The Girldinner Manifesto (adventures in executive dysfunction)

I got into fancy tinned sardines this way. Fairly effortless, high nutrition, can be dressed up or down. I think planning around who I am (dysfunctional lol) instead of who I want to be has removed some of the unnecessary stress I create for myself. What's been your favorite girl dinner so far?

My mom is queen of snacks as a meal. She loves a plate with a little bit of this, a little bit of that, a little bit of the other. So her fridge always has hummus and carrots, some sliced meat/charcuterie, cheese, yogurt, snacking veggies (she loves the bags of multicolored snacking peppers), boiled eggs, lettuce mix, olives, pickles, and other stuff like that. The freezer always has frozen pineapple and frozen grapes, and the pantry has nuts, crackers, tinned fish, cans of beans and soup, peanut butter, and crunchy stuff that would be good on salads. When she feels like cooking she'll make simple stuff that happily be turned into other things, like black beans or minimally spiced ground beef. She recently got a rice cooker so she's been experimenting with things that are good on rice, to great success. It's super cute and it means she's always got the perfect mix of textures and flavors for her meals. Drives me kinda nuts when I visit because I prefer a cohesive meal but she always has good stuff for snacks around!

Sometimes I’ll graze my way through all of the components of a good salad, but not have the energy to chop them all up and throw in a bowl

I've always preferred small plates of food rather than big dinners most of the time. I cook for a family, so I do make real meals regularly. But I rarely eat a typical (American) breakfast or lunch and will have a girl dinner when the opportunity presents itself. Cottage cheese with chia seeds and shredded apple. Sardines and other tinned fish are awesome and healthful. Celery sticks with almost any kind of cheese. Arugula, feta, sunflower seed salad with a bit of oil and vinegar. Greek yogurt, sundried tomatoes and a little Italian seasoning eaten with crackers, baguette, or vegetables (celery, cucumbers, red bell pepper strips) Hummus. Roasted chickpeas.

i was raised with a neurodivergent parent who worked full time and definitely came home and did not have the energy to cook so the notion of a snack dinner was 10000% signed off of in our house. We always kept raw veggies on hand (carrots and broccoli being staples), and had pickles of a couple of different kinds, cheese and some kind of a meat, and crackers. lots of crackers. so these were staples that could be pulled out at a moment's notice. ours also always included fruit. i took a photo of one i did in 2017 out of nostalgia: 3 apple slices, 3 pear slices, 5 cucumber slices, 3 orange bell pepper slices, 6 crackers, a hunk of goat cheese, three slices of gouda, and some pickled beet. 2018 another one i did that i have pics of was 6 slices of summer sausage, 10 apple slices, 10 snap peas, 6 slices gouda, and two kinds of crackers. 2019's pic was 8 canteloupe cubes, 6 grapes, 10 carrot sticks, 2 celery, 6 fresh tomato, a radish, 6 cucumber, 6 cracers, 6 salami slices, and 6 cheese slices. my advice? grab bags of things like snap peas that you don't even have to cut up. and don't forget the fruit. and don't get cranky at yourself for grabbing canned or fruit cup fruit because it's more shelf stable. If you like salami, it's also great and easy as heck. Lately i've also been doing a slightly more involved canned tuna or canned salmon salad: cut up into small bites, celery, onion, apple (I like the sweet with salty and it is great for fiber), throw on some mayo and salt and pepper, mix in a bowl, and eat with crackers. It's a ton of protein too, which is good for the brain and all. Tuna you're not supposed to eat more than every other week, but salmon is good anytime.

Is "girl dinner" like tapas or charcuterie board?

I love to cook and do frequently make interesting suppers since my spouse and I eat that meal together and I find it much easier to summon the capacity for cooking when I’m feeding someone else instead of just myself. But I am the queen of ‘girl dinner for lunch’! My current favorite - I go to Costco and buy a 2# package of cocktail cucumbers (the little ones you can eat in a bite or two), a 2# package of cherry tomatoes, and a 2# bag of mini babybel cheeses every two weeks. Each day I throw a cheese or two and a handful of each veggie in my lunchbox and off I go. If I feel inspired I might add a small portion of ranch dressing or whatever loose carb I can find (spare dinner roll, single-serve bag of chips, random granola bar) and a piece of chocolate if I have it, but the veggies and cheese are the staple if I don’t want to focus on packing my lunch.

I love beef jerky and kind bars. Instant mac n cheese and minute rice are also great. I keep edamame, chicken nuggets, tater tots, and green beans in my freezer to airfry.

I do something similar. My adhd and depression do complement each other in a negative way that makes especially dinner an impossible task. I love eating vegetables and I bought and thrown out so much, because I couldn't manage to prepare them. Now I mostly buy vegetables that can be eaten raw (Carrots, celery, fennel, bell pepper...) maybe with some store bought hummus, a piece of bread. If I feel like I need more protein, I add an egg, a can of sardines or something. Besides that, anything already chopped is my friend. Aldi has these bags of mixed stir fry vegetables. I normally just toss them in some oil and oven roast them. I often keep a couple of sweet potatoes in the fridge, because they keep well and are oven roasted with minimal effort. I don't want to assume or arm chair diagnose, but if your executive disfunction is because of 'neurodiversity' feel welcome to pop in at r/ADHDwomen (it's female centered, but explicitly trans-, NB- and LGBTQ+ friendly amd save)

If you live cooking, lean I to the enjoyment of shopping! I love buying on sale and coming up with recipes. That's just me. It's about enjoying yourself.

All my produce that is starting to go bad goes into the freezer. Today I blended a bunch up with juice and water and egg white protein. Healthy meal that I can just drink!

This one time, I was on work travel. I have celiac, so it's challenging to find food I can eat in the wild. I was at the hotel bar - not a fancy hotel, but a good enough hotel. Kinda bar where there's a bartender but it's right next to the reception desk so they're all hanging out. I was tired, I didn't have energy to go find a restaurant. I looked at the bar menu and there was nothing that wouldn't make me sick. So I ordered red wine and a bag of chips. Immediately, the bartender and the receptionist sang together, "Girl Dinnnnnneeerrr!" And it made my girldinner meal magic.

I love how we’re really digging into our hunter-gatherer instincts

This thread is both reassuring and inspiring! I work full time and I have a disabled partner who has been kn hospital for 6.months, so making healthy meals for myself has been low priority. I've been throwing a couple of babybels, some cherry tomatoes, any other raw veg I fancy, plus some pickles into an old tupperware for a while and calling ot lunch. Turns out there's a name for it! Also I highly recommend the Tesco sea salt crackers, as they taste like mini cheddars. Also Scandinavian Krisprolls. I discovered them when I was on slimming world (don't get me started!) but I still love them

When I was in a bad depression, I survived on string cheese, granola bars, and fruit snacks.

I dress up my instant noodles and cook it all in the same bowl/pot depending. Alongside the usual noodles and seasoning packet I usually put some kind of frozen chopped green like spinach/kale/etc, crack two eggs directly in (they cook while the noodles cook), and add a slice of fried tofu skin on top (i like abura-age, it's a japanese version but theres a lot of good options). Same amount of effort as making instant noodles but it feels like a "real meal" and fills you up. My other fav is zero effort sides. I always have a bag of frozen fruit on hand so i can just pour some into a bowl and either microwave for a bit to defrost, or just let it sit out at room temp while i make/eat my other food. I rarely buy fresh fruits due to the fear of them going bad so frozen is a life saver.

Maybe it's executive dysfunction. Maybe, just maybe, we're all really busy. Cooking and eating whole foods is healthy, it's for sure the way to go. It also assumes a small abundance of time and energy. Sometimes skipping the cleaning-cooking-cleaning cycle is less dysfunction and more self-care. No no, don't have stale crackers and that last bit of brie every night. But some nights, it's more important to relax and reset. Use your good sense. Eat the good food and have the three square when you can.