Dinners planned for the week
It is a small thing, to eat, but vitally important. It is also exceedingly annoying. The time it takes to prepare, make, eat, then clean up is incredible and while doing all of it, nothing else can be done, to do it right and to do it well requires full undivided attention. And so I usually just “wing it”.
I don’t usually plan ahead for any meal, especially dinner. My solution to the eating part of living has been to eat as simply as possible, with as little ingredients as possible, but still as healthy as possible, and as predictably as possible (to avoid longer grocery lists, having to keep more on-hand, etc).
This type of “planning” (lack of planning can be planning, right?) works out pretty well for breakfast and lunch.
Breakfast is one of a few things:
- oat meal,
- pancakes,
- or bacon and eggs.
All very easy to make. Easy to clean up.
Lunch has also been ok, for the most part: meat and cheese (usually salami with whatever I have on hand, usually some variety of cheddar), a handful of almonds, two oranges, celery juice.
Dinner is where I have struggled.
I was good for a while, when I was using Hello Fresh, but the dollar to
calorie ratio seemed pretty high. The portion sizes were always just shy
of enough. Still, I used Hello Fresh for maybe a year. I still have all
of the recipes. When I stopped using Hello Fresh (and mind you, this is
me as a bachelor for the first time in my life...my meals were
first provided by either my mom or dad when I was living with them
as a child, then they were provided by my wife when I was
married to her. A part of separation and then divorce, for me, meant
learning how to cook and eat well.) I defaulted to one of two meals,
both of which get old veryquickly: spaghetti (still my favorite
though, with a good sauce, meatballs, garlic bread, and wine 😍) or
sausage with rice - snooze fest.
Well, something clicked in my brain last week and I was tired of feeling so rushed about food. Tired of viewing it as an annoying part of life. Back when I used Hello Fresh I did enjoy the preparation part of the meal, and if I am making the meal for more than just me it feels like less of an annoyance because it is.
Preparing a meal for others is a special thing, something to slow down
and appreciate, enjoy, view it as an opportunity. I love to work with my
hands. Handcrafts are part of my life, a part of who I am, a part of how
I have been made, and so preparing a meal is just that: handcrafts in
the kitchen.
Since I still have all of the Hello Fresh recipe cards, I am starting
back there (just without the delivery, I’ll shop the lists myself,
gasp!). Mozzie and I picked out the dinners we’d like to eat
this week, starting with last night. We shopped for the ingredients
yesterday, too, so we are all set. And it feels pretty great. Having
that part of my week figured out ahead of time is awesome, and is a
significant weight off of my shoulders. Plus, it frees up that brain
space for other stuff during the week. Simple, and a lot of you are
probably saying, “yeah, you dummy, that’s life,” but I’m kinda slow to
figuring certain things out :-)
On to the day ahead!
Have a good one,
~ Aaron
P.S. if you have a cookbook that you find yourself going back to frequently because of how great it is, mind letting me know? Send me a note on m.b or shoot me an email - cwa [at] omg [dot] lol will do the trick. Thanks!
Grateful log for Mon, 25 Mar 2024
- Excellent sleep
- Dinners planned for the week
- A new week
I love to work with my hands. Handcrafts are part of my life, a part of who I am, a part of how I have been made, and so preparing a meal is just that: handcrafts in the kitchen.