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Use the 5-3-1 Method to Pick Dinner Plans With Your Partner Without the Fuss


Figuring out where or what to eat with your partner only gets harder the more you get into a routine. To avoid the “Well, what do you want to eat?” cycle, try the 5-3-1 method.

As Reddit user Mic_Check_One_Two explains, the 5-3-1 method is a three-step process that works a bit like this:

  1. You suggest five places to eat or meals to cook for dinner.

  2. Your partner picks three from that list that they’d be happy with.

  3. You pick one from that list of three.

Boom. You now have dinner plans. You can switch off who has to come up with the initial five suggestions, but the goal here is to narrow down your choices. When you’re picking from everything in the grocery store—or worse, every restaurant in town—the choices are overwhelming and analysis paralysis can set in. This method skips that entirely. And if you’re both unhappy with the result, you can just start over.

Use the 5-3-1 method. | Reddit

Photo by National Museum of Denmark.