With habits, I find that the less active thought they require, the easier they are to implement. These observations are in the spirit of the productivity concept of friction. Not too different from the physical force, productivity friction is the mental resistance that exists between your thought and the following action. Thus, for activities that are undesirable we want to increase the friction (i.e. watching TV, scrolling through instagram). Conversely, for activities that are desirable, we want to decrease the friction. For this post, I am reflecting on my current habits that decrease the friction for me to make food at home.
1. Buy consistent ingredients
I don’t want to think much when I go to the grocery store. So common advice says to make a list… but I want to go a step farther. Out with the lists, sitting down to plan a week’s meals is too much friction. Every week I get the same core ingredients: yellow onion, green onion, carrot, potato, garlic, bananas, zucchini, and tofu. Anything outside of this core falls into two possible categories: restocking or snap decision. Restocking is for the nonperishable or long-lasting ingredients that I might run out of during any given week (e.g. sesame oil, kimchi, gochujang, or rice). I still do not use a list for restocks. Restocks are normally only one or two items that are not difficult to remember; however, I would allow myself a list for only this category if it was an unusually large amount of items to restock. The final category is for snap decisions. This category is generally just a few different meats. For example, during a trip I could buy pork belly and chicken breast on a snap decision which will easily last my meals for the week and provide a wide variety of options.
The key to tip #1 is to simplify your grocery trip and make it as passive as possible.
2. Cook a variety of dishes
This part of the habit took the longest to get in place, but it is invaluable and is what makes consistently practicing tip #1 possible. The goal is to take the same core ingredients and be able to turn them into a variety of different meals that can change from week-to-week and never feel stagnant. The tools to accomplish this are: accumulated cooking knowledge over time, non-perishables/long-lasting restockables, and new snap decision foods.
Every meal I make follows this equation:
A lot of dish possibilities is important. This means developing the cooking knowledge to have 5 different chicken breast recipes, 3 different pork belly recipes, and so on.
The key to tip #2 is to get the most flavors and variety out of a simple list of ingredients.
3. Simplify any preparations
Have pre-prepped parts of meals in the fridge that can last a reasonable amount of time and work for several different meals. For example, I want to eat more salad with my healthier homemade dressing, so to reduce the friction, I make a large batch of my spicy soy sauce vinaigrette. Voila, now for any given meal, I have cut the friction in half between me and making that salad. Keep your broths, braised meats, vegetable sides, and rice on standby. Any side or part of a meal you can make a large batch of and store, you should.
The key to tip #3 is to reduce the effort in the kitchen at home.
4. Enjoy the food
This is the simplest one. Preparing food you do not enjoy would create astronomical friction for eating at home.
5. Eat healthy food
An important part of any sustainable habit is making sure it is healthy. Luckily, this tip is not too difficult as most meals you can make at home are far healthier than what you could get at restaurants or fast food.
What to do next?
If my examples did not give it away, I practice these habits through cooking and eating almost exclusively Korean food. However, I think these 5 observations can be applied to any palate. Examine and develop your personal cooking library with overlapping ingredients and healthy, enjoyable meals. Find your own core ingredients, your own restockables, and your own set of snap decisions to simplify your grocery trips. You’ll know you’ve made it when whipping something up in the kitchen is more satisfying and less of a hassle than getting take-out.
김치찌개 
닭도리탕 
떡국 
순두부찌개 
Gochujang-glazed Salmon 
잔치국수
Zachary Holloway 