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Updated: May 21, 2023 126 Comments · by

Coffee Break: Miller Reversible Belt

Coffee Break

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red leather belt with Tory Burch logo on it; it is navy on the reverse side

Logo belts: yea or nay? And, if you ARE a fan of logo belts, is a Tory Burch logo belt going to be on your wish list, or will you go for fancier logo belts like those from Fendi, Gucci, Hermès, etc.?

This reversible belt from Tory Burch has a lot of great reviews, and select colors are on sale, including the navy/red combination pictured.

I could see red being a great basic, wear-with-everything color for a belt if you want to emphasize your waist. The navy side could also be great with navy pants, and pretty much any outfit that doesn’t include black. I would avoid wearing it with black unless it was crystal clear that it was an intentional outfit.

The belt is $198-$228 in a lot of colors, but the red is marked to $138.60.

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Our favorites are in bold!

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Comments

  1. Anon

    I have a Ferragamo reversible belt and I LOVE it but I don’t think the buckle makes the brand super obvious unless you know your brands very well. I would not wear something with a logo as obvious as the featured belt.

    • Cat

      +2, I think logo belts are tacky at any price point. Same with huge logos on bags.

      • OP

        It’s really really great! Total wardrobe staple and I’m sure I’ll wear it for many years.

    • Anon

      +3. As I am not an influencer and therefore kit being paid to promote a brand, I’m not going to promote a brand. Big obvious logos don’t have a place in my closet.

    • Anonymous

      I don’t do obvious logos either. I find them try-hard and tacky, whether they are gucci or old navy.

    • Anonymous

      Big no to logos like these, whatever they’re on – I do not pay to advertise.

    • Anonymous

      These threads always crack me up. What do you do, put duct tape on the Patagonia logo on your fleece? How about your tennis shoes, more tape? Of course we all wear either branded or readily recognizable stuff.

      • Anonymous

        For myself, I understand that there is a difference between suble logos and obvious ones. A logo off to the side you only see after you recognize that the piece looks like a certain brand made it, or one that is incorporated into the overall design as a matter of course, is the complete opposite of the obvious billboard logo that is front and center like this one.

  2. towelie

    I’d do a small Celine Triomphe belt but this one is a definitely no for me

  3. Anonymous

    WWYD – I bought several items online from a department store with a pretty strict 30-day return policy. It was a LOT of $$. It turns out today is the 31st day, but I thought it was the 30th day because when I reviewed my emails over the weekend to confirm, the string says “order placed April 16.” I organized my days accordingly, planning to make the return today.
    The online system says none of the items are returnable. Should I: (1) call customer service and explain and ask them to extend the return window by one day or (2) not call and just put the items in the mail in the hopes that they will just refund the money given that it is just one day?

    • Anne-on

      Can you call first and then also put the items in the mail today? I’ve found live reps more helpful than the automated systems in the past.

      • Anonymous

        I can definitely get it in the mail today. I just am not sure if I am better off confronting the issue, with the possibility of a hard no, or crossing my fingers. I am overwhelmingly a “confront the issue” person generally, but this one makes me nervous for some reason.

    • Anon

      What store has such a strict policy? And can you take the things in person (if not today, in the next few days)? I mean, Old Navy did not have a problem taking my late return in store, but if I would have mailed it back, who knows.

    • Anonymous

      Was it g@p? The exact thing happened to me yesterday except my items were April 14th and it wasn’t letting me return them yesterday! Apparently the self serve return portal closes on the last day.
      I called and the rep emailed me a return label. I popped it in the mail yesterday.

    • Anon

      I’ve done #2 before a few times and it’s never been a big deal. Just get it in the mail today.

  4. Anon

    Belts must be a big money maker for design houses. It seems particularly in the last decade that people who can’t afford to dress in designer will have a belt from a designer like Gucci or Hermes to signify … something? Aspirational fashion I guess?

    As I sit here in my invisibelt, I clearly don’t get it. But I have kids recently out of high school, and having a designer belt was A Thing.

    • Anon

      It seems like a designer belt signifies the same thing as any other designer fashion piece — that the wearer likes that brand and can afford to buy that item.

        • Anon

          I think it’s exactly the same thing.

          Also major side eye to the posters saying that their preferred logo belt (with very recognizable hardware and eye watering price points for a belt) are okay and classy, but this one is not. It reminds me of that meme, “What’s classy when a rich person does it and trashy with a poor person does it?”

          • Anon

            I’m the OP of the above thread and I personally do not find the Ferragamo hardware recognizable. Maybe you do. If you want to give me side eye for not knowing brand logos that well, go ahead.

          • Anon

            I honestly just don’t find the Tory Burch buckle very attractive, but there are other ones I would wear for sure (especially Hermes).

    • PLB

      I think belts, much like key fobs and pouches, are entry-level designer items. And they probably do make a lot on these though I don’t pass judo on what someone buying these items is signaling.

    • Anon

      That’s always been the case with smaller (aka cheaper) designer items, certainly not just in the last decade.

    • Anon

      I noticed a trend on this board to end declarative sentences with a question mark?

      • Cat

        it’s intentional. it’s meant to indicate that “because of the thing I just stated, I am not sure how the above commenter came to X conclusion based on what she described.”

        I think the other day a commenter made an assumption that the OP was going to fly first class. A person responded “not everyone flies first class?” using the above intent. But someone took it literally and snapped back “uh no did you ever notice the rest of the plane has seats too.” In reality the two responses were in total agreement with each other…

        • Anonymous

          Thanks for this explanation – as a non-native speaker of English, this is the sort of nuance that is impossible to guess, but still nice to have in the tool box.

        • Anonymous

          I am the person who wrote that response. It was facetious. I understood what the commenter meant because I read here and know this is a horrible tick of the younger generations of women (and one I have had to address in the workplace), but I find it extremely annoying so decided to answer the question that was asked to make a point.

          • Anonymous

            And my response was much more deadpan than you suggest and most certainly not a question ending in a period

          • Anon

            Ah yes, because everything the older generation does is perfect and anything the younger generation does that is different is wrong. Noted!

  5. Anon

    I followed the morning thread on cooking/family meals with interest, but came in a bit too late to contribute. I wanted to add one thing I realized about myself a few years ago that has been a big gamechanger for me – I say goodbye to the idea of meal prep. For years, it seemed like everyone and their mother was telling me meal prepping on Sundays was the way to go to manage dinner during the week, but I found that I really hated it! Very quickly, I came to resent spending a precious weekend afternoon arranging, chopping, and portioning foods – I wanted to be out doing fun stuff instead. It also felt like so much mental labor to figure out what we needed when. I stuck with it for a time because literally all my friends said it was awesome, but I found that the decrease in time spent throwing it all together on a weeknight was marginal (compared to preparing a very simple, non-elaborate meal that night) and that I got really sick of leftovers by day 3, tops. What HAS worked for me is saying yes to simple meals and not putting pressure on myself to go above and beyond. All of our weeknight meals are very simple – a quiche that I can throw together quickly, a chicken caesar salad with pre-cooked chicken and a French baguette from the freezer, a salmon rice bowl with canned salmon and whatever fresh veggies we have, homemade pizza using a nice organic frozen crust we found with some sliced cucumbers and radishes on the side, and things like that. I love having my Sundays free for weekend things and not having the mental labor of planning out a whole week in advance – it just felt too rigid and like I couldn’t be flexible if takeout pizza sounded better than three-day-old lasagna. Wanted to offer my experience up in case anyone else is struggling with pressure to meal prep or cook elaborate meals on weeknights. I feel like I have time back!

    • Anon

      I am also not a meal prepper. Tried it, hated it. I’d rather have breakfast for dinner or the simplest pasta, personally.

    • anon

      I’ll add another thing — we cook in bulk — every time we cook we cook enough for a full meal of leftovers. This means we make huge amounts of pasta, do not cook with nuance, and do not make anything even remotely complicated. It works for us — refined meals will come in another stage of life. For now, a giant pot of rice, and a slow cooker full of something to put on top of it will do.

      • Anon

        This is how I cook too. I don’t meal prep but I do make meals big enough for leftovers – enough for lunch to take to the office the next day and put some in the freezer for later.

      • Anon

        My husband has an aversion to leftovers. He can’t stand them. He’d rather make a sandwich or eat a bowl of cereal. I can only eat so much for lunches before it goes bad. We’re just not going to be making large roasts or trays of lasagna for that reason.

        We do a lot of “fend for yourselves” dinners these days, even when the kids are home from college. It’s fine.

        • Anonymous

          With things like lasagna, my mum’s solution was to make two of the right size to feed the family, and then freeze one uncooked.
          She also used to freeze half a batch of chili or soup and pull it out a week later so it felt like a new dinner.
          The only reason I don’t do this is freezer space.

      • Anon.

        We also do strategic leftovers.
        Tonight’s dinner is a casserole with the second half of the pasta from yesterday plus leftover carrots and assorted frozen veggies.

    • Cat

      +2. Our biggest timesaver is not meal prepping a bunch of stuff every Sunday, it’s making intentional leftovers out of main proteins. The marginal extra time of making a triple-portion of, say, taco meat is almost nil, but then we have two extra dinners that can be prepped with minimal mess (just toasting the tortillas and cutting up a pepper or whatever, as opposed to dealing with cooking the meat).

      • Anon

        This is my strategy as someone who lives alone and hates reheated entire meals. If I’m roasting something in the oven for dinner I’ll throw a chicken breast on the bottom rack for my lunch sandwich. I don’t just chop the portion of the onion I need for today, I cut up the whole thing and refrigerate the extra. The key is prepping only if it’s faster than the doing the same thing later.

        • Anon

          There is one food blogger who recommended cutting off the ends of the asparagus, putting it in a jar of water, putting it in the fridge, and then taking it out three days later to rub it with olive oil and put in the oven. That just sounds like two sessions of messing with the asparagus instead of one.

          • Anon

            In my direct experience, that’s a great way to spill a glass full of water all over your fridge.

          • Anonymous

            Really? The putting it in a glass thing takes no time at all. In fact I did just that last Sunday and then cooked half this Sunday and half last night.

    • Anon

      I really agree. I would much rather chop stuff up while I’m waiting for the pasta water to boil and every other “simple meal” equivalent than do any prepping beforehand.

    • Anon

      I agree, I haaate meal prepping. I try to do the very bare minimum of chores on the weekend, I want to rest and recharge for the week ahead. The only exception is that I make focaccia dough every Saturday night so my family can have homemade focaccia on Sunday or Monday, but I love focaccia and the prep is super easy.

      We eat lots of simple meals (sauteed chicken or baked salmon with a side of veg, pasta with veg, quiche, fried eggs) that come together in less than 15 minutes of active cook time, and I WFH so sticking something in the oven an hour before we need to eat isn’t a big deal.

    • Anonymous

      Thank you!!! I found this same thing out about myself recently when it came to breakfast meal prep. I kept making egg muffins. Then one day it dawned on me that I personally do not find eating reheated frozen eggs appetizing, and it actually only takes 5 minutes in the morning for me to scramble two eggs. And I have gotten back hours on the weekend with this choice.

    • Anon

      I could be a meal prepper, but I cannot foresee all of the random schedule changes that happen throughout a week now that we’ve left lockdown. Track practice gets rained out. I am WFH because of an emergency plumber visit and can throw a chicken in to roast. My family hated being locked into meals (“but we had X at lunch at school”). I even tried it with freezing meals so that you could thaw a portion of whatever you wanted (lasagna, chili, soup, etc.). I resented the weekend time intrusion and would rather do anything but cook. And no one really got the hand of thawing things in the fridge starting the night before. I would eat fruit and cheese and crackers to the end of my days and be OK with not cooking and once rented a studio with a sink and microwave and a minifridge and was OK with it. Did I miss texture? I could have chips and salsa or get a restaurant meal if I needed it. I don’t even want a big dinner, and especially a big late dinner, or I can’t sleep soundly (stomach sleeper).

    • Senior Attorney

      I can’t remember what it was called, but back in the day there was a web site with directions for cooking a week or more worth of dinners in a day and then freezing it. It was like mobilizing the Normandy Invasion. I did it ONCE and was exhausted and swore NEVER AGAIN. When I was cooking for a family I do maybe one or two crockpot dinners per week, and do enough to freeze half for next time. The other nights were a combination of super easy (like SUPER EASY — grilled cheese and fruit, pasta and sauce from a jar, etc.), leftovers from the freezer, and our favorite Taco Night.

      • Anon

        Once a Month Cooking (OAMC), there were spreadsheets and enormous shopping lists and tons of zip lock bags involved.

        I do meal prep on Sundays, but for me it’s “oh, I’m dicing and onion for tonight, I’ll need one on Tuesday or Wednesday so let me dice it at the same time.” Or let me chop all the peppers I bought and put some in a zip lock for later this week. I’m making roast chicken on Monday? Might as well roast 2. Or it’s as easy to make 2 lasagnas as it is to make one and one can go in the freezer for some future unspecified date. Same thing with soups, chili, beef stew, pulled pork, it’s just as easy to make 2 recipes worth as 1, and I have a freezer.

        • anonshmanon

          I too do half assed meal prep. I do enjoy cooking and usually come out of the weekend with enough prepped or leftovers to cover 2-3 work lunches. I also make a list of items that need using up, and then from that I make a list of meals I can either make already, or that I have almost everything on hand for. The missing ingredients go on the grocery list. When it’s time to make dinner, I pick something from that list.
          My system works for me and I’m glad the OP found what works for them!

        • Senior Attorney

          Yes! OAMC! Oh my Lord. Never again.

          These days I’m happy if I make two homemade pizza doughs and stick one in the freezer. And absolutely about the lasagna — they’re so much trouble you absolutely have to make two to make it worthwhile! Other than that, my husband is not a leftovers-liker so I try to restrain myself.

    • Anon

      I have a toddler so can somewhat relate to the “who eats dinner as a family every night” sentiment. We do very simple meals basically on rotation: Monday is breakfast for dinner or pasta. Tuesday is Tex mex, Wednesday is fish or some meat roast plus veggies, Thursday is pizza and Friday is take away.
      Saturday or Sunday is usually when I do the more time intensive meals like roasts or marinaded grilled chicken. I generally like to cook and plan food but not on busy weeknights.
      Yes it gets boring but there is a lot of variation within each of the categories. Quiche vs omelette vs Kodiak cakes. Spaghetti vs Alfredo or some wine based sauce.

    • Celia

      The only prep I do in advance is chopping the fruits and veggies so they’re grab and go. I find that If they’re chopped then there is no barrier to me just tossing a variety of Vegs in a pan with olive oil or sticking an assortment of fruit on the table for dessert, and at the end of the week we have eaten better and have a lot less waste. I do it when the kids nap on Sunday while watching an episode of a guilty pleasure show. I don’t pre cook or otherwise prep meals because that’s too time consuming with too little reward given how simple our dinners are.

    • Anon.

      Completely agree!

      Also, maybe I’m picky, but veggies are freshest when cut fresh? I always feel that precut things start tasting weirdly limp after a few days.

    • Ellen

      I am not a big meal prep person, though I learned from my Grandma Leyeh how to make quite a few dishes to help me woo a potential mate, from flap jacks to Wedding Chicken, and I hope that it pays off very quickly, as my timetable for marrage and a nice home in Weschester is coming to a quick end unless I hook a winner this year, which is not a great chance for me with all of the loosers out there just wanting me to have s-x with them and nothing more.

      But I DO recommend all women how to slap together a home meal for a guy, since most are complete imbeciles in the kitchen, the bar is low and easy for us to clear with a few lessons from our Grandmas. In my case, I also had my mom, who has had years of experience cooking for Dad, who was always quite demanding in the kitchen of her.

      So at age 42, I have built up a repetoire of dishes that I hope will put me into good stead with an eligible bachelor, but so far, nada! I remain hopeful that I can beat the odds and marry a guy who will treat me right and provide me with a nest egg in case anything should happen to him.

  6. Anonymous

    As someone who is shaped like a rectangle, I don’t wear belts. If I did I certainly wouldn’t spend $200 to advertise a tacky brand such as Tory Burch.

    • Senior Attorney

      For some reason I have an aversion to Tory Burch and would never in a million years wear any of their branded stuff.

      • Anon

        I’d venture to guess you have an aversion to the people you associated wearing Tory Burch circa 2010… most of the clothes now are non-descript rich white lady now.

      • Sallyanne

        I actually quite like the swimwear and usually find a dress or two a year, wouldn’t buy the branded stuff though. I also quite like the Lee Radziwell bags as well.

  7. Anonymous

    Ugh my boss, who is not a SME but rather a people manager, decided she “didn’t agree with” a project proposal I put forth last month. So because of her uneducated opinion a client lost a whole month of productivity, only for several experts to say that my original proposal was the correct course of action. Obviously no humility on her part either, she’s mad that I was right.

    • Anon

      I think there is definitely truth in the saying that people will forgive you for being wrong before they will forgive you for being right.

      • Monday

        I’ve never heard that before, but it’s so true! Another good reason to prioritize being respected over being liked. Being right does not make you popular.

    • Anne-on

      I’m sorry – sounds like you need to job hunt. A boss who is mad that you have good ideas and know more than her on your SM is not a good one to work for.

        • OP

          I am working on finding a new role! Unfortunately in my field hiring is very slow, a company I interviewed with has decided they want me but with transfering of certifications and other paperwork it will be at least 6 months until I can start.

  8. Anonymous

    I love belts and love the red color.
    I don’t wear logos, I find them tacky, and I would *never* wear a logo belt, from any brand. I would also never pay a company that kind of money so I could advertise for them.
    For that money I can buy at least two top-grain leather belts that I can wear for years and years.

    • Senior Attorney

      I probably wouldn’t buy a logo belt (although I have a couple of fairly low-key logo bags) but if you gave me a Chanel or Gucci belt as a present I would wear it!

      • Anne-on

        There was a very tongue in cheek TikTok about how ‘logo belts are rather tacky, but they do tend to proliferate if one is playing the Hermes game and wishes to make ones SA happy’. So…if anyone is playing the Hermes game and wants to buy me a Kelly belt I’d take it!

  9. Meal planning

    On the topic of meal planning, is there some app or service to help me save and organize all my meal ideas. They’re typically links although I have a lot of IG reels with recipes saved too. I would love some interface where I could drag recipe links into each day of the week or month to plan it out. Does this exist?

    • Senior Attorney

      Paprika App has this and also the very best recipe storage functionality, too.

      • anon a mouse

        +1 Paprika! I finally got it a year ago after seeing it recommended here and it’s the best. I love that you can have it create shopping lists from your meal plans, but the absolute best feature is the ability to keep running shopping lists for multiple stores. I can screenshot the one for costco and send it to DH if he decides to pop in, no more remembering what we need there.

    • Anonymous

      We like Pepperplate! I’ve seen someone use the project planning app Trello for this also.

    • Anonymous

      Pinterest?

      Apparently ChatGPI will also do a meal plan for you but it seems more like you want to use recipes you found yourself.

      FWIW I try to avoid more than one new recipe a week as I find new recipes always take longer than I expect.

  10. Anonymous

    How do you set savings goals — do you do it by a percentage of your income, just what you can do, or some other metric?

    • Anon

      I like round numbers. I need to save x to buy y in 8 months? Divide x by 8, round up and tuck that much in savings every month until I have enough to buy y.

    • Anon

      Percent of income for retirement. For anything else, same as previous poster – the number I need divided by the months/pay periods I have to save for it.

    • Anonymous

      We’ve just been doing what we can – I just did the math and it was about 25% of our income saved last year for longer term savings or investments.

    • Anon for this

      HHI varies between $150k and $180k in a LCOL area. We strive to each save the IRS 401k max which is currently $22,500, although last year and probably this year we didn’t/won’t hit it due to inflation and increased travel and entertainment costs as things open up post-pandemic. We’re kind of giving ourselves a pass for now because we still have daycare bills. We’ll be done paying for daycare in August and are going to try to buckle down and make sure we hit the 2024 max.

      TBH – and I’m aware this is incredibly privileged – it’s hard to motivate myself to save a ton for retirement because I’m the main beneficiary of my parents’ low eight figure estate and I’m likely to have a very substantial inheritance before my husband and I need expensive end of life care. I know nothing is guaranteed and you can’t count on money you don’t have, so we do try to save well and we currently have our own retirement savings of ~$1M which I think is pretty good for our age (40ish), but it’s hard to force ourselves to live on a tight budget to save more when it’s very likely I’ll get multiple millions from my parents.

      • Senior Attorney

        That’s fine for you, but I hope your husband has a contingency plan. I have a good friend whose retirement plan was similar to yours, only it was the husband’s inheritance they were counting on. And surprise! He just left her after 30-plus years of marriage. And the inheritance will be his separate property. And they never felt the need to save much on their own for retirement. Oops… (Ladies whose spouses have Great Expectations, take heed and get thyself a postnup!)

        • Anon for this

          It’s a fair point, but my husband has a much more modest version of retirement than I do and also doesn’t have any interest in retiring young, so I think he’d be perfectly fine on half our combined savings. Also while it’s true we could be saving more if we kept a stricter budget and deprived ourselves of things we enjoyed, I’m pretty sure we’re not really “behind” in saving for our age even without the inheritance. The rule of thumb I’ve heard is 3x income by 40 (and I’m sure plenty of Americans don’t even have that) and we have 5-6x.

        • Anon

          My sister married an heir-to-be. When they got divorced, she had to pay him child support because none of that was “income.” Fortunately she is a good saver and a good earner and her future is bright regardless.

        • Anonymous

          Maxing 401K contributions for both seems like about all they can do on that income, and possibly quite adequate.

      • Anonymous

        also, read that story on dementia in the NYT last weekend – woman (Diana) with 4MM trust from her husband of 53-years suddenly changed her entire personality and wanted to spend it with her new boyfriend. the law is very unclear who gets to decide, “new-Diana” or “old-Diana” (pre-dementia).

    • Anonymous

      Here’s my budgeting strategy:
      1. Max both 401Ks.
      2. Make a reasonable budget for expenses.
      3. Compare take-home pay and budgeted expenses. If the difference seems like enough savings, great. If not, cut expenses until the savings is enough or we can’t cut any more without making sacrifices we’re not willing to make.

      Right now this results in about 1/3 saving, 1/3 spending, 1/3 taxes and benefits. I think percentage targets are not helpful. You have to start with what you can actually afford. If I made more money I could save a lot more than 1/3 of it. When I was just starting out it was a stretch just to put enough in my 401K to get the employer match.

    • PJ

      Retirement: max out both partners 401ks, IRAs.
      College: I calculated enough to pay for 4 years in state and that amount is doable ($6k/year/kid). If incomes go up we’ll save more here

      • Anon

        This is great, but can I ask what state you are in that college costs only $6k per year? We are looking at our first time dealing with freshman year in-state expenses and they are closer to 3x that amount for one kid starting this fall. And that is after a decent merit scholarship.

        • Anon for this

          I think she’s saying they’re saving $6k/year/kid, not that that’s what the college costs. There are growth calculators online that show you how savings will grow over time, but it will be a significant amount of growth if you start saving 15+ years before your kid goes to college.

        • PJ

          To clarify: saving $6k/year per kid from age 0, should get us to ~$120k for 4 years of $30k. All real (todays $ amounts), not nominal (future $ amounts)

          • Anon

            There’s a lot of variability. In state tuition at my local state U is $10k and under $20k even with room and board.

            Also many people can cover $10k/year out of current income (it’s less than daycare for one child in my LCOL area and there are no 529s for that) so even if you “only” save $30k/year you’re in a good position for a $40k/year school.

    • Anon

      We do both- certain % is automatically withdrawn for our retirement accounts and if we have a specific goal we auto-deduct it from our paychecks. We aim to live within our means so when our checking account is over a certain dollar amount we transfer the difference into our savings accounts too.

    • Anonymous

      We work backward. We max retirement which is about 90k/year for us (401k max + match for DH, I have a self employed 401k and contribute the irs max + 25% of my gross income). Then we budget for fixed costs: house, car(s), bills. Then we do a fixed contribution to college savings and a fixed contribution to our long term savings, then the rest goes into checking.

      The $$ going into college vs long term bucket changes over time. Right now our 3 kids are 5/7/9. We are on/ahead of track to fund state college for 4 years for each of them. The balance of college will come from our in-college ability to bank roll and/or they will have it paid for by grandparents. DH’s family stands to pass down quite a bit of money but we are assuming nothing since you just never know.

  11. Anon

    Inspired by the earlier family dinner time threads, what do those of you who live alone (single or not) typically do? I’m not single, but I do live alone. My BF and I often have dinner together, but not every night. I’m not much of a cook for one person and I almost never finish leftovers. I’m not a meal planner, I admire those who can but it’s not for me.

    • Anon

      When I was single I would eat leftovers for lunch and, if enough left, dinner and lunch, etc. until they ran out. I probably cooked “real meals” on average a couple times a week, but also leaned heavily on Lean Cuisine, mac and cheese, and rice.

    • Anon

      One of my favs is a potato baked in the microwave, with broccoli (also microwaved), and a few slices of cheese on top…which I’d microwave until it melted. Pretty filling dinner in about 10 minutes with almost no prep or dishes to clean. Reasonably balanced if I put a lot of broccoli and not much cheese on it. :)

    • Senior Attorney

      I can eat the same thing over and over plus I’m a starch hound, so I did a lot of rice and beans (Trader Joe’s has really good canned black beans with Cuban seasoning), ramen, mac n cheese. Also loved tacos/burritos/quesadillas with some chicken or ground beef. And I’d make a big crockpot of chili or whatever and freeze it in individual portions to pull out for lunches or dinners.

    • Anonymous

      When I was single and working a ton I made lunch out the primary meal of the day and had a smaller dinner, often Lean Cuisine.

    • Anon

      I’m not single but my husband and I often eat separately. If I’m not making a simple sandwich or egg on toast, it’s probably going to be pre-packaged foods, like the salad kits my grocery store does or a frozen dinner. Not fancy but I’m being honest! For the last two days it has been hummus and pieces of pita bread.

    • Anonymous

      I cook 4-5 nights a week. Typically one night I cook a large meal that results in two days of leftovers (or more but I rarely want it a 4th time) that I just reheat on the stove. The other nights I make something delicious but simple, generally a pretty basic protein, like a frozen fish filet or a steak, and a vegetable or salad. I often repeat those meals through the week, as well, but prepare them on two or three nights. I have no stable of recipes or designated nights (eg no Taco Tuesday) and only occasionally repeat things in the future.
      For weekday lunches, I usually repeat the same thing for a week but it’s totally different each week. I might make a soup or a lentil or bean dish on the weekend (my ideal), buy sandwich makings, make a big tuna or egg salad, decide to buy 5 frozen meals, or eat tinned fish and crackers. Often I get a bag salad or make a large dish of farmers market veggies to divide up, as well, or sometimes that is the meal. I mostly skip lunch on weekends unless I go out to brunch.
      Breakfast doesn’t happen unless it is a post-gym shake. I buy and freeze seasonal fruit in bulk for those and that is usually a one-hour project on a few spring and summer Sundays.

    • Anon

      I meal prep breakfast (quiche, overnight oats, chia pudding) and lunch (usually grain bowl with chicken + lots of veggies) and I make lunch my main meal of the day. I do coffee and a smoothie in the AM before I go to the gym, and then eat breakfast once I get to work.

      Often times I have social plans after work, which usually involve food. Twice a week I have a sports league after work and eat when I get home from that (around 8PM). Other nights I dedicate completely to homework so I am not able to take the time to make dinner.

      So, my dinners are very, very easy. A bowl of cereal or oatmeal, an egg sandwich, cheese and crackers, a bagged salad, maybeee pasta. I usually eat late (8PM or so).

    • Anon

      I go from zero to horribly hangry in about ten minutes, so that’s my maximum prep time for weeknight dinners. I batch cook and either heat up leftovers or assemble dinner from already prepped ingredients to make sandwiches, salads, burritos, etc. I always have a bunch of roasted or chopped or pickled veggies ready to go, so I can just open a can of beans or make some hummus or few falafel from the freezer and add a dressing or sauce (store bought or made ahead) and have some something tasty pretty fast. I always have whole wheat bread, tortillas, and wraps in the freezer, plus frozen veggies. I hate grocery shopping and only go every three weeks, so I use a lot of things that last a while, like peppers, carrots, cabbage, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, and frozen fruits and veggies. If you have a well stocked pantry and freezer, you don’t have to plan very much to be able to make things easily. My meal planning generally consists of looking at what needs to be used up before it goes bad and making something out of that.

    • Anon

      Roast salmon and vegetables. Crockpot chicken that I then use throughout the week (salads, tacos). Zoodles with ground turkey and red sauce. Omelettes. In the winter I’ll cook soup and eat it 3-4 times throughout the week.

    • AIMS

      When I’m cooking just for me, I like to use it as a chance to eat things only I want to eat. That might mean scrambled eggs and random veggies, or hummus and random things you can dip in hummus (right now my favorite is sugar snap peas), or i shred (air buy pre-shredded) veggies and make veggie pancakes, or just do a fridge clean out… sometimes it’s just a baguette and cheese.

    • Anon

      I lean into the not cooking dinner dinner options as a single, live alone person. I hate cooking and clean up and leftovers. My work is overly generous with food options, so I have breakfast and lunches covered 2-3x a week. (Grab and go breakfast and lunches are always stocked and there’s catered breakfast and lunch option every day) Sometimes I’ll grab something from the office before I leave to have as breakfast or lunch the next day at home.
      I eat out or order in 1-2x a week depending if I’m out with friends or friday night plans.

      Egg scrambles are a go to if I’m going to make something. Liquid eggs, some kind of frozen potato, cheese, and if I’m feeling fancy a sausage.
      Salad bowls from the grocery store
      instant ramen with a slice of cheese on top and spicy mayo
      Apple with peanut butter
      PB&J
      Veggie and dips or hummus
      Potstickers (with rice if I’m also feeling fancy)
      Frozen thin crust pizza
      Crackers with cheese and hard salami

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