In Sweden, for at least the last 20 years; instead of working late, or socialising out and about with colleagues / friends: people take the opportunity on a Friday - to go home at a reasonable time and relax in their household. This has become known as "Fredagsmys" (frey-dags-mees) - "cozy Friday".
The tradition now includes activities at home such as: board games, eating a low fuss, comforting meal, relaxing while watching some TV (with the obligatory: blankets, soft lighting and snacks).
I like the concept that this Swedish tradition helps to preserve the "symbolic shift" for a household from weekdays into the weekend.
Tegsveden Deveaux (an author and lecturer on Swedish culture and values) commented that: "“Swedish people are quite keen on routines and traditions, and I think that it's almost like a nostalgic thing that if you had tacos as a kid on a Friday night, you might want to continue with the same,”
This all sounds pretty Autism-friendly to me.
I have decided to encourage my household to trial this "cozy Friday" evenings idea - and see what personal additions / adjustments we might wish to make - to embed it into our household's tailored version of this weekly tradition.
Already, I have thought about it a bit (partly, because we are not a taco / herrings fans household); maybe, that should be a Slow Cooker meal. Meatballs sound like an achievable plan!
I am envisaging:
- prep the Slow Cooker meal ingredients on Thursday,
- put the lidded crock pot (with ingredients) in the fridge,
- just before breakfast on Friday; put the crock pot into the Slow Cooker and set for low and slow cooking during the daytime,
- it should be cooked by the evening (with minimal fuss and washing up needed).
Here is the first recipe (it looks popular, judging by the reviews) which I intend to trial in the Slow Cooker on Friday evening:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/slow_cooker_meatballs_28623
If I can get these supermarket ones - the package is enough for twice the recipe quantity - but you can freeze (up to 3 months) half of them (when freshly purchased). That would then work out to about £0.81 per serving just for the meatballs themselves, plus, the tomato sauce and pasta as some extra budget required too. It is a recipe where you run the Slow Cooker, on low, for 10 to 12 hours. (Most models of Slow Cookers have a running cost similar to between 2 p to 5 p an hour - depending upon your electricity tariff):
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsburys-10-fat-meatballs-700g
BBC article about Swedish "Fredagsmys" (2021):
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210521-fredagsmys-the-unlikely-symbol-of-swedens-cosy-friday
What about you / your household - do you tend to have a "go-to" easy meal (which helps to ease you into the weekend)?
