else, your choice. I love salmon grilled over a cedar plank! mmmm!!! With lemon slices or pineapple on top all wrapped in tin foil! Its almost a sin to even put tartar sauce on the table! The salmon usually ends up so moist, you don't need it! Oh man! I'm getting myself hungry!

We have taco nights here in the US. Really easy, serve yourself dinner with all the fixins laid out on the counter. Lots of fun! I love taco night!

I also love seafood fettuccine alfredo, macaroni and cheese, terriyaki chicken, pho (Vietnamese soup), fried rice, just to name a few.

My toddler loves hot dogs, french fries, pizza, grapes, apples, scrambled eggs and she wants to eat almost everything we eat!

It sounds like dinner in Australia is a lot like dinner in the US. Except, at least for my family, corned beef only happens on St Patrick's Day, its so sad. And I don't really know what a cob loaf is.....

Do you celebrate Christmas with a ham or a turkey or something else? One year, I'd like to try doing duck for Christmas.... Is Christmas as big there as it is in the US?

Stifler's - posted on 10/13/2010

That sounds hectic Sally!

Sally - posted on 10/13/2010

My baby has some pretty severe allergies so we really can't eat out. Even without that, my husband works long hours and we only have one car so our options would be severely limited anyway. We are also very busy unschoolers, so my older daughter's schedule doesn't leave as much kitchen time as I'd like. Because of the allergies, we can't buy much in the way of processed foods--only a very few items from a very few brands and they are prohibitavely expensive.
We have a deep freeze and I can, so I watch for sales and buy in bulk. We just bought a 1/4 cow from a friend so beef is featured heavily in current menus. We also have a few favorites that come out regularly. I have to make a menu because I only get one grocery shop per week.
Monday my mom watches the girls during my dance class so dinner has to be something she can eat. She's diabetic and no longer has her entire intestine. This week we had spaghetti with rice noodles and homemade sauce.
Tuesday has to be something that can spend the day in the crockpot because Bea has 4 classes from 12:30 to 6:30. This week it was turkey breast and squash.
Wednesday has to be something that can bake while we're walking to the farmer's market AND something my in-laws can eat because they watch the girls during my troupe rehearsal. Mom has heart problems and dad has nerve problems; they're both on lots of scary meds and they only like convenience food. This week it's chicken pie.
Thursday can be anything we want so it's usually labor intensive. This week will be curried shrimp and rice.
Friday we're usually shopping until late so I suck it up and buy something premade This week we have organic baked beans and no-filler, no-preservative hot dogs to make beanie weenies.
Saturday and Sunday my husband might be home so I try to have something he likes like liver or steak. This week Saturday will be decided by the time I go shopping Friday. :) Sunday we are having a party so we'll have lasagna, garlic bread, and salad.

Erin - posted on 10/13/2010

Hi!
I make a weekly menu and sometimes I plan 2 weeks at a time. We don't do the same food all week, but instead we do theme nights, like Italian one night, Mexican another night, we do a homemade pizza night, Sunday dinner, comfort foods, seafood night, or breakfast for dinner sometimes. As I make my menu, I write my grocery list and then I only have to shop once every 2 weeks (when I plan for 2 weeks) or once at the end of the week for all the ingedients I need for the coming week. The more I plan my menus, the more I save b/c as I shop I am buying several things that will be used in several recipes... So, my grocery bill becomes less and less. For example of my menu, Monday we had Italian sausage with penne pasta and veggies, Tuesday we had Homemade Chinese Stir-fry, tonight is leftover night b/c it's out busiest night of the week with Church activities and gymnastics. Tomorrow we'll have Fettuccine alfredo with Shrimp, Friday I'm making Baked Chicken in a mariande, Saturday homemade pizza and Sunday Beef stew with Dumplings. It's so nice b/c the guesswork is taken out of it, I can focus on what I need to get done for the day instead of wondering what to make for dinner and running out for ingedients of I need something. We rarely ever go out to dinner. It's too expensive. Going out to dinner, we spend what I spend buying a weeks worth of ingredients for a week!!! I think that's amazing! Oh we Love making tacos and burritos at home! It's one of our favorite things to make! Or taco salad! Which my husband loves, but after a while, I get sick of having the same thing so that's why we do menus now. Now that's it's cold here (I live in Pennsylvania, USA) we don't do BBQ's but we still invite friends over at a moments notice for dinner! It's a lot of fun!!! Usually everyone will bring something whether it's dessert or a side dish. I hope this helped somewhat! Thanks for askng this question, it was fun to answer! :-)

Jenn - posted on 10/12/2010

I am in Canada. We eat a lot of the same things over and over again - spaghetti, tacos (yes we make them at home), meatloaf, chicken, steak, pork chops, fish, frozen pizza, then we add fresh veggies of some sort like broccoli, cauliflower, corn on the cob, salad, etc. and some sort of potato or noodle side dish. We don't eat out or get take out really ever - I always cook at home. I'm not sure what a cob loaf is, and we don't have impromptu bbq's - but some people do - just not us LOL!

Bonnie - posted on 10/12/2010

I am from Canada...Sara is right, Taco Bell is definately not real food. Yes they do sell tacos and other similar foods, but they prepare it unhealthy. I just make them at home:-)

Good Day! - posted on 10/12/2010

Corn dog is a hot dog on a stick wrapped in corn bread. Pretty gross.

Taco Bell is not real food.

Stifler's - posted on 10/12/2010

I think sloppy joes are like hamburgers but with savoury mince instead of a patty (correct me if I'm wrong, people from the USA). Corn dogs I have no idea either.

Renae - posted on 10/12/2010

Whoever it was that asked about Cob Loaf Dip, you have to try it! Its so yummy! You are missing out. There are heaps of recipes on the net, I have a good one if you want it.

Emma, we cook very similar stuff. Comes from living in the same country I guess :). Taco bell sounds good, we have to find a good mexican restaurant to get good mexican food. I hear about sloppy joes all the time on American TV and have always wondered what they were?? And corn-dogs, wonder what they are? I bet the non-aussies are wondering what surf n turf is! lol

Stifler's - posted on 10/11/2010

I'm the same as you Renae, make spaghetti bolognaise for easy food. It's easier to cook at home with a baby who wants to be fed around tea time. We don't eat spaghetti that much though, maybe more lasagne and pasta bake and curried sausages. I was just asking to see if people had normal foods that everyone likes or liked to experiment with cooking etc. I asked about the tacos because in the USA and I think Canada (correct me if I'm wrong) you have Taco Bell and we don't so I was like maybe they just buy taco bell instead of making tacos out of a box. I was kind of surprised to hear how many people make tacos! We eat them heaps. We have surf and turf too but i just buy the garlic marinated prawns from Coles and add cooking cream to it and serve with spicy curly fries.

Cob Loaf is this round bread like a large bread roll and you cut the middle out and scoop the bread out and put a mixture of things in the middle and bake it and dip the crunchy bread in (usually sour cream, bacon, cheese, chives and pieces of tomato or corn).

Renae - posted on 10/11/2010

I'm Australian so I probably eat the same things you do.



In addition to the stuff you already said, some other staples in our house are spaghetti bolognaise, curries (red, green, coconut, with chicken, beef, prawn, sausages), chicken parmigana, veal cordon bleu, pasta carbonara, that's what we've eaten in the past week anyway which is all I can think of right now!



I dont bother with recipes for dinner and I dont have time to menu plan. Basically to me, dinner = meat + vegies + carbohydrate (pasta, noodles, rice, mash potato etc) + sauce (I cant stand ready made sauces like bolognaise or cheese sauce out of a jar, I prefer to make everything myself and it takes no time at all). I generally just make it up as I go and throw it together. I only use recipes when catering for a special occasion or desserts.



I really like cooking and I am always on a mission to perfect my next dish/recipe which is usually a dessert but occasionally its something savoury like, lets see, well I think my last savoury mission was garlic sauce that goes perfect with surf n turf. Oh no that was before, the last was home made thai green curry paste.



We eat takeout probably once a fortnight. I dont really see how takeout is that much easier. By the time you go out and get it you have been gone 20 or 30 minutes and could have thrown a spag bog or meat and veg together in that time. If I'm strapped for time I sometimes grab a cooked chicken from a fast food place on the way home, strip it and make chicken, cheese and tomato omlettes, 10 minutes and its done (yes omlettes for dinner!), in fact I did that last night. :)