Girls Night #157: “What’s for Dinner?” — A Meal Planning Guide that will Actually Make your Life Easier

 
 
Woman in kitchen
 

IN THIS PODCAST EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN:

  • How to make a meal plan you’ll actually use

  • How to feed yourself (and your family) in a way that reflects your values and your season of life

  • What to keep in your kitchen and pantry (and what you can get rid of!)

  • The trick that makes grocery shopping so much easier

 

(You can also listen right here!👇)

 

(Or watch the interview right here!👇)

ABOUT THIS EPISODE


Hey friends! Welcome to Girls Night!

I’m so excited about today’s episode. Today we’re talking about how to make a meal plan that will actually make your life easier.

Alternate titles for today’s episode are: 

  • A meal planning guide for people who are terrible at meal planning

  • Stephanie finally gets unstuck in an area of life that has been frustrating her every single day for years. 


So, I know that some of the women in our community are excellent cooks. They feel comfortable in the kitchen, and their favorite question to answer is, “What’s for dinner?” I wish that was the case for me, but it’s totally not.

I’m the takeout queen. And although I’ve tried meal planning more times than I can count, I’ve never been able to do it in a way that makes my life easier.

In fact, it always seems to make my life harder. I could break out in hives just thinking about it!

When I think about meal planning, I picture a complicated app full of recipes I don’t actually want to make. I picture the app spitting out a grocery list that’s the length of a CVS receipt, and I picture me spending too much time and too much money on meals I’m not actually excited about eating in the first place.

This plan didn’t make my life easier, it’s made it 10X harder.

And so I always end up tossing out my meal plan (and the whole weekend I spent making it!) and just end up winging it — somehow surprised and frustrated every single day when at 5pm we have to (AGAIN!) answer the question, “What do we want to do for dinner?”

So when I got the opportunity to have Kendra Adachi back on the show to tell us about her new book, The Lazy Genius Kitchen, I was excited, but also thought that whatever tips she had probably wouldn’t help me.

I’m so happy I was wrong. This conversation was honestly life-changing for me. I can’t wait for you to hear it. 


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LINKS FROM THE SHOW

Read the transcript here

Steph’s book, The Lipstick Gospel (here’s a paperback copy and here’s a free digital download!)

Steph’s prayer journals, Every Single Moment and The Between Places

Kendra’s podcast: The Lazy Genius Podcast

Kendra’s book: The Lazy Genius Kitchen: Have What You Need, Use What You Have, and Enjoy It Like Never Before

5 Steps to Create a Lazy Genius Kitchen:

  1. Prioritize

  2. Essentialize

  3. Organize

  4. Personalize

  5. Systemize

7 “P’s” for Personalization:

  • Personality - What's your personality?

  • People - Who's in your kitchen? What's important to them? What do they need?

  • Priorities - What matters to you?

  • Proficiency - What are you good at?

  • Process - How do you process tasks?

  • Pleasure - What makes you happy?

  • Peace - What gives you peace?

Quotes Mentioned:
"There's no one way to meal plan." - Kendra

"You get to decide what matters to you in your kitchen. No one else gets to decide." - Kendra

"There is no single item that belongs in every pantry" - Kendra

"What you should have in your pantry is what you eat" - Kendra

"If you don't use it, it's not essential" - Kendra

"Gathering is eating together on purpose" - Kendra

"Don't make food you don't like!" - Stephanie



CONNECT WITH KENDRA

Facebook // Website // Instagram


CONNECT WITH STEPHANIE

Facebook // Bookstore // Instagram


 

WE LOVE OUR SPONSORS!

Our sponsor for today’s episode is Aura Frames. You just need to use the code GIRLSNIGHT to get UP TO $40 off WHILE SUPPLIES LAST. TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLY.