If you missed the introduction to this series, you can read about it here: Friction Busters: Why Some Things Feel Harder Than They Have to Be. Friction was defined as the unnecessary obstacles that make everyday faithfulness harder than it needs to be. Today, we’re looking at one place where many of us experience every single day: the kitchen.
Dinner isn’t difficult because we don’t love our families. We do. We want them well fed and nourished. So why is it so hard? You’ve probably bumped up against many tiny friction points:
- It’s the final meal after having already decided about breakfast, lunch, and snacks. Not to mention the many other decisions you made throughout your day.
- Decision fatigue is real.
- Forgot to thaw… again.
- Didn’t have all the ingredients, and it would involve a late grocery trip.
- Everyone’s hungry all at once.
None of these things are particularly overwhelming on its own. But together, they create enough friction that dinner suddenly feels harder than it actually is. What if we made one decision ahead of time instead of making it when we’re already stressed and tired? Two common ways to remove friction are meal planning and meal prep.
I’ve done both of these and they are truly helpful. They made me feel put together until…
- About 4 p.m. when I realized I forgot to pull out that big chunk out of the freezer to defrost.
- A hot summer’s day before we could afford an AC unit.
- I was too exhausted that day to prepare the meal I wrote on the calendar 2 weeks ago.
Your “until” may be similar, or completely different. I’ve found there are a lot of “until” moments in real life.
But let’s take a closer look at how these two relate to removing friction at dinner.
Meal planning isn’t really just about the calendar. It’s really about making one thoughtful decision ahead of time instead of seven tired decisions at 5 p.m. throughout the week.
Meal prep isn’t really about cooking ahead. It’s about removing future obstacles while you still have the time and energy to do so. Instead of chopping, measuring, and cooking everything after a long day, you’re simply doing it when you have more margin and capacity—helping tomorrow’s version of you.
We all know that tired decisions often lead us to choose what’s easiest and not necessarily what’s most aligned with our goals. That’s one reason removing friction ahead of time can be such a gift, especially if we’re trying to steward our health, finances, or simply our peace.
So, when something feels hard around what’s for dinner, ask yourself:
Is this truly a difficult task?
Or am I experiencing unnecessary friction?
Sometimes the answer isn’t mustering up more motivation or trying harder. Sometimes it’s stewarding your time and energy by removing the unnecessary obstacles that never needed to be there in the first place.
If you’re looking for practical ways to remove friction from dinner, I put together Easier Meal Prep for Real Life. It walks through several simple meal prep approaches, explains why some methods are easier to stick with than others, and helps you find a rhythm that fits your season of life.
This is just one example of how tiny, everyday obstacles can quietly drain our time, energy, and peace. The good news? Once you learn to recognize friction, you’ll start seeing opportunities to remove it in every area of your life.
Next time, we’ll step outside the kitchen and look at another place friction often hides: throughout our homes. Sometimes the biggest barrier to a peaceful home isn’t the amount of work it takes to maintain it—it’s the unnecessary obstacles we’ve stopped noticing.