I’m sure I’ve said this before, but due to my broken guts situation, I cook about 90% of everything that goes into my mouth. I have seriously restricted options at restaurants, and my choices for prepared foods at the grocery store are almost as limited. I cook nearly everything I eat, and I spend a lot of time and energy planning my meals, shopping for groceries, and cleaning up after myself in the kitchen. It can be a real burden.

You may not be dealing with serious digestive woes, but eating is a human necessity, so I bet you also spend a lot of time on it. Maybe you have a terrible commute or just can’t face chopping a million vegetables every weeknight because one more obligation will make you lose your mind. We all have some sort of limitation, right?

I think this is why a lot of people try mail-order meal kits and fully-prepared meal delivery services. Meal kits are probably useful for people learning to cook, but they only save a little time on meal prep. Meal delivery is basically pre-ordered takeout, in my opinion. Both services are definitely more expensive than groceries — and neither would work for me, anyway.

Many people have a standard “emergency meal” they make when something goes awry, like a spoiled ingredient or an unexpectedly late work day. (I understand frozen pizza is a popular choice, though I’ve often relied on canned soup for this.) This isn’t exactly what I’m talking about here. We’re looking for something regular and repeatable: An automated meal. You want to find a simple, low-stress dinner you’re willing to prepare and eat every single week.

This meal needs to suit you and your household and will look different for everyone. Maybe you want weekly Taco Tuesday. As long as your tacos are easy and quick (and you don’t mind eating them once a week), go for it! No chopping is one of my parameters, so tacos wouldn’t work for me. You want to aim for food that’s ready in less than 20 minutes, though hands-off time doesn’t need to count. Maybe a slow cooker recipe would work for you. Look for something with minimal effort, and once you find the solution that works for your household, just add it to your meal plan and grocery list every week.

This, my friends, is the Spaghetti Night solution. We eat spaghetti every Wednesday night like clockwork — and have for at least two years. A package of organic whole wheat spaghetti and a jar of Newman’s Own Sockarooni sauce go on our grocery list every week. We even have special pasta plates, and I have a new celebratory t-shirt to wear on Spaghetti Night. (I don’t care if that’s weird. Spaghetti Night is magic! You don’t have to be so extra, but you totally can be! I certainly am, LOL.) I chose Wednesday because I have a weekly work task that day that often runs late. Automating Wednesday’s dinner frees up mental space and ensures I have a decent dinner on one of my busier days. It’s one less thing to worry about, and it has become something I look forward to each week. 

Caveat: I know this won’t work for everyone. My mom, for instance, rarely makes the same recipe twice. Her need for gustatory novelty is legendary! I know I’m more fond of repetition than most, but most regular people who aren’t my mother can tolerate eating the same thing 4.3 times a month.

I urge you to give weekly Spaghetti Night a try! Your meal doesn’t have to be spaghetti (though it can be), but this shortcut is my favorite “One Weird Trick” to ease the friction of my complicated relationship to food and food prep. Spaghetti Night may not drastically change your life, but it can give you one calmer and simpler evening every week, and that’s definitely worth something.

• SPOOKY SEASON IS ALMOST HERE. We won’t have the newsletter extravaganza of last year (sorry), but we will not let the season pass unmarked! Look for an intro post on October 1st.
• Are you as obsessed with Moo-Deng as I am? Do you need a Moo-Deng sticker?? I know I do. I love that a celebrity hippo has fan art.
• Now that the National Novel Writing Month organization is busy burning itself to the ground, alternatives have been popping up. First Draft Fall from Weeknight Writers looks like a solid choice! I’ll probably be joining this one.
• ROAN OF ARC. All the heart-eye emojis.

Halloween ahoy hoy, here we coooooooome. OKAY, BYE. 🖤