Woah Nellie!
The concept of meal planning endures, the meals, not so much.
by Mary Jo David
Looking through last century’s Nellie Maxwell columns, I noticed she has started taking a somewhat different approach. Instead of just recipes, in 1924, Nellie began including some weekly meal plans with her recipes.
My first thought was, “Some things never change.” After all, here we are 100 years later, and meal plans are still a popular topic. Sure, they’re published differently; nowadays you can find meal plans everywhere—on TikTok and Instagram, even in newspapers. You can download all kinds of meal-planning apps to your smartphone or smart TV and use them in the kitchen or from the comfort of your recliner.
Spend a few minutes searching, and you can pick from budget-friendly meal plans to five-ingredient or nutrition-rich meal plans, and even theme-night meal plans. Many include grocery lists you can download to ensure you have the necessary ingredients on hand. And some even allow you to design your meal plan by first providing a list of the ingredients you have on hand.
I find myself wondering what Nellie would think if she could return as a food columnist in 2024. Would she be excited about all the new developments in meal planning or would she be overwhelmed? Would Nellie prefer a magnetic meal-planning calendar for her refrigerator door or the convenience of an app on her smartphone? Would her budget allow for a $12/month meal-planning app or would she be fine with the plethora of free apps available?
What are the chances Nellie would prefer to take advantage of home-delivered meal kits from Blue Apron or Hello Fresh? Then again, maybe a fully prepared meal delivered by Door Dash would be her jam?
One thing is certain, a 21st Century Nellie would certainly have plenty of choices. But how would she feel about a breakfast of broccoli frittata fingers instead of fried mush; a lunch/dinner that features mini sweet pepper pizzas instead of cottage pudding; and a supper of sheet-pan nachos vs. oyster stew?
As one who has been following her old columns for almost two years now, at a minimum, one thing I can say with confidence is that Nellie Maxwell would surely appreciate the advances we’ve made in spell-checking!
