Death by Meal Plan
This whole meal planning thing is getting out of hand and I’m calling B.S.
We have a Facebook group called The Dinkdom (if you haven’t joined, please do!). Last week, I polled members to see if anyone is successfully planning their meals. I specified that for purposes of this poll, meal planning meant “making all your meals at the beginning of the week, parsing out the portions, and actually eating what you planned to eat when you planned to eat it.” Meal plan haters outnumbered meal plan lovers by nearly three to one. Here’s what some of our top influencers had to say:
“It’s exhausting. I don't want to box myself in to a specific meal on a specific day. I never know what sounds good until the day of!”
“It just never works for me! I have great intentions but I either work later than intended and make a detour to make something that’s quicker/easier or I’m just not feeling the original plan anymore.”
“My hubby is the Chef of the house. We were always a family of 5...now that it is just the two of us he still cooks for 15. It drives me up a wall how much he cooks and how much we waste.”
I think a lot of people try to meal plan because once upon a time, someone they respect told them they should. Years have passed. They’ve gained weight, lost weight, gained it back. They used to be paleo and followed a bunch of bloggers. Paleo was too tough so now they just delete the emails. They download free 28-day meal plans thinking, “This one’s gonna stick!” Am I getting warm?
Listen - if you have a predictable life, or even a predictable part of the day or day of the week, meal planning can be effective. The thing is, meal planning is only as good as meal following. If your planned meals are constantly rotating from the fridge to the freezer because you “didn’t get to them,” it’s time to get real.
Try this: maintain a list of the recipes you want to make, keep a grocery list on your phone, and match the number of portions you cook to the number of people in your household. And unsubscribe from all food blogs you’re no longer following. You’re in The Dinkdom now.
XO
DINK stands for Dual Income No Kids - but you don’t have to be a dink to savor our food. We’re into recipes for two to minimize food waste, control portions, and savor every bite!
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