“May I Take Your Order?”
You’re putting in the effort of making food for the people you live with - and now I’m telling you that you should take orders from them as well?! I’ll explain why!
You may be surprised.
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“This is excellent - make this once a week, please!” My husband was very clear with me the other day when I’d got some lovely white fish on offer and did my breaded fish and potato wedges, my healthy “fish & chips”. It’s a really easy and quick meal to do, can be varied with type of fish and vegetables on the side (or even type of potato, like sweet potato fries or even swede chips if you want to cut carbs!). I know he enjoys it, but that he was seriously saying that it could be a weekly meal and he wouldn’t mind (actually, I think he would love it), was something I hadn’t really considered. I have a habit of making things harder than they need to be, which is what I’m working on changing with these recent articles and musings, and the thought of knowing that opting for this meal will be that well received every time really helps me. My baby boy doesn’t say much more than “dada” and “uh-oh” yet, but the way he was chomping down on that breaded fish was another solid vote for the meal.
Which made me realise: why don’t I take orders more often? As in… when you’re in a restaurant and the waiter takes your order. Not as in letting someone boss you around! Anyone who’s the main person in charge of meals at home will probably tell you that the planning of meals is often more daunting than actually making them. Once you’re in the kitchen cooking things up it can be pretty easy, but it’s just the constant brain power needed to think of what dishes to do, how to vary what you’re having and what people may like. Then there’s also the shopping list, and actually buying everything.
But all of this can be made a tiny bit easier by simply asking the people in your household: “may I take your order?” They may not feel comfortable telling you what they want you to make as it seems demanding, but if you make it clear to them that they would actually be helping you by telling you what they’d like for dinner, lunch, breakfast, dessert… You name it - then great! They get to have their favourite meals, and you have to do less thinking! And you may get an answer like what my husband said to me; “I’d love this dish - not just tonight, but once a week!” Even less work! You can maybe dedicate one specific day a week to that meal (as I say, it can still be varied slightly so it’s not exactly the same each time. But even if it is, that’s cool too! You’ve still done a homemade meal and that’s already a big win).
Depending on how involved you’d like others to be, you can also ask them to, when “ordering” their meal, be responsible for what that requires from the supermarket. In our household for example, we both use Microsoft To Do (an app that is brilliant for different to do-lists, and you can be on lists together and if one person ticks something off or adds something, it syncs instantly. Not an ad! I just love using it), so we can both add stuff to our shopping list. Something like this, or even a more manual version like a list hanging on the fridge or placed in a set spot on the kitchen table could work. Whatever fits your life!
Basically, this is another win-win for efficiency, home cooking and ease. People get to eat what they like to eat, you have to do less thinking and stressing. I’d love to hear your experience if you tried taking your family’s or housemates’ order, let me know in the comments if this works for you or if you have a better idea or any further thoughts!
