3 Tactics To Become Confident (And Competent) In The Kitchen.

Top: Loveshackfancy / Jeans: Madewell / Headband: Lele Sadoughi / Boots: Christian Louboutin from Winter 2018, Similar Style from Joie / Photo: @JuliaDags

I hate how frazzled I get when anticipating what the F to give my family for dinner on any given night. And recently I have come to realize that much of this anxiety can be prevented if I just take a little time at the beginning of the week to PLAN what we are going to put on the table each night, and share those plans with all interested parties (which includes my husband who then can give me a heads up on if he even thinks there is a chance he will be home for dinner, our wonderful nanny Alex who helps with dinner prep most nights, and, to some degree, my daughters who will eat said dinner).

It sounds so easy to just jot down 4-5 main dishes and sides and go from there, right? But, when you can’t generate ideas or rattle off memorized recipes from the top of your head, it isn’t. At least, it isn’t for me. So, as with anything, I am figuring out my own workarounds- and here are the 3 tips that help most:

1- THEME NIGHTS: I saw this idea on the Seasons of Renewal instagram feed (the concept initiated from I Heart Naptime - follow her HERE- I am obsessed!) and it was an instant AHA! moment. A theme helps you focus- and when it comes to meal planning, the thing that triggers my tailspin is all the options. I honestly think that is much of the appeal of “taco Tuesday”- besides, well, tacos- you know what to plan/shop for, your kids know what to expect, and in the event others are involved in the dinner prep process, they can feel more empowered to suggest specific meals or keep the fridge stocked with the staples used most often. Many people I spoke to who meal plan with this framework change it up seasonally, and some involve their kids in the theme selection process- both very smart ideas, no?

The key is to keep the themes general enough to allow for options, but specific enough to efficiently skim cookbooks or scroll Instagram for recipes without having to dive too deep. My current weeknight dinner themes graphic can be found at the bottom of this post in case it is helpful (I made it on Canva, like I do everything else in my life.)

2- CORRALLING RECIPES: I am all in on Instapaper- an app that I first learned about via Hitha Palepu (she shared that Instapaper is her go-to app for saving the articles that she wants to share in her #5SmartReads daily series- you can see them on her Instagram stories each morning, in her #5SmartReads Facebook group or sign up for her #5SmartReads newsletter- you will never regret it, trust me!).

Instapaper allows you to save all of the interesting recipes, cooking demo videos, or whatever else you come across while browsing with one click. It syncs the articles and videos you save so that they’re waiting for you on all your devices and you can read anything you save, anywhere and anytime you want, even offline. I save the recipes into folders within Instapaper (right now I have it split up into MAINS, SIDES, BAKING, ENTERTAINING but will likely re-arrange it to fit seasonal themes at some point), and if someone else is doing the prep or shopping, I simply forward it via text, right from the app.

About 75% off the recipes I make come from Instagram- so, while I do like to save the posts in my Saved folders within Instagram, most of the time the actual recipes aren’t in the caption, but need to be accessed via a link that takes me to a blog/cooking site/etc. So by keeping it all in Instapaper, I have one-click access to the recipe, as opposed to having to go back to a link-in-profile, scroll to find the link that corresponds to the thing I want to to make, yada yada yada.

This is what the Instapaper app looks like when you open up your saved items on your iPhone/iPad. You get the best of both worlds- a pretty image to inspire your appetite, and the nitty gritty recipe details, in one place.

3- MAKE, EAT, REPEAT: Making something once is an ordeal, but after 3-4 times, it can (almost!) happen on autopilot. Who knew? (Everyone who is more competent than me in the kitchen, I guess). Sure, this is common sense, but in my unfocused quest to expand our family meal repertoire, I totally ignored it. My goal is to make the most simple things at least once a week for a month so that I can eventually be that person who just “whips up” a loaf of healthy banana bread (this is my go-to recipe), a roast chicken (this is the one I am working on currently) or can chat with company while assembling a delicious salad (my friend Jen does this effortlessly and it is totally #goals for me).

Any other tips for gaining competence in the kitchen and/or efficiently dinner planning for your family, please please PLEASE share in comments! xxJF

This is the dinner theme chart I created to focus myself on weeknights.

Oh- and in case you don’t know what a “deconstructed” dinner is (because I made it up, ha!) it is a build-your-own bowl situation- usually using up leftover veggies from the weekend, a rice of some sort, and a protein.