At 5:45 P.M., the thoughts start: a lengthy mental list of conditionals—often all at once, often in the span 30 seconds—to determine whether to eat leftovers, to ignore those leftovers and start something new, or to throw my hands in the air and buy a Shake Shack 'shroom burger.
My mental map is actualized below; I can add or subtract depending on the circumstances that apply. (I imagine yours might be similar, though probably is not on paper.)
A score that's between -26 and -6, I eat out (or eat leftovers).
If it's between -4 and 21, I cook something.
And if it's equal to -5, I start thinking of another way to sway my decision...
No, I don't actually use this chart to calculate whether or not (or what) to cook—but sometimes I think it would be easier that way. Maybe there's an app for that?
What questions go through your mind as your planning what to do for dinner? And how do you decide whether to cook or eat out?
A New Way to Dinner, co-authored by Food52's founders Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, is an indispensable playbook for stress-free meal-planning (hint: cook foundational dishes on the weekend and mix and match ‘em through the week).
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Written by: Sarah Jampel
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10 Comments
My matrix works differently- mainly because I life in a small town-- I make a menu and shopping list on Saturday and go to farmers market then supermarket then all week i cook what I say I'm going to cook unless I can get away with either matzoh brei or ramen (last night planned on salmon w pureed cauliflower- but since salmon was frozen, so I had an excuse I made ramen with chicken breasts & broccoli instead). Also now I want need must have matzoh brei at some point in the next 24 hours or I will die.
Weekend - go to Farmers Market and buy all of the things
- go to grocery store and buy all of the other things
- shove everything into fridge and pantry (in an orderly "well I know where it is anyhow" kind of way)
WEEK - root through the things each day. Pull out a few that go together. Configure them into something dinner-ish. Contemplate - wine or no wine? (stupid question). Eat. Rinse. Repeat.
You get pretty good at this when other people are depending on you to feed them night after night, year after year, and you also just happen to be responsible for making payroll. ;o)
If you want inspiration for daily cooking, don't look at the people in the subway and try to guess what they are going to have for dinner. Look at what people in third-world countries have been eating for the past century or so.
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