r/DinnerIdeas

My sister’s friend is planning a surprise party for my sister this weekend and I found out TODAY that I am responsible for lunch on Saturday for the party….

Another caveat is I live 5 hours away from my sister and am driving to her city on Friday evening.

So in terms of preparation my options are:

(1) prep something tomorrow night that will last until Saturday and can be transported by cooler
(2) buy ingredients on the way for something that takes minimal prep that I can set up on Saturday

Any ideas? My only idea right now is to get ingredients for sandwiches but that feels kind of boring.

We cook regularly every night or every other night but we want to start trying new things learning new dishes so please leave suggestions below.

Ok, I have the absolute bare minimum as far as ingredients go rn, and my partner is being kinda fussy (he says I make too many skillet/stove top meals, even though everything is from scratch and I love the challenge of them). I need an idea for my dinner tonight while he's off at work. I've got a single chicken breast, 2 relatively thin cutlets, half a container of Heavy Whipping Cream, a decent assortment of pasta, minced garlic, a handful of spices (standard pantry haul), and some shredded mozzarella cheese. And bread crumbs, alongside an unholy amount of eggs because nobody in this house has any braincells and keep buying more. Hit me with your best ideas, please. Oven baked is fine, Stovetop is also fine because I'm about to tell my partner to kiss a rat if he says anything.

Edit: made what I'm choosing to call "Poor Man's Chicken Alfredo". The bird was still frozen so I managed to dice it pretty small, cooked it, tossed some butter in the pan alongside an unholy amount of Jarred Garlic, 1.5 of Heavy Whipping cream, unholy amounts of garlic powder, Adobo seasoning, and a dash of dried oregano, and made up some Rigatoni pasta. Threw it all together with some Parmesan cheese and called it good.

My partner's office does little potlucks every once in a while with themes and a winning dish that gets voted on. They next theme is Chinese and I'm finding it difficult to find recipe ideas that are more authentic, could win, and that travel well. Usually I can find a crockpot dish that he can take in and is done by lunch. Most of what I find for that are very American Chinese recipes. I can make it and have him pick it up but it will still have to travel easy enough

So I come to Reddit, begging for ideas. I'm at a loss for this one. It can be anything, main/side/dessert.

- Couscous

- Cucumber

- tomato

- might throw some avocado in there

- black beans/chickpeas

- yuzu kosho and maybe a bit of Wasabi.

(Im not vegan or vegetarian) just eat lighter on some days. Its mostly the yuzu and wasabi that im not sure about 😅

Husbands work schedule varies with a lot of overtime some weeks. This causes us to sometimes only be able to see each other for a few hours a day. Looking for quick casseroles or slow cooker recipes so we can spend that little time together instead of me being in the kitchen cooking a long meal.

He's allergic to shellfish and seafood. Anything else works. Please share your favorite recipes!

basically what it says on the tin, trying to find crowd pleasing dinners that are a little fancier than your typical weeknight dinner. any help greatly appreciated 🙏