Thumbnail image for Prepping in the Kitchen. The title is centered on the screen in black letters. There are three food items above the title. All food items on the page are digitally hand-drawn. The top left item is a plate of spaghetti and meatballs with steam lines coming off the top of the food. The center item at the top is a green, avocado-shaped plate with 6 sushi rolls arranged on top. There is a pair of beige chopsticks to the left of the sushi, leaning on the plate. The top right item is a pink smoothie with a strawberry and a blue straw sticking out of the top. Below the title are three more items. The far left is a pile of three potatoes. The center item is a picture of three rabbits looking into a blue pot. The right item is a pair of cherries whose stems are attached. The left cherry has a green leaf sticking out of its stem.

Click the image above to go to this game's download page!

What is it?

Prepping in the Kitchen is a different experience than most of you have come to expect from a game. In this small RPG, you'll be coming up with a meal plan for one week using dice, food categories, and maybe a bit of google. The idea behind this is to give you some ideas you might not normally consider while still giving you full control over the foods you decide to write into your plan. The second part of this game gives you the option to reflect on the week and think about how you felt after each meal. Food plays such an important role in our mental health, yet most of us don't bother to sit down and think about it (pointing at myself). Do certain foods put you in a good mood? Do others make you feel sick? Maybe give this game a try and let it show you that there's more to food than...food!

Screenshot of Part 1 of the instructions of the game. "Part 1: The Prep. The steps. 1. Determind the Meal. 2. Determine a Component. 3. Add More if Necessary. 4. Repeat." To the left of the text is a picture of two cherries whose stems are connected. There is a green leaf coming out of the left stem. To the right of the text is a plate of spaghetti and meatballs with steam lines coming off the top of the food.

Who made it?

Me! I took a history of role-playing games class in my final quarter of undergrad, and we were told to create an RPG for 1-3 players. This was going on right at the start of lockdown, and coming up with meals was getting hard for our household. When it finally came time to pick a game idea, this one seemed like the obvious choice. I had my parents playtest, and they even came up with some new meals to try by the time they finished testing! This was a different kind of game for me to make, but I learned a lot from it.

Screenshot of "Foods to Use" from the instructions. "With suggestions on how to prepare them. Feel free to use them or go your own way!" "2: Fruits. Fresh, blended, yogurt, salad, grilled, kabobs, gelatin mold, in cereal or oatmeal, curried." "3: Vegetables. Fresh, canned, salads, roasted, soup, grilled, stir fry, casserole, marinated, steamed, baked, veggie wellington, veggie pot pie, fajitas."