Cooking for Developers: Quick Weeknight Meals
Simple recipes for when you're tired but still want real food
After a long day of coding, the last thing I want to do is spend an hour cooking. But I also don't want to order takeout every night. So I've learned a few quick meals that actually taste good and don't require much effort.
The key is having a few go-to recipes that you can make without thinking. Things where the ingredients are always in your pantry, and the steps are simple enough to do when you're tired.
Pasta with garlic and olive oil is my default. Boil pasta, heat olive oil with garlic, toss together. Add whatever vegetables are in the fridge. It takes fifteen minutes and always works. Stir-fries are another favorite. Cut up whatever vegetables you have, throw them in a pan with some oil, add soy sauce at the end. Serve with rice if you have it, or just eat the vegetables. It's flexible and fast.
I try to prep a few things on weekends. Cut up vegetables and store them. Cook a batch of rice or grains. Then during the week, I can throw things together quickly. Having good ingredients helps too. Good olive oil, decent pasta, fresh vegetables when possible. You don't need fancy equipment or complicated techniques. Just good basics.
Cooking doesn't have to be complicated. Some of my best meals were the simplest ones. A good piece of bread with olive oil and salt. Pasta with fresh tomatoes. A simple salad. The goal isn't to impress anyone. It's to feed yourself something that tastes good and makes you feel good. Sometimes that's a carefully planned meal. Sometimes it's whatever you can throw together in ten minutes.
Both are valid. Both are cooking.
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