Yes, you can and should date your way to health. Here are 4 couples meal planning practices long-term couples Can Use To Get Started Learning About and Actually Doing Meal Planning Together
It’s always bothered me that everyone likes to eat but not everyone feels responsible for doing what needs to be done to get a meal on the table.
Yes, there are cultural, practical, monetary, and other real reasons for this “we eat, BUT you make it happen” gap. We can talk about all of that later.
For now I just want to suggest 4 things that will help move a couple from meals being a “this is not working” situation to “we’re in this together” quality time. This can be a super slow process – consider it an adventure.
So, if you are in a relationship that could benefit from more quality meals and quality time try these suggestions to increase both:
- Bind with Buy-In: Both partners have to agree to going to Couple’s Conversation Cafe. That just means agreeing to spend some time together talking about the role that food plays in your life and your relationship. It won’t be a lot of time but it’s important to make it work for you both by including favorite food and drink or whatever will make it enjoyable. Be sure and plan to do it in a comfortable place.
- Couple’s Conversation Cafe: Set aside 60 minutes a week for 4 weeks to talk about and list all that goes into eating.
You might be surprised at how little awareness one or both of you have around what it takes to eat regularly. Eating healthy for both your bodies is even more involved (but that’s a rabbit hole for later.)
Making this list will also enable you two to later address one area at a time instead of getting overwhelmed trying to move from your baseline to kitchen and meals nirvana.
Here are some starter items for your list:
- meal planning,
- budgeting,
- shopping,
- storing,
- prepping,
- cooking,
- cleaning,
- nutrition awareness.
Some specificity will help but don’t let it slow you down. For example, you might list “shopping for fresh vegetables at the farmer’s market” along with the more general “grocery shopping”).
That’s it.
Thing One –
decide to work together to achieve a best case kitchen and meals scenario.
Thing Two –
make a list of all the moving parts that go into the, often unacknowledged, system that enable you both to eat daily.
The list you’ve created will be your map to next steps. You might need a week’s break from Couple’s Conversation Cafe but then schedule another round to work on sorting out your list and planning some mini-projects.
I have a lot more to say on this topic. Sign up to get my monthly “coming soon” emails.