When you’ve been dating someone for a while, you figure out that there are absolutes in the way you deal with each other. For instance, I will absolutely never drive when the two of us are going somewhere. I’m a bad driver to begin with, and with a passenger in the car, I’m even worse. 

The Giant, on the other hand, will absolutely never cook. When he’s left to his own devices, he subsists on a steady stream of Del Taco and Fatburger. Now, normally, there’s no problem here. I love to cook, do all the shopping, and make sure there’s meals ready to be warmed up whenever I’m not around. 

However, this poses a challenge when I’m about to leave town for the next 15 weeks. So, all of my free time has been buried in a mountain of pots, pans, sauces and spices, trying to make sure he’s fed for at least a good part of the time.

So far, made, portioned, and ready to be unfrozen for consumption are:

• turkey and spinach lasagna
• whiskey soaked chicken
• pesto lemon/lime chicken
• spicy yuzu chicken
• mixed bean turkey chili
• herb meatballs
• polenta

Still on the agenda are all the things to baked. Quick breads and cookies both freeze well, so that’s what I’ll be focusing on:

• banana walnut bread
• zucchini poppy seed bread
• fig and almond bread
• blood orange snickerdoodles
• oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

By my calculation, this should be enough food for him to have at least one meal every weekday for the first six weeks. 

After that, if I were you, I’d buy some Del Taco stock.