Hacks of Home Cooking – Bangladeshi Meal planning part 1

Lots of people hate home cooking. I myself didn’t hate it; I just simply didn’t know how to do it until I had to learn. But does that mean I wanted to slave all my waking hours into the kitchen every day? A big NO.

I have a grueling job at a tertiary hospital, that too in irregular shifts. After coming home tackling the traffic in hot, humid weather all I want to do is take a nap. I am supposed to study for my exams in this short period, take time to call my family at home and spend some quality time with my husband who also works the same erratic shifts as me. Eating out was out of the question, but where’s the time for house work and cooking? A day only consists of twenty-four hours, right?

So, I tried meal planning, batch cooking, freezing and what-nots. None of these ideas actually worked for me. Surprising, huh? Not so much.

First of all, we eat Bangladeshi cuisine often mixed with Indian food and rarely incorporating other cuisines to make a fusion.

Secondly, we never know what veggies will be available in the market this weekend. As we are always on budget, we don’t want to spend a whole months grocery money on cucumbers just because it’s on our “list”.

Thirdly, we had to find foods that are cheap, healthy and less time consuming. There isn’t much options left which meets all these criteria. Avocado may be the best food to eat according to the US Weekly, but finding it here will be a hard job, let alone in budget!

Lastly, a heart wants what it wants. We can force feed ourselves, but we cannot force our taste buds to force taste! If I’ve already eaten papaya-lentil curry five times a week, there is a chance I won’t want to eat it again in my whole life time.

So, I made a plan that will only apply to my family…. customized and specially designed.

While making a plan for your weekly meals, you have to be flexible. You have to formulate it according to your own taste and benefits. Otherwise the plan will surely fail and you’ll resort to Chinese takeout in the middle of a weekly meltdown. Take ideas from the internet(or your mum, whichever you find easier), discuss with your partner (or yourself if you live alone), be ready to start things slowly….and you’ll surely get there! It took me 6 months to get habituated and finally develop and stick to a good plan. If I could do it in 6 months, you can definitely do it a lot sooner! All the best! J