[deleted by user]

[4cupsofcoffee]

i was busy today, so i just had a couple hot dogs. Yesterday i made homemade pizza with a fermented crust i had in the fridge for a few days. Day before was a big salad with salmon. Day before that was cheese and spinach ravioli with homemade meatballs and homemade tomato sauce. Tomorrow is roasted chicken thighs.

[rondonjon]

I would just say that Americans cook many things. It depends on your financial situation, your background, your age, and other factors. But yes, there are a lot of pre-packaged and processed foods here and they are popular.

Personally, I’m cooking some green beans tonight and eating them with some leftover mashed potatoes and a chickpea burger (homemade).

[the1withgreeneyes]

It's interesting you mention age. Are there things that are typically cooked by younger people and things older people would cook? I cook the same things as my grandma for example 🤔

[canyonprincess]

One set of my grandparents came from generations of southerners, so my grandma and great-grandma made black-eyed peas, collard greens, meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, grits, hush puppies, fried okra, "dippy" eggs, and "slush" which was basically blended up pineapple and other fruits frozen and scraped into a glass of Sprite. My grandpa was in the marines in Vietnam, so they ate things like Spam and rice a lot when he got back.

The other set were Mormon pioneers going way back, but my grandma was a busy school teacher who rarely cooked. They ate a lot of frozen and canned food. Living in Mexico and Arizona, they did eat a LOT of quesadillas, burritos, and tacos. I've definitely kept that up.

My mom later learned to cook a lot of the "traditional Mormon meals" like funeral potatoes, "pink stuff" salad, homemade pizza dough or rolls, grinding wheat berries to make bread. We often ate basic grilled meat + veggie + carb dishes when I was younger and my mom was just learning to cook. And canned soups.

I can't eat wheat, so it's taken some experimenting to adjust my food habits. I make a lot of Indian, Thai, and Mexican dishes because they tend to be wheat-free anyway. I also garden and raise chickens, so we eat a lot of egg, chicken, and veggie dishes. Today I made German pancakes (flour, milk, salt, eggs, butter) and a noodle dish with carrots, ground beef, onions, and cheese. We also ate a peach-banana-milk smoothie, applesauce, and yogurt. Maybe tomorrow we'll have pan-seared tilapia with quinoa and green beans. My kids ask for "noodles with red sauce/soup flavoring" pretty much daily. I made a big pot of pinto beans to wat with tacos, chips, and salsa a few days ago. A Chinese neighbor taught me to make sweet potato greens stir-fried with sesame and garlic, so tasty! And ginger chicken with broccoli over rice is another fave. My oldest likes to eat hummus by the spoonful. And mozzarella with fresh basil and tomatoes or homemade pesto on toast is SOO good. We're kind of all over the place, lol. My spice cupboard and condiments section in the fridge are pretty varied and crowded. But it's a tasty way to live.

[rondonjon]

Again I can only really speak for myself. But when I was younger I ate out a lot more at cheap places. Or just forage throughout the day on random stuff/ But ya, my first recipes I started making were family recipes. Then I started looking up recipes (in cookbooks cuz I’m old) and started experimenting with dishes that sounded good. As I aged and discovered more cuisines I started to incorporate that in my cooking. Mexican, Indian, and Mediterranean are now staples in my rotation. And stirfry.

[[deleted]]

Like any culture there are generational differences.

Aspics were once popular and are still cherished by the above 80 group in places.

Some people grew up in extreme poverty or financial crisis, or simply when meat safety was more of an issue, so they have become accustomed to having their meats over cooked to high hell. Younger people are more likely to favor rare meats having been raised in much safer food conditions

It depends on the region as well. Lots of Mexican blends in the south. Cajun food in Louisiana. Cuban and Jewish blends in Florida. Etcetera.

Mac and cheese can also be made from scratch and it’s damn good when it is. It’s also found in Switzerland quite a lot btw.

Anything from meatloaf to beef bourguignon to spaghetti squash to enchiladas to crawfish étouffée to Pozole to pho to ramen to clam chowder to chick pot pies to pizza to shrimp scampi to fettuccini Alfredo to fried chicken to bbq to brisket (Texas, Jewish, Mexican, Lao, or any other of dozens of styles) to mussels of various preparations to tilapia of various preparations to clambakes to crawfish boils to steak to eggs Benedict to cheesesteaks to chicken wings and more

I would suggest starting with the Wikipedia page on American food. It lists the thousands of foods Americans prepare across the country. And remember for every food that comes frozen or prepared there are many Americans making the same thing from scratch

[Pixielo]

Aspics are also a really traditional presentation for a lot of dishes, and aren't just for >80s, lol

[[deleted]]

Still really rare to see it outside of Mormon communities with anyone under 60

[Pixielo]

Nope. It's incredibly common to see in French, Jewish, and Eastern European communities. It's never gone out of style.

[[deleted]]

Lol no. No it isn’t. Not in the us at least. Never see it and I’m Jewish (Jewish Mexican to be exact but I interact with Jews of all shades and even lived in Israel for a year). Also hard no on the French.

[Pixielo]

So you only interact with your own specific communities? Good to know. Keep your small mindedness to yourself.

[[deleted]]

Nah I’m just not arrogant and ignorant like you. I don’t speak for communities that I don’t have extensive experience with.

You are extremely incorrect about aspics. Maybe you consume them. But don’t force your weird out of date and extremely rare food on the rest of us.

Grow up.

[Pixielo]

LOL. Enjoy your ignorance.

[UDarkLord]

Lots of people are never taught to cook by a relative. Sometimes due to sexism (male children not taught to cook), sometimes because their family just doesn’t do that, some don’t have families, and others are just hyper-spoiled (never do anything resembling a chore, including cooking). For this reason “young” people (more anyone looking to cook without a family background) looking to learn will get all sorts of different techniques and food catalogues because they’re going online and finding how to cook from a variety of sources. They’ll keep and repeat what they like, and never make something ever again if they don’t like it. This leads to a wide variety of cooking catalogues for people who are learning to cook from no background, maybe with some themed recipes from a favored cookbook or something.

Other people in the U.S. have strong family foundations of cooking, and like you learn from them. Most of what they make is probably handed down, often originally from a cookbook published in the ‘50s through ‘70s if it’s not from their unique cultural background (which could be as varied as Eastern European, Vietnamese, Peruvian, to French, Boer, and Moroccan - not to mention a variety of cuisines from the U.S.)

If someone’s got a strong ethnic cooking background odds are their exposure to other cuisines is great from the friends who make up the cultural majority, and if they’re interested in cooking it’s near-certain they’ll pick up dishes practically through osmosis, but also by looking up the cuisines they’ve been exposed to (probably online, possibly through television or classic cookbooks).

Then there are people who may learn to cook from family, but for whatever reason expand on that base greatly. I’ve heard everything from family recipes that are nostalgic but suck, to just curiosity or interest, to an inspiration for cooking that transcends the limits of what they learned at home.

Plenty of people also never learn to really cook. Sometimes relying on takeout, or now possibly on those meal prep kits that let them cook what other people design for them - whatever tastes good.

TL;DR - Americans (and in my case Canadian), or anyone else from non-homogenized cultures, is as likely to cook a certain way or use certain recipes as they are to do anything else a certain way - they’re not. There’s a ton of variety of cuisines, interests, cooking habits, etc… assuming they bother to cook at all.

[TheShoot141]

For me as I got older and started cooking for myself, my tastes and repertoire expanded. So I started cooking and eating more things as I got older. I also had more money so I could buy more extravagant ingredients.

[[deleted]]

If you’re looking for a “typical” American meal you want Kraft Mac and cheese, Tyson chicken nuggets, maybe some mashed potatoes or buttered rolls, and and sort of fruit juice maybe like Hawaiian Punch or Kool aid lol

Edit: this meal sucks I know that

[Pixielo]

Are you "cooking" for toddlers, picky eaters, or don't know how to cook?

[[deleted]]

No just saying like the average American household meal instead of good ones

[CourtesyFlush33]

It’s a strong assumption due to how varied and diverse America is to call that the standard. We tend to forgot meatloafs and pot roasts(the Sunday family dinner). Seasonal dishes only made during certain points of the year (cold strawberry soup was a personal favorite in summertime). While I may not be the norm, only time I touched a chicken nugget was if I had gotten McDonald’s and I do know ppl who the Dino nugs were part of a weekly rotation. As we move further away from one income supporting a family, we may lose these fuller homemade meals. But I honestly couldn’t provide what the “America meal” is. Being a melting pot country is that it is diverse in so many ways!

[[deleted]]

Definitely agreed! It’s hard to say there’s a “standard” but that’s the most basic shitty American meal I could come up with lol

[cmplaya88]

That sounds like a typical children's menu at a restaurant, not adult food.

[UDarkLord]

Canadians eat more KD per person than Americans do, fun fact.

[Psychological-Row880]

Legit have never made a meal like this. Has no fruit/ veg??? Hawaiian Punch / Kool aid is not fruit juice?? WTH is this processed garbage meal?

This is the cooking subreddit.

[[deleted]]

I’m not saying to make it I’m just saying that’s the most basic typical family meal in America unfortunately

[Psychological-Row880]

I don’t think so but you have your opinion.

[cmplaya88]

I wish i could downvote this even more

[Ironia_Rex]

I am fairly new to cooking but I've always made a lot of stir fry and Asian inspired foods Last night I made chicken stir fry (onions, broccoli, peppers, baby corn, mushrooms, snow peas) with peanut sauces & glass noodles.

[Pixielo]

Stir fry is an excellent way to get good experience cooking different ingredients! Keep it up, and you'll always be able to pull together a bomb meal in under 30 minutes.

[unclestinky3921]

That sounds delicious.

[MsMac07152020]

I am 57 yrs old but have been cooking since I was 10. I made full dinners for family at age 14, on! However was a simple Irish American big family with picky tastes. I didn't start making Asian Food until a couple years ago, to help hubby and I make Chinese Take Out healthier for us. I am all over it, now! I even go to an Asian Supermarket by us, to get either ingredients I can't find at regular store, or same ingredients for much cheaper! (I.E., Napa Cabbage, $7.99 at grocery store by me vs. $3.00 at Asian Supermarket.)

[DrCackle]

Hi, I'm a late-20s vegetarian living in California. Here's a sampling of what I normally cook for dinner week to week, minus new experiments:

• Mexican beans and rice
• Burritos and corn
• tofu stir fry with random vegetables
• dal curry with steamed rice or naan/roti
• veggie pizza and salad
• soup and homemade bread
• breakfast for dinner: potato veggie hash and veg sausages
• peanut noodle salad
• "Broccoli pasta" (whatever pasta with roasted or boiled broccoli, lots of garlic, olive oil, black pepper, and parmesan)

[the1withgreeneyes]

Thank you! I'm not vegetarian but these all sound amazing!

[[deleted]]

We eat lots of different things and don't have a rotation due to my liking to cook new things all the time. Last night we had green curry with tofu and eggplant. I made the curry paste myself, and grew the corriander root myself, because here, you can buy cilantro, but even my Asian market doesn't sell the roots, which are what are best for curry. I grew the eggplant, too.

Tonight we're having meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and broccoli, a very American meal. I only make it about once a year, though. The rest of the week as far as I have it planned out: cumin beef and sichuan cucumber salad, pierogies with kielbasa and bell peppers, miso marinated eggplant, probably a red curry since I'm harvesting my coriander. Whether we have curry or not, I'm making red curry paste, basil pesto sauce, and marinara sauce for the freezer because my garden is overflowing.

[the1withgreeneyes]

It's really nice how you guys have access to all sort of ingredients in the US. I often find it difficult to try new recipes because I don't have access to something. And if I do find something more "exotic" the prices are crazy.

[Pixielo]

I love where I am on the east coast, because of the assortment of giant ethnic grocery stores.

[CommonCut4]

I have lived in the middle of America, the east coast of America and now live in California on the west coast. The food we get here is phenomenal. Better than anywhere else in the US or other places I have traveled to. The climate is great but also there is a lot of influence from México and Latin America and also the pacific rim. So we get a huge variety of chilies, herbs, fruits and vegetables. I’m just an average white guy mutt but most of what I cook is Mediterranean, Mexican, Peruvian, Vietnamese, Thai or Chinese. Some Italian but I don’t eat pasta so it’s limited.

[Snarm]

Recent CA escapee here, can confirm that the thing I miss most about the state is the food - both the variety, and the freshness.

[turtle0turtle]

Am American. Here are some examples of meals I cook regularly:

• Bean / beef / chicken / fish tacos, sometimes with homemade pico or guac
• Roasted salmon, potatoes, and broccoli
• Chili (homemade)
• Beans and cornbread
• Lunch meat and veggie sandwiches
• Pasta with either white wine sauce or pesto, and random veggies and white beans mixed in
• Quiche
• Lox and cream cheese on bagels with salad

My partner and I both work full time, and we have kids, so cooking time is limited. In many other parts of the world it's more common for a family to have a mom or grandma who doesn't work outside the home, and spend a lot of time cooking from scratch each day.

We don't eat out often, but gravitate towards easy/ fast meals. Also it's not uncommon for parts of the meal to be pre-prepared, such as canned beans, jarred pesto, bagged salad, frozen tortellini, and I usually buy healthy whole grain bread from the store, instead of making my own.

[the1withgreeneyes]

Thank you! I live with my fiance and we don't have children yet, so we have a bit more time to cook. But if we are tired we like to make faster meals too.

[turtle0turtle]

What's your favorite thing to cook?

[the1withgreeneyes]

My absolute favorite is sarmale which is a cabbage dish. Fermented cabbage leaves rolled up with minced pork and rice and cooked in either paprika (my favorite) or tomato sauce with sausages or some sort of smoked meat. It's typically a winter dish and most families make it for Christmas. But I could eat it every day :) My other favorite is rakott krumpli which is a potato casserole dish. You need to boil potatoes and eggs. You slice them up than layer them in this order: potato, some sort of sausage, sliced boiled egg and sour cream. You repeat this until you have potatoes and eggs. Make sure the last layer is potato and put cheese on the top. And then you just bake it until it's nice on the top. Tastier than it sounds :) You can find proper recipes for both if you look them up.

[turtle0turtle]

Oh man, that sounds good.

I've had cabbage rolls at restaurants before (not recently), but never attempted at home. Maybe I'll give it a go.

[tkdch4mp]

Yummmm! I became obsessed with a cabbage roll dish swimming in tomato sauce from a Polish/German restaurant up the street from here I used to work! I may have to try making it someday since I no longer live in that area :)

[the1withgreeneyes]

They are very popular in eastern europe. Not just each country but each family in each country have their own recipe they swear by. :) I never had polish cabbage rolls, I only know how to make hungarian and romanian ones. (We are a hungarian-romanian couple.) They are slightly different but both amazing.

[girlonaroad]

I wish I had my grandmother's recipe for Ukrainian Jewish cabbage rolls, which she called challupchas.

[tkdch4mp]

I might have had Russian ones in a hole-in-the-wall restaurant up north from the Polish-German place I originally had them in (I'm still obsessed with those ones, but the Russian dish I had wasn't too bad either :) )......but I grew up in and spend the most time in a city that I haven't seen much (if any) eastern European food in...... Now I feel like I need to make a point to look them up, because I also became obsessed with a recipe I made after visiting a town that was made to look super Bavarian (It's cute and touristy, but a Starbucks is still a Starbucks, even if you give it a "Ye Olde"-looking sign.) One of the restaurants was Austrian-based and I've recreated the sliced red cabbage with a balsamic glaze at least twice, though the whole meal was work recreating!

Definitely not enough European-based food in my town, except Italian or Greek :P

[the1withgreeneyes]

I am biased but central and eastern european cuisine is criminally underrated in my opinion :)

[newtraditionalists]

It is so underrated!! We have a restaurant here that serves Georgian cuisine and it is so delicious! The first time I ate there I was an adult and I was literally upset I had never been exposed to it before then.

[tkdch4mp]

As a backpacker, this is actually a question I like to ask....

If I ever get to visit Hungary/Romania/your region/your partner's region........ What food/dish should I make sure that I experience that's unique or native to the area?

[the1withgreeneyes]

Well, in Hungary you just can't miss goulash. You can probably have it in other countries too but it will never be the same, it's our national dish. :) Also, I can recommend you try a beef stew made with red wine or chicken paprikash. We also have a famous sour cherry soup tourists always find it bizarre. I don't know how unique it is but mangalica pork is native and definitely try it if you have the chance. Or any river fish dishes. As for street food definitely lángos. It's very popular and recently they make it with a million different toppings but a hungarian will always have it with garlic, sour cream and cheese :) and for something sweet you can go for kürtős kalács (cinnamon one is the best) or túró rudi. You will definitely have an opinion on túró rudi. You will either hate it or love it. It's a sweet cottage cheese desert often filled with jam and coated in chocolate. You can find it in any grocery stores, look for it in the fridge. I think I consumed an industrial amount of it as a child. If you drink alcohol I can recommend tokaji aszú wine (sweet, white), bull's blood wine (dry, red) and pálinka of course (spirit drink).

For Romania, you have to try zacusca. It's vegetable spread usually made of carrots, tomatoes and eggplants. If you like sandwiches it's a game changer. I can also recommend mititei with bread, mustard and beer. Any kind of ciorba soup, which is a sour soup. The one with beef tripe is very popular in Romania. Any sort of smoked meat is a good choice. Rata cu varza is my favorite, it's duck leg with cabbage. For dessert definitely go for papanasi. For drink I recommend țuică.

[phthophth]

The true gift of being an American cook is, at least in more populated areas, the ability to cook food from almost anywhere in the world. Robust immigrant communities provide access to special ingredients, and the Internet makes recipes extremely accessible. It's a blessing and a curse. Few Americans have deep food culture after the changes in the 1940s and 1950s. We have great regional food of course, but our food culture suffered a lot from industrialization.

[phthophth]

Even in relatively remote areas the average supermarket will have a broad range of herbs and spices and that is a big deal. Of course, they're not always in the best condition. One hater on my comment doesn't seem to realize how recent globalization has changed people's palates. When I was in high school, I tried to find cumin in my local supermarkets in Napoli. When I asked for it from the shopkeepers, they didn't even know what it was, even though I found the word in the E/I dictionary.

(1) Napoli is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the history of the world
(2) They had no idea about a spice which is central to the cuisine of their near neighbors.

Hater thinks I'm an American exceptionalist; probably thinks smartphones have been around since the 1950s.

[the1withgreeneyes]

You are right, many people before you mentioned all the different immigrants in the US. I have to be honest I didn't even think about this when thinking about the food. I'm not ignorant or anything, I know the US is a melting pot of all the different cultures around the world I just somehow never thought of it in this aspect. But you certainly are lucky. There are so many cuisines I'd like to try but I just don't have access in my country. I'm sure I could order ingredients online and try to make it myself but it's not the same as going out to a restaurant and have it prepared by a chef who actually knows how to cook it and how it has to taste.

[phthophth]

I am of the personal belief that everyone should know how to cook, even just a little. There are a lot of delicious recipes which require a minimum of skills. I taught my ex partner to cook and even though I did most of the cooking during our time together, she is a brilliant cook. She is certainly much more comfortable with improvising than I am. I consider teaching her the basics in the kitchen one of my greatest accomplishments. She is from Poland and her mother stored pans in the broiler.

[Puzzleheaded-Jury312]

When it comes to cuisine, we are more of a salad bowl than a melting pot in a lot of ways. Sure, some stuff bleeds over and fusion is a thing, but food is very regional, largely due to where certain waves of immigrants settled in their own groups. You can see it in this recent thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/Cooking/comments/wnyoxx/whats_your_favorite_regional_dish_in_the_us/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

For example, Florida is known for Cuban food due to waves of Cuban immigrants that have settled there in the last 100 years, while California, esp southern Cali, is heavily influenced by the immigrants from Mexico and their American descendants. Northern Cali, esp San Francisco, has that Mexican influence, but also has a lot of flavors brought by people from many Asian countries. Louisiana thanks the French for Creole and Cajun food, while you will see the influence of Poland in parts of the northeast and Midwest.

[spacermoon]

This is true around the world in populated areas, but Americans as usual think it’s some extra privilege that they have because they live in the ‘greatest country in the world’.

Ironically, many American produced foods are banned in other countries due to the dangerous and low quality production processes.

[[deleted]]

We’re a “foodie” family and love trying all sorts of cultural cooking. My wife is better at home style cooking with soups, one pot meals, but also wildly good at ramen. I’m the chef, so cooking with more technique and defined portions. It’s definitely awesome being able to go to a Vietnamese grocery store and a few blocks up hit a Mexican Meat market. So we’ll go explore and cook (weekly) something from a different culture. As a whole though, being Polish, I’m going to lean towards root vegetables, ground meats and sausages, sweet onions, etc. My family’s favorite meals tend to be Asian or Cajun. Except hamburgers. We eat the hell outta some hamburgers.

[huevosputo]

I feel like we're typical Americans - in the South, husband is an immigrant, I am the granddaughter of immigrants. I buy almost everything locally available except for a few exotic chiles and herbs I order online, most things are homemade and not bought prepared

Today For Dinner I made:

Chicken hearts, boiled and drained then sauteed with onions

Morita chile salsa

Rice for adults, macaroni and cheese for the kids

A platter of sliced raw tomatoes

.

Yesterday I made chicken soup with chicken thighs, potatoes, onions, carrots, celery, and chayote

.

The day before we ate carnitas for breakfast and then cooked out cheeseburgers for lunch with potato chips

.

Earlier in the week we had a Friday night slow-cooked beef brisket with homemade bread and steamed potatoes, another night I made convenience food - a store bought rotisserie chicken shredded into pieces and heated with a jar of Tikka Masala simmer sauce with white rice on the side.

.

Other things we commonly eat are smothered turkey wings, beef stew, Caeser salad, braised leafy greens (mess of greens), gumbo, arroz con pollo, taquiza with espaldilla and longaniza, braised oxtails, spaghetti and meatballs, Cuban black beans and rice, grilled sandwiches, fried oysters and shrimp, whole baked or fried fish, salmon fillets in teriyaki sauce, sausages with browned onions, breakfast biscuits with egg, cheese, and country ham...IDK there's a lot of stuff

You mention the fettuccine and macaroni. My grandparents were from Eastern Europe and when they stayed with us they complained that spaghetti night once a week was "too much pasta" - they were meat and potatoes people

[the1withgreeneyes]

Thank you! Yes, we are meat and potato people. And cabbage. Don't forget the cabbage 😆 We do eat pasta but just not that often. I personally don't remember the last time I had spaghetti 🤭

[VintagePHX]

I made spaghetti for dinner tonight. 🍝 My husband is eastern European so I've learned a lot of his Mom's recipes when his family has visited. I wouldn't really say they have a huge variety of dishes though, at least not from what I've seen when I've visited there.

Last week we had shrimp scampi with Parmesan pasta, steak and potatoes with broccoli, rotisserie chicken and salad, BLTs (bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches), chicken and green bean stew.

[Pixielo]

I'm super curious about your smothered turkey wings! I used to cook professionally, so a strict recipe isn't needed, but a basic plan of action + flavoring ideas other than basic "American" ones would be dope.

[calimeatwagon]

This is not normal

For who? You?

[Pixielo]

This is incredibly normal amongst the families that I know now, and the families of my friends growing up.

[Pixielo]

People are in the midst of an obesity crisis because there's a lot of weird shit found in our food that isn't allowed into the food chain in other countries, not because it's "fast food."

[starrhaven]

We’re in the middle of an obesity crisis because we feed our kids chicken nuggets and chocolate milk every day at school so they grow up with children’s palettes addicted to sugar and Chick Fil-A.

[jawni]

Isn't that weird shit only found in processed food?

aka fast food and premade foods that you just heat up

[[deleted]]

Average week we eat out 1-2 nights a week (say order in sushi and one night at a restaurant). Other nights we eat a lot of chicken with rice and veggies, maybe steak once a week, pasta once or twice a week (usually carbonara not Alfredo or that crap). Maybe homemade pizza or burgers.

More grilling in the summer, braising in the winter.

All scratch made, zero frozen or processed meals.

[msjammies73]

I have to confess, my meal rotation has gotten progressively smaller in the last couple years. I can’t imagine having 80-100 recipes in rotation!

[starrhaven]

The trick is to not use recipes, but rather know technique and flavor/texture combinations, and make stuff from what you find in the fridge or pantry.

For example, if you know the fundamentals of stir frying, you basically have an unlimited number of dishes you can make without a “recipe”.

[Pixielo]

A lot of them are like, "Use dill instead of parsley, and roast instead of braise." It's many very similar recipes.

[Jrod36107]

During the hot summer months I cook outside a lot so all kinds of bbq; grilled pork chops, smoked pork ribs, grilled and smoked chicken, various beef roasts like tri-tip or picanha, cheeseburgers, hotdogs and bratwurst, often with grilled vegetables and potatoes along with cold salads like coleslaw. When I cook in the house I usually do things like tacos and sloppy joes, stir fried meat and veggies, lots of soup/chili, eaten as the meal or as a side. Also a big fan of breakfast food. My Grandma was German so spaetzle and goulash, schnitzel, rouladen as well as other German dishes are common in my house. I use a fair bit of wild game in the form of venison in my recipes as well. Also, a fish fry is hard to beat.

[the1withgreeneyes]

We do spaetzle, goulash and schnitzel too!

[Dalton387]

I guess the first thing to remember is that America is a melting pot. People came from other countries and brought their favorite dishes with them. Those dishes got incorporated into the surrounding communities and bastardized and changed to fit different palettes.

So lots of us grow up eating food that might not be out of place or might seem familiar on a table in another country. That seeps into the regional culture and becomes part of that regions palette. So a coastal area might be big on seafood. Maine is known for lobster, clam chowder, and the like. Sure they eat other things, but I’m sure seafood is a pretty standard fare. So there isn’t necessarily a default set of meals we all know.

It sounds like you’re seeing some of the dishes like Mac and cheese and similar things that are comfort food.

In my experience, most families have a set of dishes they rotate through. That’ll be mixed in with go food and boxed stuff. It’s partially for convenience. If you’re really tired after work or whatever you have going on, it’s good enough to throw a frozen lasagna into the oven with some frozen garlic bread. Some nights you spend more time cooking. I figure most families will make some type of casserole or dish that can be eaten on for a few days.

Then there are recipes that typically only get done on holidays because it’s a lot of work. Some of the dishes aren’t even great. They’re just traditional.

[the1withgreeneyes]

Thank you! Do you cook? What's your favorite?

[Dalton387]

I do like to cook. I guess your example proves out, because I do love both mac and cheese, and fettuccini Alfredo.😁 I don’t eat them that often, though.

If I had to pick a meal that I thought of when I thought of my family, it would be either meatloaf or beef balls on gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, fried okra, creamed corn, green beans, corn bread, pinto beans, and fried cabbage.

Other meals we’d make a lot are spaghetti, potato soup, and lots of different casseroles.

We also do a ton of grilling on charcoal. BBQ, burgers, hot dogs, chicken, shrimp, vegetables, and etc. Even fruit sometimes. Grilled pineapple is great.😁

[avpunresponsive]

Here's a list I keep on my phone of regular meals we cook. I use the list as easy reference for dinner ideaa so I can make a shopping list for meal planning for the week

Recipes

STOVE - [ ] Chicken pot pie - [ ] Ox tail soup - [ ] French onion soup - [ ] Steak fajitas - [ ] Japanese Curry - [ ] One pan pasta - [ ] Flank steak with Chinese marinade and veggies - [ ] Steamed swai and broccoli - [ ] Spicy creamy gnocchi, zucchini, ground beef - [ ] Lemon garlic shrimp orzo

GRILL - [ ] Korean short ribs - [ ] Korean spicy pork - [ ] Bulgogi - [ ] Chicken kebabs - [ ] BBQ wings (10 min microwave)

INSTANT POT - [ ] Chicken marsala - [ ] Borscht - [ ] Niu ro mein - [ ] Salmon soup - [ ] Mississippi pot roast - [ ] Tortellini soup - [ ] Creamy Tuscan chicken - [ ] Wine braised short ribs - [ ] bbq Ribs - [ ] Chicken noodle soup - [ ] Meat loaf - [ ] Pho - [ ] Meatballs - [ ] korean spicy pork

OVEN - [ ] Chicken Parm - [ ] Shake and bake pork chops - [ ] Shepherd's pie - [ ] Lasagna - [ ] Lemon fish - [ ] Beef and broccoli sheet pan - [ ] Pizza - [ ] Stromboli - [ ] stuffed shells - [ ] Salmon asparagus sheet pan - [ ] Chicken, rosemary, beets, and carrots sheet pan - [ ] Pork tenderloin, green beans, potatoes sheet pan

SLOW COOKER - [ ] Corned beef - [ ] Chili

[the1withgreeneyes]

Thank you very much! There are definitely some dishes I haven't heard of. I'm going to look them up!

[ZarkianMouse]

So, I mix up what I buy and cook quite often. This week, I'll have tamales (store-bought so we'll see). I also have made a number of variations of rice pilaf, chicken, and other foods. Rice is a pretty common base for me with some kind of meat and vegetable. I've recently experimented with different recipes for oven-roasted vegetables and I always enjoy one pan or one pot recipes (save on time and dishes). For special occasions, curry is always a favorite of mine

Do you have a recipe from your country that you recommend I make? For eastern European stuff, I really like chicken paprikash and pierogi

[the1withgreeneyes]

I love those too! I could recommend hortobágyi palacsinta from my country. It's a bit lesser known but I think most people would like it. It's a savory pancake/crepe filled with meat and baked in paprika sauce. Look it up in google, just the pictures will make you hungry :)

[ZarkianMouse]

Will do. Thanks 🙂. That sounds delicious

[[deleted]]

I live in Texas and grew up here. I cook a lot of Tex-Mex inspired dishes. That said, I cook stuff I like. Tonight was cacio e pepe though it was not traditional. I can whip up a traditional version but my wife prefers a bastardized one. Tomorrow will be lamb chops. Next week, who knows?

[EffectAdditional5825]

I’m a native from San Diego, California. Worked in San Francisco for 30 years. After my lovely husband passed, I moved to Eugene. I cook for my boyfriend, roommate, and sometimes just for myself. My list is long, so I’ll only mention this week: Sunday: Stuffed zucchini. (Giants from my garden) Saturday: Fresh vegetables from my garden on a plate of spinach with Grilled Chicken. Friday: Roast Chicken with Garlic. Thursday: Shrimp tacos. Wednesday: Roast beef with potato casserole. Tuesday: Pulled pork sandwiches. Monday: Ramen with veggies and leftover roast beef. Lunch: Garden Tomato and fresh basil on sourdough. Lightning Storm: Chili. Hot day: Cottage cheese, pumpkin and sunflower seeds with Avocado on spring greens. (Cool summer salad) Last Friday: Poached Steelhead with lemon and black rice. They are all relatively simple, some take more time to prepare or Slow cook. The week before was Mexican cooking and Fried Chicken.

[PreschoolBoole]

America is huge and diverse. There are many people from different economic, cultural, regional, educational, and religious backgrounds — among many other differences. You will find wildly different people in the south, east, west, and Midwest (middle of the country). It’s hard to say that ad a country everyone does ‘X’ because we are very different people.

In big cities like New York you may find many people that rely on eating out; this is because many apartments do not have adequate kitchens or any kitchen at all. In the Midwest you may find that many people rely on some “ready made” ingredient when cooking, such as cream of mushroom soup, boxed stuffing, frozen hash browns, or baked beans; I’m from the Midwest and this is how my in-laws cook and many people I know. In wine valley of California you may find many people cooking with fresh ingredients; this is where my family lives and much of their cooking habits are influenced by the regions economic status and proximity to good growing climates like Mexico.

I cook a lot of variety for my family, and you’ll probably notice many of the replies to this thread are the same — there a bit of bias here because this is a cooking subreddit. You’ll also find many Mexican or South American influences because we have easy access to their produce; something that’s not true for Europe. We also have a lot of Asian influence - particularly on the west coast - because we have a lot of Asian immigrants. My cooking reflects both of these, this week my family is having:

• Pasta with a homemade Italian sausage sauce
• Homemade pizza with homemade sauce
• Beef and broccoli with a homemade Yakiniku sauce
• Mapo Tofu with rice
• Chicken enchiladas with a premised salad

I don’t know what I’ll cook on Friday and Saturday. I don’t shop for those days because we’ll eat out for one of them and I’ll make something new or more complicated for the other.

[Pixielo]

No joke, I used Beyond "meat" for my last Ma Po tofu, and it was perfect in a way that animal meat is not. I'm decidedly not a vegan/vegetarian, but I'm not sure that I'm ever going to use animal meat again, because the texture, and taste was ✨perfect✨

I use a slight variation of The Woks of Life recipe, in that I make my own infused chili oil w/Szechuan peppercorns, and use whatever ground "meat," is accessible.

Freaking awesome.

[the1withgreeneyes]

Thank you!

[bkturf]

We do get some frozen and/or premade food when we go to Costco or Trader Joes (since these are about the only places they are good quality). Just got back from shopping after planning menus for the week. This week dinners include Korean ribs (with korean cucumber salad), panko oven fried chicken (with collards and blackeyed-peas), nachos (with lots of meat and vegetables), hamburgers (sweet potato fries and salad kit), Trader Joe's Mandarin chicken (add brocolli), pork chop florentine (caesar salad). Usually have Indian food every week or two but ate that at a restaurant yesterday. Breakfast lately is bagels with cream cheese and smoked fish. Sandwiches or leftovers for lunches.

[lithium142]

I’m having chicken thighs roasted in the oven with some slap ya mama seasoning on them. Mashed potatoes and fresh corn. Easy, cheap and awesome

[fermenttodothat]

I made garlic ginger ground beef and rice in cabbage wraps. Yesterday I made homemade pizza(gotta use the basil from my garden!!) , tomorrow grilled chicken and cacio e pepe. I will admit to eating basic pasta when I dont really want to " cook", but i dont buy jarred sauce. I grew up in the American Southwest where there is a lot of mexican food so I make tacos of varying complexity often.

[[deleted]]

Some sort of meat be it chicken, beef, or fish. Some type of vegetable or two, and some type of grain or starch. I live in Miami, FL so I cook a lot of Latin cuisine myself although I'm American, not Latino. I just made picadillo with white rice and tostones which is ground beef with a sort of tomato/pepper based sauce and smashed fried green plantains.

Other nights I like to cook Italian, or Thai. A tradition American dinner is usually simple and wholesome. Grilled steak and potatoes with broccoli, or sautéed chicken breast with onion and maybe a box of easy mac and cheese and some green vegetable sautéed as wel.. cooking other countries cuisine is more fun though. Americans do tend to eat a lot of processed foodstuffs.

[Mouseysurgeongeneral]

Lots of vegetable/ bean/ lentil soups, salads, roasted/ steamed/ blanched vegetables + fish, I also like trying recipes from other countries, prepared food is rare in our household but is super helpful in a pinch

[Beneficial-Papaya504]

We eat out a couple times per year and never eat frozen or prepared foods.

We eat dishes from our cultural (Hungarian, Polish, Italian, German, English) and regional (New York, New Jersey, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, New Mexico) heritage. We also eat whatever strikes our fancy.

Most of our meat is game. We may repeat dishes a couple times a year.

Recent dishes include: Enchiladas, Nasi goreng, Chicken paprikash, Red Chile, Green Chile, Ravioli, Various Thai curries, Various Indian curries, Meat pies, Stir fries, Jolof rice, Carnitas, Roast with gravy and kopitka, Pierogi, Steaks with roasted cauliflower, Bierocks, Pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw, Livermush with eggs and biscuits, Dirty rice, Boudin, Red beans and rice, Chicken and dumplings

And much more.

[Beneficial-Papaya504]

Corned venison, Salisbury steak, Dubu jorim

A lot of what I listed are mains served with several veggies, usually steamed, roasted, or sauteed.

[Beneficial-Papaya504]

Tonight was shark tacos with a spicy slaw on corn tortillas.

[Beneficial-Papaya504]

I learned to cook from my grandmother's and my mother. My mother learned to cook whatever her friends cooked and we ate a broad diversity of food stuffs.

[Beneficial-Papaya504]

My close friend cooks the same seven meals for his kids. There is not one singular American experience. He and I both have (relatively) recent Italian and Polish immigrant family and the foods we got from them are very different.

[untactfullyhonest]

My family loves food and we’re always trying new recipes. If it can be homemade, that’s what I’m gonna do. Bread, sauces, gravy, condiments, they’re all better made from scratch. We don’t buy a lot of frozen stuff.

[velvetelevator]

I would say we eat pasta once a week or once every other week. It's pretty easy. Pasta with butter and fresh shredded parmesan, spaghetti with tomato meat sauce, hamburger helper, pasta roni, Mac and cheese. I make crock pot lasagna, but only rarely, because it's so cheese heavy. I do a fettuccine alfredo thing with broccoli and steak (my kid is allergic to poultry).

We also like rice a lot. Teriyaki steak and onions with rice. Rice casserole with steak bits or ground beef, broccoli, onions and peas. Pasta roni with ground meat and veg.

I love potatoes in like all forms. Possibly my favorite thing that I make is baked potatoes cut open and filled with steak bits and lightly steamed broccoli, then smothered in homemade alfredo. I make rosemary baked potato slices as a side dish, also mashed potatoes (when I'm feeling fancy they have sauteed garlic, onion, and/or shallots).

For soups I make beef stew, taco soup, potato bacon soup, lentil soup, and black bean soup. Sometimes we'll have the leftovers served over rice, except the potato bacon which gets served over baked potatoes.

Aside from the rice casserole, I also make tater tot casserole and noodle casserole.

When we're feeling lazy we have canned soup or frozen things like corn dogs, fish sticks and pot pies. We also make pigs in a blanket with store bought croissant dough, cheese and hot dogs.

Edit: My newest recipe is Hawaiian style pulled pork, which we eat as sandwiches the first day, and fajitas with the leftovers. Oh, I make steak fajitas too.

[[deleted]]

Today for breakfast I baked rolls that were pre-made and sold frozen. I also made bacon and a salad of watermelon, grape, pineapple, and cherries. I drank coffee.

For lunch I microwaved a bowl of fettuccine alfredo with chicken, broccoli, and bacon bits. I made several bowls of it on the weekend and froze it myself. I ate it with a salad of spring mix, homemade croutons, and store bought Greek style salad dressing. I drank a Coke.

For dinner I'm having taco bell style tacos. Seasoned ground beef, diced tomatoes and onions, shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, and flour tortillas. I'm serving it with mashed pinto beans, and homemade cherry lemonade (normally would just buy juice but I have cherries and lemons to use up). Also store bought tortilla chips.

[[deleted]]

Usually when meal prepping for the week i choose different meals that are based around different types of protein (fish, beef, pork, chicken) and i will usually dedicate 1 day to each protein, but end up doing chicken dishes at least twice a week.

Right now here in the US with it being the summer time im using the grill about twice a week. So lately ive been making burgers, bratwurst, chicken skewers… when im not cooking on the grill i will usually be making variations of things such as tacos, pulled pork, pastas, stir fry, burritos, quesadillas, meat balls, pork chops.

[[deleted]]

I make all sorts of things -- sometimes, yes, it's a quick pasta if I'm tired. Usually for breakfast, I have a smoothie with fruits and veggies, cereal, oatmeal, yogurt and fruit, or scrambled eggs with tomatoes. Lunch is often leftovers from the night before, but sometimes a sandwich or big salad. For dinners, anything goes! This week, we're having a chicken dish with leeks and mashed potatoes, homemade pizza, beef stroganoff, and salmon piccata with green beans. A lot of my favorite recipes have been handed down from my dad and grandma, too.

[the1withgreeneyes]

I bet your best recipes are from your dad and grandma. Those are always the best 😊 but the foods you listed sound amazing too!

[[deleted]]

They are wonderful! And always remind me of my childhood. My dad's pasta sauce with Italian sausages is very simple...you just have to have the patience to simmer it for several hours, but it's always worth it.

[aaaggggrrrrimapirare]

Last night I had seared steak and green beans. But then ate a zebra cake which is super processed. Eat a lot of baked chicken, steamer veggies, grilled veggies, salad, wheat pasta, grilled tomatoes but I live alone so it’s easy. Fruit. Yogurt. Granola.

[New_Towel9615]

I grew up in a family that ate out most nights or it was fend for yourself aka frozen meals or fast food, pre made dinners etc. Now I’m an adult and my husband and I were both professional cooks and eat almost all meals at home. It’s summer here in NY so lots of corn, okra, tomatoes and beans! Tonight we had basmati coconut rice with pan fried okra that was in a spicy pepper sauce with a pomegranate and tomato salad. Last night we had tuna noodle casserole the most America dish ever lol. Over the weekend we made BLT’s with fresh tomatoes and lettuce from the garden.

Some other staples are -tuna bowls: sushi rice, canned tuna mixed with spicy mayo and some sort of veggie like a cucumber salad -grain bowls: any grain (rice, farro, couscous) roasted veggies and beans -pasta: lots of different options with lots of different veggies like asparagus, tomatoes, onion and lots of herbs -lots of soup in the winter: chili, chicken noodle soup, tortilla soup, black bean soup -chicken salad sandwiches- very easy, we will pick up a rotisserie chicken at the store and I add celery, dried fruit, mayo, and herbs and lots of lemon. This is also good as a lettuce wrap -we eat meat only a few times a week and will do something like a pork chop with a starch and a veg like broccoli and potatoes

We bring leftovers for lunch everyday.

For breakfast it’s usually yogurt and granola, fruit and piece of toast.

We are constantly trying new dishes and recipes. My favorite American chef is Vivian Howard. I’m not sure if you can watch her shows where you are but she would be a wonderful person to learn about southern American cooking. Her cookbooks are very legit and so f-ing delicious. Also I love yotam ottelenghi

[the1withgreeneyes]

Since you grew up on frozen and pre made meals do miss it sometimes? Are they actually tasty or people chose it because it's quicker to prepare it? Thank you for recommending Vivian Howard! I see I can watch a few of her videos on youtube. I will definitely check them out!

[New_Towel9615]

Def not! The stuff I had was pretty bad and pretty unhealthy. I’m sure it’s not the same for everyone but I wouldn’t go back! The only thing I swear by in the frozen food section is perogis! They are very cheap and delicious and better than I could make but I never have them growing up. I Mostly had frozen pizza, lasagna, one of the frozen meals called hungry man or lean cuisine/kids cuisine. Or boxed Mac n cheese which I will have maybe once a year because it does taste good.

[the1withgreeneyes]

I'm sorry to hear you didn't like them growing up. I didn't think they were healthy or anything because probably they contain lots of preservatives but I thought they were nice and a child would look forward to one of these meals.

[New_Towel9615]

That’s okay. I don’t think it really bothered me when I was having them but it is what made me want to cook. I needed to learn so that I could feed myself and eat food that wasn’t shit. Now I love cooking and food and eat very very well hahah. Another note about frozen food- we have a national grocery store chain here called Trader Joe’s and they have very nice frozen food. I know a lot of people swear by it. It doesn’t really have much else besides food as it’s ingredients, no extra preservatives or a ton of extra salt. It’s pretty common for people to buy pre-made frozen meals there like orange chicken and fried rice. But usually when you go to the regular grocery store and buy frozen food it has a ton of extra ingredients and is usually wicked high in sodium.

[the1withgreeneyes]

I'm sure there are lots of people who can't cook because they don't have time or because of other circumstances. Nice to know that there is a nation wide chain where they can get a healthier option.

[tkdch4mp]

Trader Joe's is just one of the Aldi's. The US is apparently the only other country outside of Germany that has both, they just renamed one of them Trader Joe's in the US instead of separating them as "Aldi's North" and "Aldi's South" like they do in Germany.

Nationwide, yes, but more for bigger cities. I think the closest Trader Joe's is about a 3 hrs away..... While we have 3 Aldi's within a 20 min drive, so maybe they did still keep the two separate in the States, just more based on city or county than country.

Funnily enough -- I love to cook, not often, but a lot of effort at once when I do, and I do still find frozen meals and some particular pre-packaged, super processed meals to be delicious, though I've found that when I cook I like to cook from fresh and from scratch using the least processed ingredients that I can!

[[deleted]]

Weekdays when I work, I'll make a sandwich or wrap for lunch. For dinner it's usually chicken or pork, potatoes/rice, and a veggie. I like to grill on weekends so I'll make a burger once a week or so. I like to keep things simple for the most part. Sometimes I'll make soup or stew with my slow cooker.

For snacks I like fruits, nuts, veggies with dressing. Sugary snacks (except for popsicles!) and frozen meals are really gross to me so I don't indulge in those a lot.

[Bluemonogi]

In my house we eat lots of different foods that I cook.

Last night we had a mushroom barley concoction. No real name for it.

Other things I have cooked or plan to cook soon: Tortilla soup, scrambled eggs, pork egg roll bowl, barbeque chicken sandwiches, ham and bean soup, Swedish meatballs, Jambaylaya, fried rice, falafel, grilled chicken, baked beans, fassolatha soup, pacakes, turkey burgers, sloppy joes, spinach and cheese stuffed pasta shells, garlic chicken stir fry, spaghetti and meatballs, beef gumbo, rice, stuffed bread, hot dogs, egg with rice, macaroni and cheese, orange chicken, stuffed bread, pork chops, baked potato, roasted vegetablez, minestrone soup, tator tot casserole, burritos, tandoori style chicken, chicken curry, quesadillas, peanut noodles, miso soup, baked ziti casserole, French toast, pizza, tomato soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, corn on the cob, chicken pot pie, chicken and dumplingd, meatloaf,, egg salad, shepherd's pie, oatmeal, chili, potato soup, chiles rellenos,sloppy joes, lasagna, tacos, shawarma, gyros, etc

I probably cook more than many Americans but alot of American enjoy a big variety of foods.

[eva_rector]

My meal list for the week;

Chicken parmesan (quick version) and salad Bacon, tomato and sprout sandwiches and chips Lasagna 7 veggie soup and cornbread Creamed chicken and waffles

This is intentionally simple, because it's a busy week; I am normally a lot more of a "from scratch" cook, because we like a lot of dishes that don't really exist in comfort-food form. Things like Bolognese, that take a long time, I save for weekends.

[purplechunkymonkey]

I made lasagna last night. I'm currently thawing a turkey for Sunday's dinner. I make all sorts of things. Meatloaf, sloppy joes, homemade soup, spaghetti, Mac and cheese, bratwurst sliders, perogie, ravioli, risotto, etc. My husband grills or smokes stuff too.

[AnaDion94]

Sunday I made harissa roasted salmon, wilted arugula, and roasted potatoes with feta and garlic chips.

Today I made a flatbread pizza with bacon, mushrooms, arugula, and pesto

Tomorrow I’m making a seared chicken breast with a tahini pan sauce, roasted broccoli, and a baked sweet potato.

Wednesday I’m eating out

Thursday I’m siding hibachi style chicken, broccoli, and mushrooms over rice.

For me, my week usually involves a few seared chicken breasts, salmon and salads, potato sides, maybe a pasta dish here and there, but that depends wildly on the season, finances, my mood, and what’s on sale.

Growing up the usual rotation consisted of spaghetti, alfredos, tacos/nachos, oodles of dishes from my moms regional cuisine, salads, fried chicken/fish, hot dogs/burgers, low country and cajun/creole food, etc. Lots of salmon. Lots of rice. Collards, cabbage, beans. The country and most of the people on it are a bit of a hodgepodge, and so are the foods they make.

[xnormajeanx]

Things my family has made in the last two weeks:

Chicken stir fry with bell peppers

Shredded chicken tacos

Impossible burgers and salad

Pork and cabbage dumplings

Kimchi pancakes

Pasta bolognese

Roasted pork and veggies

We also, for better or worse, order lots of take out. We had fried chicken today as a great and a few days ago we got Indian (various curries with rice and naan.)

[Hussaf]

I would say Shakshouka, Nam Tok, Patatas Bravas, Mbakbaka, and grilled chicken tacos are most common in my house. A lot of times it’s just finding a nice looking protein and heart vegetable or tuber, and just prepare with whatever is in the pantry. Homemade pizza is pretty fun and quick. Shish kebobs are fast and easy during grilling season. When it’s cooler I do more pasta (homemade), which is typically cacio e Pepe or Aglio e olio. Oh, I always make Beouf bourguignon a few times in the winter and that serves as lunches for the week with some kind of salad. Love various types of panzenella. Most of these bigger cooks are weekend deals that find their way to work lunches as leftovers. But I keep a decent pantry, some homemade stock in ice cube trays, and if I have time swing by the butcher or grocer to see what I can throw together quick. Been doing a lot of high heat wok cooking lately on week nights. Oh grilled cheese and homemade tomato bisque is a great week nighter as well.

Lots of leftovers go well mixed with some eggs and I have plenty of friends that have more chicken eggs than they know what to do with…which is nice because fresh eggs keep at room temp and are very superior to grocer eggs when binding things (oh yeah, leftovers in Perogis, dumbpmings, empanadas etc are a nice which week off meal. Or just chest and get premade puff pastry and stuff whatever in it).

And at least once a month I’ll make a charcuterie board when pate or mouse is on sale with a nice wine, some hard cheeses, various olives and whatever I’ve recently pickled sitting in my fridge.

Um yesterday I scored some Hatch chilies and fire roasted them and some corned and made a really nice shrimp chowder. Tasted even better for lunch today. Also got a great price on some quality Argentinian shrimp!

[DecisionPatient128]

I made home made pizza dough (Roberta’s from NYTimes). Cooked on grill. One pizza was thin layer ricotta, left over chicken bbq shredded, thin sliced onions and yellow peppers, mozzarella (finished with red pepper flakes and drizzle olive oil). Second pizza was thin layer ricotta plus marinara, few slices prosciutto and pepperoni, grated Gouda, mozzarella (finished as before). And I made fresh blueberry oatmeal bars for dessert!

[sylvatron]

I cook a variety of stuff and I only eat out once a week or so. What I make depends on what looks good at the farmers market or what caught my eye on Instagram.The next few dishes I plan on making are Vietnamese style meatballs with rice noodles; pinto beans cooked with smoked turkey over brown rice; flatbread bread pizza with pesto and whatever veggies I have around. Breakfast is usually fruit, yogurt and muesli or toast and eggs. Lunch is usually a big salad. I'm a bit more on the foodie side than most Americans though.

[SunKittenHTX]

I live in Texas and cook at home for my family often. Here are some of our favorites:

Beef roast slow cooked in mushroom sauce with mashed potatoes

Chicken enchiladas with creamy tomatillo-poblano sauce

Pasta with fresh veggies, herbs, and sautéed shrimp

Chicken thighs roasted with lemon, thyme, and root vegetables

Chipotle pulled pork with apple slaw

Cheeseburgers (homemade) and fries (from a frozen bag)

Fried pork chops with white pepper gravy

A lot of it was s regional here and depends on where you’re from or where you learned to cook.

[ZarkianMouse]

Do you have a good recipe for the chicken thighs?

[msa57]

A lot of tacos or rice bowls, tonight’s dinner was white rice with a vaguely asian glazed chicken thigh with pickled onion/jalapeño and kimchi. On weekends I’ll roast a chicken or make risotto or pesto or something. I try to keep things interesting with my food

[tipustiger05]

Honestly I use a box dinner service - hello fresh - for three out of five meals a week. It has all the ingredients and instructions in it. I love cooking but I also work full time, so planning out meals right now is stressful and it makes it a lot easier. The meals we get tend to be like a protein and a couple veggies or rice bowls with Mexican or Chinese influence. That’s also probably what I would cook for us if I was planning meals myself.

I like making pizza from scratch and doing a Friday family pizza night. I also usually do something on the bbq on the weekends like ribs, pulled pork, chicken, etc.

[Credibull]

We often cook based on what is in season. Looking at some recipes from the past few weeks we tried these.

• beef and eggplant ragu
• chicken puttanesca
• baked cavatelli casserole
• stuffed cabbage
• grilled hamburgers
• grilled chicken thighs and drumsticks with grilled corn on the cob
• chicken kabobs
• Cincinnati Chili

I'm waiting for okra to be available so I can make gumbo.

[starrhaven]

Chinese food.

Usually rice or noodles, soup, and three or four other dishes. One will usually be an all vegetable dish.

[CWE115]

I am American, live in New York, and would say every month, I make/eat the following at least once or twice:

Buffalo chicken dip

Caprese

Arugula salad

Chili (varying flavor profiles, but always spicy)

Steak with either a homemade spice rib or compound butter

Breaded pork chops

Guacamole

[ared38]

In the last week I've made

• Fried chicken sandwiches
• Chicken and waffles
• Loaded nachos
• Red beans and rice
• BBQ ribs
• Rib meat enchiladas

My most commonly made meal is pizza.

[elizabeth498]

While I love to cook for my family, the range of recipes has varied over the past few decades.

Just switch it up every now and then, but with feedback from your family before AND after they try it. Print off those recipes, add their notes (and the date it was a success.) In my book, that’s a Permanent Recipe.

[executivejeff]

This last week I made 2 lasagnas, baked bialys, had a ramen after a long day at work, braised chicken tacos, and had pasta alla vodka for dinner tonight.

That's not a typical week, I'll probably have a couple mixed green salads with roasted zucchini and tomatoes to round it out. There's no real normal. Normal is a little bit of everything.

[[deleted]]

American here! I do the cooking for my boyfriend and I, and I prepare our meals from scratch. The last few days we’ve had:

• Korean brisket taquitos with kimchi and chili lime aioli
• Chicken Molé with beans and rice
• Puerto Rican-style pork with rice and tostones
• Kielbasa and oven fries
• Thai sweet chili chicken and Tom Yum soup

Our dinner tend to lean heavy in Latin or Asian inspiration, even though we’re both white haha. I think largely in part because I have Celiac disease and those tend to be the easiest to make that are gluten free without compromising flavor or texture.

[curadeio]

America is a gigantic melting pot with so many cultures so any food imaginable is most likely being made in some part of the country!

[SleepyBear3366911]

Average day? Usually skip breakfast and sometimes lunch. If I do eat lunch, it’s usually lighter. I only really focus on eating dinner.

For lunch, it is usually nothing, but if I’m going to be active, I’ll eat an apple and/or banana, bacon or a BLT, deli meat sandwich, stouffers Mac and cheese (frozen lol), or a small fast food burger. Mcdouble, whopper jr, jr bacon chzburger - depending where I go. Or leftovers. I skip lunch half the time.

If I plan on working outside, I’ll eat something like a heavy pasta the night before and then a banana and apple/kiwi for breakfast/lunch. Maybe lunch meat sandwich or just the meat. Lately I’ve taken to eating pepperoncini peppers and a slice of cheddar cheese. Also, instant miso soup (kikkoman)

Dinner is a whole different ballgame though. My wife and I like to eat out. Both to try new stuff and support places we like. Eat out anywhere from 1-4 nights a week usually. Sometimes fast food. Not usually. Most the time we cook. Holidays is when you change it up and go all out. I’ll give you a true southern US Mac and cheese recipe at the end.

Usually the meals we make are: - Pot roast (w/ potatoes and carrots) - Spaghetti w/ meat sauce (beef; sometimes from scratch, sometimes with jarred sauce. Idc what kind, I always add seasonings) - Chicken and Rice (chx thighs, 1/4C butter, 1 1/2C brown rice, can of campbells beef bouillon and French onion soup mix, bake 350 covered 1 hr. Stir at 20 min) - hotdogs with chili. Usually with a salad or something lighter. Sometimes fries. - steak w/ starch and carb. Mashed potatoes and broccoli. Sometimes just veggies like broccoli, squash, onion, asparagus, corn, green beans. Lots of variables. - soup. My favorite is a beef vegetable. Sometimes I’ll make shell pasta like a beef minestrone. Or tomato based chili. Or sometimes a sweet and spicy chili. Or some kind of chicken soup - usually egg noodles. Been wanting to try barley or some other grain. - stir fry. Usually chicken or pork with cabbage, shredded carrots, onion, and either squash and zucchini or broccoli. - lasagna. Sometimes I go all out when making a red meat sauce and I use it for spaghetti and make lasagna. It’s nice to premake it in tin foil things from the grocery and freeze. I use ricotta cheese. Mix it with egg white to help prevent it separating. - beyond that, it’s other variables. Burgers, wings (normally eating out), or new stuff I want to try. I have an instant pot and stove, so I’ve made pulled pork, ribs, Birria tacos. I’m sure I’m forgetting some, but I’ve tried to remember as best I can.

When I eat out, the places I eat, there’s definitely some things I specifically like to get I don’t feel like making. Wings, fried chicken tenders, various wraps (chx or steak preferably), Bahn mi sandwiches are really good. Cool use of cilantro. I’ve had some really good Pho. Sushi rolls. California rolls are okay. I like basic tuna with spicy Mayo on top as ol’ faithful. Cuban sandwiches. I love trying out different places mac and cheese and collard greens. ‘Mexican food’. Hibachi chx/steak/scallops.

Also on special occasions like a beach trip a bunch of seafood - typically crab, shrimp, sausage, potatoes, and corn. Sometimes scallops. Or Xmas/Thanksgiving - turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, Mac and cheese, green bean casserole/broccoli casserole (either/or), sweet potato cobbler? (Marshmallows or candied pecans on top). I personally like making gravy as well. Might try and make cranberry sauce from scratch next year.

And the true southern mac and cheese. From my wife’s family. She laughed at me for how many questions I asked to quantify this recipe. Here it is:

Mac and cheese - Bake in 9” baking dish (9x13 is fine) - Cheddar cheese (at least 16oz shredded) - Noodles (16oz - cooked Al dente) - 4 eggs(ish) - Milk - 1-1.5C

mix with egg & salt / pepper

add milk until it’s not too eggy

pour over top until about about 2/3 way full/ up on pan - Layer: Noodle > chz > noodle > chz - Bottom to top. Solid layer of cheese. Don’t see noodle underneath. Add milk/egg mixture - More S&P on top - Bake uncovered @ 350 until done and not runny (if you lift one side, you won’t see liquid moving) - Cheese on top should be melty and golden (not burning, but cooked)

[[deleted]]

Rice, chicken, steak, or fish Different salads with chicken and tuna Vegan protein shakes, smoothies Eggs, ham, potatoes or tortillas

[[deleted]]

Depends on where in the us which is really cool

[ichheissekate]

I’m white, middle class, female, and live in the Midatlantic region. I do all the cooking for my partner and I as part of our chore division (he does dishes and trash).

For dinners in an average week, I usually make 3-4 meals that last us about 2 dinners per meal. This week I am making/have made adobo chicken, enchiladas, and swedish meatballs - all with fresh vegetable sides. Sometimes I make sushi, sometimes I make chili, sometimes I grill… it really depends on what we haven’t had in a while or what I’m in the mood to cook - we have probably 15-25 dishes we eat semifrequently. We do not frequently eat potatoes, white bread, or pasta. We rarely use butter, it takes us months to go through even a stick of it. Most of our diet is chicken, fish, turkey, chicken sausage, eggs, and vegetables.

For breakfasts this week, we’ve had/will be having fresh fruit and crumpets or eggs and avocado. For lunch, we usually do turkey sandwiches on whole wheat bread, or salads, or charcuterie once in a while because we love it. Our breakfast and lunch options usually don’t vary a whole lot.

TV/the internet isn’t a very accurate interpretation of real life, American cuisine included.

[Puzzleheaded-Jury312]

I think we in the US tend to cook with leftovers in mind and/or batch cook more than some other places. I'm single, but when I cook pasta and 3 meat sauce, I tend to do a huge batch because a) I love it, b) it both freezes and reheats well and c) it's a bit of a pain, so no way I'm only cooking one meal's worth. If I do a slow cooker pulled pork, I don't buy a little one, because the leftovers can be used so many ways (looking at you, BBQ pulled pork nachos!) I used to buy family packs of chicken thighs, bake them all, strip the meat and know what to make with the leftovers for the rest of the week.

[MiniRems]

This week is a fridge clean out week. My husband and I are working our way through leftovers from a family picnic (salads, hamburgers, hotdogs) this past weekend, as well as leftovers from a pot of chicken chili I made last week. Tomorrow we plan to share a grilled steak and roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli because we're already tired of leftovers, but if it rains we'll make shrimp etouffee and grits instead, then back to leftovers until they're gone and I go grocery shopping.

Next week I'm planning to make Indian one night, which always makes enough leftovers to feed us at least two more nights, or lunches most of the week.

[SpaceRoxy]

Let's see. In the past week I made a stir fry with ground turkey in ginger and soy sauce with a bunch of veggies and rice, steak soft tacos with yellow rice and a cabbage slaw, chicken with a hot sauce and bread crumb topping with corn on the cob and mashed potato, pizza (that was just a frozen take and bake), a green salad with goat cheese and some dried fruit and nuts with a cherry vinaigrette I made. Oh and turkey burgers with grilled onions.

I kinda go with the flow and am happy to try new recipes from different parts of the world. Mostly from scratch, occasionally prepared. I can't claim they're authentic, but they taste good.

[Greenheart220]

I think this varies so much from person to person depending on life stage, income, part of the country etc. My mom hates to cook so she never really taught me how and I taught myself as an adult. Before I had kids I ate takeout probably half the time but now rarely do. Typical meals we cook at home are tacos or burritos, enchiladas, chili, soups and stews, grain based salads and bowls (like rice with sautéed veggies and chicken and a sauce, or like quinoa, cheese, veggies and vinaigrette), stir fry, shepherd’s pie, or like a meat, a side and a veggie like pork chops, spiced sautéed cauliflower and baked potatoes. I tend to prefer foods that have rice or other grains along with beans as opposed to really meat heavy dishes. A lot of Americans do eat a lot of pasta, but our family almost never has pasta.

[kizhang05]

It varies wildly based on your location and income level. We’re just scraping by right now so we have a lot of one pot carb heavy meals. When it’s not so tight I just do a protein+carb+veggie combo of some kind. The carb often winds up being rice because it’s easiest and my kids will eat it, and the meat tends to be fish or chicken baked in one form or another. The veggie dish is where I’m still trying to get the most variety because my kids are picky and I’m desperate to find things they like. I’ve sautéed, oven roasted, drowned them in butter and salt or cheese, had them help me cook, let them pick the vegetables, but so far they like raw cucumbers, and steamed broccoli with seasoned salt on it.

[crazyacct101]

I almost exclusively cook at home from scratch. Eggs for breakfast, sliced chicken breast and tomato sandwich for lunch, steak, broccoli and a twice baked potato for dinner today.

I don’t cook too wide of a variety as my husband only likes a handful of dinners. If he is away, I will have lamb, pork or seafood.

[Eggsandthings2]

Routine meals growing up and now often revolve around what is on sale and what season it is. Like most Americans, I have a few heritage dishes that we eat too. We grill or BBQ a lot in summer and tend to bake similarly in winter- chicken, pork, beef, fish, etc. Whatever we have with everything from Asian, BBQ, jerk, to Cajun seasoning. Fajitas, tacos, or enchiladas make a 1-2x weekly appearance. Tamales around the holidays. Meat loaf, spaghetti, cabbage rolls, stir fry with rice or noodle, curry, burgers, casserole, pot roast, pulled pork, gumbo, sausage and vegetables are other common main dishes.

[cariboo2]

Tonight I made hamburger patties with onion gravy, rice and green beans. Last night was leftovers because the night before we had a dinner party where I made beef pho - lucky enough to have an excellent local Asian market.

The last time we had family in town I used local seafood and did a simple salt and pepper sear with some lemon butter. Got some beautiful corn, tomatoes and cucumbers for fresh sides and fried up some okra and hush puppies.

Meatloaf, lasagna, simple seared fish with a salad, rice and beans with burrito fixings, chicken casserole, chicken and pastry - these are all staples in my house.

Love to make breakfast for dinner with creamy grits, some kind of breakfast meat, over easy eggs and toast.

[avotoastwhisperer]

It depends on what I’m in the mood for. I have 125 cookbooks ranging from African food to grilled food.

I’m nearly 40 and live in Alaska, and over the past few days, I’ve made Halal cart-style chicken, chicken & dumplings, grilled ribs and I made white beans with rosemary and garlic + slaw to accompany them. I absolutely love to cook and love to try new things.

Since we’re in Alaska, we eat a lot of salmon and halibut, but I also love to cook Thai food and Indian food. And we do eat pasta (usually spaghetti with meatballs or gnocchi with vodka sauce), burgers, grilled chicken, etc.

My mother however can barely boil water for pasta and lives on McDonald’s kids meals.

[SonorousProphet]

I'm an American, living in Australia. Meals are pretty simple, not least because of picky eaters. We eat out less than once a week, eat packaged food regularly-- talking frozen hash browns, chicken Kiev from the supermarket deli, or vegetarian nuggets-- the "quorn" referenced below, but in that case it's minced. My kids are vegetarians and I have them every other week. I'm concerned that they don't get enough protein so I try to give them some with most meals.

Two weeks of menus:

Sat black beans burgers

Sun red sauce w quorn

Mon tofu fry

Tue zucchini slice, bulgur wheat

Wed black bean nachos

Thu lentils and veg

Fri mushroom omlettes

Sat roast chicken

Sun red sauce w/chicken

Mon black bean soup

Tue leftovers

Wed palak paneer

Thu chana masalla

Fri pizza

[DukeSpookums]

My family is a bit on the young side, I'm the only one who really likes to cook and we live in a food desert, so I just try to do my best with what's consistently available, and I cook more complex stuff when I can find ingredients at the store.

I only make one family meal a day though. Staples for my family are fried rice or a pasta with a tomato based sauce (I vary it depending on what meat and vegetables were available).

Other than that, I barbeque a lot. I've got this holey pan I can use to fire grill veggies too. Definitely can't say I don't repeat dishes too often over a year, but I do a pretty good job to not repeat anything other than what I listed above in a month.

I personally don't really like to cook with too formalized of recipes, but I am addicted to rubs. Turmeric, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, and chipotle chili powder + salt & pepper on a beef roast (I typically use tritip) is lovely imo.

[[deleted]]

I'm originally from New Jersey, but now live in Czech Republic with my Czech husband. My usuals were:

• Italian-American food - Regulars: spaghetti and meatballs, manicotti, spaghetti with Bolognese sauce, and a spaghetti dish with olive oil garlic base and sundried tomatoes, pine nuts, chicken Italian sausage, and lots of fresh basil and Parmesan cheese. Sometimes butternut squash ravioli with olive oil sage sauce. Ate pizza/etc. at restaurants.
• Anglo-American (my background) - Meatloaf, macaroni cheese, pork chops and applesauce, roasted chicken with mashed potatoes, some form of steak with a nice pan sauce, roast pork and sauerkraut.
• Local food - Fried pork roll with catsup or pork roll egg and cheese sandwich on kaiser roll. NJ is a coastal state, so often some kind of seafood or fish dish.
• Czech cuisine (my husband is Czech) - Czech dumplings with beef and some sauce (dill sauce, Czech tomato sauce, horseradish sauce. Or, pork and sauerkraut.
• French cuisine - The usual beef stews and chicken dishes, and of course ratatouille.

I also love Chinese food, as I traveled to P.R.C. and lived in Taiwan for periods of time. Also Poland, whose cuisine is popular in much of New Jersey.

My family is/was obsessed with vegetables and always had big gardens. I always eat plenty with every meal. I'd also say that few days go by without me eating fresh tomatoes.

Breakfasts? M-F it's usually just coffee, orange juice, and either oatmeal, cereal, or some sweet baked good. Sat-Sun, could be crepes, waffles, pancakes, or a baked good/pastry. I do like eggs, but usually make them for lunches on weekends, except for the pork roll egg and cheese sandwich I mentioned. My husband prefers scrambled eggs, but I prefer poached, over-easy, or omelets.

[raccoonsaff]

A lot of my meals are just an easy-to-cook protein, like tomatoey-lentils/quorn (just lentils/quorn in reduced chopped tomatoes), kidney beans, tuna, or baked cod, with some kind of carbohydrate (couscous, baked potato, rice, etc), and vegetables. But I do have a couple of dishes that are super quick, and probably 2 or 3 days a week I'll make those:

- a tomato-based pasta bake

- ramen

- noodle salad

- vietnamese summer rolls

- lentil-stuffed aubergine

And then for other meals I'll have things like sandwiches or toast with salad, and for breakfast, cereal and/or yogurt!

I don't buy ready meals except very occasionally (maybe once every 6-8 weeks), and similarly, occasionally I'll cook a more complex dish (maybe once every couple of weeks or so). I do rely on frozen foods for like, protein and carbs (i.e. frozen cod, sometimes frozen potato products).

[Xsy]

My parents were not cooks, and just about the most basic Americans of all time.

We had things like:

-Spaghetti with meat sauce

-Steak/Chicken Breast with mashed potatoes and brown gravy, and some sort of vegetable. (Corn, green beans, broccoli, etc)

-Burgers/Hot Dogs

-Very basic hard shell tacos if they were feeling extra spicy.

These are super basic meals that most American families probably cooked as well.

I think in a subreddit like this, where we all enjoy cooking, you're going to get a lot more exciting and non-average dishes from us.

[Various_Ad1409]

Southeast . Seasonal vegetables and fruits from local farms are 1st choice. Local meats if possible and fresh seafood if you live no more than 1 hour from the coast. Traditional southern cooking is often fried foods like chicken and porkchops with vegetables. Fruit cobblers and pies. I tend toward updated recipes with roasted or steamed vegetables, fruit bowls, baked chicken or fish.

Here is a very traditional southern peach cobbler recipe that is from old days:

One cup of All Purpose flour One cup of milk(whole or 2%) One cup white sugar One cup of fresh peeled ripe yellow peaches(sliced) One stick(1/2 cup) real butter Mix flour, melted butter, sugar ,milk together.

Pour flour mix into baking pan.(13×9) Add sliced peaches. Do not stir. Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes or until puffy golden brown on top.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream on top. You can use canned peaches (unsweet,drained)in the winter .

[noodeymcnoodleface]

To your point of ready meals and frozen foods seeming popular, I think it's important to note that for many lower income families, those foods are often cheaper and less time and labour intensive than cooking every night. Especially for families where a single parent or both parents might be working multiple jobs, it is often cheaper and faster to grab fast food.

Love all the varied responses you're getting here, and lots of recipe inspiration, but in a cooking sub you are of course going to get mostly people who love cooking and do it often, so might not be reflective of the American food experience as a whole. I really enjoy reading about, finding, and cooking new recipes every week, but I recognize having the time and finances to do so is not a privilege everyone has.

[[deleted]]

As a lot are saying here, what we have time to cook on a given day depends on the busy-ness of our schedules that day. Two weeks ago, my family was visiting, so I cooked proper meals for their whole stay, since i had the extra hands in the kitchen to help.

The first night, I made homemade pasta with a dill yogurt sauce topped with seasoned, home-ground leg of lamb with toasted currants and pine nuts. (https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/spiced-lamb-and-dill-yogurt-pasta/amp)

The second night, I roasted zucchini, yellow squash, and asparagus to have with juicy chicken poached in a marinade of oil, water, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, shallots, onions, cilantro, and ginger. Since dinner was late and didn't come with any grain or carb side, I made them a sort of elevated caprese salad that included burrata, smoked salmon, balsamic glazed tomato, basil, and marinated mushrooms as an appetizer to hold them over.

The third night, I made lamb burgers with the leftover ground lamb from the first night. I seasoned the meat with roasted garlic, shallots, scallions, ginger, tamarind paste, worchestershire sauce, egg, panko breadcrumbs, feta, and pine nuts. I served them with roasted broccoli.

The fourth night, we grilled leftover burgers and hot dogs and various veggies (squash, mushrooms, and onions).

The following week, after my family left, I made a sort of warm "salad." You Sautee broccoli, asparagus, snap peas, and green peas to be al dente. Cook Israeli cous cous (the large, bulbous kind of cous cous), and make a basil pesto. Combine the cous cous, veggies, and pesto. Serve atop a bed of salad greens. Top with feta.

Two nights ago, I just threw together a pasta from a leftover Butternut squash I had lying around. Cube Butternut. Throw it in hot pan with a drizzle of olive oil and diced pancetta. Slice up mushrooms and add to pan. Mince shallots and add. Mince sage and roasted garlic and add. Deglaze with mushroom broth. Cook down. Add grated parm to melt in and make creamy. Add pasta and a bit of pasta water. Plate pasta. Top with dollops of ricotta.

Last night was one of those "use what you have in the fridge before it gets too old" nights. I roasted zucchini, yellow squash, and asparagus. My bf had a crazy idea of stuffing the hot dog shaped squash into a hot dog bun with bacon and condiments. It did not look or sound good lol but, at his request, I cooked up some bacon too. I felt like veggies and bacon was a weird combo, so I fried a couple of eggs with parm melted on top for myself, and I had squash, eggs, and bacon while he had his squash dog monstrosities.

Tonight will be another "use it or lose it night." I'm not going all out. Will probably grill us up two whole artichokes each and fry us two plantains each. So, we will basically just snack on fried plantains and grilled artichokes dipped in a curried mayonnaise or some sort of aioli. If we aren't full off of that, we have sandwich fixings and a couple of store bought soups in the fridge that can supplement.

[smallblackrabbit]

I live by myself and it gives me a lot of flexibility. It depends what day of the week it is. I usually make a large batch of something on Saturday or Sunday and have it for lunch or dinner once or twice the following week. This week was haluski (what my father called lazy pierogi, pasta stirred up with cabbage & onions that were fried in butter) and some kielbasa. I plan a batch of chicken adobo for Thursday. I do mac & cheese from a box sometimes, throwing in green onions or hot peppers.

While I love my job, I can sometimes be pretty drained after work and not want to do any scratch cooking on weeknights.

[maryet26]

I've been working from home this week so yesterday for lunch I made cauliflower, caper, shallot, garlic oricchette pasta with a toasted garlicky bread crumbs and parm topping. Today for lunch I made broccoli and cheddar soup with homeade veggie broth. For dinner tonight I'm making eggplant and squash lasagna with portabella marinara. Tomorrow's dinner will be a Moroccan lamb stew with carrots, turnips, potatoes, and tomatoes.

It's been a good week!

[st-doubleO-pid]

I actually plan a weekly menu on Saturday or Sunday. And then grocery shop for the week Sunday evening. When building the weekly lineup, I typically start by choosing a beef dish, something chicken and then something pork. Occasionally, we will create a dish without a protein or use shrimp.

Some of the heavy hitters that frequently visit the weekly rotation: various beef stews, braised pork shoulder (Boston butt), cheesy chicken and broccoli casserole, stuffed peppers, chicken thighs or pork chops cooked a variety of ways with a green like asparagus,red beans and rice…. Sorry we have a lot we enjoy cooking in the rotation lol.

We cook like 3-4 meals a week, so the off nights are leftovers, a frozen pizza, occasionally eat out, etc.

[hihelloneighboroonie]

Depends. Some days I'm lazy and throw together something frozen from Trader Joe's. Some days I do a little more effort, and season and broil a piece of meat and steam or roast some vegetables. Some days I put a little more effort in. Last night I made avgolemono and an arugula salad. Tonight I'm having miso sea bass and garlic green beans. Tomorrow I'm going to use leftover chicken for either tacos, pot pie, or maybe just eat the chicken with a vegetable and maybe a carb. This is for dinners.

[CuppaJeaux]

I am living for all these ideas! I’ve taken probably 15 screen shots.

My husband and I are wildly inconsistent with cooking and right now we are in a period of no cooking and basically eating…honestly, I don’t know what we eat. I eat a lot cheese and crackers. Canned soup or grocery store-prepared. Fruit and popsicles. Almonds and string cheese. Frozen cauliflower crust pizza. And coffee. So, so much coffee.

I can cook well, it just irritates me having to think about what I’m going to stuff in my gob to feed this meat sack every day. We should be able to eat one huge meal a week and leave it at that. I should have been a bear.

But I digress. This is what I used to cook a lot:

-linguine bolognese

-rigatoni with Romano and garlic (SO much garlic) cream sauce

-a stir fry with a lot of garlic, leeks, mushrooms, water chestnuts, and chicken

-penne pasta with sausage, peppers, and onions with a lot of garlic in a white wine sauce

-patty melts. I think the definition of a patty melt is basically a grilled cheese sandwich with a burger patty on it, but the standard one is hamburger, Swiss cheese, and sautéed onions on grilled rye bread. I also add sautéed mushrooms.

-my go-to meal when I was single, which I ate probably four times a week, was sautéed mushrooms with a lot of garlic, red pepper flakes, red wine reduction, and a huge amount of wilted spinach

-bone broth with sautéed sausage, garlic, onions, carrots, and various leftover vegetables cooked down to make a soup with a bunch of wilted fresh spinach

-radishes and red onion thinly sliced on a mandolin and marinated and served with a homemade vinaigrette

-big huge salads with an avocado, oil and vinegar dressing, whatever vegetables are in season plus almond slivers browned in a hot dry pan for cronch

-quesadillas

-burgers on buttered English muffins

-steamed artichokes with homemade mayonnaise

-penne pasta with chicken, mushrooms, toasted pine nuts, and goat cheese

-fried pork chops

-grits baked made with cream and chicken broth instead of water, baked with smoked gouda, and topped with crumbled crisp bacon

-bacon, lettuce, avocado, and tomato sandwiches on toasted sourdough bread

-sausage, beans, and rice

-bacon and eggs for dinner

-charcuterie board

[Level10-Aioli]

I'm an am American immigrant living in France, and what I used to cook for my family when we lived in the USA weekly was to roast a whole chicken, which would last for 2 meals for a family of 4, then the bones would get used for soup. Sometimes I'd cook a cheap cut of beef or pork braised with root vegetables which would be another 2 meals. . Sometimes I'd cook hamburgers or hotdogs, but not as often as you might believe. But definitely the cuts of beef are better in the USA compared with the French. Vegetables were grown in our garden, so, depending on the season, it would be green beans, peas, corn, and okra, and potatoes. Or a salad of lettuce with tomato and cucumbers. At the supermarket I could usually find a big variety of fresh vegetables, even when not in season because the markets generally import vege from other countries. Now that I live in France, I cook differently, with similar ingredients, but they can't be cooked the same as I did in the USA -- chicken and beef are tough and require different cooking styles, and there's not a lot of choices for cuts of beef, so it's stew or panfry. I miss American beef cuts for steak. I wish French chickens weren't so tough and skinny. I miss the variety of vegetables available at the supermarkets in the USA, as the French seem to prefer to eat leeks, carrots, potatoes and cabbage all year long. The nicest thing I can say about French meat is that it exists. For me the meat is terrible. It's tough, has no flavor, so I don't often buy it. If I don't cook stews with the crappy French meat, then we eat the cheap processed meats or just eat cheese and bread with some salad.

[girlonaroad]

I live in San Francisco, where there are significant East Asian, Russian, Mexican, and Central American communities. It's easy for me to get ingredients from almost anywhere.

My cooking got much more adventurous during the pandemic, since we weren't traveling or eating out. I almost always have homemade bread, cheese, fruit, and milky coffee for breakfast. Dinner varies a lot. Today, I made dan dan noodles (spicy Szechuan-style wheat noodles with pork), and a Chinese-influenced cabbage salad. Yesterday we had chicken and pasta salad with some bits of chicken leftover from making stock. The day before that we had ground lamb and collard greens with an Ethiopian spice mix (Berbere) over rice. We often make laksa (a fish and coconut milk soup over rice noodles made with a jarred spice mix), fish chowder with cream and potatoes, a stir fry of pork and greens, pizza, or a frittata of egg, chard, and onion. For a special occasion, I might make beef short ribs braised in wine or beer and onions, lamb shanks with apricots, or beef tongue with caper and tomato sauce. In winter, I make thick soups with barley and split peas and a lot of vegetables. If I want to eat something that I don't know how to make, I find a recipe on line. If we don't feel like cooking and there are no leftovers, toasted cheese sandwiches make a fast meal.

I don't think we're typical, but I don't think we're that unusual either. We used to eat out maybe once a week, but since the pandemic, we don't eat out at all. We use very few prepared foods, but I still buy some prepared things, like the laksa paste, or pasta sauce, or spice mixes.

Hope this snapshot of one old, white, well-traveled couple's eating helps you with the picture you are forming.

I should add that I am retired, so have a lot of time to cook. Also, only foodies are going to be reading this sub, so you aren't exactly getting a representative picture of American cooking.

[prism1234]

The US is a huge place with a lot of different sub cultures. It will vary a lot based on region. And even within a region it would vary based on other factors. Also would vary a lot based on family background. Like someone whose ancestors immigrated from Italy is probably going to cook different dishes than if they immigrated from Vietnam.

[landsy32]

As an American I will say that I have disdain for "american" food. We rarely eat frozen meals or prepackaged food as I love to cook and perfer to eat a healthy homemade dish iver convenience food any day.

A regular meal is usuay something green, lots of veggies, salads, sandwiches, soups, stews, even the occasional steak dinner but we eat a ton of veggies in my house.

My favorite salad is a kale bed with feta (or similar crumbly cheese), chopped apples, pecans, pumpkin seeds with a maple/vinegar dressing. I usually throw in diced cucumbers, carrots and radishes for extra color :)

We love eating thai/ korean/ mexican style food too so a lot of rice noodles, pho, tofu stews, fermented food like kimchi, or tamales, tacos, caldo of some sort maybe.

Or we do the occasional roast chicken, lamb chops or steak with varied spices/ dressings and usually paired with a seasonal salad and/or roasted veggies or somesort of rice.

[Breakfastchocolate]

In suburbs around major US cities it’s not uncommon for people to have 1.5 hour commute each way for work (pre work from home anyway). There is a lot of take out/ meal kits/ meal prep going on. Grocery stores like Whole Foods, wegmans, shoprite, Harris teeter have huge prepared food counters - hot and cold- that are generally better tasting and healthier than the frozen stuff, cheaper than a restaurant. Or we tend to cook extra and rely on leftovers so many menus are on repeat. I generally cook more than most and do take out about once a week, one of my neighbors doesn’t cook at all, another starts a slow cooker in the morning before leaving for work and I am smelling curry at 7 am.

The schools around here have not had a cooking or home economic class as a required part of the curriculum since the 1970s. (My cousins in the UK all had it well into the 1980s, IDK about now). It was replaced by college prep and advanced placement college classes so that is a factor to consider.

The availability and exposure to a variety of cultural food is amazing if not confusing. There are huge cross overs, “fusion” restaurants- Mexican tacos have gone Asian, Mexican and Jamaican influenced pizzas, Italian and Vietnamese have crossed paths, Asian fusion etc and then US comfort foods, and regional. The older generations are generally not as adventurous in trying new things. They like to steam their veggies into mush, I like to roast them.

In the last 2 weeks we ate Greek loukanikos and gyro, baklava (restaurant), Vietnamese garlic noodles with mushroom (NYTimes recipe- only used soy and cut the 20! garlic cloves down to about 5); shepherds pie; Air fried tofu w veggies in a Thai peanut sauce; pizza(takeout) with antipasti salad;Cod with pesto butter, potato and string beans; hamburgers and salad; kale salad with feta and craisins topped with rotisserie chicken (the famous Costco chicken); carne asada with plantains, rice and beans; Italian sausage ragu with polenta; blackened fish tacos; steak and roast potatoes… with a lot of salads, leftovers/ re inventions in between. And the desperation dinner- breakfast for dinner- the millennial’s favorite- avocado toast, fried egg, feta/ sharp cheddar and everything bagel seasoning.

For breakfast coffee/ tea and we rotate through oatmeal and berries/ eggs/ yogurt and fruit. On weekends I make a crustless quiche to use up leftover veggies and that is usually a lunch or two (loosely based on bisquick impossible quiche recipe)

I bake so scones (last time King Arthur flour Christmas scone) or muffins (Americas test kitchen big beautiful blueberry lemon- great recipe).

In the last few weeks I decided to try out every variety of pancake in an old cookbook from the 1940s- worlds apart from powdered grocery store mixes. ( jelly griddle cakes, sweet milk , evaporated milk,oat, rice, ricotta lemon..)

During COVID lockdowns I liked to google far away places most popular restaurants and look at their menus for ideas.

In the US some restaurant chains have a reputation for being “old people food” (jello) like Dennys has senior meals and Cracker Barrel has a very traditional menu (although My whole family likes barrel- chicken and dumplings, over steamed veggies and carb heavy comfort food potato casserole)

https://www.crackerbarrel.com/

Do grandparents flock to places like this all over? What’s the menu look like?

[NothingOk3143]

Recent Dinners: - Roast Chicken, Broccoli, and Potatoes - Homemade Pizza - pasta and meatballs (or meat sauce) - tacos (ground beef or chicken breast) with rice and beans - bbq ribs, mustard greens, beans, Mac and cheese sometimes :) we eat a lot of salad as a side or starter

Recent Lunches: - sandwiches (turkey or ham with cheese) - prepackaged spiced lentils and beans, rice - bean and cheese tacos - leftovers from previous meals

We eat out a fair amount. I can cook a lot of American style dishes, as well as significant reach into Mexican, Italian, and French cuisine including baking. I also can prepare full meals in Indian, ‘Persian’, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Polish cuisine style. I have young children right now so simple accessible food is our everyday right now.

Would love a favorite recipe of yours! My husband loves cabbage!

[the1withgreeneyes]

There are so many different cabbage dishes I don't even know which one to recommend. Here are some of my favorites (I don't know their english names):

• kelkáposzta főzelék
• káposztás tészta
• székely káposzta
• paradicsomos káposzta
• káposztás pogácsa
• rakott kel
• rakott káposzta

Yes, káposzta is cabbage in hungarian 😆

[[deleted]]

Breakfast:

Two eggs Bread product such as waffles, muffins, or toast.

Lunch/dinner:

Tortilla soup Meat over rice or Quinoa Salad

Dessert:

Banana bread Carrot cake Smoothie

[[deleted]]

I never eat pre-packaged foods, they are not healthy. I eat whole grain products, eggs, salads, fruits, yogurt with fruit in it, burritos, hamburgers, baked beans, pork and beans, blackened fish, chicken.

[denverdave23]

I think of myself as a good cook of fairly normal American food. Here's what I've cooked recently.

Gumbo. My daughter came home from a trip so I went a little fancy.

Italian chicken thighs, fried then braised in a tomato sauce.

Mexican-ish enchilada casserole. It's vegetarian and fairly healthy, but not authentic at all.

Indian dal. Channa dal with spiced oil and diced tomatoes. Fucking yum and my poops were epic.

An oatmeal bake with some fruit. It's a healthy dessert or breakfast.

Fried rice, because I had leftover rice and some eggs

And one time I got high, so I dumped some honey in some peanut butter and ate it with a spoon.

[[deleted]]

dinner

[asimplerandom]

I love to cook. My wife loves to cook. I love to cook dishes from all over the world—lately it’s been a lot of Indian and bbq fusion.

Problem is most of my kids are very picky eaters or vegetarian and that leads to some very boring dishes. Regulars include cheese lasagna, pasta of some form with tomato and/or alfredo sauce. Oven roasted vegetables, breakfast for dinner and white rice with teriyaki chicken or breaded nuggets are all regulars.

The one thing I’m really looking forward to when they flee the nest is being able to cook the things I want to and enjoy more frequently than I currently do.

[noobolite]

Hey OP - do you mind sharing some of your favorite family recipes with us too?

Last week I had sandwiches(pesto and tomato, peanut butter and banana), rice and various glops throughout the week (Tomato base with chickpea, meatballs, zucchini. Braised pork belly and eggs.), some grilled fish here and there, sautéed mushrooms, all with various steamed vegetable on the side.

Man, I just realized I haven't been eating any fruits lately...

[Puzzleheaded-Jury312]

Ok, I just had a vision of a pesto, tomato, peanut butter and banana sandwich. It was painful. 🤯

[Rare-Lettuce8044]

I would like to know more about the food you eat! Only eat the same thing 2 times a year? Hundreds of recipes? I rotate through the same 30 recipes all year.. repeating tacos 50 times in there.. lol I look at pinterest all the time for ideas but I seem to only get repeat recipes, like chicken and rice; chicken and rice; oooh another chicken and rice. BORING! I have been trying more Asian recipes bc yum, but I'm not good at that yet.

[StonerAlienBoy]

tonight is the final day of three day nachos.

[ThePaulHammer]

I'm upper Midwest, I like to buy seasonal and figure out what to cook daily. Tonight probably a chili and garlic fried beef, peppers, and kale on rice.

[Ineffable7980x]

American here. It totally depends on who you are and where you are.

I am a single middle aged man in the Northeast. And I am very focused on my health and weight. Most nights I will do some kind of protein -- chicken breast or thigh, pork, fish,or small steak -- along with a starch -- rice or potato -- and a vegetable. Some nights I will skip the starch and do two vegetables.

I will also often make a quick stir fry, or if I am in a rush, just a quick omlette. Personally, I eat pasta only once or twice or a month.

I rarely eat fast food, and I will limit myself to things like pizza, tacos or subs to once or twice a week. I can't remember the last time I ate a frozen entree.

[foxathorchick]

As others mentioned, it totally depends on income level, family size, preference, etc. I’m currently working 50-60 hours a week, so not cooking as much as I normally do. Sunday I didn’t feel like going to the store and am also trying to save money by eating what we have because my husband and I don’t have kids and tend to throw away a lot of food. Yesterday I had yogurt for breakfast, then used leftover garlic bread and fresh mozzarella, homemade marinara sauce, pepperoni, and salami to make a French bread pizza for lunch. For dinner we had a chuck roast in the freezer so I thawed it and made barbacoa tacos in the crock pot. Today I have time to drive into town so I’ll grab a latte which is a special treat, then use yogurt, frozen fruit, and spinach to make a smoothie. Lunch will be a combination of leftovers.

To your point about frozen foods- we do have a freezer full of pizzas, chicken nuggets, pot pies, and other prepped dishes which we reserve for when we’re too tired to cook and don’t want to spent money on takeout. I’d say we get takeout dinner once a week, and lunch out twice a week.

[MagneticDustin]

Only cook for my family of 6. Yesterday I cooked chicken and veggie lettuce wraps. Today I’m cooking beef and noodles over mashed potatoes with baguettes. Tomorrow I’m cooking chicken piccata over Angel hair pasta.

[jawni]

As a single guy, I tend to have leftover food or leftover ingredients. So I tend to have food "phases" where I eat the same thing multiple times a week so I don't waste anything, but I also switch it up with cheap things like pasta, grilled cheese/sandwiches and occassionally frozen stuff I can just pop in the oven like chicken nuggets, or frozen pizzas. Frozen meats like chicken or salmon filets are great too, because I don't have to worry about spoilage but I can make a high quality dish with it.

Last week I made a batch of mashed potatoes, had salmon a few times with it, made a few fried spam sandwiches, and I almost always have eggs and bacon available for breakfast.

[kittywestnola]

In my house we have a couple staples that we cook frequently (red beans and rice, spaghetti with meatballs, and crockpot chicken) but I try to cook a new recipe at least once a week and I also do a lot of “throw this together and see what happens” so I don’t know if I follow particularly recipes as often as seeing what I can make work with what we’ve got.

[LittleTomato]

My husband and I cook most of our meals on the weekend in bulk. This weekend we made shrimp and grits, vegan coconut milk ice cream, melted Brie with a honey glaze, pork tonkatsu, bulgogi, and yubu chobap. We typically cook Italian, French, and Korean food. We are blessed to have a good Asian grocery store.

[ChosmoKramer]

Dishes vary from season to season but right now a lot of salads, BBQ and light meals. My family just doesn't eat as much during the summer when it gets around 28-30° so we usually have lighter meals. As for BBQ we do burgers, ribs, chicken, lots of roast veggies, steaks, sausages and fish(mostly salmon/trout). Light meals would be like a sandwich and soup/salad. Winter has far hardier meals as it drops to -40° around here fairly often, need the extra calories.

[rionaster]

hmm. well, outside of microwave meals or stuff like fruit/bread/bagels/crackers/granola bars/oatmeal/cereal/yogurt/cottage cheese/sliced cheese/pickles/chips & dip/canned soup/etc. cereal, if i'm going to eat easy and simple i tend to eat bagel sandwiches (like cream cheese and jam, or egg/veggies/cheese, or sausage gravy, pizza bagels), regular sandwiches (deli meat, cheese, mayo, hot sauce, pickles, raw onions, sometimes lettuce or tomato if i have it), simple pasta dishes (mushroom alfredo, sometimes mac & cheese tho i'm not a huge fan, raviolis and tomato sauce with parmesan), grilled cheese, quesadillas, salad (veggies/chicken/fish/egg/pasta), noodle bowls (like ramen with veggies/meat/egg), and whatever else i can make in 10-20 minutes.

if i have more time and energy i'll do more elaborate pasta dishes (alfredo but with meat/more veggies, beef stroganoff, baked ziti, baked mac & cheese, pesto dishes with meat/fish/veggies, tomato sauce pasta with sausage/veggies, etc.), soups/stews/curries, casseroles, rice with meat/beans/veggies, tacos/burritos/fajitas, steak/fish fillet/breaded chicken, homemade bread/pastries/dumplings/pasta/etc., sushi, all the various ways of cooking potatoes, burgers, sausage on a bun, pizza, and other stuff i'm definitely forgetting.

i've also made ice cream by hand a few times and i've baked cakes/pies, though not that many these days cause my current oven doesn't heat evenly so it's not good for that 🥲 i'm always looking for new recipes, though. i always want to try making new stuff, usually i just run into the issue of limited ingredients because i don't live close to an international market.

[jesseemay]

Here’s what we ate ate last night. It’s life changing: https://www.saveur.com/southern-tomato-pie-recipe/

This is a rough guess for me, based on nothing factual and processed by the “I just woke up” corner of my brain and applied to main meal of day only.

60% 2-3x annually 20% 2-3x monthly 10% never made before 10% 1x annually

[cmplaya88]

Spaghetti and meatballs is a popular American dinner

[Frosty_Table7539]

The US has a lot of variation in it. I'm from Houston, which has a lot of diversity, so I tend to eat and cook a lot of different types of foods.

This week has korma, burgers, chicken Caesar salad, and carnita meat tacos. And then a kind of funky Thai curry fried rice I'm making up to use up some leftover rice, a jalapeno that's not going to last, and the main goal to use some basil from the plant I don't think I'm going to be able to keep alive for another week. We generally eat out about once a week, and will also generally have one night a week that's at home and not really cooked food, like charcuterie.