I’m hardly the primary to complain about weeknight eating. (In actual fact, I’ve carried out it earlier than.) I’m not the primary to ponder a greater answer both. At SELF, we’ve supplied a superb many over time, however I’d prefer to suggest one other: sauce.
Let me clarify: I like cooking, however I hate making dinner. It’s important to determine what to organize; work out how and when to acquire the substances to make it; and handle your time, usually starting the duty the second you get dwelling from work with no second to breathe (not completely nice!). It’s important to cook dinner—not the worst half, however a component nonetheless—after which it’s important to clear up. And someplace in there, presumably—hopefully—you eat.
Even in the event you discover just a few recipes which might be simple to tug off and hold in your rotation, that may shortly get boring. In the meantime, elaborate meals—with diverse or “attention-grabbing” tastes, flavored with one thing other than salt, pepper, and garlic powder—might be intimidating, and each time you attempt a brand new one, it’s important to hope it goes properly since you’re risking time, cash, and power to get there. Positive, one may level to the seemingly infinite variety of recipes on-line and surprise how my inspiration may ever run low. However in my thoughts, that’s precisely the issue. Contemplate the well-known jam experiment: Too many decisions can result in overwhelm and choice paralysis, and the place does that depart me? Hangry and agog in entrance of my open fridge as soon as once more.
Shopping for a bottle of premade sauce, dumping it in a pan with just a few different run-of-the-mill substances, and calling it a day is the best and most cost-effective method to remedy all the above. You possibly can introduce new flavors to any meal with out in depth effort. A strong sauce at your native grocery retailer can value anyplace from $4 to $15 (that’s only a ballpark), and one bundle will possible final you a number of meals. You gained’t have to look far for inspiration—simply stroll the suitable aisle in your native grocery retailer and see what you come across. Add it to your go-to protein and carb base, and also you’ve received one thing pleasant.
Once I initially pitched this story, Rachel Miller, SELF’s editor in chief, advised me she was already a believer—she’d even written one thing comparable years in the past for Buzzfeed. In “Sauce Concept,” the right identify for an ideal idea, Rachel and her cowriter Tom Vellner declared: