Monday, October 14, 2013

Coming Home to the Kitchen: But I am not motivated!


I love experimenting and developing recipes in the kitchen but sometimes the very thought of cooking supper can depress and overwhelm me. Even as a gourmand, I do not have unlimited motivation and inspiration in the kitchen. The following tips will help encourage and maintain your kitchen motivation!

Maintain kitchen cleanliness. Cleaning up after a meal never takes as long IRL as it feels like it does emotionally. Set a timer for 15 or 20 minutes and go on a cleaning frenzy! If you have a pile of dishes to tackle before you can start cooking supper you are way more likely to order in than to cook.

Stock the pantry with staples. Develop a list of family favorites and keep the pantry stocked with those ingredients. Focus on recipes that are easy to cook and easy to keep the ingredients in stock (focus on canned, frozen or dried ingredients rather than fresh). My personal favorites include pizza (flour, canned tomatoes, canned pineapple, canned olives) and refried beans (spices and black beans).

Focus on simple recipes. If you are low on motivation do not start a huge project with multiple steps that will take hours to complete. Focus on simple recipes so that you'll be eating in the near future. Pasta dishes, bean salads, and stir-frys are high on the 'simple recipe' list!

Non-traditional meals. If you do not have the motivation to make supper switch it up and make something non-traditional. Try breakfast for dinner. I've eaten many supper meals of popcorn!

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