How I avoid the 6pm ‘What’s for dinner’ debacle
When life gets busy — a big project, frantic schedules, a to-do list that just won’t quit — the last thing you want is to be standing in the kitchen at 6pm asking, “What’s for dinner?!”
And I know from experience: when I rely on takeout, leftovers, or quick convenience food, you start to feel lousy, energy tanks and creativity starts to wane. Creativity requires nourishment.
And while it may sound challenging, Ayurveda teaches that as much as possible (not going for perfection here, people), we eat food that’s cooked fresh and full of prana (life energy). It’s worth it — I’ve noticed my energy is much steadier and my mind is clearer when I do. (Both are good when you’re trying to come up with ideas!)
So what do we do when we’re intensely busy?
WE PLAN.
Planning meals ahead of time takes the guesswork out of eating well: you know what you’re going to make, the ingredients are on hand, and you avoid that grody, “blechk, why did I eat that?” feeling.
Here’s one of my actual meal plans:
Nerdy? Perhaps. Useful? Positively.
You can see I wrote down what I need to prep each morning — often setting the Instant Pot to cook a rice or grain for the day — and what I can prep over the weekend, like getting out equipment and chopping heartier vegetables in advance. This makes lunch and dinner time so much quicker.
Two more tips:
Stick with recipes you know by heart. I call these “easy no-brainers.” I keep a list taped inside my cabinet door for quick access. Testing new recipes is fun sometimes, but not when you’re crazy busy.
Make a big enough lunch portion that you can eat the same meal again for dinner.
Meal planning also helps if you’re starting to shift from convenience eating to more fresh, whole food… just saying!
Want to feel less frantic in the first place? I can help with that. Book a 1:1 Ayurveda session with me. I’ll show you how to do a meal plan with what you already know, and other practices that keep you steady and creative!