A cooking rut is no fun. Stop cooking the same 5 dinners on repeat and add some creativity and variety back to mealtime.

Day 1: The Plan

Find your starting point by answering one of the sample questions below or come up with your own. Avoid telling yourself what you should be doing (this spinach needs eaten or I should really do something with those chicken leftovers). The key being creatively inspired is to ask yourself about something you like or want. Remember, just answer one question. That’s it. Good job!

• What is an herb or spice I love?

• Is there a kitchen gadget or tool I want to use?

• What emotion do I want to feel after eating?

What to make for dinner tonight: if you’re feeling creatively inspired already tonight, great. If not, it’s completely fine to make one of your fallback meals, a frozen pizza or order takeout. Let your brain rest!

Day Two: The gear-up scene

Ask yourself what are two of your favorite meals that incorporate that ingredient, tool or emotion?

Get recipes and shop for missing ingredients.

What to make for dinner tonight: A meal that produces leftovers you actually enjoy.

Day Three: Implementation

From your two meal selections, choose the one you are most excited about preparing.

What to make for dinner tonight: Prepare your first meal idea.

Day Four: Building on success

Prepare your second meal.

What to make for dinner tonight: Cook the second meal

Day Five: You got this!

Are you feeling inspired again? Awesome! Way to break free from your Covid cooking rut.
Not quite there yet? Start the process over again. Remember, you just need to answer one question.

Did you notice that you meal-planned 4 whole days? Pretty sneaky huh?

What to make for dinner tonight: Inspired to cook something new? Go for it! Still figuring it out? No worries, that’s why you made leftovers on day 2.

I hope this helps you break free from your Covid cooking rut. Next time a rut comes creeping in, instead of asking what’s for dinner (“I have no idea...”) try asking what is something you like or want. You always have the answer to that question!

Do you have any tips or tricks for solving “what’s for dinner”? Share them in the comments below

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Looking for more tips on how to mindset can help with deciding what’s for dinner? Check out my post “What’s for dinner? - You’re asking the wrong question”