Write a short story about someone cooking dinner.

Posted in Nonfiction on Oct 26, 2022

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 56 stories

“The Practice of Half Memories” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #31

She puts a pot on the stove and watches as the flames burn their orange and blue flames through it. She has a half-empty cup of tea beside the kitchen table. Tea, already cold and tasteless as it struggles being caged in the unwashed cup. She puts it in her lips again and lets the brown liquid slip into her sore throat. The flames keep flaring up as the empty pot sits calmly on it. She stares at the smoke already rising up from the pot. In her mind, she tells herself she isn't ready to do this yet and then she pours water into it and se...

7 comments 7

Read story

“All she needs is a bowl of steamed potatoes” by Derrick Kakooza

Submitted to Contest #31

Life is meant to be beautiful. But at times, Life is ugly and sad. You, me, them and us can either make life beautiful or ugly.I’m not sure am ready for this. The fact that Aunt May is around on my first try makes me anxious. I have a few memories of how my mother did this ever since I was a nipper. But then, Life teaches us that those vague memories must be assembled if one is to survive perilous times. Unprepared for what awaits, I conjecture that it won't be an easy task to cook dinner for me and Aunt May.Aunt May stands hunched in front ...

5 comments 5

Read story

“Just another dinner on Earth” by Kari Hyp

Submitted to Contest #31

In the year 3015, Arlen is living with his mother in Acushnet, Massachusetts and helps run their rose farm/nursery: Birkland’s farm. They live in the secluded part of Acushnet, in the town of Dartmouth in a small cabin near the farm. Arlen’s father left them when he was a newborn. Arlen’s mother, Aliah Birks, has depression, having still not gotten over her husband. It is dinner time, and Arlen is helping prepare lentil soup with his mother. It is about ten minutes past six o’clock. And yet, as ...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Roast Beef and Antifreeze ” by Najwa Zandlo

Submitted to Contest #31

I don’t even like roast - I feel the need to stress that. I hate it, actually. I hate the way it smells. I hate the way the meat tastes after cooking in its own juices for hours. I hate the vegetables - the carrots get soggy and the potatoes turn into mush. I hate that it takes all day to cook a good roast. I hate the way people turn a roast into a week-long meal, using the leftovers for everything from soup to sandwiches, knowing that it tastes like shit after the first day it’s cooked. I hate that it was my husband’s favorite meal, but he ...

5 comments 5

Read story

“Casseroles Cause Problems” by Lily Kingston

Submitted to Contest #31

In my local newspaper, a couple of math geeks pooled together to buy an ad spot every Sunday. Once a week, I crack open that newspaper to see their ‘Einstein’ riddle—you know, the type of riddle where you have five people and all these requirements to figure out who everyone is? Those riddles. Anyway, the first time I saw their riddle, I cracked it in like five minutes. Not because I’m *pushes up glasses* super smart or anything—but because I live that riddle every evening. I have five children. Chad, Chelsey, Charlie, Chace, and Chelle. Con...

1 comment 1

Read story

“A Bitter Medicine” by Natalie Frank

Submitted to Contest #31

“You wouldn’t know from looking at me, but I am strong and earthy. I am a rare commodity and should be used sparingly.” He looks up for approval, and I nod that he should continue. “Don’t use a laundry list of others with me… who am I?” I pause my slow stirring, raising an eyebrow at him through the steam of the pot. “I really want to say… Himalayan salt, but that isn’t earthy. I think.” From his perch on the counter, he flashes the label at me: black truffle salt. “That doesn’t make sense. Did you not finish the sentence earlier?” “Yeah, I ...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Sunday Dinner” by Jessica C

Submitted to Contest #31

“It smells a little burned, babe.”She sighs. It’s louder than she intended, but she can’t help it. He doesn’t seem to notice.“It’s not burning.”She hears the oven door open behind her, because of course he has to see for himself. She can feel the dry heat radiating throughout the small kitchen; buttery, smokey scents of rosemary and grease coming with it. “It looks a little burned, babe.”“It’s not. Please close the oven door.” “She says it’s not burning, Ma!” She hears the distinct crack of the Coors...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Bread Crumbs” by Jᴇʀᴇᴍʏ Rᴏᴢᴇɴ ✍

Submitted to Contest #31

“You’re a filthy, disgusting monster!” Clyde shouted.He flung a full plate of food off the table.Food splattered across the chair in front of him, all over the floor and up the wall on the other side of the room. The tin plate followed quickly behind and smacked into the wall and then fell, with a clatter to the worn, wood floor where it spun noisily to a stop.“Well, now you’ve gone and done it,” said an old woman, barely paying the outburst any mind. She stood by the stove, stirring an enormous, steaming pot with an equally large, wooden pa...

4 comments 4

Read story

“Everything Counts” by Carlie Beth

Submitted to Contest #31

115“One….two….three….four….five….six…...ten….eleven….twelve….thirteen….twenty.... twenty-one…..twenty-two….twenty-three.…...thirty-two….” “Ana!”“Thirty-seven….thirty-eight…….forty-two….forty-three….forty-four…. Sixty-one….sixty-two….sixty-three….sixty-four….”“Ana! Dinner’s here!!”“Seventy-one….seventy-two….seventy-three….eight-one….eighty-two….eighty-three…..eighty-four….eighty-five….eighty-six….”“ANA!!”“ONE MINUTE!!!!......ninety-four…. ninety-five.. .ninety-six… ninety-seven….. ninety-eight….ninety-nine….one hundred. I fell flat...

5 comments 5

Read story

“Give Caesar his chicken.” by Peace Nakiyemba

Submitted to Contest #31

Tonight’s menuDrink - Strawberry lemonade spritzerStarter - A bowl of fruit saladMain course - Caesar chicken served with pilao rice, a side dish of cabbage rollsDessert - Lemon pudding cakeGuaranteed - White wine & waterDress code - The little black dress you’ve been saving for my funeral. I told my mother ‘no’ when she suggested I have a dinner party. And yet the woman has an uncanny way of always getting what she wants. She’s getting concerned that I may not maintain my marriage, which I’m yet to enter, if I can’t cook. She is al...

0 comments 0

Read story

“TOMATOES ” by Sandra Claros

Submitted to Contest #31

- - You wash the tomatoes with a brush – the wrinkled - greyed hair woman said to a chubby young man who was accompanying her.- Toothbrush? – he asked, smiling at her. - No! It can’t be a toothbrush if it is not one used just for fruits and vegetables. - and peel some tomatoes disinfect some lettuce leaves together with some onion rings. You can also add some olives as they give an extra flavour to the salad – and she invited one to him.- - Yeap, I already know that I have a round-pizza-like face, and I need and the...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Writer’s Wife” by Bradley Youngquist

Submitted to Contest #31

‘What comes next?’ I thought to myself.Cooking always came easy; the lentils, poultry, sauces, whatever it may be made sense. Nothing I ever won any awards for, mind you, but it was cooking nonetheless and cooking was something which allowed my blood to flow more smoothly if you will; a way of expressing myself and impressing my wife Eleanor.Ellie wasn’t much of a cook herself, but she did make a mean meatloaf and paired it well with a nice wine on occasion. Even on the nights she’d cooked her beef stew which was pretty much a go to, ‘Well d...

2 comments 2

Read story

“A kitchen Memory to Treasure” by Aisha Hashmi

Submitted to Contest #31

“Mom, I'm hungry!’ Josh had been complaining all day, and June was trying to decide what to make for dinner. “Josh, what should we do for dinner. Tonight, it’s just you and me, kiddo.” Her husband and two others kids were out of town, so it was just her and her son, Josh, home alone for the night. At the moment, their relationship was rocky. Besides the regular teen attitude, it was mainly her fault they weren't on the best of terms with each other. It was a hot summer night, and June was ho...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Dinner à la Storm-tossed” by Clarissa Lee

Submitted to Contest #31

I had been told to stand down, so I picked up the newspaper and retired to the dining table with a cup of steaming tea.“Would you look at that, today’s weather was predicted to be stormy,” I called out, not bothering to raise my voice above the din emanating from the kitchen. I had been banished from that room by the Chef for the Day.I did not understand for what reason he wished to cook all of a sudden. But with the way he was cooking, I was pretty sure the storm predicted was currently brewing inside that very room. “Deaths, deaths, a...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes” by Heather Ann Martinez

Submitted to Contest #31

#3. Write a short story about someone cooking dinner.Meatloaf and Mashed PotatoesBy Heather Ann Martinez The phone rang while I was peeling the potatoes. It was a solicitor asking for someone named David. It was not you. I thought you would have called by now asking me about what I was making for dinner. The phone chimed. It was a text message regarding our overdue mortgage payment. I filled the stockpot with warm water and a dash of salt and set it over the open fire...

1 comment 1

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a short story about someone doing laundry.

Adults – 95 stories

Write a short story about someone tending to their garden.

Spring – 77 stories

Write a short story about someone going to the corner store to buy an everyday item.

Nonfiction – 64 stories

Write a short story about someone heading home from work.

Nonfiction – 81 stories

Contest #31

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: The Ordinary

$50

Prize money

373

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Mar 06, 2020 EST

Won by Ariel Kalati 🏆

Title: The Memory Garden

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

Write a short story about someone cooking dinner.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 56 stories

“The Practice of Half Memories” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

“All she needs is a bowl of steamed potatoes” by Derrick Kakooza

“Just another dinner on Earth” by Kari Hyp

“Roast Beef and Antifreeze ” by Najwa Zandlo

“Casseroles Cause Problems” by Lily Kingston

“A Bitter Medicine” by Natalie Frank

“Sunday Dinner” by Jessica C

“Bread Crumbs” by Jᴇʀᴇᴍʏ Rᴏᴢᴇɴ ✍

“Everything Counts” by Carlie Beth

“Give Caesar his chicken.” by Peace Nakiyemba

“TOMATOES ” by Sandra Claros

“The Writer’s Wife” by Bradley Youngquist

“A kitchen Memory to Treasure” by Aisha Hashmi

“Dinner à la Storm-tossed” by Clarissa Lee

“Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes” by Heather Ann Martinez

🌟 Similar prompts

Write a short story about someone doing laundry.

Write a short story about someone tending to their garden.

Write a short story about someone going to the corner store to buy an everyday item.

Write a short story about someone heading home from work.

Contest #31

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

373

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: