Most Sundays, somewhere around three in the afternoon, a pot goes on the stove and stays there until supper. It's nearly always soup. I didn't set out to make it a ritual — it began as a way of not having to think about lunch on Monday — but it has turned into one of the small things that holds my week together.
Why soup, and why Sunday
Soup is forgiving. It wants a few vegetables you already have, an onion, something green that needs using up, and time. It doesn't mind if you wander off. Sunday is the one afternoon of the week when time is the thing I have most of, so the two suit each other. By the evening the house smells of thyme and onion and there's a pot that will see us through three or four lunches without anyone having to decide anything.
The pot does the planning for you
I've tried proper meal plans — the lists, the grids, the good intentions on the fridge. They last about a fortnight. The Sunday pot works because it isn't a plan at all. It's just one thing done properly, early, so that the rest of the week starts with something already taken care of. On a tired Wednesday, a bowl of soup and a heel of bread from the cupboard is a better supper than most of what I'd have cobbled together.
Keep it plain
This isn't the place for an ambitious recipe. A farmhouse vegetable soup is my usual, or an autumn harvest soup with lentils once the squash comes in. Nothing that needs watching, nothing that needs a special trip to the shop. The point is that it's easy enough to do every week without it becoming a chore.
If your weeks feel like they start already behind, try it once. One pot, one afternoon, nothing clever. It's a small amount of effort for a surprising amount of ease.