How To Make Dinner Prep Something You LOVE in 2023
A couple weeks ago I talked about my food goals for 2023 and I have a really cool insight along those lines I wanted to discuss today. I was listening to podcast episode #265 from Allie Casazza’s podcast, “The Purpose Show”, and she had the coolest way of changing your mindset of doing the mundane things you do every day (like making dinner day in and day out).
We are all so busy and I find that with running my three kids around and keeping up with housework and working, I am pretty darn exhausted by dinner time and a lot of times admittedly it feels much more like a chore that I am not thrilled about doing rather than something I look forward to each day.
Allie shared a few thoughts and tips that I thought were so insightful and are going to help me change my mindset about meal planning and prepping this year.
Tip #1: Make Dinner Prep A Fun Ritual
Allie has decided to make dinner prep every night super enjoyable so she has started pouring herself a glass of wine, turning on fun music, letting her kids help (if and only if she is up to that is excited to have some company in the kitchen), and she has come to absolutely LOVE making dinner every night. It was just changing her perspective about it.
You could also just pour yourself a nice beverage like a sparkling water drink with a squeeze of fresh lemon or something similar. Doing something nice like this for yourself brings a good vibe to getting excited for whipping up something you love. I really love turning on music from musicals--right now my kids and I love the Matilda musical on Netflix, so we’ve loved cooking and baking and listening to this soundtrack constantly.
Tip #2: Silence Can Be Absolutely Wonderful
Allie admitted that she sometimes will even put ear plugs in her ears as she is preparing dinner if the kids are just too loud and it really helps her mellow out and enjoy getting the meal ready even more sometimes. It just depends on your mood. But in a world where we are all usually listening to a book, music, a podcast, social media feeds, etc., it can be so nice to just have silence sometimes. That is where your brain has a chance to not be so stimulated and can have a chance to breathe. A lot of times this is where you can do some real thinking and I find that I find answers to my problems and my most creative thoughts when there is silence. Just something to think about :)
Tip #3: Sunday Night Planning
She also has a really good tip to have Sundays nights be a time every week that you take a look at the calendar and plan out all your meals, order your groceries for the week and go over the calendar at what everyone else in the family has going on. I have never had a structured plan to plan for the week like this but this is something I am definitely going to implement.
Tip #4: Find Fun and Exciting New Recipes
This is my own tip but I think this could really help with getting more excited about meals this year. Find new recipes to create in the kitchen. Make some of your absolute favorites--meals you loved as a kid to share with your kids or grandkids. Make new meals--branch out and try different flavors from different cuisines around the world. Lately I have been on a kick of using cajun seasonings on everything and I am loving it! Last year my favorite meal I made probably the whole year was making a Colombian meal of arepas and really spicy Colombian chicken. It was heavenly and so much fun! It is so invigorating to me to find new great recipes!
Do you have any tips or tricks as a seasoned awesome adult to share with us for meal planning/prep that make it more enjoyable or easy? Do you have any tips along the ideas of family dinners and things you did that were important to you or that worked well for your family? Please share any thoughts in the comments below. I am always wanting to learn from you and create better systems and fun memories in the home! I love getting inspired from many different perspectives, so please feel free to share any thoughts you have. I hope you are able to find ways to love spending time in the kitchen and find it to be a happy place of memories and personal growth.
We are all so busy and I find that with running my three kids around and keeping up with housework and working, I am pretty darn exhausted by dinner time and a lot of times admittedly it feels much more like a chore that I am not thrilled about doing rather than something I look forward to each day.
Allie shared a few thoughts and tips that I thought were so insightful and are going to help me change my mindset about meal planning and prepping this year.
Tip #1: Make Dinner Prep A Fun Ritual
Allie has decided to make dinner prep every night super enjoyable so she has started pouring herself a glass of wine, turning on fun music, letting her kids help (if and only if she is up to that is excited to have some company in the kitchen), and she has come to absolutely LOVE making dinner every night. It was just changing her perspective about it.
You could also just pour yourself a nice beverage like a sparkling water drink with a squeeze of fresh lemon or something similar. Doing something nice like this for yourself brings a good vibe to getting excited for whipping up something you love. I really love turning on music from musicals--right now my kids and I love the Matilda musical on Netflix, so we’ve loved cooking and baking and listening to this soundtrack constantly.
Tip #2: Silence Can Be Absolutely Wonderful
Allie admitted that she sometimes will even put ear plugs in her ears as she is preparing dinner if the kids are just too loud and it really helps her mellow out and enjoy getting the meal ready even more sometimes. It just depends on your mood. But in a world where we are all usually listening to a book, music, a podcast, social media feeds, etc., it can be so nice to just have silence sometimes. That is where your brain has a chance to not be so stimulated and can have a chance to breathe. A lot of times this is where you can do some real thinking and I find that I find answers to my problems and my most creative thoughts when there is silence. Just something to think about :)
Tip #3: Sunday Night Planning
She also has a really good tip to have Sundays nights be a time every week that you take a look at the calendar and plan out all your meals, order your groceries for the week and go over the calendar at what everyone else in the family has going on. I have never had a structured plan to plan for the week like this but this is something I am definitely going to implement.
Tip #4: Find Fun and Exciting New Recipes
This is my own tip but I think this could really help with getting more excited about meals this year. Find new recipes to create in the kitchen. Make some of your absolute favorites--meals you loved as a kid to share with your kids or grandkids. Make new meals--branch out and try different flavors from different cuisines around the world. Lately I have been on a kick of using cajun seasonings on everything and I am loving it! Last year my favorite meal I made probably the whole year was making a Colombian meal of arepas and really spicy Colombian chicken. It was heavenly and so much fun! It is so invigorating to me to find new great recipes!
Do you have any tips or tricks as a seasoned awesome adult to share with us for meal planning/prep that make it more enjoyable or easy? Do you have any tips along the ideas of family dinners and things you did that were important to you or that worked well for your family? Please share any thoughts in the comments below. I am always wanting to learn from you and create better systems and fun memories in the home! I love getting inspired from many different perspectives, so please feel free to share any thoughts you have. I hope you are able to find ways to love spending time in the kitchen and find it to be a happy place of memories and personal growth.
Mary Richardson
Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2014
Email the author! mary@dvo.com
