Meal Planning Week 3 with Faith: When Meals Become Visible

What happens when your meals are no longer a question, but a visible plan?

In week three of Faith’s meal planning journey, a simple shift—a whiteboard in the kitchen—changes everything. When meals are visible, decision fatigue fades, boredom snacking softens, and the kitchen becomes a place of intention rather than impulse.

We explore why visibility is a powerful tool in building lasting habits, and why enjoyment—not perfection—is what makes a system sustainable.

From there, we move beyond the kitchen and into how we shop. Faith discovers that organic doesn’t always mean expensive, and we revisit a core Kitchen Activist principle: shop your kitchen first, farmers market second, grocery store third. We expand what a “farmers market” can look like, from neighborhood bakeries to cheesemongers and small-scale producers, and share how to navigate grocery store labels like USDA Organic, Fair Trade, biodynamic, and regenerative organic when you can’t speak directly to the grower.

Along the way, something deeper unfolds: more confidence, more creativity, and less food noise. Faith experiments with batch cooking, plays with simple ingredients, and plans a treat with intention—without guilt.

This episode is for anyone who wants to eat more seasonally, reduce food waste, and feel more at ease in the kitchen.

In this episode, we cover:

• Using a whiteboard menu to make meal planning visible and actionable
• How visibility reduces decision fatigue and daytime snacking
• Why enjoyment is essential for building lasting food habits
• Finding affordable organic options and shifting where you shop
• Expanding the idea of a “farmers market” to include local food businesses
• What to look for when buying from grocery stores (USDA Organic, Fair Trade, biodynamic, regenerative organic)
• How to shop your kitchen first to save money and reduce waste
• Building confidence through batch cooking and simple substitutions
• Planning treats with intention instead of guilt
• How meal planning reduces “food noise” and supports daily rhythms

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Reach Florencia Ramirez at info@eatlesswater.com

Transcript

Whiteboard Planning That Stops Snacking

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Hi, welcome to the Kitchen Activist. I am joined today by Dr. Faith Karas. This is week three of her meal planning journey. We're on this ride with you, Faith. It's been really wonderful just to watch the growth and your progress on this journey of creating a new habit, because that's what this is. It's changing your current default of how you normally would approach mealtime with something completely new. And you are rocking it. This past week I received a text from Faith and it was a photograph. Faith, why don't you tell us what that photo was?

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Of my whiteboard. I really well be also look, I'm loving it. It's so funny because I wasn't using it until, and I didn't have the yaha until our meeting that we had last week, I think. But you know, it's kind of similar to your blackboard where you write down your menu prep in it, the menu, and there's something I think powerful about seeing it. You know, people have different ways of working, and what looks like in my apartment might be clutter is I have stacks of papers and they make sense to me. It helps me to have that visual. So I went through and planned everything out, doing that this week, and I'll tweak things a little here and there, but I'm getting into the rhythm of it. And also, there's like um what I appreciate too is every time I go to the kitchen to snack now, I see it. And so, like that reminder, yes, yeah, like an intervention of hold on, you're about to eat dinner. I look forward to eating this meal, and I don't want to ruin my appetite. So then I'm like, I redirect.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Oh, that's interesting. So it keeps you from snacking as much, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 3:02

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I still do for sure. Like my big thing is like cheese and crackers in the evenings, but during the daytime, it's been a significant redirect, especially working from home. And so, like during a break between meetings, like I just get up and put around my apartment to stretch my legs. And then I'll go to the kitchen, even if I'm not hungry, right? But it's out of boredom. Yep, I know exactly what you're doing. Yeah. And so it has been like significant in terms of the daily interventions around snacking during the daytime. I have significantly cut down snacking in the daytime because it's like right there. I am really proud of it. I'm really happy about it. And it speaks to one of my love languages around like organizing. So I like as ones you saw, I like color coded it and everything. And so that's what makes it effective too. And I think that's what will make it sustainable. This practice is I have to enjoy it. If I'm not enjoying it, I'm not gonna keep doing it.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

And that's it's such a visual. You have great penmanship too. So that helps.

A New Grocery Store Surprise

SPEAKER_01 4:07

Oh my gosh, stop. You're so sweet. You're so sweet. Yeah. I so that's been a big thing recently. And I'm sure you have a bunch of other questions, but I'm really also excited to talk with you because we had left off, I think, our last meeting, even talking about sourcing food and like grocery shopping and things like that. Right. And I just accidentally went grocery shopping at a different store because on my way home from the gym with my neighbor and friend, he was like, Oh, I gotta go pick up something from the grocery store. And I was like, Which one do you go to? And he was like, Oh, I go to this one. And I was like, Oh, I've never been to that one because I go to Whole Foods and he goes to this place called Jewel. And part of the reason I go to Whole Foods is I think it's closer, it's like a block closer. Um, but I'm like, oh, it's got organic food. The store that he goes to has organic food and also a lot of the work with local farmers, and it's so much more affordable, Florencia, than whole paycheck. Like, and I walked in there and I was like, this is amazing. It was, he was cracking up. He was like, You're being ridiculous.

Shop Kitchen First Then Farmers

SPEAKER_00 5:11

And I was like, This is I can't even so you found a new grocery store, and I know you've been really great about shopping your kitchen first, and also as you've you create your menu, you're you've been shopping your kitchen first. Well, the continuation of that mantra, which is also on the shopping guide, is shop your farmers market second and your grocery store third. So when I talk about farmers market, well, first off, where do you have a farmer's market? Like a pop, the kind that we think about instantaneously is a pop-up farmer's market, right? With the little tents and the vendors that come out every week and in a parking lot nearby or a park. And I know you're in Chicago, so it's the dead of winter, so that's not necessarily active. But there's another farmer's market that happens, which I mentioned in one of our previous calls, right, which is the brick and mortar farmers market. It is the cheesemonger, the bakery, the butcher who is sourcing from small-scale sustainable farms. It's the brewery that's organic, which I know you have one in Chicago because I wrote about it in my book. So those places, right? The roaster, that's the brick and mortar farmer's market that's not necessarily showing up at your the pop-up farmer's market, but they're but they exist. They exist in your community, but you have to find them. Have you shopped at those types of stores at that brick and mortar farmers market? Tell me about it. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

And it's so funny because the coffee piece has always been for me local. That's been huge. But and there is like this really incredible cheese monger in Chicago that I like to go, but I've never thought about it when I've been in that process of purchasing or consuming as part of being a kitchen activist. It's also funny to be like, oh, I was already doing this, but I'm redefining it in this way. So, and it's already, and because it's already been doing something I've been doing, I think it'll make it much easier to expand upon that. So I already, and bakeries, like for sure, I know of like walking distance from where I live. Going back to the farmers market piece, though, like as we think with the tents and things like that, even in Chicago, they've started creating indoor farmers markets. And so one of my friends actually, she's a baker, and so she sells her goods there in downtown. And I haven't gone all winter, but I've gone in the past before. And I've definitely gone, and they've got fresh produce and meats and things like that. And I just, and normally, like when I've gone, I just it's you're getting something to eat on the spot, but I'm not thinking about purchasing items for later that week, that week. But now I'm like, oh, I can do that. Eggs, like they sell all of that stuff there. And then certainly like year-round, I mean, I've got at least two farmers markets and walking distance from where I live in the summer and then the spring, early fall in Chicago. So between that and shifting away from going to full paycheck all the time and you know, using my local grocery store, which is they also have organic and locally local produce and things like that. But it's also so much cheaper. And I think because I haven't, when I've gone grocery shopping too in the past, it's been for snacks. Now I'm thinking about pricing in a different way than I have in the past because I'm just thinking about buying a bunch of snacks. But now I when I was with my friend at the grocery store, like for instance, now I'm eating salad. Like a big thing that I'm doing is salads and protein, and I'll just like make chicken breasts, like cook chicken breasts, and then I have it for a salad, or I did like a pasta with a red marinara sauce. I can use reuse that. That's my batch cooking, right? That I did toward the end of last week. And okay, so I can get the chicken and the salad and oh yeah. And it's like half the cost, like organic greens are half the cost at this store versus Whole Foods. It makes such a big difference. So, you know, it's thinking about like health, but also affordability, you know, and how how they go hand in hand.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

I think it's interesting to see what is the cost when you go to the farmers market for organic greens that are that are grown close by. They're grown somewhere in the Chicagoland region. So that will be interesting to find out what is the difference and also the flavor, because it'll be fresher. It'll it will have been harvested maybe even that same day, earlier that same day. With every day that passes, we get lots of nutrients. So that's another reward when we're buying direct from the farmer at these farmers markets, whether it's a pop-up kind. And I'm glad to hear Chicago has an indoor farmers market and they're there waiting for you, Faith. Because that's the thing too. It's easy to be these fair-weathered farmers market goers, or when it's just convenient for us, but they're there all the time.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

Or it's an outing, right? It's like a thing that you do before after brunch or something. It's an outing versus, but then you think about like if we do this every day, that's how we ensure that they're around. It's the same with like brick and border bookstores. Like there has to be demand in order to continue having access to that.

Labels That Matter In Aisles

Relationships That Reduce Food Waste

SPEAKER_00 10:57

We don't want them just to survive, we want them to thrive. And in order for them to do that, because they're going above and beyond organic guidelines, even if their food is not certified organic. So that's something to consider. When you go to the grocery store, it's really important to see these certifications like the fair trade label or the demeter, which is biodynamic label, or regenerative organic, is which is a newer label that you'll find, the corp, and of course the USDA organic. Those are really important to see when there's no one right there standing in front of you to ask the questions. So these third-party certifications become really important in the aisles of a grocery store where our food is really anonymous. But at the farmer's market, whether it's a brick and mortar type or the pop-up, there is someone there that you can ask questions to directly. And in that process, you're also building relationships with folks because then you find your egg person and you find your bread person and you find your, and then those relationships begin to build, and then your food then holds another meaning. For me, it's harder for me to waste food because I know the person who made that food, right? I know it was supposed to be those carrots. So how can I waste them? Or I know the baker now for the for sourdough. So I'm gonna make sure that that last little wedge. In fact, I just did a little video on social media where I made I turned the stale bread into croutons for myself.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

Oh my god, I love that brilliant.

Cheese Seasons And Tasting The Pasture

SPEAKER_00 12:49

I don't want to waste a single wedge because I know the effort and care that went into making that food. Food begins to tell stories. You mentioned a cheese monger earlier in in the Chicago area, and you've mentioned on many occasions how you love cheese and crackers. Oh yeah. Why not make it part of your round, your weekly round, to visit the cheese monger and really start to think about cheese, because cheese has seasons, just like any other food. Oh, it has seasons, having that discussion with the cheesemonger around what's in season, what cheese is in season right now, and starting to taste the pasture. Right now, for example, as we start to move into spring, you know, what have the cows been eating? Like it's fresh pasture, like that really green and new clovers and that's a great flow. That's gonna make an impact on the flavor of cheese. When we buy cheese from the when from the grocery store and we we pick a brand, we want it to stay to taste the same every time, right? That mild or sharp cheddar from fill-in-the-blank brand, we don't want to have a variation of flavor or at least. At least what they think that the consumer doesn't want variation. But when you go to a cheesemonger, all of these different producers who are small-scale, organic, regenerative producers who are very much in alignment with seasons, it is wanting that. Let's taste the season, let's taste the summer, let's taste the winter, the creamier, heavier cheese that may come out of winter versus the spring.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

And what you're saying also, it makes me think about the fact that it is so fleeting that it's seasonal, right? Is that uh there's a presence where you enjoy it because then the season passes and it'll change. And so you enjoy it for what it is versus kind of like a just uh uh eating without the pleasure that is tied to the seasonality of food. Absolutely, yes.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

And it's better for the environment. You're gonna start to uncover this more and more, Faith, that as you are shopping with the environment in mind all the time, eating with the season, eating small scale, thinking about the agricultural methods that are the best for the environment, best for rivers. It the rewards are just tremendous for us as the eater. It's better flavor, more nutrition, the relationships that are built. There's just a richness on so many different levels that manifest. I can't even begin to tell you, I can't guess what they're gonna be for you because they're different for each of us. But I just know that for myself, it is what has been very much the reason why I love to be in the kitchen and when I used to not, that used to not always be my story. So that was that's been part of my journey of meal time being just a chore, something you have to do 300 and something days every year for the rest of your life to wow, I get to the gratitude of of of procuring all of these ingredients and gathering them and making something nourishing for not just myself, but for the people that are connected to that food and the rivers that are connected to that food.

Intentional Treats Without Shame

SPEAKER_01 16:51

There's something that you said that that made me think about what's speaking to me and resonating with me in terms of this journey and process, kind of like the playfulness around like coming up with my own recipes, like a syrup or making you making do with what I have in my kitchen, for instance. One of the pieces that I was thinking about that's on deck, right? And I have to add it to my board is I've really been craving honey sesame chicken, right? And so there's like different ways you can make it. And there's a like a type of like black vinegar that has kind of like a umami taste that you can like use for certain types of seasonings. And anyway, I'm looking at all these different recipes and things like that. But but then those recipes that'll say, if you don't have this, you can try this if you have this in your kitchen. And I so appreciate when recipes do that, right? If you don't have this, you don't need to run out to the store to go get it, you can substitute this and that sense of playfulness, but also as a researcher, like science, where I'm like, if I mix this with this, what's gonna happen? And I'll just taste this and I'll and so it feels rather than to your point being like, oh my god, 365 days a year when that kind of it feels so burdensome, but instead it's kind of like this exciting playhouse laboratory, whatever, where you get to be creative, you know what I mean? And like, for instance, like, and this wasn't even on my list last week, and I'm so glad I made it because with my crazy work week last week, I really appreciated having this on hand. But you know, I was in the kitchen like cleaning or doing something else, and then I just realized I had ingredients to make these like scones, these breakfast scones that have like flaxseed and almond butter. And I just noticed I was like, oh my God, I have all the things that, you know, and usually there's this place that I like to get scones from. And but I was like, I can just make it and dry cherries I already had on hand, chocolate chips. And also I had those things on hand because I often am very aspirational. I'm gonna make this thing, but I just never make the thing. So I bought these items like months ago, wanting to make. I remember I wanted to make brownies with dried cherries, and I never got to it. And then food goes bad. Like that happens all the time. And this time I was like, oh, I'm gonna have a hectic work week. I want to have something like protein heavy so I can just eat it in the morning, the little sweet that I can have with my coffee. And so I made these awesome breakfast healthy grain scones, right? And they had like oatmeal and like flaxi, like I said, and almond, but all of it was already in my apartment. And so that was cool how it just came up and it didn't feel stressful. And then in fact, it felt like a gift I was giving to myself. And as I'm also eating at home more and cooking more at home, like the food tastes better to me than going out in some ways, and there's some pride I'm experiencing about the fact that I know exactly what's in the food that I'm eating, you know. So, like for instance, even with my salad dressing, I've been playing around with my salad dressing versus like buying salad dressing, like making it even. And it sounds like such a stupid small thing, but I'm really proud of myself because I like was like, okay, I've got some rice vinegar and olive oil, and can I play around with a little honey? And it was freaking bombed. It was so good. Yeah. And it was like so easy to make, and just and I didn't measure anything either, which like I'm usually like very much a stifler for so that was so awesome, Florencia. And then toward the end of the week, I did do an Uber Eats Door Dash run, but it was the evening after my I have this huge work event, and you know what I ordered? Pie. I ordered three slices of pie from one of my favorite bakeries, and I lay in bed and I ate that freaking pie, and it was delicious. Not all three slices. I saved some of them for the next morning. But it felt like such a special treat because I had I knew that I had this big event and I knew like I'm gonna treat myself. This is what I'm gonna do. I didn't know what I was gonna order yet, but I was like, I know at the end of the long day and a long week, I'm gonna just want to order something. And I was like, I want to order pie because that's not something I know how to easily cook or bake. I really love this local bakery. And it felt extra special because it wasn't like an everyday thing, but felt like it felt, you know, and and it's funny, after this work of event, some friends were like, Are you gonna go out, celebrate? And I was like, the way that I'm celebrating is like treating it, felt like I it was really a gift to myself, a treat.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

And no shame in it at all, just enjoying it.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

No, yeah, like I was intentional. I deserve this. This is you know, but also it exactly because it was intentional and I like knew that's how I want to treat myself. And and it's funny because even now, as I'm thinking about it, because of the quality of the ingredients, and actually, by the way, this weekend I'm gonna go to the indoor farmers market as my field trip to myself and take videos and photos and see how that feels, you know, and price things out, like for lettuce and eggs and see how that compares. But I because I know the quality of the ingredients and I know how I'm cooking it and I'm preparing it, it actually I feel like taste, like the idea of just ordering something where I don't know who prepared it and I don't know the quality of ingredients, it makes me feel gross. I don't find that appealing to me anymore, especially because like I'm rewiring these acts, these practices of shopping and cooking at home for myself, is acts of self-love and self-care. And there have been moments where I was like, oh, I can order like I craved pasta earlier this week. Oh, I'll make some pot, I'll order some pasta, but then I was like, I can just make it and I know what's gonna be in it. You know, so I did like my peanut noodles with my spinach, and then like I cut up some like peanuts on top of it, and I had this like kind of like spicy, sweet sriracha sauce that I used, and like I know what's gonna be in there, and it takes. Me again, like also challenging my conception of time and how long something is gonna take, you know. So it's imperfect, but I have to say that for probably one of the most hectic work weeks that I've had all year to go through this process to be week only week three in or only week two. That was only week two of starting to really be mindful, intentional, like my kitchen activist journey killed it. Yeah, really for kids.

SPEAKER_00 23:38

It sounds like it. It sounds like it. And so much confidence I hear coming from you versus that when we first met that you the only thing you felt confident about was fritata. And then now all of this experimentation that's going on. So tell me a little bit about that. I know that our time is very short because you are about to teach a class.

Food Noise Fades With Meal Prep

SPEAKER_01 24:04

Funnily enough, on food, how funny is that? Um I know that's actually perfect. Yeah. What's so funny is it's not as if I've and I haven't even weighed myself or changed anything, but just I feel better in my body knowing what it is that I'm putting into it into her. And I I just feel better. I really do. I just I can't describe it. I just I feel I feel better. That's an interesting to thing too. The meal prep thing has actually been really huge because it's helped shut down a lot of food noise that I have. So, like normally, for instance, I'm teaching tonight. I get home late because after I teach, I'm gonna work out, and then I get home late, and then I'm like thinking about what I'm gonna order on DoorDash or Uberies. I'm on the bus trying to figure it out. But I know what's at home already, and I'm excited about it. Like I've already meal prepped, like I know exactly what's waiting for me. And the fact that I know that means that there isn't that noise as much of what am I gonna eat next, what because I already know. And I think that is I don't think that I can overstate how huge that is to not have that food noise in that way.

SPEAKER_00 25:25

Yeah, because you don't have to think about it now, it's on automatic, and the ingredients are waiting for you at home.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

That's exactly it's a girl, it's I mean, that the food noise is a really freaking big big deal. And what's interesting to you is like being able to play around also with like my eating pattern. So, okay, so I'm cooking for myself at home or I'm having a healthy dinner, and then I'm noticing wanting to snack in the evening. And I know that has to do with the psychological, mental stuff, emotional stuff with feeling lonely or whatever. But it all it but it also makes me realize, okay, fine, I might snack every once in a while in the evening, and I'm working on that the getting at the root of that stuff that is causing that behavior. But then I don't feel as bad about myself because I know for the rest of the day I've taken really good care of myself. So it's not like eating some crap, cheese and crackers on top of ordering Uber Eats or DoorDash or whatever all day.

Farmers Market Questions And Closing

SPEAKER_00 26:26

Part of your homework is to think about that cheese that you're putting on your cracker.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Well, and that's the best homework, seriously, this field trip.

SPEAKER_00 26:35

So I I did text you some pages from my upcoming book that has some questions that you can ask when you go to the farmer's market. And these are also questions that you can send to your favorite producers of food and see what they say, because that's how we're gonna change this food system, is if we merge our influence and ask these questions, and for our food producers to realize that we're paying attention, we're paying attention and we know what questions to start asking, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:11

That's huge. And that's Sunday morning. I'm gonna go on my field trip.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

Wonderful. I'm so excited for you that you're gonna have a fun time at the farmers market. And I really look forward to hearing and seeing. Send me those pictures, what you find and the relationships you start.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

I totally will. And I'm sorry that I have to go teach now because there's so much more that I want to process and think about. But I would just say that like one of the game changers recently has definitely been that whiteboard and the meal prep and the shop your kitchen. Those continue to be I'm carrying forward, you know, and anyway, it just feels really fucking good. I don't know if I can swear on this, but it feels really good.

SPEAKER_00 27:57

You just reminded me of one last thing. On your whiteboard, because on the shopping list, what I suggest is putting an asterisk on anything that you plan to shop at the farmer's market. So you can do that too, whether it's on a chalkboard or a whiteboard, but transferring those same skills from the shopping guide onto your whiteboard.

SPEAKER_01 28:24

I love that. That's a great idea.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

Yeah. All right. Well, have a great class and a wonderful week. We'll see each other again and check in next week.

SPEAKER_01 28:36

I can't wait. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

Bye.