Joy in the mundane, or how I’ve learned to enjoy meal prepping 

I hate cooking. I hate that you have to do it every day, several times a day. But what I’ve learned about myself is that cooking is easier if you meal prep. Cooking once and eating all week is amazing. So amazing that last night, I found myself dancing while spreading rub on my pork chops. 

What changed? 

I started looking for ways to have fun. This journey has already reshaped the way I think about mundane tasks. Shopping, boring. Shopping while calling one of my best friends, fun. 

Fun looks different as an adult, and to be honest, I’m not very good at it still. It’s two weeks in, and I’m good at planning for bigger fun events (like Pride and horseback riding). But smaller fun things still elude me. 

How I meal prep

So I’m learning to make things fun. Meal prepping is simple: 

• A meat (usually chicken thighs if I’m being honest – but this week I did thighs and pork chops, to toss in some variety), 
• a starch (this week it was potatoes), 
• a veggie (usually brussel sprouts or asparagus). 

I cook everything in one big batch, and then serve them out into little containers. Cooking this way keeps me from draining my energy. And it makes mornings go by so much faster since I’m not daily suffering through the laborious chore of figuring out what to take for lunch. 

Sharing my joy with others 

The food I make is turning out pretty good as well, and there’s some joy in that. I love savoring my food. And the pork chops I made last night were good. So good, I cut a piece off and shared it with my family – just to watch them relish in my food as well. 

Dishes are still… dishes 

Dishes suck. But planning my meal around an empty sink (okay so I emptied the sink and started the dishwasher before doing all the dishes) helped mitigate my annoyance with them. I was able to wash everything after use and put it all away without losing momentum. 

Meal prepping is what you make of it 

All that to say, I had a fun time last night preparing for the week. It only took three hours of my day, but I feel way more prepared to start the week – and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. 

I love this one cookbook called “Cook Once, Eat All Week” – but the meals are too elaborate for quick and easy lunches. Instead my method, while boring, gives me the nutrients that I need to make it through the day. And I can revisit “Cook Once, Eat All Week” when I move out and have dinners all on my own. 

To be honest, I’m sure I would have griped about cooking without looking for ways to have fun. And this was unexpected. To have fun blasting folk music and preparing food. But I’m genuinely looking forward to meal prepping next week.