Learn Hardcore Japanese: isogasii hi ha reitousyokuhin wo atatameru dake de bangohan wo sumaserukoto ga arimasu ga, zikan ga aru uti ni ryouribon kara atarasii resipi mo tamesitai desu. - On busy days I sometimes just heat up frozen food for dinner, but while I still have time I also want to try new recipes from cookbooks.

…but 忙しい日は is more natural here, because the speaker is contrasting busy days with other kinds of days (non‑busy days when they cook properly). は adds that contrastive, “speaking about busy days (as opposed to other times)” nuance that に doesn’t have.

What does 冷凍食品を温めるだけで mean, and why is だけ followed by で?

Break it down:

冷凍食品を温める = “to heat up frozen food”
だけ = “only, just”
で = “by / with / and then” (here: “by doing that”)

The pattern [clause] + だけで means:

“just by doing [that] and nothing more” / “simply [do that] and that’s all”

So:

冷凍食品を温めるだけで
= “just heat up frozen food and that’s it”
= “by only heating frozen food (and doing nothing else)”

If you said only 冷凍食品を温めるだけ, you’d be missing the で that connects this action to what follows as the means of “taking care of” dinner. だけで here acts like “just by ~ing” or “with nothing but ~ing”.

What does 晩ご飯をすませる mean? How is すませる different from just saying 晩ご飯を食べる?

すませる (usually written 済ませる) literally means:

“to finish,” “to get something over with,”
or “to manage / make do (with something simple).”

So:

晩ご飯をすませる
= “to get dinner over with,”
= “to take care of dinner,”
= “to just deal with dinner (in some minimal way).”

食べる is neutral: “to eat dinner.”

Using 済ませる adds a nuance that this is being done in a quick, minimal, or just‑good‑enough way, rather than enjoying a proper, full meal. In this context:

冷凍食品を温めるだけで晩ご飯をすませる
has a nuance like: “I just heat up frozen food and call that dinner / and that’s my dinner done.”

Why do we say すませることがあります? What does ことがあります mean here?

こと turns a verb phrase into a noun-like thing (nominalization).

晩ご飯をすませる = “(I) finish dinner / take care of dinner.”
晩ご飯をすませること = “the act of finishing / taking care of dinner.”

Then:

〜ことがある (with a non‑past verb) means
“there are times when I …,” “I sometimes …”

So:

冷凍食品を温めるだけで晩ご飯をすませることがあります
= “There are times when I just heat frozen food and that’s all I do for dinner.”
= “Sometimes I just heat frozen food and call it dinner.”

With a past verb, 〜たことがある means “have (ever) done” (experience), but here it’s non‑past すませることがある, so it’s the “sometimes do” pattern, not the “have ever done” one.

What is the が doing after あります? Isn’t が the subject marker?

Here, が is not the subject marker. It’s working as a conjunction meaning “but / although,” connecting two clauses:

忙しい日は…すませることがありますが、
“On busy days, there are times when I just heat frozen food and that’s dinner, but …”
時間があるうちに…試したいです。
“…while I have time, I also want to try new recipes from cookbooks.”

So:

X が、Y。
= “X, but Y.”

This is the same が you see in things like:

日本語は難しいですが、面白いです。
“Japanese is difficult, but it’s interesting.”

How does 時間があるうちに work? What does うちに mean here?

うちに in this grammar pattern means:

“while (a certain situation still holds),”
“before it stops being true.”

Structure:
[plain form] + うちに

So:

時間があるうちに
= “while I still have time,”
= “before I run out of time.”

Nuance: it suggests that the situation will change (you won’t have time later), so you want to do something during that limited window.

Compare briefly:

時間がある間に can also mean “while I have time,” usually focusing more on the time span itself.
時間があるうちに emphasizes “before that ‘having time’ situation ends.”

Why is it 料理本から? Could I say 料理本の新しいレシピ or 料理本で新しいレシピ instead?

Here から means “from (as a source).”

料理本から新しいレシピ
= “new recipes from (out of) a cookbook/cookbooks.”

This から is commonly used for a source of information / material:

先生から聞いた = I heard it from the teacher.
インターネットからダウンロードする = download it from the internet.

Alternatives:

料理本の新しいレシピ
= “the cookbooks’ new recipes / new recipes in the cookbook(s).”
This is fine and natural; it just feels slightly more like describing the recipes as belonging to the cookbook.
料理本で新しいレシピ on its own is unnatural.
で would work if you added a verb where “in / using a cookbook” makes sense, e.g.
- 料理本で新しいレシピを見つける = find new recipes in a cookbook.
  But 料理本で新しいレシピを試す sounds odd; you don’t “try recipes in a cookbook,” you try them from the cookbook (as a source), so から fits best.

What does も do in 新しいレシピも試したいです? Why not 新しいレシピを試したいです?

も means “also / too,” and here it’s contrasting with the previous clause about frozen food.

Before: 冷凍食品を温めるだけで晩ご飯をすませる
“(I) just heat frozen food and that’s dinner.”
Now: 新しいレシピも試したいです
“I also want to try new recipes (in addition to just using frozen food).”

So the idea is:

Not only do I sometimes rely on frozen food,
I also want to try new recipes.

Grammatically, も replaces を as the object marker here; you don’t say レシピをも, you just use レシピも:

❌ 新しいレシピをも試したいです
✔ 新しいレシピも試したいです

Could you explain 試したいです? How is it formed, and is this a polite way to say “I want to try”?

試したい is the “want to do” form of 試す (“to try”).

Formation (for this verb):

試す → 試したい (“want to try”)

(For most verbs, you change the final sound to the ‑i form and add たい, but for 〜す verbs it becomes 〜したい: 話す→話したい, 試す→試したい.)

Grammatically, 〜たい behaves like an i‑adjective, so you can add です to make it polite:

試したいです。 = “I want to try (it).”

This is a normal, polite, and very common way to express your own desire.

Nuance alternatives:

試してみたいです。
“I want to try (and see what it’s like).” (A bit more exploratory.)
試したいと思っています。
“I’m thinking that I’d like to try (it).” (Slightly softer / less direct.)

But in everyday conversation, 試したいです is perfectly fine and polite.

What’s the difference between 晩ご飯, 夕ご飯, and 夕食?

All can refer to “dinner / the evening meal,” but their nuance/register differs.

晩ご飯 (ばんごはん)
Very common, everyday, slightly casual.
→ “dinner,” “supper.”
夕ご飯 (ゆうごはん) / 夕飯 (ゆうはん)
Also everyday / casual. 夕飯 is very common in speech.
晩ご飯 and 夕飯 are largely interchangeable in casual contexts.
夕食 (ゆうしょく)
More formal / written or polite term.
Used in menus, schedules, announcements, etc.
→ “evening meal,” “dinner” (in a neutral, non-family tone).

In this sentence, 晩ご飯 matches the personal, conversational tone about daily life. Using 夕食 here would sound a bit more formal or bookish.