Fashion: Stick to a look that works for you, especially when feeling stressed. 

Food: Keep food simple when under stress. 

Fusion: I have a Ralph Lauren wool blazer that I have worn at least 100 times and, invariably, I receive a compliment when I wear this blazer. It’s slimming. It’s solid. It can be dressed up or down. And, best of all, it works when the pile of rejects lying on my bed have somehow failed me. In fact, I have done everything short of calling Ralph, to find this blazer in a spring or summer weight fabric so that I could extend my never fail option across all seasons.  

Just as I do not try out a potentially precarious outfit with unpredictable wardrobe malfunctions when delivering a new lecture to a room of 500 people, I do not try out a new Bon Appétit recipe with 20 ingredients in the middle of the holidays when overwhelmed with shopping and parties. I have some recipes that are extremely forgiving, require minimal measuring cups and can be mended upon demand. Many of you already have an artillery of these recipes. I encourage you to be candid with yourself about when to deploy them. Keep these recipes and their ingredients close at hand as they represent keys to your sanity and will prevent you from ordering pizza or take-out and the calories that accompany them. 

Sticking with what works allows you to operate on auto-pilot. Many half-awake people operate on auto-pilot when they wake-up in the morning and decide what to eat for breakfast. Years of diet histories validate that most people are creatures of habit at breakfast and choose between one or two options and then progress with their day. Decreasing the number of decisions between you and your next meal makes great sense when you are stressed. Perhaps if you narrowed your food options for other meals, you would find yourself less overwhelmed. In fact, this is why liquid protein diets and calorie controlled packaged meal programs are successful. You know exactly what you are having and you do not wallow in indecision looking at a menu with 50 choices.  

I have included some minimal skill required options in No-Fail Formulaic Food. Share these and some of your own ideas with your friends and family as these are gifts that keeps on giving and who doesn’t love a bottomless cup of sanity? 

What are some of your timeless classic or no-fail food options?  Please share and we will post them to help anyone seeking some simple back-up food plans.

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