BOREDOM BUSTER: Meal Planning
Welcome to BOREDOM BUSTER! This is a new series of blog posts that I am introducing to help you find ways of getting rid of the boredom of certain mundane tasks to which ADHD brains have an aversion. How often will these BOREDOM BUSTER posts come out? I have no idea. Don’t expect them with any regularity.
The first edition of BOREDOM BUSTER is about meal planning. This is a task I dread, but I recently had a fun time doing it. I am hoping to use that one experience to make the experience better for me in the future, and my experience might also help you as well.
Why You Should Do the Thing
Meal planning sucks, but it is a necessary part of being an adult. You have to feed yourself, and you need to know what you are going to feed yourself ahead of time. Otherwise you may fall into the trap of ordering delivery all of the time (he wrote from personal experience). It is healthier and less expensive to make your food at home.
Get Creative
Barbacoa tostadas
This accidentally happened to me recently, and that is what inspired me to write this post. My previous strategy/attitude towards meal planning was finding recipes online that included throwing a bunch of stuff in a crockpot and then eating 6-8 hours later. This is simple, straightforward, and results in several meals. While searching crockpot recipes online, I found a recipe for barbacoa-style shredded beef. I investigated its simplicity and found it matched my specifications. However, after getting excited about making barbacoa at home. I realized the recipe only makes meat. It does not include any way of serving the meat, other than just eating it plain. I was going to use the meat for tacos, but I was unsatisfied with that. It seemed like too fancy of a meat for plain tacos. Plus, I would have been tempted to buy some hot sauce for these tacos, and I did not want to aggravate my IBS. I wanted something more mild, like pico de gallo. Once the idea of pico de gallo entered my mind. My creativity took off, and I created a fancy meal that was simple enough for my ADHD brain to manage making. This led to the creation of my barbacoa tostadas.
Through this crazy string of ideas (which probably would not have happened if I did not have ADHD) I was able to be creative with my meal planning. Creativity engages my brain. Through creativity, I was able to make meal planning fun.
Make It Fun
The idea of creating a unique dish for myself inspired me and took the grind out of meal planning. I became excited about cooking myself food. What can you do to make meal planning fun for you? Not everyone will enjoy crafting a fancy dish off of a simple crockpot recipe, but it worked for me. Find a way to make meal planning fun for you. The ADHD brain needs fun. Explore the idea of making meal planning fun. Do you need to make meal planning a game? You need to find what will make this fun FOR YOU, not me, not anyone else, YOU. If you need help exploring how you can make meal planning fun FOR YOU, I am here for you.