In the early days of the pandemic it felt novel to join the home baking fervor and practice recreating our restaurant favorites at home. But after a year, I’m just so burned out on cooking. Are you?
I have zero creativity in the kitchen.
Actually I have zero desire to even be in the kitchen.
Even coming up with an idea for what to cook is exhausting.
I find myself cooking the same five meals over and over again.
Ok, I’m not alone in this? Whew!
So how do we break free of this pattern? By dinnertime at the end of the day our brain is tired of making choices. The key to success is to make just ONE choice in advance. That’s it.
Exactly which choice doesn’t really matter but when we have an infinite sea of options spread out before us, making a decision when maxed out will never work. A choice gives you a starting point and a starting point gives you a PLAN!
Skeptical? Here’s some sample questions to ask yourself:
What meat do I want to start with? “I want to use ground beef because it is easy to cook”
What is an herb or spice I love? “I love how lemons make the whole house smell nice”
What is a tool I want to use? “I want to cook outside on the grill”
What emotion do I want to feel after eating? “I want to feel energized” or “I want to feel cozy”
Having a starting point (any starting point) helps us cross over from the despair of “I don’t know what to cook” to more empowering “I’m figuring out what I want to cook”.
This helps to nudge us out of our cooking rut because we are no longer defaulting to our standby dinners that are easy or require little brain power.