Thank you for taking my course!

[Here is a transcript of this intro class...]

For several years now, I’ve noticed people eating out more and cooking at home a lot less… I’m not sure how this trend started, but the result is more people with a less money in their savings, and less opportunity for investment in their futures.

But, the reason I started creating these resources is because of covid. When the first big lockdown hit in March of 2020, I remember thinking with restaurants closed, and money tight, people are going to have to learn to cook. And they’re going to need a plan for getting meals on the table day after day and week after week. That’s when I realized my meal planning system would work for other people, too.

I’m going to show you how to…

• Plan a week’s worth of dinners in HALF AN HOUR.
• Make ONE WEEKLY TRIP to the grocery store.
• SPEND 30-60 MINUTES making each dinner, with just a few spices and easy-to-find ingredients.

A lot of people don’t know how to cook these days. Even the ones who do, don’t cook regularly. Or, they pay tons of cash for pre-prepped meal deliveries and take-out, making it next to impossible for them to save any money.

And, we’ll use a Paper System because…

• App subscriptions are expensive, and so are the stores they contract with. So, paper system means you shop where you want to shop. 1)Online shopping also doesn’t allow for bulk food purchases… we’ll talk more about that later.
• A paper list has all your meal planning in one place, and it’s easier to read and hold while grocery shopping. 1)Have you tried pushing a grocery cart one-handed while you’re trying to refresh your phone screen and scroll through your list?
• A customized paper list includes all of your favorite foods, and the most efficient route through your favorite store. 1)This enables you to create a much more detailed list, in far less time, and gets you through the store fast with no back-tracking.
• Paper recipes can be changed on the fly while you’re cooking, and they’re easy to replace when food spills on them!

When you finish this course, you will know…

• How to IDENTIFY YOUR DIET.
• The basic KITCHEN TOOLS you need…
• Including how to use your RECIPE BINDER.
• Essential FOODS to keep on hand.
• How to plan a WEEK’S WORTH OF MEALS.
• And, how to customize your SHOPPING LIST.

But first, a word on home delivery meal kits…

Okay… so if you have the budget, and you feel like a little extra hand-holding would be nice, you could try out one of the pre-prepped meal kit services. They ship you a box full of pre-measured ingredients and recipes to make the meals. I have tried them. It’s  good, real, and fairly fresh foods, but…

• It’s more expensive than planning and shopping yourself, and you end up with just enough food and no leftovers.
• Plus you’re paying weekly shipping fees – about $40/month!
• You’re still doing all the cooking, and the recipes can be fairly complex. – not fast or easy to make.
• The company decides what your portion size is, not you, so if you’re an athlete, or a bigger human, or you just have a fast metabolism and eat more than average, you’re going to have to buy extra meals to get enough food.
• Pre-measured ingredients means if you find the meal a little bland, there’s not a lot you can do about it. No room for adjustments for your preferences at all.

My system works like this…

• First, you need to identify the foods you want to eat, or your diet.
• Then, you find and adjust recipes to your preferences and keep them organized in a binder. 
• From there you can create a meal plan for a week’s worth of cooking.
• And you streamline the whole shopping process by using a customized shopping list.

Prepare your PLAN/SHOP/COOK Materials:

• “Identify Your Diet” worksheet
• “How to Plan, Shop, & Cook for Life” pdf
• “Shopping-Highlights.docx” Word doc

These are the materials for the Plan/Shop/Cook class. They are available at chaotickitchens.com if you don’t already have them.

Having these printed and ready before this class proceeds is great, but if you don’t have them, you can decide later if they might be helpful.

Prepare your mindset

“Forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you’re inspired or not.” ~OCTAVIA E. BUTLER

REMOVE EXTRA DECISIONS: Good decision-making becomes harder as we come to the end of the day. Having a plan in place for dinner keeps you on track.

By the time dinner rolls around, I know I’m not in the mood to get creative – I just want to eat. So, having a good recipe and all the food to make it right there in your kitchen ready to go, makes all the difference. And, making dinner when you’re prepared to make it is often even faster than ordering takeout – and definitely cheaper and healthier!

Here are the specifics…

This course has six remaining classes, or modules…

1. First, we’ll cover the mental roadblocks that might be keeping you out of your kitchen.
2. Then we’ll identify your diet – the foods that work best for you.
3. Once you know that, we can work on some lists of specific foods to get for your freezer, fridge and pantry.
4. Then we’ll make sure you’ve got some good ideas for the tools you’ll need.
5. After that, you’ll be ready to work on customizing your grocery shopping and planning list.
6. And finally, we’ll go over my strategy for how to get those meals on the table consistently.

You can watch this entire course in about 35 minutes, but just watching isn’t going to get you very far. Change requires action This is not hard work, but you still have to do it to become a person who can consistently feed themselves healthy, homemade food.

Learn more at ChaoticKitchens.com