The first time I ever heard about it was from the family practice doctor in Wisconsin who delivered my son, Salem. The doctor—old enough to be my father—became a man I grew to love and appreciate and would soon call friend. He once told me that he ate a taco salad every day for lunch.
The next time I encountered the phenomenon, a few years later, was with a friend at his parents’ house. He walked me into their basement pantry loaded with shelves of canned tuna—solid white albacore. He told me that his dad, a professional fisherman, ate a tuna fish sandwich every day for lunch.
Two men, both well respected in the community, ate the same lunch every single day. I didn’t give the idea much thought after that, other than occasionally being jealous that my doctor friend got to eat a taco salad every day for lunch. Mmm.
Life continued, ten years passed, and I picked up a copy of Tim Ferris’s book The 4-Hour Body.
In his chapter on “Rapid Fat Loss,” he offered a passing sentence when asked about boredom with the limited food options in his prescribed diet: “Most people vastly overestimate the variety of their meals.”
My mind immediately raced back to my role models in Wisconsin from so many years ago, both of whom had chosen to eat the same meal every day for lunch. They had discovered a routine that worked well for them.
Rather than fighting against routine in their diet, they had embraced the practice. Few could argue with the results—both were healthy and successful.
It got me thinking…
What if there is nothing wrong with eating the same meal over and over again?
In fact, what if repetition is a good thing? Why not embrace it?
You Could Already Be There
As a blogger and overall promoter of the benefits of minimalism, I have seen countless times how people overestimate the number of material possessions they need. So when I read the sentence in Tim’s book that “most people vastly overestimate the variety of their meals,” I almost instinctively knew it was true.
I have seen “overestimating variety” to be true in clothing, entertainment, books, linens, and any number of other examples. Why not food?
The Pareto principle is proven true over and over again—roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. We wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time. We use 20% of our kitchen gadgets 80% of the time. We watch 20% of the same channels 80% of the time. And, generally speaking, we eat 20% of the same food 80% of the time.
Just think about what you have had to eat for breakfast over the past week. Most likely, you’ve eaten the same couple meals. Or how about lunch?
My breakfast these days, when I eat it, is two eggs and four strips of turkey bacon. My lunch consists of rotisserie chicken (with Frank’s buffalo sauce) or a salad (with chicken).
And I know I’m far from alone in these kinds of habits. According to one study conducted in Great Britain by Whole Foods Market, almost 33% of us eat the same lunch every day.
Here’s the reality: We tend to eat many of the same foods over and over again, but for some reason, we want to deny this truth. We contend that variety is the spice of life. Or we remember our mom telling us, “But you just ate pizza yesterday. You can’t eat it again today.”
We think it reflects poorly on our cultured-self or creativity or palate or commitment to health to eat the same foods over and over again. So we quickly convince ourselves that we need to think up something new every day for breakfast or lunch or to feed our family in the evening.
But as I’ve thought more about it, I’ve realized there really is much benefit to be found in leaning in to the reality that we crave stability in our meal patterns.
We eat less variety than we think—and there are good reasons to realize that and accept it.
Why You Should Say Yes to Meal Routine
Speaking at a conference several years ago, I was asked by a mother of three for advice on how to keep down food waste and costs in her home.
By this time I was a convert to meal repetition. I answered, “Accept the fact that you eat less variety of foods than you think. Don’t fight against it. Don’t believe society’s pressure that you need to be dreaming up something new for every meal. Find your family’s favorite meals and serve them often. You’ll lower your monthly food costs, waste, and time spent in preparation.”
Consider the benefits to us (and our families) of establishing a regular meal rotation:
1. Money savings. When you begin to establish a weekly routine of your family’s favorite meals, you save money by wasting less, learning the correct portion size, recognizing sales and good prices, and knowing which spices or condiments to purchase.
2. Time savings. Not only does a weekly routine of meals save time hunting for recipes or new ideas, but we become more and more efficient at preparing each of the meals that we do enjoy.
This “time saved” may be more precious during specific seasons of life (when you have young children at home, for example), but extra time in the day can be appreciated by everyone.
3. Better health. A thought-out and intentional routine of meals offers greater opportunity to align our diets with nutritional recommendations.
4. Less food waste. About 150,000 tons of food is tossed out in US households each day, equivalent to about a third of the daily calories that each American consumes. Not only does this waste take a toll on our household budget (as mentioned above), but there is also an environmental toll from that much waste.
5. Weight control. Many people who eat the same lunch every day attest that the practice is helpful in weight control, contending they eat less because of it. It’s called “school cafeteria syndrome,” and according to researchers, it really works in reducing the amount of food we eat.
6. Fewer failed recipes. As I will mention in a moment, there is still room for trying new foods and recipes, and I recommend it with young kids at home. But establishing a stable routine of meals each week and experimenting with fewer new recipes means fewer failed meals.
As I can attest, there are few things in life more disheartening than spending hours preparing a meal, only to have it flop at the dinner table.
7. Benefits for kids. The more children see specific foods in front of them, the more likely they are to learn to enjoy them. Creating a routine certainly doesn’t eliminate all “eat your vegetables” negotiations at the dinner table, but they do make them easier, as the expectations have already been established.
8. Greater simplicity. Embracing a meal routine (whether daily or weekly) promotes simplicity in our home and life. It reduces stress and anxiety, removes decision fatigue, and frees us to pursue more important things than answering “What’s for dinner?”
How to Implement a Meal Rotation
How do we go about this in our own unique families? Here are some thoughts to get you started:
1. Meals on your own are a great place to start.
If you eat lunch every day at the office, it’s easy to choose your one or two favorite meals and repeat them each day. The same is true for breakfast if you eat it alone. As mentioned above, breakfast and lunch are where I embrace the most routine.
2. Determine your family’s favorite meals.
Take each person into account. Are there specific meals that everybody likes? If so, those are obvious places to start establishing a routine. I’d recommend identifying five or six family favorites.
If you can’t get that much agreement in your family, be sure to think about those with pickier palettes and what accommodations can be made.
3. Write out a weekly schedule that can be repeated each week.
Take into account your weekly commitments. Does someone have volleyball practice on Tuesday night? Youth group on Wednesday? Or a business meeting on Monday? Factor in both the time you have to prepare and the time to sit down and eat.
My family loves tacos on Tuesdays. And we serve pizza on Sunday evenings because my son typically works late and my wife and I take my daughter to church that night.
4. Don’t sacrifice health.
Eating foods you enjoy doesn’t mean sacrificing healthy nutrition habits along the way. If you’re serving pizza or pasta, pick a vegetable to go with it. Or look for healthy options of pizza.
I actually find it easier to eat healthy when a routine has been established, because we are intentional about including fruits and vegetables every evening.
5. Don’t think you need to sacrifice all variety for this to work.
Rare is the family for whom a week’s schedule doesn’t vary from time to time, so some variety in meals is almost inevitable. But it can also be scheduled. You can decide that every Monday is new-recipe day, or you can choose variety when you eat out.
Establishing a meal routine five nights of the week still leaves room for plenty of variety.
6. Proceed with trial, error, and adjustments.
If you discover that one meal takes longer to prepare than you want, change it. If one meal is no longer enjoyed by your family, pick a new one. Or if you discover that a routine works well for one month and then you want to make a new one, go for it!
The goal is to find something that works for your family and saves you time and money.
Eat. Repeat.
One of the greatest things I have discovered about minimalism is that removing unneeded things from my life means I am left with only my favorites. Another benefit is that removing distraction brings money, time, energy, and peace into my life.
I have found the same benefits by leaning in to the reality that we eat less variety of foods than we think. We all have our favorite foods to eat. Accept it and embrace the idea of eating the same foods over and over again. You’ll be excited every time you sit down to eat…and you’ll save money and time along the way.
Thank you for your article. I have been struggling with little food variety in my life due to dietary restrictions. Letting go of the need to try new recipes that always failed and just embracing simple meals I feel so much better. Your words helped me move forward.
Love this! I’ve been working on cutting my food costs and waste. This made me realize I’m happy w my ham sandwich! For variety I’ll have tuna. I hate wasting food and money. I feel like I now have permission to stick to what I love! Roast chicken, meatless meals, and every couple of months a nice medium rare steak. Veggies and salad mix in there as well. Thank you
I’m definitely not the type who could have the same dinners planned to repeat each week. However, I do have a master list of the meals that are our favorites that I typically have everything on hand for.
I could definitely see this being super effective for people who don’t enjoy cooking or are in crazy busy times in their lives.
I think the point of this article isn’t to say every person needs to eat the same thing every day, but to really consider how you can maybe simplify your grocery list to only the things you actually eat.
Rare miss for me on this article. We love to cook and eat almost every cuisine. We were too poor to eat out so our second cookbook was a Chinese cookbook so we make it at home. That was almost 40 years ago and we still love to cook and explore new recipes
I agree. And we should be eating what is in season.
I read the China Study and it was excellent in living a long and healthy life, and being kind to the planet. In today’s reality of climate change, especially in British Columbia, Canada this past week with a torrential rain/wind store flooding land and washing out highways etc. Thank you for the article on eating less and making a weekly plan. Good tips!
I think this would be a stupid thing to worry about. My husband and I are a good example –I pretty much always want the same foods, and I’m happy to eat them over and over again. Rob would happily eat something different for every meal just because he loves to experience new things. I think this aligns with our personalities too: while he isn’t an extrovert, he does love new experiences. I can take the same walk every day, but he wants to go to a new place every time. I find comfort in familiarity and repetitive things. He finds them boring. Forcing a person to be one or the other would be unkind and stupid.
Wow, stupid? ?
Yeah, stupid. There are over 20,000 edible plants on this earth. The idea of intentionally limiting dietary diversity is stupid. Our bodies were designed for a broad range of foods and each offers its own dynamic components.
Not only that; one of the main reasons to diversify our food choices is to minimize a food choice that has been subjected to a harmful substance, pesticide, maybe a salmonella outbreak of one particular food, as in romaine lettuce.
This occurs OFTEN.
the daily tuna choice made me cringe because of the high mercury content. By choosing different foods, you lessen your chances of eating high concentrations of a problematic food. Also, diversity gives you a chance to have access to many more vitamins and minerals. The only thing I eat on a daily basis is chia pudding
and if I knew of something better to regulate my system I’d be happy to switch it up.
He’s not talking about forcing anyone to do anything. He’s telling you to take a look at what you choose to eat on a regular basis and stick to that for most meals. There may be 20,000 edible plants in the world but you are probably not eating more than twenty. Or ten. Most people stick to their favorites. He’s also not telling you to never try new recipes or foods but to limit most of them to what you like most so you aren’t spending money on food you end up throwing away. Maybe before you call someone stupid you should make sure you understand their point. And then maybe say something a little nicer.
Grateful for this article as for the longest time I’ve been stressing about food and hate cooking. I’ve been feeling that I am too samey with what I serve and eat. I eat the same breakfast most mornings generally: porridge with blueberries or banana, walnuts and a drizzle of honey. But when it comes to lunch or dinner I start panicking and become paralysed, thinking, ‘I can’t have this because I had it yesterday’. Then I end up spending loads on different foods and most of it ends up going to waste when I can’t find the time or energy to cook it or just end up craving what I have often.
It’s a bit difficult for our family currently as we have a young autistic child and a baby, and I’m also gluten intolerant so it can be a pain finding a meal everyone will eat without having to cook separate meals. I’m certainly going to try to simplify my food more, though, and embrace sameness with my food after reading this.
I actually found it easier to have a limited meal plan with an autistic child. She tended to like to eat the same foods over and over. They were healthy enough so it worked. She ate a little chicken and meat balls but most of her choices were three vegetables and pasta or a baked potato. Now that she’s grown she’s a very adventurous eater. I made a four week meal plan and made them in rotation which also made it all very easy. I like to cook but hate to figure out what to have for dinner. took too much time and energy. Now I don’t have to think about it
Thank you for this great article, that’s a great idea. We often say that we have to make a list for the meal preparation for the week, but not done yet. Am from Mauritius and we have a large variety of vegetables here..
Really appreciate this article.
Thanks a lot.
Making a meal plan can be broken down into six simple steps:
1.Review your schedule
2.Choose your recipes
3.Plug the recipes into your schedule
4.Make your grocery list
5.Shop
5.Eat, enjoy, and repeat!
Great ideas here! We started doing a monthly dinner menu, because we were struggling with planning dinners at the beginning of each week. I plan out a whole month at time and have a theme for each night– Monday salads, Tuesday tacos, Wednesday chicken, Thursday fish, Friday pizza for example. Having predictability allows us to enjoy our favorite foods and spend less time planning each week.
Agree with Rebekah: “I also find it interesting that in the parts of the world where people live the longest they actually don’t have much variety in their food. The food they do eat is higher quality with a strong emphasis on fruits, vegetables, and grains. So maybe the problem is not that we eat a small variety of food but that the variety we are eating isn’t the best for us.”
Investigate the China Study….on this very subject.
I read the China Study and it was excellent in living a long and healthy life, and being kind to the planet. In today’s reality of climate change, especially in British Columbia, Canada this past week with a torrential rain/wind store flooding land and washing out highways etc. Thank you for the article on eating less and making a weekly plan. Good tips!
1) Variety exists because human beings are curious about “what’s on the other side of the hill”; it’s what has led to our gradual progression up through the various layers of civilization.
2) Your eating habits–OY! “Two eggs and four strips of turkey bacon…. lunch consists of rotisserie chicken (with Frank’s buffalo sauce) or a salad (with chicken).” Not to put too much of the “out there” observation on your eating habits, but…adjust your 20% a bit more towards dark greens and beans/legumes, etc, hmm? And/or get your heart/cholesterol checked every year…we need you and your great ideas to stick around for a good while!
Sure. Just to be clear, I didn’t list every food that I have at those meals. I also have vegetables and legumes at every meal.
Joshua,
I eat a turkey and cheese sandwich with potato chips everyday for lunch. Every. single. day. No extra “good stuff”. The food police, even well intentioned ones, drive me crazy. Most women I know have incredibly damaged body image and a toxic relationship with food because they try to meet an ideal that is not realistic in our culture. Your advice is refreshing. Eat what you like over and over again. You will actually end up better in the long run rather than eating righteously and then overeating “bad” food.
Thank you!
This post rang a bell for me. I have been eating the same ‘work lunch’ for years – I’d guestimate for the last seven years at least. It consists of two Ezekiel English muffins – one with turkey/cheese/organic blend of greens and the other with almond butter and grass-fed butter. I also add exactly seven pecans (still not sure how I settled on that number). My wife thinks I’m crazy but your post make me seem sane – I’ll tell her to read it ;-)
I’ve been simplifying my meals, finances, health, and relationships for years. Simplicity reduces stress across all areas of your life.
This is really dangerous and unhealthy tip. Mono-diet is really discouraged by dieticians.
Having few favourite simple meals to rotate is a different story and great simplification.
Repetition beats variety when it comes to progress. I love eating the same thing over and over again because it takes care of a decision that I need to make every day.
It takes a huge amount of mental effort in order to find the answer to the question “where should I eat?” three times a day. That way I have time to focus on the bigger picture and more important things in my life.
It matters more than we think they do!
Thank you, Joshua! I read your articles frequently but usually don’t leave comments. After reading many that were unfavorable to your ideas I thought I would like to chime in to offer my support. As a mom with two young children, I find eating the a small number of the same meals makes my life so much easier and we waste less food. I also find it interesting that in the parts of the world where people live the longest they actually don’t have much variety in their food. The food they do eat is higher quality with a strong emphasis on fruits, vegetables, and grains. So maybe the problem is not that we eat a small variety of food but that the variety we are eating isn’t the best for us.
I try and offer choices to my kids when I can, eggs and toast or oatmeal for breakfast. Or turkey sandwich or tuna for lunch. Offering a small number of choices limits my spending, keeps meal prep easy, and helps prevent meal burn out.
Love your insight and inspiration!
Rebekah
Thank you! I’m letting go of the guilt to stay healthy by trying to incorporate every vitamin known to man each day/week. I’m making a list of my favorites and to provide variety, I’ll change up the sides. I’ve tried meal plans where they give you a plan for every meal, every day and a shopping list for each week. It drove me crazy cooking something different every day! I’ve simplified my possessions over the past 2 years…and now my eating habits. I feel another sense of freedom that the minimalistic lifestyle provides.
My husband wanted me to start trying to only grocery shop every other week when COVID hit. I thought he was crazy, but wow do I love how it transformed how we eat. I’ve got 4 boys and we made 2 lists of 9-10 meals that we just bounce back and forth between. Everyone gets a favorite or two each week. We spend less on groceries and the big question of what are we going to eat no longer stresses me out.
I appreciate this thought. I am finding it difficult to cook all the time. My husband grew up eating the same thing all the time and doesn’t mind. I guess I feel guilty if I don’t offer a variety of meals all the time. We both really enjoy salads, bowls and a variety of fruit. I’m not worried about our diet nutritionally, just that it will get boring.
This was a really interesting article. My husband used to like a rotation of 3-5 different breakfast options. That stressed me out cause I had to have all those different things on hand and it stressed him out because every morning he had trouble deciding what he wanted. Then we met some friends that recommended making smoothies (heavy on the veggies) every morning and not only has it greatly improved our immune system and energy but it has also simplified our morning routine and our grocery budget! I could totally start doing the same thing for lunch too! It definitely reduces stress.
Eat. Rep-eat. Bingo!
As a Dietitian, thisarticlemakesme cringe. Variety in plant foods (fiber) feeds our microbiome and protects our health from many things, including autoimmune diseases. I agree that it doesn’t have to be difficult, but it should be healthy (whole foods, mostly plants) and include a variety. Our diets can improve our life in many ways by improving our health if we do it right. We can get rid of excess weight, heart disease, diabetes, pain and so much more. What we put in our mouths is very important to a well lived life. Read Fiber Fueled. I appreciate much of what you share, but this advice regarding nutrition could harm your readers.
I must agree with the naysayers here.
While I eat a smoothie and Matcha tea every morning, I intentionally vary what goes into that smoothie, so as to reap the benefits of a wide variety of fruits and greens. Each one offers something different, not just in terms of fiber for the microbiome, but various micronutrients that very from plant to plant.
Eating a hamburger daily would be dangerous for me (and for many) – the excess of saturated fat and iron is not good for many of us. And eating the same 7 meals for dinner each week would deprive us of the need for a bigger variety of vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, etc. – all foods that are very high in nutrients and tend to be lower in calories. Losing weight because I got bored with food would be the worst diet of all!
In response to Diane Giefer, I have to say the field of dietetics is what makes me cringe. So many fads have been introduced by dieticians that have harmed us (low fat, reduction of food into component nutrients, snacking, labeling food as good and bad) that I question much of what is touted as truth by dieticians. What Joshua is emphasizing is that the meal planning doesn’t have to churn to introduce variety. A taco salad can have variety. A pizza can have variety. A meal of fish can have variety. A sandwich can have variety. Pasta can have variety. A smoothie can have variety. No one says that the same ingredients have to always be exactly the same and that we would be depriving our bodies of healthy nutrients by eating to a regular meal plan, that could be adjusted seasonally or by what’s on sale. Joshua has the right idea, and people can adapt this to what works for them.
This sounds soul-sucking and boring! I can accomplish all of this: less waste, healthy eating, and staying within a budget by spending 30 minutes doing meal planning and shopping with a list. AND eat a delicious variety of different foods and recipes! We almost never throw away food and include leftovers in our meal plan.
As someone who is super passionate about minimalism and also about food and nutrition, I was a bit disappointed to read this article. Study after study shows that a varied multitude of plants is the way to keep your physical and mental health strong and avoid disease and inflammation (the blue zone study, which has explored the common denominators in the lifestyles and diets of people who live the longest and healthiest lives in the world, is a great starting point to understand this body of research). The example given by the author — eating two eggs plus turkey bacon for breakfast, and chicken for lunch — would not be considered a healthy, varied diet if consumed daily, according to this aforementioned research. Moreover and maybe even more importantly, this is not really a joyful iteration of minimalism. Food is life; it should be nourishing, colorful, and shared. In a healthy society, it should not be something to be rushed through every day in the name of greater productivity or success. It should be dining al fresco with the people you love, discovering the simple pleasure of homegrown tomatoes, or catching the wafting aroma of rosemary and garlic as you walk through the door.
If you are really pressed for time (admittedly life does get busy sometimes!) or don’t enjoy being creative in the kitchen, in my opinion you could employ this suggested mono-meal strategy in a slightly healthier way by having a rotating base of foods. For instance, you could try a veggie and egg or tofu scramble in the morning, but change up the veggies and spices every week or two to keep things flavorful and nutritious. Similarly, you could have a salad plus a protein for lunch, but switch up the dressing and protein (fish or beans, for example) from time to time. Or choose one mono-meal (like lunch) but keep it super antioxidant rich, and vary the rest.
Apologies this was so long! Just some ideas and thoughts!
Thanks for the comment. Each breakfast and lunch also include a variety of vegetables and legumes. I didn’t list every single food that I eat at my meals in this article.
That we must have variety in our daily foods is a modern concept – only 100 years ago most people ate the same foods week in, week out and were happy to do so. Eating seasonally (the old-fashioned way) is preferable to striving for 10 different veggies and 10 different fruits pureed into smoothies when we have to ship strawberries to Alaska, and tomatoes from Mexico out of season. Eat potatoes, carrots, beets, turnip and rutabaga, squash, beans and peas in the winter; salads and berries and other fruits in spring, summer and fall. That’s variety naturally. I agree heartily with Joshua on this one. Traditional, very healthy people like the Hunsa eat probably 10 different foods, prepared in different ways all year round – wild greens, wild berries, olives and olive oil, lemons, goat cheese, lots of lamb/goal/pork, all ladled with yogurt. That’s ALL YEAR, EVERY YEAR. Imitate them.
My husband discovered he liked to chop and cook things a few years ago when he gave up smoking. I hate cooking and complicated meals so he started making his meals and I usually eat whatever I feel like. If I eat cold cereal three days in a row for breakfast that’s fine. I’ll probably have scrambled eggs or oatmeal sometimes during the week.
I eat just one other meal at 4pm and I use whatever leftovers are in the fridge to make soup or sandwich which could be tuna or a stuffed pita pocket with small amount of meat and veggies. I eat fruit, nuts or occasional cookie. I feast on Holidays. I’m 78.?
I eat a whole food, plant based diet and have steel cut oats every morning. It’s so easy and healthy.
Dr. Greger’s books have a wealth of information on eating healthy.
I always enjoy and look forward to your weekly articles. They are thought provoking. This one is no exception. This article has help me to put together my thoughts on the many aspects concerning meals that I have read and been thinking about – meal prep, food waste, clutters, routines, repeats, etc. It’s interesting to know that the concept of 80/20 can also apply to food/meals. I can’t agree more on that. Thanks for opening my eyes to see in this new light. I always wonder how could someone eat the same thing again n again. But my husband is one of them – PB on toast as breakfast all these year of our marriage (27 years !), With occasional cereal?. I also constantly face with the question of “what’s for dinner?”. Anyway got to stop here, it’s getting too long. Thanks for tickling my brain on this. Food for thought.
My mother served the same foods each weeknight–I always knew what to expect for dinner by what day of the week it was. I think she did it so she could use leftover food–she’d use the leftover sauce from our big Italian Sunday dinner to make spaghetti on Tuesday, and we’d have fish on both Wednesday and Friday because it came in fresh on those days to the local grocery store. We were a Catholic family and so we had shrimp and spaghetti (sort of a cioppino) every Friday, for as long as I can remember. It was all good and it was something we could always count on. But Tuesday night’s spaghetti was my least favorite meal of the week and so, as a child, I started to dislike Tuesdays–it wasn’t until I was married and could cook whatever I wanted to cook before I realized that it was the food I disliked, not the day of the week! It worked well for our little family and I do a version of it with my own family.
I do this! It is easier to make enough food for 4 lunches, since I pack my lunch every day, than it would be to come up with something to pack every morning before I leave the house. So I generally do this about 4 out of 5 days of the work week strictly out of convenience!
Thank you for this article, Joshua! I don’t love cooking so I try to keep it simple. We rarely throw food out. We eat leftovers at least once a week for our evening meal. Other leftovers get eaten for lunch. Anybody who is leaving negative comments just doesn’t understand what you are saying. We eat a lot of apples, bananas, carrots, salads, oatmeal, peanut butter, and beans in our house. Plenty of variety but it really keeps things simple. Thank you for the reminder that I save time and money by simplifying. I believe this has also led to children who are not picky eaters!
I don’t agree. When it comes to food, eating the same meal every day relies on the constant supply of the ingredients, which means you are encouraging a demand for continuous supply of one type of food. This is simply not possible without all the modern attachments such as long haul transport, refrigeration, supermarkets, etc. This is never how it was meant to be. Our planet produces seasonal food, its very nature is variety. Do you really want to prevent food wastage? When there is an abundance of fruit in summer, change your routine to include eating fruit. Too many potatoes in winter? Change your meal plans to suit etc. Food in season is cheaper, more locally available, thus more nutritious. Less wastage, less transport, more minimalist!
Well put, Richard. I found this to be a very odd article. I’m all for simplifying one’s life; however there is way more to our bodies than repetitive nutrients. What we put into our bodies matters, and what I see in the comments indicates that people perceive that whatever this sameness is, don’t worry.
People need to be very careful to take whatever any lifestyle preacher gives “permission” for. Becker has some good ideas, but they are not all good for all people, and I think he ought to stay out of eating coaching unless he’s going to consider multiple aspects besides minimalism.
It can still be a consistent rotation. Spring meals are this. Summer meals (slowly, if needed) shift to… and then move to ….. in the Fall. But it doesn’t have to be so difficult as something different every bloody meal of every bloody week, you know? I’m tired of feeling guilty because I didn’t take an hour to figure out the meal plan for the week, customized to the temperatures during the week and the foods that are in season. Do I still do some? yes, and I will continue to, but if all I can think of to do with the three heads of lettuce that came in my CSA box is to do BLT’s all week, then so what?? Next week will be different.
One thing that has helped me is that when I food shop I always review my basket and ask about each item “when will I cook it? When will I eat it?” Also shifting my thinking to thinking of food as an obligation, not a resource. And accepting that I really have more urgent things to do than food prep so elaborate dishes are jsut not for me at this time. And simplicity in food really feels good.
Excellent article!!
It left me with a pleasant feeling of freedom and relaxation on the “what is for dinner” routine.
You just freed me up! I love hamburgers—never tire of them. My hubby and I are always apologizing to each other when we agree on a burger everyday for lunch. I just told him: Hey, Hon, let’s just agree to have hamburgers for lunch every day! …. Yup, he’s in! BTW, about 9 months ago you mentioned how you had pretty much stopped using your dishwasher. I followed your lead there as well and never looked back. No one in the house complains and the kitchen gets cleaned up faster—go figure. I always hated unloading the thing!
Mind your microbiome! I agree with keeping things simple but we need to feed those helpers all the different types of fiber that we can. We want our bodies to be prepared to efficient digest and use all the good nutrients that we can. There is considerable positive effect in all aspects of life including mental health AND physical health for increasing plant variety in our diets. Consider reading work by Michael Greger or Will Bulsiewicz to support the idea of variety in your diet. Preparation should be simple, but don’t limit variety!
So loved reading this. Goodbye guilt for eating the same breakfast every day and now I can do the same for lunch – I make a great tuna salad without mayo that I can freeze in correct portions for weight loss – so now I just need to simplify dinner. We needed this post mostly because of the multiple food programs and Master Chef competitions criticising recipes and cooking and spending hours and hours on food trying to turn us all into foodies. I am a foodie – when I eat out!! Thank you so much Joshua, more liberating permission to simplify. Yay! (as you say in the USA)
I have been doing this for a long time and love it! And I meal prep once a week by cooking a pound of pasta and brown rice and then add sautéed veggies and black beans to make a meal/bowl. I eat little to no animal products.
I have to say although I am fairly minimal in most areas of my life, I do like a good variety in my diet.
Not fancy food, just simple but I couldn’t eat the same thing for breakfast or lunch everyday
Excellent article with great insight. Am sharing with my daughter who has identified meal planning/preparation to be one of her greater stressors. Thanks again – love your articles.
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This is the first time i’ve heard of this! I am currently into cook-your-own-meal practice for the past 2 months. And I’d to experiment on this, thanks!
This is how people ate from the beginning of time. Before refrigeration and before food was able to be transported across the country and around the world, local food was the choice. Variety came with modern advances and affluence.
I can imagine that there is less food waste with this form of eating. Being a holistic chef though I find it sad. On the other hand, one negative side to this is that we feed many less bacteria in our microbiome. The more variety we have in our choice of fruits , vegetables, legumes, whole grain cereals, the more different kinds of bacteria can live and protect us in our gut! More and more research is showing what an important role our microbiome plays in our overall health and resistance to disease.
I’m a Nutritionist and agree with you Amy
I greatly appreciated this article; thank you for writing it. Just something to add: I am always shocked when I hear people prepare multiple items for different family members each dinner. When I was growing up in the ’70s/’80s, there’s no way my mother would have cooked more than one dinner per day to cater to any of her three children or husband. That’s another simplicity/minimalist principle that I think would benefit families: one dinner is cooked per day, period.
I eat the same stuff all the time! I know what I like.
Also—- I want to add—- some people enjoy cooking, so they experiment a lot more with different recipes. I don’t enjoy cooking all that much, so I rarely “cook up a storm”. I am a good cook when I set my mind to it…it’s just not my thing.
I agree – I’ve been eating almost the exact same breaky, lunch, snacks and dinner every day for years; not only do I love my healthy, vegan, no-cruelty food, but, I’ve lost and kept off 60 pounds. Thank you, Josh, for enlightening us on the wonder that is minimalism!
Great idea, Joshua! I have been eating the same breakfast and lunch every day for quite a while now, but still have a hard time when it comes to dinner. I will try to simplify that meal as well. Thank you! I love your blog and your youtube channel.
I love this idea! I’m laughing because it’s like you’re giving us permission to do what those who live simply want to do anyway, but sometimes we get sidetracked by what others think is important! There are so many advantages to simple, repeatable meals.
Minimalism is like a super power for normal people. Apply the same principles to any area of your life and the results are predictably better: 1) less stress 2) less complication 3) saving money 4) greater appreciation for what remains. Looks like meal planning is no different :-)
Thanks for the article! Before the pandemic, we ate out when we were bored with eating ‘the same old things’ at home. Fast forward to today: since being compelled to stay home, we’ve upped our dinner game, dramatically. We always tend to eat the same breakfast and lunch – but now, dinner is only our ‘favorite foods’. It’s a meal we put a little more effort into and enjoy leftovers. We’ve saved a lot of money ‘dining’ at home, we’ve cut our grocery shopping to every two weeks, and we’ve instilled a habit that will stay with us. Have two meals per day that are easy and from a limited list of choices. Put some thought and energy into one of your daily meals, make extra, and enjoy the leftovers.
This is a nice idea you have inspired me to try that – thank you