# Trever's Meal System 🥕

## Timeline: 📅

### Improve efficiency as soon as possible

## Checklist: ☑️

### In Progress:
- [ ] Catch up on cooking

### Open Tasks:
- [ ] Fill out combo details in Airtable Modular Meal Combos Tab
- [ ] Continuous process of coming up with new combos and trialing on Sunday evenings
- [ ] Fix UX in meal schedule
- [ ] Implement a feedback gathering system
- [x] Pick a day for trialing meals

### Done:
- [x] Get groceries for this weekend (2025/07/25)
- [x] Build grocery list
- [x] #next: 30: think about the situation without LLMS and assess what I think needs to happen
- [x] Enter in new modular combos to Airtable
- [x] Update Combo Numbers in Week 1
- [x] Update Combo Numbers in Week 2
- [x] Select meals for week 1
- [x] Select Meals for week 2
- [x] Share hack md link with Ocean
- [x] Remove tofu and eggs from the meal plan for now
- Only appears in one dish
- [x] Implement Sauce Rotation

## Meal Schedule Constraints:

- Lunches and dinners
- cannot both be light on the same day
- can't have two of the same dish type on the same day
- Ex: two noodle dishes
- The same meal cannot be served consecutively
- At least one takeout per week
- Cannot have the same dish genre on the same day
- Ex: Asian, Greek, etc.

## Cooking Constraints: 🧱

- Finish everything on the weekend
- No cooking during the week, only reheating or light prep at serving
- Fast cleanup at end on Sunday

## The Meal Plan 📝

- I'm currently not prepping any of the breakfast.

{%preview https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-ht1dYcdoRfkvfijkkc_XB_xS06zDgGwc5NRn-vDC54/edit?usp=sharing %}

## My Prep Sheet 🔪

{%preview https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JBcYlUbokQIFkNbuYl5kZC9_8S-49RdI1MDXO9tvQYg/edit?usp=sharing %}

- This is on my fridge, printed out.

## AirTable (Meal Spreadheet Database)

{%preview https://airtable.com/appxrWVUZq5ygEDla/shrIjjMSZdEOtPABG %}

- Pay attention to these sheet tabs:
- modular meal combos
- snacks
- food-db-historical
- not as important

## My Schedule Right Now 📅

### Monday-Thursday:

- Reheating food
- Light prep
- Disruption during the week because I'm having to cook more food past the weekend

### Friday:

- Prepare grocery list for stores I visit in person

### Saturday

- Prepare Instacart delivery for Costco
- Visit all the stores to grab food
- Serve lunch at noon for the family

### Sunday

- Cook before lunch
- Takeout lunch
- Cook anything after lunch
- Lately not finishing on Sunday

## My Suspected Problems 🤔

- **It's most likely a complexity problem and not an efficiency problem, and this meal plan could be cut in half**
- Bake portion of chicken thighs, label separately for those that prefer certain types of chicken thigh prep styles (grilled, baked)
- Marinate all the chicken, dry rub first, then wet ahead of time. This makes the chicken taste stand out better no matter what type of prep style is used in my opinion.
- Cut veggies Saturday instead of Sunday, meats Sunday.
- Prepare Instacart delivery for Costco on Saturday or earlier.
- Mis en place more aggressively, get mis en place bins
- Clean as I go more aggressively
- Rotate sauces weekly
- Ramen is too complicated and could be pared down
- There's no assessment of how meals are being finished or not
- ratios, taste, too many proteins per combo
- too many vegetables, proteins per combo
- Currently no system for collecting feedback about the success of a combo
- Currently no system for vetting new dishes
- Currently no system to accomodaate
- Each combo might be too complex
- Sauces are complex to make also
- Lot of times we're defaulting to take out
- Still not finishing all the sauces
- Being full (satiated) in our household is a big pain point
- No system for storing leftovers, causing chaos in the fridge

## Possible Optimizations 🏃⚡

- Gathering Feedback:
- maybe split this meal plan in half over two weeks and transform it into a bi-weekly schedule
- Make each combo less complex but satiating
- Implement a system for collecting feedback for two busy ivy league college students with hectic schedules
- Implement a system for vetting dishes ahead of time
- Measuring & Time Estimation:
- Measure everything I do in the kitchen and record quantities
- Each combo should have ratio guidelines
- Health eating requires measurement anyway
- Need to estimate time for everything
- Need to used measuring spoons and measuring cups and not just "wing it" with ratios
- Sauces:
- Make bulk sauces at the beginning of the month and have them last for a month or two
- Get custom sauces from a farmers market
- Maybe give in to affordable store bought sauces to get things stabilized again

## Supplies/Inventory I Have, Think I Need to Buy 🫖

### On Hand ✋

Oven with Burners![[Pasted image 20250704200327.png]]
> My Oven Model and Details

- Utility Apron
- Standard Chefs Knife
- Measuring spoons
- 1 cup measuring cup
- 1/4 cup measuring cup
- 1 cup measuring cup
- Instant Pot, standard model
- Dutch Oven
- Large cast iron pan
- No official lid for it
- Currently using circular pizza grate covered in tinfoil lol
- Single compartment air fryer
- Veggie Dicer
- I don't use it, it's hard to clean
- Stock pot
- One cutting board, plastic, large
- Wooden cooking tools
- Tongs, long
- Tongs, Short
- Steak Knives
- Paring knife
- Ramen Bowls x 4
- Plates
- Coffee Mugs
- Sharpening stone
- Colander
- Knife sharpening rod
- Too many to list 😅, I can get more into specifics in the comments on tools

### Buy 💸

- Buy kitchen towels, currently using paper towel
- Mis en place bins
- Skinny spatula
- Prep Containers

## Kitchen - Counter Level - Pano Shot 📸


**Left to right:**

- Coffee Maker
- Sink
- Cutting board
- Colander
- Air Fryer, single compartment
- Countertop Grill
- Instant Pot
- Stock pot
- dutch oven
- kettle
- microwave
- toastter, standard two slot
- olive oil pumpSas

## Kitchen - Cabinet Level 📸

### Bulk


### Rice, Beans, Lentils


### Seasoning Shelf


### Flour, Corn Starch, Barley, Wheat Nooodle


### Top: Tupperware;
### Middle: More tupperware, canned goods;
### Bottom: Seasonings, Sauces, Canned Goods


### More Seasonings


### Top Supplies; Middle: Snacks; Bottom; Medical


- No labeling currently, groupings by function and type of stuff

## Current Fridge Organization 📸

> Labled

## Current Freezer Organization 📸

> Unlabled

- Freeze into "Folder Shape" to have a filing cabinet in the fridge

## Food Storage Bin Labels 📸


- ⚠️ Dry erase coming off in the fridge, need better marker