It's so interesting to see different viewpoints on meal planning. I LOVE IT, but mostly because I'm very type-A. On the Notes app, I have a shared note with my husband where I keep track of what we'll be eating for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next week or so. Nothing brings me joy like creating those menus, adding stuff to my curbside grocery pickup order, and then checking it off my list. I do sometimes bemoan not being able to always chase my cravings, but I do try and leave some room for spontaneity! (And I also try and give myself some grace when it's been a long day and making a meal does NOT seem like the move, so we just order out or go somewhere.) But I'm with you on letting myself eat whatever may be calling to me in that moment, and try not to focus on what I "should" be eating, and just eating what my body tells me to. (Thanks, in part, to reading stuff from you!)
My sentiments echo very similarly Marcus' comment below. I feel comforted by having some of the week planned out but leave room to deviate to whims.
Looser plans have also become easier now that budget isn't the top priority. When money was tighter, looking at the sales flyer, planning an exact list to procure, and how to maximize every ingredient really helped stretch our dollars.
And as I've become a more confident cook this has gotten easier as well. I feel comfortable buying a few things that are looking good and figuring it out later without fretting over every detail up front. I really enjoyed your recent "Dinner doesn't have to be hard" post offering tips in this vein!
I appreciate you acknowledging that it often requires a certain amount of time or money privilege for a more spontaneous dinner approach to occur. But as you also mentioned it does require a lot of labor up front or confinement through the week and that's not the right system for others! So more power to everyone doing what works right for them. I've been loving all the conversations dismantling these ideas that there's one "right" way to do something!
Thank you for the link to the Burnt Toast article, along with sharing your thoughts on meal planning! Sheesh, y'all both put into words some big feelings I am having. Haven't figured it out yet, but cooking with a spirit of abundance and practicing making meal planning fun are definitely on my to do list.
Aug 20, 2022·edited Aug 20, 2022Liked by Julia Turshen
I loved reading this post and the comments so far about meal planning - it's fun to get a peek into how different people approach this. So much of what I read here resonated so strongly.
I know this isn't true for everyone, but I'm type A and a little nerdy, so I enjoy meal planning as a creative activity on the weekend. I get a lot of joy from perusing my recipe/cookbook collection and/or visiting the farmers market to figure out what looks seasonal and delicious and thinking about how it can all fit together. Spending weekend leisure time on this gives me a regular little dose of that delightful menu planning experience, since I plan special menus/meals much less frequently. Plus, having a plan gives me many things to look forward to throughout the busy week.
A major reason I meal plan is that it feels like a kind thing to do for future me. My weekdays are busy and tiring, so by the time dinner rolls around, I often don't have bandwidth for more decision-making. When there's some semblance of a plan already in place, I can ease right into cooking mode and start decompressing without getting into the work of figuring out what to make, which can be surprisingly daunting when I'm drained.
It also helps me reduce food waste - if I know I'm going to have ingredients left over from a meal, I can come up with different applications for them over the course of the week before they go bad.
With all that said, I'm learning so much from you about how to be more spontaneous and intuitive with my cooking and how there is no one right way to make a thing (this idea has been a game changer), so I am striving to leave more space for improvisation and flexibility. I'm also dabbling in preparing more generic components that I can dress up in different styles for different meals. It's an evolving practice, and I'm grateful for all of the ideas and inspiration that I find here.
It's so interesting to see different viewpoints on meal planning. I LOVE IT, but mostly because I'm very type-A. On the Notes app, I have a shared note with my husband where I keep track of what we'll be eating for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the next week or so. Nothing brings me joy like creating those menus, adding stuff to my curbside grocery pickup order, and then checking it off my list. I do sometimes bemoan not being able to always chase my cravings, but I do try and leave some room for spontaneity! (And I also try and give myself some grace when it's been a long day and making a meal does NOT seem like the move, so we just order out or go somewhere.) But I'm with you on letting myself eat whatever may be calling to me in that moment, and try not to focus on what I "should" be eating, and just eating what my body tells me to. (Thanks, in part, to reading stuff from you!)
My sentiments echo very similarly Marcus' comment below. I feel comforted by having some of the week planned out but leave room to deviate to whims.
Looser plans have also become easier now that budget isn't the top priority. When money was tighter, looking at the sales flyer, planning an exact list to procure, and how to maximize every ingredient really helped stretch our dollars.
And as I've become a more confident cook this has gotten easier as well. I feel comfortable buying a few things that are looking good and figuring it out later without fretting over every detail up front. I really enjoyed your recent "Dinner doesn't have to be hard" post offering tips in this vein!
I appreciate you acknowledging that it often requires a certain amount of time or money privilege for a more spontaneous dinner approach to occur. But as you also mentioned it does require a lot of labor up front or confinement through the week and that's not the right system for others! So more power to everyone doing what works right for them. I've been loving all the conversations dismantling these ideas that there's one "right" way to do something!
Thank you for the link to the Burnt Toast article, along with sharing your thoughts on meal planning! Sheesh, y'all both put into words some big feelings I am having. Haven't figured it out yet, but cooking with a spirit of abundance and practicing making meal planning fun are definitely on my to do list.
I loved reading this post and the comments so far about meal planning - it's fun to get a peek into how different people approach this. So much of what I read here resonated so strongly.
I know this isn't true for everyone, but I'm type A and a little nerdy, so I enjoy meal planning as a creative activity on the weekend. I get a lot of joy from perusing my recipe/cookbook collection and/or visiting the farmers market to figure out what looks seasonal and delicious and thinking about how it can all fit together. Spending weekend leisure time on this gives me a regular little dose of that delightful menu planning experience, since I plan special menus/meals much less frequently. Plus, having a plan gives me many things to look forward to throughout the busy week.
A major reason I meal plan is that it feels like a kind thing to do for future me. My weekdays are busy and tiring, so by the time dinner rolls around, I often don't have bandwidth for more decision-making. When there's some semblance of a plan already in place, I can ease right into cooking mode and start decompressing without getting into the work of figuring out what to make, which can be surprisingly daunting when I'm drained.
It also helps me reduce food waste - if I know I'm going to have ingredients left over from a meal, I can come up with different applications for them over the course of the week before they go bad.
With all that said, I'm learning so much from you about how to be more spontaneous and intuitive with my cooking and how there is no one right way to make a thing (this idea has been a game changer), so I am striving to leave more space for improvisation and flexibility. I'm also dabbling in preparing more generic components that I can dress up in different styles for different meals. It's an evolving practice, and I'm grateful for all of the ideas and inspiration that I find here.