The Assembly Meal framework for low effort dinners

I'm not cooking until I feel like cooking, thanks to the simple magic of Assembly Meals.

I generally love cooking. I even enjoy grocery shopping, and meal planning gives me a comforting sense of control over the week. But friends, I am tired. I remember feeling burnt out in the kitchen when my first son was a baby, too. In fact, I think I rarely cooked from the time I was pregnant until he turned one and a half. When the stars do align to give me a quiet kitchen and one full hour to take my time on a “fancy” meal, it’s bliss—but elaborate dinners lose their appeal when you’re up all night making food with your body.

And these people with whom I live … they want to EAT. For lunch today, my three-year-old ate a full smoothie pouch, a whole pear, six chicken nuggets, a handful of pretzels, and eight cherry tomatoes. Send help, or a Costco gift card?

My malaise around cooking may stick around for a bit, but I still need to serve satisfying dinners, limit my decision fatigue, and stay on budget. The solution here is not to find my way back to the love of cooking as a creative art form. That sounds lovely, but it’s not realistic.

The solution is focusing on Assembly Meals instead of multi-step, super involved recipes.

Assembly Meals are filling, delicious, and feel homemade—in fact, some of the components might be homemade—but they are low effort, with no chopping, no simmering, no fussing. Taco Night or Make Your Own Pizza Friday are perfect examples of traditional Assembly Meals for busy families and tired parents.

Assembly Meals are a framework to make dinner time easier. When planning your Assembly Meals think about:

1. A maximum of one “effort” item, such as seasoned ground beef for tacos or homemade pizza dough.

2. Pantry items, leftovers, or the freezer stash—not an extra grocery trip.

3. Appealing flavors or comfort foods to please as many palates as possible.

4. Buffet-style, serve yourself set-up.

Taco and Pizza nights are great, but today I’m thinking about how to build an entire week—or month—of Assembly Meals to get through a long I don’t feel like cooking phase. I’m sharing a couple of my recent Assembly Meals for my own documentation and your inspiration, but if you have a favorite Assembly Meal to add to the list, please share a recipe or link in the comments! If I get enough responses, I will compile another group-sourced post to keep the ideas going.

Maybe you don’t have a baby on one hip and a toddler asking “why?” on the other side—but perhaps you have three teens in different sports who have twenty minutes to eat between practices, or perhaps you’re going through a rough patch but strive to keep yourself fed with wholesome comfort food. Today’s list is not groundbreaking, but I hope you find it helpful.

Assembly Meals

• Since I mentioned taco night, let’s start with a twist on a classic: Tortilla-Crusted Tilapia tacos. All you have to do is throw the fish in the oven and pull out taco ingredients from the fridge. Condiments make Assembly Meals shine. Make (or buy) a cilantro lime crema sauce if you’re in the mood.

• Healthy Burger Bowls with Special Sauce kind of break Rule #1 of Assembly Meals, but here’s how to get around it: prep the ground beef on a Saturday or Sunday, store in the fridge or freezer, and save the special sauce mixing (it’s soooo easy, anyway) for the evening of burger bowl night. It feels like you didn’t cook at all.

• If you’re a Costco shopper, Assembly Meal options are endless, especially if you buy the Kirkland Signature Chicken Breast Chunks (or the Just Bare brand if you’re feeling swanky). My child gobbles these up, and I love them too.

  • I know I’m not the only one who regularly adds chicken nuggets to a salad mix and calls it a healthy meal.

  • Use freezer waffles (or spend some meal prep energy on homemade) for shortcut chicken and waffles.

  • Assemble chicken “gyros” with store bought pitas or naan, veggies, and tzatziki dip.

• While at Costco, buy a rotisserie chicken and their deli mac and cheese. All you need to do is warm it up in the oven and microwave frozen veggies for make-your-own mac and cheese bowls. The leftovers stretch quite far.

• Egg sandwiches.

• Nachos.

• Toast bar: just toasted bread with a smorgasbord of toppings.

• Pasta salad bar: buy pre-chopped veggies, olives, salami, and cheese cubes. Your only item to cook is the pasta. (I’ll be making this all summer.)

If another two weeks of Assembly Meals helps me carve out time to write, you’ll see some pieces on books and reading in your inbox soon.

Happy Assembling!