No More Recipe Overwhelm ✨

We are all drowning in recipes. Every day, I see dozens of new ones posted online, and every week, there are new cookbooks out in the Universe. I love recipes and particularly enjoy seeing the photos of them, as well as which ones go viral. However, based on my own behavior and conversations with others, I've found that few people are actually making these recipes.

Part of it is overwhelm, as we are inundated and there is no good way to keep track of recipes, part of it is the entertainment not functional role of social media, these recipes are meant to get you excited for 1 second and then move on with your life, and part of it is the reality of making food everyday, few people have the time or energy to deal with a recipe which often invovles a trip to the grocery store.

I feel for the recipe developers and food personalities who have to come up with new and viral-sounding recipes almost daily. It’s draining on them, and honestly, it’s draining for us. Dubai Chocolate Overnight Oats or Protein Packed Sheet Pan Freezer Meals are trying to be helpful, but if you’re like me, they can sometimes make me feel worse. These videos are aspirational, but perhaps not actually helpful.

I felt inspired this week to start a series about things I’ve learned or tried that actually change the way I cook and eat. Many of them are little things, some are bigger things, and many are a work in progress.

As I’ve written about before, there was very minimal cooking in my home growing up and therefore no food traditions that got passed down to me, so I’ve had to figure out my own.

If you’ve been with me a while, you know Illuminate Food was once a farm box delivery business that closed because people didn’t have the time to cook and use the produce. This is what has motivated me ever since. How can we go back to a time when we start the week with a fridge full of seasonal veggies and staples and cook our way through?

My spouse, Theo, was reflecting the other day about how raising kids in a queer home with anti-capitalist beliefs is a radical act, and I was reminded that this is how I feel about cooking. While everyone is trying to sell you something,