The Best Way to Plan Meals Is Selfishness.
At some point in the post-Instant Pot recipe landscape, “meal planning” became the code name for “packing five or six of the same meals and pretending to be inspired to eat them all.” Of course, if you’re really psyched to eat them all, that’s one thing, but seeing as there are almost as many articles about that , how to stick to a meal plan , as is own meal plans that – it does not work. The decision can be as simple as putting yourself first.
I think selfishness is a criminally underestimated life hack, especially when it comes to cooking, but this is not the kind you broadcast; nobody wants to be considered selfish, especially women. Imagine my admiration when my longtime favorite, Deb Perelman, advocated just that in a great New York Times article entitled ” Family Dinner Planning in Real Life .” The entire article is worth reading for everyone with children, but for me her first advice is everything: “Find the only recipe that you really really want to cook.” She goes on to make a strong case for neglecting the wishes of others at least once (emphasis mine):
I didn’t say, “Find a recipe that your kids can, with some bribe, agree to eat,” or “Find a recipe that you can make in the six minutes you have when you get home until everyone burns out in horror. “. “… It is extremely difficult to motivate yourself to cook something if it is not the dish you really want to eat. Focus on your desire first. Be a little (ah!) Selfish.
Home cooks often put the needs of others ahead of their own. Instead of asking, “Am I happy to have dinner tonight?” This is “What will my kids / spouse / roommate bum think?” Scheduling meals for the week requires tremendous mental and physical work no matter how many people you feed; you might as well be happy with the end result. Instead of planning your week around what you should eat – which is, of course, a code of avoiding what you think you shouldn’t eat – try prioritizing what you want .
This all sounds great in theory, but application is another matter. The most obvious obstacle is the fact that you can’t please everyone all the time, much less the picky eaters’ table. But beyond that, the concept of “meal planning” is so intertwined with diet and weight loss culture that “meal planning” has become functionally identical to “diet” – large batch recipes typically include a lot of quinoa, stews, and chicken. breast instead of fun stuff like cheese and pasta. In fact, there are exactly two requirements for a good recipe for cooking ahead: it must grow or shrink easily, and it must stay in the refrigerator for several days without seriously degrading the quality. That’s all. Whatever your nutritional needs, there are hundreds and hundreds of recipes to meet all your criteria.
Prioritizing recipes you really like is more than just a trick for preparing food; it is also the single best way to learn how to cook. Early successes force you to stick with it and try new things that can only help you get better. The more you cook, the better you get and the easier it will be to adapt the recipes for everyone in your home, but until then, there is nothing wrong with being a little selfish.