Resolutions: Cooking

Posted on January 19th, 2016

There are three main reasons why people prioritize cooking more: 1) For their wallet 2) For their waistline 3) For their wisdom (aka skills).  All are noble pursuits, and there is no reason you can’t address all three with one strategy.

Conventional wisdom suggests meal planning is the answer for all… and I do agree, but that skips a crucial first step.  First, you need to build up an arsenal of recipes around which you feel excited to plan.   I was (very, very) late to the Pinterest game, but do find it to be the best resource for storing recipes.  I come across delicious looking recipes all the time, but need somewhere to store them.  When I’m planning on Saturday, I have a visual place to scroll through and determine not only what looks good but what uses enough similar ingredients (without being identical dishes) so that I can be cost effective with my ingredients.  I started stocking up, and now I have a backlog of dishes I can’t wait to make.

I am just not one of those people who can make a casserole on Sunday and eat if for lunch every day for a week, but I have no trouble revisiting it later.  One thing I keep in mind is how well a dish will freeze.  I try to cut recipes to yield four servings so that Ian and I can eat two for dinner and freeze the rest for a later night.  Bonus: once you develop a stockpile of frozen things, you won’t have to work up the energy to cook as many nights!  It’s definitely more cost effective than super small batch recipes, too.

This can be a tough resolution to stick to simply because life will try to get in the way, but if you’re planning simple meals and buying the ingredients in advance, it will be easier to get it done.  And don’t set the bar too high– I never kid myself into thinking I’m going to cook dinner on Friday or Saturday night, for example!

I’m going to try to get better about sharing recipes I’m making in the coming months, but in the meantime, check out my Pinterest board for ideas.  I also love Skinnytaste and Pinch of Yum, but there are so many wonderful food blogs out there.  And when all else fails, I make a quiche.  You’ll see a handful of slow cooker recipes, too– I’m a morning person, so for me 10 minutes of prep before work to come home to a fully cooked dinner is a dream!

For what it’s worth, this is the absolute easiest meal in my arsenal.  And please note: sometimes, that emergency frozen pizza in your freezer counts as cooking.