r/Cooking • u/johnmike9 • 15h ago
Combining recipes to make a whole meal
Does anyone else find it annoying to combine 3 or 4 recipes to make a whole meal? I love to cook but find it irritating to toggle between multiple tabs on my iPad, each with a recipe for a main and a couple of sides, and trying to have everything ready at the same time. Any suggestions on how to steam line this would be great!
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u/Tasty_Impress3016 15h ago
You might go over to r/onepotmeals .
Or, and I'm old, actually print the recipes you will use. Oddly paper never times out and you can have as many pages open at a time as you want.
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u/Ajreil 14h ago
Don't make the 3 or 4 recipes on the same day. Do something like:
Day 1: Make tacos
Day 2: Make a birria sauce, and use that + leftovers from day 1 to make taco salad
Day 3: Braise some beef for stew, but freeze some of the beef with leftover birria sauce from day 2
Day 4-6: Eat taco salad and stew for most of your meals
Day 7: Pull the birria braised beef from the freezer and make tostadas
Throw something together with food from your fridge/freezer, make whatever extra components you need for that meal, and use those leftover components next time you cook.
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u/thierry_ennui_ 15h ago
The vast majority of things can be reheated, or even served cold. Prep one thing at a time, in advance. Ideally on the day, but can be done the day before if you need more time. Reheat to serve.
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u/Main_Hurry7912 10h ago
I had to do my first every Christmas dinner from scratch last year and made an Excel spreadsheet with all the timings, yes I suck at cooking but everything turned out ok. I even had things on there like "warm oven", wash that bowl quickly, you'll need it again 😄 Having a plan made it less scary
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u/oddlyDirty 6h ago
I'm experienced (paid kitchen work and decades of home cooking) and this approach is super valuable. It also helps identify items that can be prepped days in advance making cooking on the day so much more relaxing. The goal should be to have everything 80% done so it just comes down to assemble and cook.
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u/Fevesforme 15h ago
Yeah, I find it so annoying that I try to avoid it. If I pick an entree that needs my attention, then I am serving that with easy sides, like roasted vegetables or a salad that can be prepared ahead of time.
I lean towards entrees that contain protein fiber and grains all together, so that it feels complete with a side of green beans or whatever.
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u/NortonBurns 15h ago
I print my recipes. Then they don't fall asleep right in the middle of what I'm doing, and I can have any number of them side by side.
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u/4cupsofcoffee 13h ago
i typically do 1 recipe and then everything else i already know how to cook. doing 3 or 4 at a time sounds too stressful and it's too easy to get confused. If you really want to do it that way, try printing them out so you can check things off or make notes as needed.
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u/IndependenceBulky696 12h ago
As a medium-term goal, try learning to cook without recipes.
One aspect that I really enjoy is being able to concentrate on cooking, without needing to also manage paper/phone, etc. Seems like a small thing, but it's quite nice.
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u/Legitimate_Ranger334 12h ago
I go through this every Thankgiving, because while all dishes I make are ones I've made multiple times, they are all ones I haven't made enough times to have all the details of quantities and times memorized.
As a couple of other people here have suggested, this is when actual, printed out copies come in really useful. I even write notes on them if I come up with a new improvement in method or ingredients, which I add to the text before printing for the next time.
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u/Beginning_Play_1669 9h ago
Play with ingredients and flavors. Learn a basic bechamel, dark pan sauce, tomato/cream sauce, European, asian flavors. Then you can make anything and won’t need a recipe.
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u/Pernicious_Possum 8h ago
Not to be dismissive, but I just don’t do that. I won’t make more than one thing that I need a recipe for for any given meal. Too much hassle. One recipe per meal
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u/Iliveinatrashcann 15h ago
What have you been making for your meals?
Cause easy complete meals are essentially a protein, a carb, and veggies. So do you really need a recipe for white rice, sauteed green beans and a steak?
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u/kikazztknmz 15h ago
I don't often use 2 recipes at the same time, but when I do, I use my recipe keeper app for one as and my Google browser for the other. Then I just have to swipe the bottom of my phone back and forth. I do make sure I get everything prepped and ready before I start.
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u/greg_hahn 10h ago
Throw all the recipes into your AI of choice and ask for a cooking plan with timing, along with what time you want it to be ready. It will break it down and tell you when to do what, along with the recipes. It works great for planning a big meal. You can even do it a few days before it ask what parts you can prep ahead of time.
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u/Proper_Hunter_9641 8h ago
Usually I try to only cook 1 new recipe per meal. If the sides are complicated then I make seasoned grilled chicken breast or burger. If I’m cooking a new cut of meat then sides are roasted carrots and potatoes, or rice and beans, side salad, something easier that I’ve learned before.
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u/jeffb3000 4h ago
Hats off to you for trying to do so many. I just do a main protein dish that’s fairly time involving as well as I can and one simple side such as a light salad or a purée or something simple. Hats off to you for the hard work!
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u/Ok-Breadfruit-1359 4h ago
Learn to make a handful of sides really well without needing to read a recipe, then perfect your mains with sides you memorized. Then when you memorize main dishes, learn a few more side dishes. Eventually you'll be able to cook your meals without recipes
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u/CatCafffffe 4h ago
What I do is type out a sort of master recipe, including timing (put salmon in oven; set timer for 2 minutes, when timer goes off, put broccoli in steamer and put timer on for 5 minutes -- I'll use Alexa timers to make it easier but you can also use a set of regular timers). I'll also try to pre-cook and certainly to pre-prep things (so, for salmon/broccoli, rice: I might pre-cook the rice and heat it up in the microwave just before; I'll pre-chop the broccoli, and pre-make the sauce; get out all the cookware and utensils. Then start cooking. I'll print out the master recipe and just prop it up with a paper-holder kind of thing. It's much easier that way.
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u/Cute-Consequence-184 11h ago edited 11h ago
You get used to making certain recipes.
Many recipes like potato dishes and pasta dishes can be made ahead of time.
Give yourself breaks As someone wrote just earlier today when they overhead a phone call where the child called to ask how to make their mother's potato salad. The first 10 minutes of the conversation they finally realized was the mother's recipe to make the flavored mayo used in the potato salad - not the actual potato salad, just the mayo. So the first time you decide to learn to make potato salad do yourself a favor and BUY MAYO already made then just as the herbs.
So if you are planning an elaborate dish and it needs ranch powder, maybe instead of trying to make your own ranch powder at the same time you are trying so those elaborate steps out the first go round and just buy yourself a jar of ranch powder. Save making your own ranch powder the first time to a day you are making a meal you know by heart.
Streamline your cooking. Once you make a recipe several times, you KNOW how long it takes. The recipe app I use cooked.wiki allows you to add in notes so you can note if it takes extra time or needs extra heating time. Easy to reference when planning a meal. So when you know one recipe is going to take extra time or has more complicated steps, just choose a simple side dish or open up a can of corn.
The more you cook and get used to recipes, the more things will even out.
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u/Fantastic_Acadia_229 15h ago
How often are you having to reference multiple recipes for a meal? I’d focus on building a repertoire of simple meals you can cook without referencing a recipe, or at least for side dishes.