How A Simple Food Roster Changed My Life

When the joy of cooking turns into a daunting task.

BY STAFF @the Brimly Test Kitchen

May 17, 2024

Image Source/Editors @ Brimly

5 minute Read

INFO CONTENT

FEATURE ARTICLE

OBJECTIVE VIEW

I want to share something that has genuinely transformed my life, something I believe everyone can benefit from. But before diving into that, let’s take a trip down memory lane to when life was simpler and school meals were a staple of our daily routine.

When I was a kid, from about age five until seventeen, school meals were a predictable and comforting part of my life. Every Thursday, I knew there would be chicken nuggets. Fridays were reserved for pizza, and Mondays often featured PB&J sandwiches. This routine brought a sense of security and excitement. I could hardly wait to dig into those sloppy joes or chicken nuggets. But as we grow up, the reality hits hard—there’s no such thing as a free lunch anymore.

The Reality of Adulthood

As an adult, the simple joy of knowing what’s for lunch disappears. We have to plan our meals, budget for them, and navigate dietary restrictions. Many of us cope by eating out, but this quickly becomes expensive. Now, at thirty, I found myself stuck in a rut, trying to figure out how to eat healthily, stay on budget, and not stress out about meal planning. Meal kits might seem like a solution, but they often fall short—bland and uninspiring, much like a glorified lean cuisine.

The Struggles of Meal Planning

Meal planning became a significant challenge, especially with dietary restrictions like being gluten-free or soy-free. The joy of cooking turned into a daunting task. Cooking at home should be an exciting adventure, a chance to create delicious meals with as much sauce as you want. However, balancing this with work, family, and other responsibilities made it overwhelming. As the primary cook in the house, I constantly felt the pressure to come up with tasty and exciting meals. Impulse buying at the grocery store only added to the stress and didn’t save money.

A Food Roster

Enter the food roster. This simple yet effective tool changed everything for me. A food roster, or a food menu, is essentially a weekly plan that outlines what you’ll eat each day. It’s like going back to elementary school where you knew what was for lunch every day. The concept is straightforward: plan your meals for each day of the week, including breakfast, lunch, and dinner if you wish.

Explanation and Benefits

Here’s how it works: you decide that Mondays are for pasta, Tuesdays for burgers, Wednesdays for steak, Thursdays for chicken, and Fridays for pizza. By knowing what you’ll cook each day, the stress of meal planning vanishes. You won’t have to wonder what’s for dinner or make last-minute grocery runs. Everything you need is already planned and purchased.

Creating a monthly food roster can further simplify your life. Imagine grocery shopping once a month, knowing exactly what you need for each meal. Some might think this approach is repetitive, but remember how exciting chicken nugget Thursdays were in school? You looked forward to them all week. The same principle applies here. Knowing what’s coming can make meal times exciting again.

Our round-up is:

So, why not give it a try? A food roster can reduce stress, bring back excitement to your meals, and make your life easier. If you’re like me, an adult struggling with meal planning and overwhelmed by daily stresses, this simple tool can bring joy back into your life. Let’s eliminate the stress of wondering what to cook and replace it with the anticipation of favorite meals.

Let’s take a step back to our childhood days and bring back the excitement of knowing what’s for dinner. Chicken nugget Thursdays, pizza Fridays, and all the meals that brought us joy can be part of our adult lives again. By adopting a food roster, we can simplify our lives and savor the joy of eating.

Try it out and see how a little planning can go a long way in making your daily life more enjoyable and stress-free.