If you are new to cooking, the process of creating meals can seem very challenging. Walk into any kitchen, and it’s sort of like entering a new country where you might not understand the language, culture, or exactly how things work. That can be a bit intimidating, right?
The process of choosing recipes, planning meals, grocery shopping, navigating the kitchen, and actually cooking can be challenging for anyone, but for those of us who are neurodiverse, it can seem downright overwhelming.
If you are one who is new to the art of cooking, the great news is that Life Skills Advocate can help. Easy-to-follow instructions and tools to help you learn how to manage the entire meal prep process, which can be a game-changer for your comfort level in the kitchen and for developing more cooking skills.
Why Meal Planning is Hard – But Doesn’t Have to Be
Let’s face it, recipes alone are often difficult to interpret. Most only feature one photo of the finished dish and few other visual aids to guide you through your process. Add to it a bunch of unfamiliar ingredients, complicated instructions, and confusing steps, and you have more of a recipe for a personal meltdown than an enjoyable meal.
At the same time, learning how to plan and prepare meals can help you save money, meet nutritional goals, and build your confidence to try new recipes that can lead to deep satisfaction on many levels, so it’s worth learning more about meal prep, right?
With a little bit of practice, you might even look forward to getting in the kitchen to cook!
How SMART Goals Can Help with Meal Prep
Developing SMART goals in these three areas can help jumpstart your journey into the world of cooking. Let’s face it, everybody needs to eat, so learning to prepare meals can be a valuable life skill to help support your health and well-being in the new year.
If you’re new to setting SMART goals, check out this article first: How To Use SMART Goal Setting to Teach Daily Living Skills
Nutritional Goals and Food Preferences
The first step in planning your meals is to understand what kind of foods you can both enjoy and afford to prepare.
Perhaps you have certain dietary needs or goals you want to fulfill, such as sensitivities to some ingredients, avoiding certain food textures, or a weight loss goal. Before you choose a recipe, it’s a good time to set some goals for your meals.
Specifically, what do you want to eat– lean proteins, green vegetables, complex carbohydrates? Think about which combination will meet your nutritional needs in each meal.
Measurable elements such as portion amounts and cost can easily be decided based on your particular needs, wants, and budget.
Attainable goals such as committing to prepare a specific number of nutritious meals for each week can help balance out the reality that perhaps sometimes you may also want to budget in a meal or two at restaurants for enjoyment or convenience.
In addition, try to be Realistic about your food choices and only purchase what you will probably eat as part of your desired diet. Many food trends tout certain items as superior in terms of nutrition, but if you don’t like them, they will probably go un-eaten at the end of the week and end up in the garbage can.
Lastly, set your goal with Time limits, as not to overwhelm yourself by overthinking the endless options. Try to create a short list of ingredients and recipes in around 10-15 minutes, and then choose meal plans that can be prepared in the time frame that works for you each day. Remember, too, you can save time by cooking multiple portions of foods you regularly enjoy, such as pasta and rice, at the beginning of the week to be used for other later meals.
Sample SMART Nutrition and Food Preference Goals
Some sample SMART goals around nutrition and food preferences might be:
- I will try two new recipes per month that include green vegetables.
- Each meal I eat out this month, I will try at least one bite of a new food to see which ones I may like to add to a future meal plan.
- Each week for this month I will research recipes and prepare meals on Sundays for the week.
- This week, I will prepare and eat breakfast with both protein and fruit each morning before I leave for school.
Grocery shopping
Grocery shopping is the next area in meal prep goals, and it can be fun to make a trip to pick out your own, fresh ingredients, if you keep a few tips in mind.
Specifically, create a shopping list, so you can assure that you will have all of the ingredients needed for your recipes.
For sample shopping lists download and use our free .pdf meal plan and included tools or if you prefer, you can use a phone app such as AnyList: Grocery Shopping.
Remember to keep your measurable goals in mind, such as listing the exact quantities of each item and sticking to your grocery budget for the week.
Also, try to keep your overall meal prep goals attainable by creating a routine time and day, each week to make your shopping trip. That way, you will be assured to have everything needed to create meals at home when you are ready to cook.
By being realistic in your choice of where to shop and when, you can better understand what to expect. If you choose an upscale store with premium or gourmet items, expect to pay more for your groceries—or perhaps get less for your money. Also, if you choose to shop during less popular hours, before evening time on a weekday, you can probably avoid a lot of the frustration of large crowds and lines at the check-out.
Setting a time goal in this area might include deciding before your trip to the store how long you will shop for ingredients and what to do if within that time, you can’t locate all of the required items. Perhaps with a little flexibility, you can work with what you already have in your kitchen or learn how to substitute ingredients with others that can be just as satisfying in your recipe.
Sample SMART Grocery Shopping Goals
Some sample SMART goals around grocery shopping might include:
- Every Thursday for the next month, I will plan four healthy meals for the week and create a grocery list to use at the store on Friday.
- Each time I grocery shop this month, I will use online ordering and pick-up to help me stay organized and avoid forgetting items.
Kitchen and Food Prep Basics
Finally, try setting a goal to learn some kitchen and food prep basics. Cooking has its own language, tools, and rules. By knowing a few, important basics, you can navigate the kitchen with much more ease.
For instance, food safety is important in ensuring that you understand how long and what temperature meat needs to be cooked at to be safely eaten. Also, by knowing how to properly sanitize surfaces of countertops and cutting boards, you can avoid spreading germs and cross-contaminating foods.
One measurable goal for food prep can be to gain an understanding of the differences between specific terms such as slicing, dicing, julienning, and chopping – or blending, mixing, folding in, and whipping. By reading a description and practicing a number of techniques before attempting a recipe, you will likely feel more confident in how to prepare your food.
Consider setting an attainable goal in the kitchen by understanding some of the basic tools and appliances most contain. A slow-cooker can be an easy-to-learn appliance that can be set-up in the morning to cook throughout the day.
By the time you arrive home at dinnertime, a hot meal can be waiting for you to serve and eat. If you need to prepare a meal quickly, an InstaPot can speed up recipes – and most come with their own cookbook full of easy recipes.
Realistic goal for learning about your kitchen and food prep might include building an understanding of what tools you will need to create meals and where to store them in your kitchen. Measuring cups for wet and dry ingredients, mixing bowls, spatulas, tongs, ladles, and whisks are often standardly used in recipes. Of course, there are more specialized tools, but often the basics can be used for entry-level cooking.
To begin, familiarize yourself with often-used utensils and tools, and then try to expand your knowledge by researching a few, new utensils once you are comfortable using the current ones. By adding a little information at a time, you can decide when you are comfortable to add more tools for your meal prep.
Try storing your kitchen tools in intuitive places that are easy to remember and locate. Pots, pans, and cooking utensils near the stove or oven area can be a convenient location for when and where you may use them the most. Dishes, glasses, and flatware can be stored closer to the table or counter area where meals are to be served and eaten. In time, you can develop your personal kitchen organization according to your preferences and needs.
Remember to try setting a time goal to devote each week to learning about the kitchen, utensils, and food prep. If you want to grow in terms of your kitchen skills, a few, short sessions scheduled into your weekly calendar can serve as a reminder to your larger meal prep and cooking goals. In time, you may find that you really look forward to exploring new skills and techniques in the kitchen because cooking can be truly enjoyable as well as useful.
Some SMART goals for Kitchen and Food Prep Basics
Here are some sample SMART goals for Kitchen and Food prep:
- To better prepare for grocery shopping, I will spend at least 30 minutes developing a meal plan for each time I grocery shop this month.
- For the next three weeks of meal planning, I will choose a meal that includes baking so I can become more comfortable with using the oven.
- I will work with a friend this month to re-organize my kitchen and relocate my kitchen utensils to make meal preparation easier.
How to Get Started
To get started with SMART goal planning and meal prep try out these tools:
Download our free .pdf SMART goal planning worksheet. This worksheet helps you visualize, write and create milestones to achieve a SMART goal.
Then, check out The Real-Life Executive Functioning Meal Plan, designed to jumpstart your meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking skills in an EF-friendly way.
LSA also offers The Neurodivergent-Friendly Cookbook, specifically designed with executive functioning skills and neurodiverse individuals in mind.
This cookbook provides important features such as a brain power icon to let you know how much mental energy is required for each recipe, a photo to visually aid you throughout the recipe steps, action items in bold print, easy-to-find ingredients, and flexible format options.
Bon Appetit!