Dinner recipes can get hard when days turn to weeks turn to months.

Many people get into a menu rut, rotating between the same recipes endlessly. Some families eat the same tired things while forgetting about some old favorites. Random meal selection results in that situation. Because people have so much to do they often ignore the healthy eating.

When coming up with recipes and a menu schedule prior planning prevents future problems. When a menu is planned in advance the selection becomes more diverse. Meal time is as much about the overall experience as it is about taste and nutrition. Everyone can enjoy the same basic food if it's made into a variety of different meals.

Try ground beef. Ground beef and wheat with vegetables and tomato sauce (ketchup) is a burger Well, it's also tacos. People consider them quite different even though hamburgers and tacos share a lot of basic food elements in common. Many different meals can come from one food. Now for another one. Chicken and potatoes. It's not very healthy to eat French fries and fried chicken. Roasting both will save the waist line. More riffs on the same basic song. Try chicken salad with potato chips for lunch. Then there's chicken pot pie. There may not be potatoes with Chicken Teriyaki but the rice is also a starch. A few basic foods can lead to great variety.

Try more than one meat. Delicious kebabs come from chicken and steak along with some vegetables. Steak and lobster can be very elegant for a parents only dinner date, or pretty basic to include the kids too at a family meal. Some people even like to fry a turkey and serve fish and chips as an early appetizer. It's all made in the same deep fryer.

What about sources for meal ideas? Cooking shows are all over the television. Those give great ideas, and most have web sites where more information, including dinner recipes, can be found. Speaking of on line, food ideas abound on web sites. Try a Google or MSN search for dinner ideas. Nobody could every get through all the available info online.