In this world, there are so many stressors and stimuli competing for our attention, it can be so hard to dedicate time to nourishing ourselves. Build Your Own Cookbook is a program to help you carve out that time and find at least 15 meals that you can lay your hand on to feed yourself. I love to work with my neurokin to figure out what works well for them and keep us all fed.
Who is Build Your Own Cookbook (BYOC) for?
Literally everybody! Most BYOC participants are neurodivergent, disabled, and/or are part of other marginalized communities. There are various barriers to finding reliable ways to eat well for us. This collaboration is meant to remove at least one.
What is BYOC?
It’s a collaborative program where you and I co-create a cookbook that is personal to you. We’ll meet once a week for three weeks. Our first meeting, we’ll assess likes and dislikes, what tools you have, and what you hope to do more of in the kitchen. A couple days later, I will send 5 meals of various difficulty levels. I will also list some websites that I trust where you can find some good recipes for your diet.
Hopefully, you will have time to try a couple of the meals before we meet again in week 2. And ideally, you would add 2 or 3 meals of your own to the spreadsheet. We’ll talk about the meals I sent, the meals you added, and the categorizations. Based on what we discuss, I’ll send you 5 more meals and more resources for our next go round. You will find the final 2 or 3 meals and put them into the spreadsheet.
And in our final meeting, we’ll discuss the meals I sent, the meals you added, and prepare you for independently building your cookbook out from there.
Why would I participate in BYOC?
Past participants have come to this collab with various goals. Some were starting a new way of eating, for instance the first 30 days of an elimination diet or beginning keto. Transitioning to a new way of eating can be a huge headache. Having a partner on the journey can lighten the load.
Others simply are tired of eating the same 2 or 3 meals through the week and are hoping to expand their repertoire. Whatever the reason, by the end, you’ll have 15 meals that of various difficulty level in a spreadsheet. Hopefully you will be able to make 6 of them without referencing your cookbook at all.
OK, I’m in. When is this hootenanny gonna happen?
Dates for 2023 are as follows:
October 9-27: Registration opens October 2 ← There are only 3 slots left for this cohort.
November 6-24: Registration opens October 30
December 4-22: Registration opens November 27
2024 dates are TBD, but they will happen!