mattwie.be archives

I like to cook, but I’m also busy and/or lazy¹. But, every time I make the effort to cook something, I’m so happy that I did. For example, homemade tomato soup is infinitely better than its canned counterpart, even though the latter also tastes like nostalgia. It’s also much healthier, more cost effective, and environmentally sustainable.

So, here’s something that brings me pleasure, health, and savings; is better for the environment, but I only do it perhaps twice a week. It’s like I’m not rational or something.

Furthermore, I have a lifelong aversion to the majority of vegetables. This is not good for me, to put it mildly.² This also needs to change, but I’m not going to tackle it straight on. I’m going to sneak up on myself with the following plan:

1. Cook four meals per week. The other three suppers will be filled out by leftovers, prepared foods, or meals out.
2. Jan–Mar: Three meals with meat per week. This is in keeping with my current norms and keeping things meaty should stoke my enthusiasm for cooking. Also: one meal per week will be made with only things already in my fridge and cupboard. This will promote creativity and making do
3. Apr–Jun: Two meat meals per week. I now have to figure out twice as many ways to have meatless meals as before. The key here is that I don’t like cooking the same thing over and over again (except pizza) so I’ll be forced to try new things with veggies.
4. Jul–Sep: Down to one meat meal per week. Now things will get interesting: Three vegetarian meals per week, and I’m going to say that one of them is low-carb. As in, no grains like wheat, rice, or barley.
5. Oct–Dec: I don’t know yet. Maybe ensure that one meal per week is vegan? We’ll see: the previous quarter’s plan feels quite sustainable to me right now. I might have other ideas when this quarter draws nearer.

All of this implies planning, which is probably the most important bit. I’ve never planned. At home: “what do I feel like eating?” At the grocery store: “what do I feel like making later?” This is a surefire recipe for subpar eating. To follow through on this, I have to plan. So, the first step here is adding a recurring event for every Saturday at 14:00 to meal plan. Which I just did. I might even scan a flier for sales like other seemingly responsible adults.

This isn’t a resolution. A resolution is “cook more” or “eat healthier.” Resolutions are just unplanned aspirations that will never happen. This will happen: it’s a plan, not resolution.