How and why we (don't) meal plan

Confession: I must be the most terrible housewife/mum out there, or even the most terrible cook, because I don't meal plan. Yep, there I said it. Well, saying I don't meal plan at all isn't correct technically, but meal planning in the traditional sense doesn't happen at our house. We don't sit down at the table with a piece of paper and pencil (or anything screen, but I'm more into old fashioned ways) and write down what we're going to be eating that week, and then buy every item that's on the list. Here's some whys as to why we don't: 

First of all, we're living with/very close to my in laws. While we don't live in the exact same house, we basically live in my MIL's backyard, which is great as it enables us to take care of her. The thing is, as with most Mediterranean/African/Arabic countries, people are generally so spontaneous and planning in general usually doesn't really work. Even when it comes to appointments, it's better to expect that people won't probably be on time. If they are on time, that's a plus, but should not really be an expectation. Anyway, since my MIL doesn't/can't cook anymore, we usually bring her supper, but the thing is that relatives and neighbours might just pop in unexpectedly and bring food with them for her. Every single time I did try to plan somewhat in advance, that's what happened. Of course, I don't blame them at all, they're sincerely doing something good, but if your plan messes up it's sometimes a bit frustrating. Of course, at times I didn't plan anything at all, no one showed up to unexpectedly bring her food 😉

Secondly, since our way of shopping is a bit different (which I did a post about), we can't plan before we do our shopping. We just buy what's being sold and is most affordable at the market. For example, some weeks parsley is very cheap, whereas the next week it's five times as expensive, so it wouldn't make sense to make a lot of parsley based dishes then. So generally we buy what's available and it's always a bit different. This week, we had a LOT of aubergine, which is defenitely going to be on our plates quite a few times. And so instead of buying what's on the menu, I just make do with whatever's available at the market. We just estimate what we'll be using that particular week. And when there's still veg leftover, that's what will be used first the next week. Etc. I love that it makes me more creative that way. If I'd have to sit down an write a week worth of meals in advance, it's probably going to be a boring menu. When I'm forced to cook with whatever we have in the house and to come up with ideas instantly, my creativity thrives. 

I deal with chronic pain issues, and I never know when I have a good day or a bad day. Usually I have a few bad days in a row followed by a few good days, but it's not quite predictable. When I don't feel well, I do still cook, albeit simpler meals that don't involve a lot of standing. This is also one of the reasons why I batch cook. 

This might be a bit weird, but we never know what we'll crave when. If I, say, am supposed to make a pasta dish on a particular day when we crave rice, I don't see the need to still go for the pasta just because it was written on a list and therefore can't be changed. Others might call it stubborn, but for me it's just common sense. 

It's interesting how meal planning is always mentioned as *the* way to avoid food waste. That you're very wasteful when you don't meal plan as you're essentially heading without any direction and you'll just buy perishable foods recklessly and that way, waste tons of foods. But here I am, practically not wasting any food AND not meal planning. Yes, that is possible. Saying that meal planning avoids wasted food is a bold statement, in my opinion. In fact, I believe it can even be the other way around: if you're sticking to a particular meal planned for that day, you might neglect other produce that's about to go bad. Avoiding food waste is actually a very reason why I cannot really meal plan; I might have to rescue certain items from the fridge on some days or finish leftovers (sometimes there's enough leftovers for all of us). Yes, even if we crave something else- avoiding waste comes first at our house. 

I can't recall my grandmother or even other women from their generation ever had a menu plan. And especially my oldest grandmother, who was born in 1910, would never ever throw away any foods. So it's quite a new phenomenon actually. Which isn't bad in and of itself, although I do value a lot of the old fashioned skills and way of living people had. 

We do kind of vary by rotating dishes that we like. The meals are usually centred around the starch. Not around the meat, as we eat more vegetarian meals than meat based meals. So for example, one day it's pasta, the other day it's bread or couscous. Today, we had a vegetable stew with freshly homemade bread. Since I batch cook, we usually have the same meals every other day. Probably it's a bit less varied than most people would do, but this is what we like and it saves time, cooking fuel and energy. I might do a different side dish with the meals so that it makes it still a bit varied. For example, yesterday we had pasta, with a salad on the side. The next time we'll probably have the pasta with a different side, such as stir fried vegetables. The days that I'm not cooking (or just making a quick side) I can focus on other household tasks a bit more, such as keeping up with folding the laundry, cleaning the bathroom/kitchen/floors, etc.