Hello friend, what's cooking?

What's your go-to for the weekend?

• Is it your special time to play and experiment with a new recipe?
• Do you like someone else to treat you to dinner (another household member cooking for you, eating at someone else's table, eating out or getting take-out)?
• Do you end up eating all the leftovers so you can start the new week with a fresh fridge?

Just curious! Let me know.

The perfect meal planning strategy

I wanted to make a video about this but, oh! irony, my sound failed, and I didn't have time to re-record, so here's a written version:

You may have heard that I am working on a new video course. It will teach basic cooking and batch cooking recipes and methods that you can mix and match to enjoy healthier, calmer, and more satisfying meals on weeknights.

Unlike my 5,000-Meal Solution program, this new course will have a lot of actual cooking videos in it. It will include four hour-long "cook-along" videos that viewers can follow at their own pace, pausing as needed.

Though I have often done live cooking workshops, usually on Zoom, and recorded some other videos for YouTube, this project is just in a different league... and I have been paralyzed by tech anxieties.

• How am I going to film this by myself?
• What can I use to get two or three different camera angles?
• Will my existing computer be capable of handling the video editing tasks? (Spoiler: no.)
• How much time is this going to take and is it worth it?!?

Over the past two weeks, I found myself spending way too much time on YouTube watching videos by other cooking content creators about how they set themselves up. I agonized over different tripod options, lighting kits, microphone configurations, and computer specifications. The video creation rabbit hole is deep and dark! I was not in a happy place...

... until I talked with a more experienced colleague who brought me back to my senses:

There's no perfect strategy. I know enough. It's time to commit to using what I have and get started. I'll learn some lessons, make some tweaks, and keep on improving. I don't need to buy fancy new cameras - mine are fine - and expensive light kits. This is not the Food Channel, dammit!

What I will produce has to be good enough - not perfect. There needs to be clean sound, reasonable-quality video and, above all, thoughtful content to gently guide participants down the path of an easier way to work the kitchen so they can plan, prep, and relax a bit. That is what matters most.

Just like I was overthinking the parameters of video production for my new course, I know some (many?) of you are overthinking your cooking and meal planning systems. You might be trying to get everything just right and, in the meantime, feeling stuck when it comes to cooking dinner. And you might be spending way too much time reading blog posts and watching YouTube cooking videos.

It's educational and entertaining, and it helps people who depend on advertising income... but beyond the first 20 minutes, it becomes unnecessary. Your time - as mine - would be far better spent actually doing the thing (in your case: cooking).

What do you think?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Vegan cooking for beginners

Google told me that my article about Vegan Cooking for Beginners has been popular on the Internet this past month. Maybe you'll find it useful, too? My favorite tip in the article: "Think about additions, not substractions." Learn more.​

Nudging you to find your flow in the Kitchen

... in just 1 minute per day, for 100 days. Learn more: 100 Days of Flow in the Kitchen​

Keep on cooking,

Brigitte

p.s. The Vegan Family Meal Plan for weeks 15-16 has dropped! Steal some ideas for your own meal plan. If you'd like the complete recipes, shopping list, prep steps, and direct access to me when you need insight on substitutions or help to salvage a dish that went sideways, consider subscribing.