How to Brainstorm Healthy Dinner Ideas in 5 Easy Steps

Creating dinner menus can be a daunting task if you’re the one in charge of it every night. You’re trying to mix things up, while also making sure everybody is eating healthy. It’s no wonder we all get into a rut with our weekly meals! One way to keep things interesting, while keeping everyone happy, is by brainstorming healthy dinner ideas.

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From quick-and-easy meals to low-carb dinner ideas to five-course holiday feasts, here are five ways to brainstorm your way to meal-time happiness:

Find out what you know. A great way to start brainstorming is by taking note of what you already know. There are a few ways you can go about making your list. Probably the quickest and easiest is to make notes on a sheet of paper or in your favorite digital notebook. Write down everything you can think of off the top of your head that you can make from scratch. You might be surprised at how long the list is. If you’d like to be more organized with your list, you can sketch out a mind map by breaking down each dish into its main ingredient like chicken, beef, or pork. Itemizing your dishes based on the primary ingredient will help to see where you have limitations and what you eat often.

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Do some research. If you find that there are areas where you’re not as proficient as you’d like, you can always do some research to learn more. You can use several brainstorming techniques to help you learn about new dishes or improve on your old favorites. Keep track of everything you come across on Pinterest, Google, via crowdsourcing on Facebook, or anywhere else. It doesn’t matter if you find something that’s far beyond your abilities or something your family would never eat, make a note and keep moving. You can always find ways to change it later, or get rid of it entirely when you go back through the list.
Ask for input. Brainstorming healthy dinner ideas doesn’t have to be done alone. Have everyone involved join in your brainstorming session! You can lead a session that’s as organized as everyone sitting around the table and throwing their preferences into the hat. You might have one person who wants heartier meals while another wants to stick to low-carb dinner ideas. Welcome all suggestions so you can consider everyone’s opinions when brainstorming your new healthy dinner ideas.

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“You’re trying to mix things up, while also making sure everybody is eating healthy. It’s no wonder we all get into a rut with our weekly meals!”

Centralize your information and sort through it. After you’ve gathered ideas, you should consolidate them into a single database. Centralizing your information will make it much easier to organize and sort through them. You can use online tools to create digital notecards that are organized into categories as you see fit. You can also share your ideas with others to get additional feedback or find new ways to organize them. Organizing your ideas will help you get the bigger picture, notice trends, and start putting together a final plan.
Make a plan of action. There’s no sense in planning if you’re not going to put the ideas into action. Once you’ve got your ideas it’s time to get organized! You can put your healthy dinner ideas on a calendar, add them to your recipe book, or draw them from a hat to decide what you’re having for dinner each week. Whichever method you decide is best for you will work.

Coming up with healthy dinner ideas doesn’t have to be an overly complicated process. Of course, trying to find new recipes and then figuring out how to make them can be stressful. But brainstorming will help you to eliminate anything that’s beyond your abilities or your family won’t like. Our five simple steps can help you find new dinner ideas.