Our Relationship with Food … it’s anything but simple
Food. Whether we are eating it, cooking it, shopping for it, or simply thinking about it. It has a big role in our daily lives. Our relationship with food can also get really complicated at times. Am I hungry? Is this the healthy choice? And the guilt when you give in to a craving can stay with you for days. Something that is meant to be enjoyable and a way of sustaining life has the ability to create real pressure on our psyche. I don’t know about you, but I would love to give some of the time, energy, and mind space to other things in my life.
So, lets simplify this essential part of our daily life and get back to living.
How to Simplify Meal Planning
At the start of each season list meals you can enjoy using seasonal fruits and vegetables. Think salads and bbq in summer and soups in winter. Keep them as simple as possible with a minimal amount of ingredients. I know we all have a Pinterest board of mouth-watering recipes for food
that take hours to cook but if that does not fit into your daily life, keep them there for now. We are looking for some go-to easy recipes.
Dinner
Once you have a selection, choose 5-10 dinner recipes that are healthy and enjoyable. I like to use recipes that are easily adjusted for what I can find in store or what I have on hand, as well. And, if they repeat ingredients even better. Also, keep your options to only as few as you can be comfortable with. If you are good with eating the same thing Monday to Friday and spicing it up on the weekends reduce the number of recipes to 3 or 4. Write these recipes out either by hand or on the computer and keep them easily accessible. This will keep you from going down the Pinterest rabbit hole when deciding what to eat for the week.
Lunch
Choose 2 or 3 lunch ideas that are easy to prep ahead. Think cold lunches like pasta salad you can prep on the weekend and keep in the fridge, or my favorite go to, mini charcuterie plate of fancy crackers and cheese with a few olives, fruits and nuts. I aim for things that don’t really need recipes but the important thing is to plan for them. Even post the options on the fridge so you can free up the head space and have a reminder of what to eat before you even open the fridge.
Breakfast
Plan on 1 or 2 breakfasts that you will eat everyday. Maybe one quick one and one go to recipe for when you have more time on the weekend. Lets get our mornings as simple as possible without relying on just coffee to get us to lunchtime. Also, consider smoothies for breakfast. They are easy to make and tasty and use mostly frozen fruit which is easy to keep on hand. Figure out your favorite fruit, veg and protein combo and keep the ingredients handy.
Snacks
As for snacks, keep a few healthy ones on hand that are easy to just grab and go and save a few recipes for baking snacks that you can toss in to the rotation when you have more time. Don’t plan to bake muffins or cookies every week but when you do, double the batch and keep some in the freezer, you’ll thank me later.
Why so few options?
Decision fatigue. I came to a realization while building my house that decision fatigue is a real thing. You just get exhausted by all the things in your life that you have to decide on: what clothes to wear, when to call your mom, what to have for dinner, etc. And during stressful times, when you then have to worry about health, finances, or an emergency, it just gets to be too much. But why not automate some of it by reducing or eliminating the decisions when it come to food. It might give you some real peace of mind to know, “I am having yogurt for breakfast” rather than asking yourself “what am I going to have for breakfast?”
Simple Food Shopping
The List
Make an ingredient list based on all the recipes and ideas you have chosen. Type it up so all you have to do next week is print it off and highlight the ingredients you need to replenish. Or save it to a notes app on your phone so you can skip the printing process. If you want to go one step further, include the names of brands you would like to make your go to brands (the ones with the ingredients you like etc.) to eliminate another decision once you get to the store. Another idea is to print this list and keep it on the fridge. As soon as something on the list is gone or empty, highlight it right away.
The Big Shop
Shop once per week for dry goods. I call this my big shop. Get everything on this day that has a shelf life of a week or more plus the fresh food items for the first half of the week. Include other non-food items like hygiene and cleaning products, as well. As for when to go, I keep my list ready so when my teenagers ask for a ride into town, I am ready to head to the grocery store to make the trip mutually beneficial. Hey, I just realized that is another decision I don’t have to make, it’s on them!
The Pop In
You might need to shop twice per week for fresh food. Keep tabs on what fresh ingredients you need to get you through the second half of the week and do a quick shop. This is easy to fit in after work or between child activities.
I often have times during the week when I have to kill a half hour or so between picking up the kids from their activities. By knowing what I am going to eat this week and beyond, I can easily just pop in the store and buy a few things to get a jump on my next shopping trip, knowing it is not going to be wasted. Also, when I have that spare time at the store, I could use it wisely and really pay attention to the best deals or brands.
Get Cooking
Our goal here is to batch tasks. Whenever you prepare a recipe that requires chopping fruits and vegetables, consider what other recipes are in your plan and chop some extra for that. Is there anything you can prep for another meal while you are in the kitchen? Think about how many pots you can fit on the stove or dishes in the oven. Does it make sense to roast today’s chicken with tomorrow’s carrots? Tomorrow you can just pop them in the microwave or toaster oven to warm them up. Or maybe you can boil eggs for this weeks breakfast while you are boiling potatoes (I looked it up, you can even do it in the same pot!)
Now if you are the type to have Sunday afternoons free and want to try prepping the whole week in advance, like I have seen on Pinterest, great. I haven’t tried it yet but it is on my radar. What I love about it, especially in the summer, is you are only using the stove and oven on one day, so not heating up the house every evening. Also, you are not having to clean up pots and pans throughout the week.
If you have the tendency to forget to stop working to eat midday, like me, at least prep your lunches ahead of time. You don’t want to get caught wolfing down cookies over the kitchen sink when the hungries hit. Better yet, only choose lunches that require little to no prep (charcuterie, anyone?).
Same goes for breakfasts or snacks. Cut up fruit, boil the eggs, sautee the veggies, or make the pancake mix in advance so in the morning it is as simple as tossing some things together to start your day.
The Clean Up
The dreaded clean up. At home, I have a tendency to let the dishes pile up. It is kind of funny because in the kitchen I work at part time I am always on top of cleaning as I go. But for efficiency sake, cleaning as you go is a must. I purchased a soap block and brush like this one to make washing a dish here and there really simple. No filling the sink with water or saving up for a full load in the dishwasher. A simple swipe with the brush, a rinse, and it is done. Fingers crossed I can keep up with the habit (so far, so good).
Keeping Up with Food Organization
Keep it organized. Yes, we just have to do it. It is simpler in the long run if we just put things back where they go than let them crowd the kitchen counter or get lost in the back of the fridge. Once per week, when you are taking inventory or what you need to shop for, spend 10 minutes and toss old food, wipe down a shelf that needs it, refill canisters, and put anything that is out of place back. Then, when you return with your groceries, you are not fighting half empty boxes of stale crackers, or past its prime celery for prime real estate. If we spend 10 minutes once or twice per week keeping up with it, we can avoid the seasonal deep clean of the kitchen that takes a weekend (or more sometimes).
Getting in the Habit
My advice is to start small. Choose one thing you want to make a habit and work on that first. Maybe it’s the meal planning, or the cleaning up that is really hard to keep up with right now. Give it your best try to make one thing a habit before you overhaul your current system. You can find more tips about forming habits here.
Figure out a day and time when you can devote some effort to the planning, or prepping of meals for the week. Perhaps it is at 5:30 on a Tuesday while you are waiting for the broccoli to steam or Saturday morning before the rest of the house wakes up. Choose a day and try the best you can to stick to it. Set an alarm on your phone as a reminder if you have to. Each week it will get easier and with the small arsenal of go-to recipes and ingredient lists you will find your groove in no time.
What kind of system do you use for keeping it simple at home? Any tips you think I should try?
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