Rainy Day Meal Ideas: Easy Dinners for Stormy Nights

Where I live, we don’t get a lot of rainy days. Even in the autumn and winter months, our weather gets a little cooler and we might get a couple of clouds in the sky, but no rain. So, you can probably guess how excited I am to wake up this morning with rain pouring and wind blowing. It’s a dream. It is also the perfect day to cook! Who doesn’t like cooking a cozy meal on a cozy day? I have so many rainy day meal ideas running around my head, I just need to decide which one sounds the tastiest.

Comfort food is the best food. Despite all my efforts to stay healthy, eat my vegetables, and get all my nutrients in, I can never resist the urge to throw all that away when the weather gets cooler. All I crave are warm dishes that fill my stomach and warm my body. And there is nothing wrong with that!

Luckily, one of my favorite autumnal activities is cooking. During the warm summer months, the last thing I want to do is stand by a hot stove for hours, sweating over whatever dish I decided to make. This is probably why I have a lot of smoothies and salads during the summer. No heat is required.

So, as soon as the heat dissipates, I know it is finally time to start cooking again. I have way more rainy day meal ideas than I do sunny day meals. Here are a few!

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1. Chili

There is nothing cozier than a warm bowl of chili with shredded cheese melted on top. As soon as I see that it will be a rainy day, I immediately pull out my crockpot. I have stolen my chili recipe from my mom, but there are so many different recipes online that you can find by searching, “crockpot chili recipes.”

Mine include all the beans I can find, white, black, pinto, kidney, and chili. Then I throw in a ton of veggies like bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, and anything else I already have in my produce drawer.

I’m vegetarian, so I don’t include any meat, but feel free to add some ground beef or whatever other meat you like in your chili.

Throw everything together in the crockpot with some tomato juice and cook on medium all day. It will be bubbling by the time you are ready to eat dinner. The perfect rainy day meal idea.

2. Burrito Bowl

One of my major comfort foods is a burrito. All those flavors wrapped up in a huge flour tortilla… you can’t beat it. But I have never been very successful at actually wrapping up a burrito. Whether it is the tortillas I am using or my utter lack of talent, I always have breakage, spillage, and leakage.

So, when I’m craving a burrito, but don’t feel like leaving home (like on a rainy day), I will turn it into a burrito bowl instead.

I use pre-cooked white rice, but if you are feeling fancy, you can cook it yourself. I then cover it with black beans, corn, sautéd veggies, pico de Gallo, and shredded cheese.

This way, I get all the comfort of my favorite food without the hassle of tortilla issues.

3. Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

I don’t care how old I get, grilled cheese and tomato soup will always remain a superior meal. There is something so comforting about this simple classic.

If you want to get fancy, make your very own tomato soup from scratch! I have never done that before, but I’m sure it would be pretty easy and a lot of fun.

I personally love a creamy tomato basil soup, with my grilled cheese on thick sourdough bread slices. And of course, it is made with American cheese. All the staples of my childhood mixed together for the perfect comfort meal on a child rainy day.

4. Homemade Pizza

Getting pizza through a delivery service is great, and it can be tasty, but it certainly isn’t as delicious as making a homemade pizza from scratch. I have an old family recipe for a pizza dough that is delicious, but there are about one million and one pizza dough recipes online for you to try that are super easy. There is also pre-made pizza dough sold at most grocery stores.

The best part of making homemade pizza is that it is completely customizable! Make individual pizzas with the whole family, and everyone can select their very own toppings. No fighting about which toppings to get. Plus, it is such a bonding experience, cooking with family. What a great way to spend a rainy day.

Making pizza at home also saves you a lot of money. It is much cheaper, and quite frankly, more delicious. I can’t make an argument against it.

5. Nachos

Not only does my mom make a mean chili, but she also taught me how to make some delicious nachos. I cover my nachos with beans and vegetables to make the best rainy day meal.

When the weather is bustling outside, one of my favorite activities is to marathon movies or TV series. And the best food to eat while watching TV is finger food and appetizers. This is why I am constantly making nachos during the fall months.

After putting down a layer of tortilla chips, I cover them with shredded cheese, onions, bell peppers, black beans, refried beans, and tomatoes. These loaded nachos are delicious, filling, and a great dinner/snack to have while watching a scary movie.

6. Baked Macaroni and Cheese

I am definitely on the team that says macaroni and cheese is an entire meal, instead of a side dish. I’m sorry! But I can eat an entire dish of macaroni and cheese without anyone’s help, especially when the weather is cool.

Don’t get me wrong, macaroni and cheese out of the box is delicious. I eat my fair share of Kraft dinners. But it doesn’t compare to the homemade stuff.

I love to use as many cheeses as my grocery store can offer, mixing it with some cooked elbows, and whatever seasonings I am feeling. I will then spread the macaroni and cheese in a casserole dish, cover with more cheese, and back in the oven until the top is golden brown and bubbling. Oh my goodness my mouth is watering already.

7. Spaghetti

For me, this meal requires as little cooking as possible, so this tends to be what I eat on my laziest rainy days. Those days when I can’t imagine doing anything but lying in bed with a good book and a warm cup of tea.

All I do is boil some boxed spaghetti, heat up a jar of pre-made sauce, and throw it all together. I like to add some frozen garlic bread and a small side salad, that I actually make, and I have myself a pretty good meal.

if you eat meat, add some ground beef or some meatballs. I enjoy some meatless meatballs on my spaghetti. I believe I get the ones I use from Trader Joe’s.

8. Vegetable Soup

A lot of times, when I grocery shop, I get over-excited about the number of vegetables I am going to eat in a week and most of them end up in the trash. I always feel super guilty about this, tell me I’m not the only one who has this problem!

Anyway, when I can see that my veggies are about to take a turn for the worse, I love throwing them in my crockpot with some vegetable stock and some seasoning and making a delicious vegetable soup.

This is definitely the handiest of my rainy day meal ideas because I can get rid of all my vegetables, I feel healthy, and I get a warm, home-cooked meal out of it as well. It is so easy to create this meal, and I never have a set plan on what will be included in it. Just whatever I have leftover! They usually all taste good together. I haven’t had any issues yet!

9. Fried Rice

Another easy way to get rid of all those old vegetables is to throw them in fried rice. This meal is so easy and surprisingly filling. But, if you want to get a little fancy you can add some orange cauliflower (or orange chicken).

For this dish, I usually throw together all the vegetables I can find and start sautéing them in a pan with some oil, minced garlic, and whatever other seasoning I am feeling. Once my veggies are cooked I will add my cooked white rice and some soy sauce and fry it up on the stove until it gets nice and golden brown.

I tend to use carrots, celery, onions, peas, and broccoli in this dish, but as I said, whatever you have in your produce drawer is fair game.

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For a whole list of fun activities, you can do during a rainy day, check out this post.

The best part of most of these rainy day meal ideas is that I always have a ton of food leftover. I may be in the minority here, but I love leftovers. sure they don’t taste as good as the first time, but the fact that I can eat a delicious meal without having to cook anything is very appealing to me