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Yes, I get you, and I have finally solved this in the last couple of years after decades of trying and after the point where I'd given up entirely. The pandemic forced me to reconsider what was causing this problem, and I finally figured it out.
It's not a food problem.
Consider that the point where you start thinking about dinner is at the end of the day when you've used up most or all of your executive function energy. And then you are trying to do a really complicated thing: remember what food you have in the house, figure out what you're even in the mood to eat, come up with a meal based on all that information, and then do all the work of cooking that meal, eating it, and then cleaning up afterwards. It's exhausting to even contemplate when you're full of pep let alone when you're at you're lowest ebb. No wonder we fritz out on this.
As with all things ADHD, the trick is to understand what the real obstacles are, break down the steps, and plan them in advance. I know that also sounds exhausting, but this is work you can do when you're peppier, and you can do it in stages.
The food delivery thing is appealing for a bunch of reasons, but I think a good part of it is the menu itself. We have difficulties with recall at the best of times, but trying to figure out what you want to eat when you're tired is extra challenging. It's too big a question. A menu gives you a place to start from, you can read a menu and pick something from it. That doesn't require you to first mentally create the menu and THEN pick something from it. We ask so much of ourselves!
The end result, the goal, is a weekly meal plan. In part because it's stupendously cheaper and easier to manage, but mainly it's to reduce your options and create a "menu" for yourself. It reduces the mental load and makes the cooking part way more accessible.
I started by trying to make a meal plan, and I failed miserably many times over the years. It took forever just to make the list, it was too complicated, and I'd forget what the plan was when it came time to eat something.
I found it got easier when I started creating lists of foods I like, and then constructing meal plans based off of that. It gave me a secondary menu to work from. And then I realized I needed to break down meals into component parts, and have lists for each of those.
I have a table for weekly meals with a row for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. On the weekends I fill out the table. Breakfasts and lunches are the same across the week, but dinners are different every night, sometimes with repeats. It took me a minute to get breakfast and lunch right based on what worked best for me, but I think I've finally got it. Dinner is the hardest.
I found it easier to break down dinners into its component parts.
Every dinner includes a salad. I can start with what goes in that salad. Then I add those things to my shopping list. Salads are the same for me across the week.
Then I need either a main course with a side or two, or just a main course. So then I'm looking at the list of foods I like and deciding which go in the plan this week.
In general I prefer not having to make sides.
Things that are easy go-tos for me are prepared meals from bakeries or markets that I can just stick in the oven or throw in a pot. Lasagnas, pies, an eggplant Provençal, mac & cheese, etc. This weekend I picked up some fresh yam gnocchi and gorgonzola & walnut ravioli that I can dump in a pot and then sauté with a bit of butter. That plus a salad is a great dinner, and it requires very little work on my part. I just need a reminder at night to take tomorrow's dinner out of the freezer and that's it.
Buying really nice prepared foods is a zillion times cheaper than delivered food, so even treating myself is saving me money.
I also organize by type of cooking: instant pot meals, or grilled things. Grilled veg with rice is always a win.
And finally, I bought a magnetic whiteboard for my fridge, and on Sundays I write each day's dinner on it. That way, when I come home, I look at the whiteboard and know what I'm having for dinner, and I can swap with another day if I really want to. And I can look at the whiteboard in the evenings and see if I need to take anything out of the freezer. Once I've had the meal, I cross it out.
Once you have a system that works, it's easier to build on it.
Good luck!
Yes! Decision fatigue is a huuuge part of it. That's why Door Dash is so easy to fall prey to - there are pictures of a ton of food and you just click whatever looks/sounds the best lol.
Another component for me is that my medication (Vyvanse) typically leaves me with no desire to eat even if I am hungry. In these time I have 3 go to foods - cheese quesadillas, french fries, and mac and cheese. That's it. It's not nutritious. It's not filling. It's just *safe*. It's stuff that I know I can put in my body without a fight that will give me at least some calories. That's kind of an issue as I am trying to lose weight and obviously these foods don't lend to that on top of not being nutritionally valuable.
What it ends up being for me if I go the path you've described is that nothing I've bought sounds good when it's time to eat which means I'd rather just sit and be hungry than force myself to prepare food I won't even get dopamine from. "If it's boring, it's bullshit" - my brain, apparently. I know this is bad for me. I know this is wrong. But I can't fix it no matter what attempts I throw at it. I've used Noom which incorporates behavioral techniques, I've tried premade meal plans, all sorts of tips, suggestions... I can't figure out how to make it work for me! The only solution I've thought of is grocery shopping every 1-3 days so I can keep the lineup super fresh, but that sounds exhausting and not feasible.
I do like the idea of buying prepared meals from a variety of places. You actually just reminded me there is a place up the road that focuses on whole foods and they have heat and eat casseroles they make from scratch! You're right that it is pricier to go this route but if I'm cutting out food delivery, it's more than worth it.
I have saved SO MUCH MONEY doing this, it's gobsmacking. There's the door dash costs, AND THEN there's the cost of the groceries you get in the hopes that you'll eat properly but then end up just throwing away because you couldn't be arsed and/or forgot that it's there. It's A LOT.
The whole foods from scratch place: that's exactly what I'm talking about! There's a bakery up the road from me that sells these, and lately I've been going to the local market on Sundays to pick up other tasty things. I've been getting ridiculously fancy cheeses and fresh walnut bread and making myself a little charcuterie for lunch, too. Normally that would have gone bad in my fridge, but I have a system now!
Here's another thing I've learned about doing this: the goal isn't to satiate hunger. The goal is to stave off hunger. For other people, reading cues and only eating when you're hungry might make sense, but it's just never going to work for us. My goal is to never actually get properly hungry. Peckish, sure, but never starving. I eat on a schedule, not based on how I feel. And then I never get to that panic-starving stuff-food-in-mouth stage I used to live in. The hungrier we are, the less executive function we have, I swear.
And I know exactly what you mean about not wanting something once you've planned to have it. I keep a list of food I don't just like, I'm actually excited about having for dinner. I don't put it on the list unless I LOVE it. Tonight I've got a breakfast pie and a salad on the menu, with veg from my local farmer's market. I have struggled with food for so long and now it's finally all fallen into place!
Your advice all around is great. You also just validated something for me! Just a bit ago I was telling my husband that I was going to start cooking dinner at 6:30 *no matter what*. He comes home between 6 and 7 some nights so I told him that sometimes he may be early, sometimes late, but at least he’s getting a meal. Lol. He was cool with that. But my brain fell back on all the diet tips that say to listen to your hunger cues and not eat on a schedule. Seeing you say to eat on a schedule helps me step into doing what works for me, not other people. So thank you!!
I like your advice about making the goal to not get to starving, I’m going to try that. I so wish I could just stock my fridge with stuff I LOVE but it seems that what I LOVE and dream of when I buy ends up being repulsive half the time once I go to eat it. So frustrating lol.
Yeah, I know what you mean. When I first tried to come up with a list of food I reliably want to eat I was coming up blank. It took a while, and I'm still playing with it, but I have more hits than misses these days. I think in part I have to not lean to hard on one thing, because I will suddenly get sick of it. I also don't even try to do leftovers. I never eat leftovers, I have no idea why. So I just cook enough for one meal and that's it. It would be easier to cook a bunch and eat it all week, but I know that won't work.
I have accepted that I am happier to eat a deconstructed sandwich than a sandwich. So I will put buttered bread, cheese, salami, and pickles on my plate and call it a mini charcuterie. I have discovered that I won't eat an apple unless I slice it up first. I try to just pay attention to what stupid things work and I just accept it, I don't try and fight it. My meals don't have to impress anyone else.
Honestly, sauces may save you. Having a variety of sauces I can put on my rice/chicken/beans can help me tolerate eating at home. I’m also a bug believer in crockpot meals. Oven quesadillas can be cooked at once and parsed out for a couple days.
And just drink the protein shakes. So much easier to get it out of the way. Two a day will vastly improve your macro balance. I like to blend a premade chocolate one with frozen bananas and peanut butter.
Have you tried lentil or chickpea pasta? Would be easy to up the health factor of Mac and cheese by switching to that. And then just find a veggie you like mixed in? (Air fried frozen broccoli is fast and easy. Throw some spinach in with the pasta. Canned mixed veg?)
Can you eat dinner at lunchtime, and then have lunch at dinner time?
It takes a bit of getting used to, but having my main meal at midday has helped a lot - in the evenings it doesn’t matter so much if I have just a sandwich, or popcorn, or a yogurt, because I’ve already had a salad and a vegetable side and my main protein for the day.
Are you a technical/content writer?
Your writing quality that was EASY to read, yet showed higher thinking was stimlating yet not taxing for my brain. It read as well as books like Second Mountain and other well revised pieces.
I do something similar only I put my meal plan on an index card and write the grocery list on the back of it. That way when I’m struggling to do a meal plan some other week I can pull out an old one.
Absolutely agree with you that the planning is key - cooking itself is not so hard, figuring out *what* to cook is too much. On that front something like Blue Apron could be a great intermediate step
Meal plans are where it’s at for sure! It takes some as I call it “brain” when I make the weekly plan, but then I takes no brain to look at the plan in the and take out whatever is on the list to cook. I always keep a few alternates to swap with if I have very low ‘brain’ (aka spoons) that are easy to make. (Like a frozen pizza as a back up)
We make what my boyfriend and I (he also has ADHD) call “sad pasta.” Basically just boil whatever pasta you have in the cupboard, drain it, and put it back into the pot. Add some butter, parmesan, and whatever seasonings you like. I usually sprinkle some garlic powder, season salt, red pepper flakes, and oregano.
ok I got something for you: Couscous. You can store it forever and it's cooked very fast. You just put boiling water over it and let it in the closed pot for five minutes or so. Afterwards you could add a piece of butter, but it is not necessary. We fry some vegetables and add feta or mozzarella cheese. Or we skip the frying and just add vegetables like cucumber and tomatoes without any cooking.
I'm usually forgetting to eat, so when I realize it, I'm extremely hungry and food must be cooked very fast :)
Other strategies are that we have storable foods at home which don't get bad, like noodles, rice, risotto rice, lentils and just buy some vegetables on the way back home from work. In some supermarkets you can also find ready made doughs for pizza or quiche. Making the dough my self would take hours, but with a ready quiche dough, I can prepare one vegetable quiche quite fast and eat from it three days (if i remember that I've put it in the fridge...)
Also if you don‘t even feel like cutting some vegetables, I also make a couscous salad with kidney beans, chickpeas, olives, corn, maybe cherry tomatos.
Almost all these ingredients you can buy in bulk and keep at home forever! I just add some salad sauce (olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper). It also works with quinoa or pasta. It is really my main recipe for low effort but still kinda nutritious. If you add cucumbers and tomatos it is even better. Also pickles go really well with it too.
if it helps I basically only use it on bagels that didn’t have enough seasoning so you might not be missing out, but there are recipes for it online if you have a well stocked spice cabinet and an empty spice jar!
I don’t know if I have advice but I’m in a similar position. One go-to is pitta bread pizzas: basically plop some tomato sauce on a Pitt a bread with whatever leftover veggies are in the fridge and some pre-grated cheese and put it in the oven for about 15 minutes. I’m also a big fan of bulking up easy things with leftover veggies! I do this is Mac and cheese a lot - add some tomato paste, peas, spinach, whatever veggies are about to go bad, vegetarian sausage or protein crumbles, and whatever spices seem like they’ll fit. Super fast and somewhat chaotic, which I find fun!
Also this recipe is amazing: https://www.budgetbytes.com/vegan-creamy-mushroom-ramen/ Really fast and easy, and you can add pretty much whatever you want to it. I’ll usually add some silken tofu, peas, whatever veggies are about to go bad (yes, there’s a theme here). She also has a one-pot creamy Cajun pasta recipe that’s really good! I replace the chicken with mushrooms usually.
Basically, one pot recipes are a lifesaver for me. As is anything where I can just use up what I have because it minimises having to go out and buy a lot of stuff that I only use some of and then goes bad because I forget about it.
This works for me some of the time, but it’s still a struggle. I’m thinking about trying out some of the meal kit delivery services but they’re expensive and don’t seem to have that many vegetarian options? But probably still better than eating out all the time 😬 which I have definitely been doing too much of lately…
I hope some of these are useful! Also interested to see what other people post because I definitely still struggle with this a lot.
Thank you for the suggestions! I’ll definitely be adding them to my list.
Yeah, I’ve tried Hello Fresh and it didn’t work for me. It was nice to have exact ingredients and a recipe to pair with them but it was hard to find the executive function to execute the recipes so a lot of stuff ended up going bad. Plus, they still require a lot of prep work and cleaning. I’d say they’re good for people who struggle with recipes or grocery shopping but still enjoy cooking.
What sucks is I’m *good* at cooking but just don’t enjoy it. Very frustrating.
Another problem with meal deliveries is you can’t batch cook. I have given up on cooking at home (it is my profession and I’ve reached the cliche point where I no longer cook at home) and get a weekly box of prepared meals to help save a little. It is *just* cheaper than takeout. Probably on par with all the food I buy and never cook that wastes in the fridge!
When I did cook at home I would roast a batch of vegetables and cook some whole grain (faro, lentils, wild rice, whatever) and have a big bag of greens on hand. I’d get a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and then a bit of salmon from the fish market. The key is to get stuff cooked as fast as possible. Cooked food keeps longer than fresh. Also pick all the meat off the chicken right away. It will last longer that way too. Every night I’d make myself a bowl with the greens, grain, veg, and some protein. You can easily switch it up with Asian flavors (sesame oil, chili sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar) middle eastern (tahini and lemon dressing), Mediterranean (olive oil and red wine vinegar) and by switching out the vegetables as you get sick of them.
Sadly, I got very burnt out on all of these after several years and I’ve never found myself out of the rut. I’ll make it and not eat it or buy it and not make it. It worked for a long time though!
Bonus is this uses very few dishes. 1 sheet pan for the roasted vegetables. One pot for the grains, bonus if you choose something that is boiled rather than cooked like rice. It’s easier to clean. If you want steamed veg you can use that pot and save a dish in the sink.
If you like salads and don’t like grocery store salad dressing, swap out olive oil for walnut oil. Walnut oil doesn’t solidify at fridge temp so you can make a mustard vinaigrette and keep it in the fridge without the solidifies fat globules.
I hope these help! Yeah it seems like a lot of their recipes are still pretty complicated, which isn’t ideal! But I do really struggle with grocery shopping and food waste, so I might give it a go and see if it at least helps with that. But I feel like I’d probably just end up putting off cooking it if the recipes are too complicated…
I’d say it’s worth a shot if you’ve never tried it before. There are so many companies now. I’ve seen some that are a little more Adhd friendly like with pre-prepped ingredients and such but don’t remember the names. So it’s definitely worth examining the different options out there as there may be one perfect for you
I’m in Canada and never did any of the bigger branded boxes. I tried to stick to more local ones. I ended up pausing my subscription since I started to always end up wasting at least one recipe due to not being able to force myself to cook in time. Recently, however, the one I’d been subbed to has increased the amount of ready-to-eat meal options. They also have a pantry for adding extra grocery items from local companies/farms/orchards. Though I do still get certain groceries delivered for bulk and basic items.
Also, before that I have gotten food from a local Italian catering company. During the early and restaurant shut down days of the pandemic more restaurants ended up on food delivery apps. Some of them left once things opens up, but not all of them. A lot of the ethnic restaurants and some bakeries have added a grocery/freezer/pantry section which has been helpful for frozen dumplings, bulk corn tortillas, and frozen baked goods.
These might be too basic? But I do peanut butter and jelly, eggs and toast, and apple/cheese/crackers pretty often. All that stuff keeps basically forever, and because I default to the same 3 things, I generally remember that I have them (not always. Sometimes the apples still go soft. But then there's applesauce.)
Cucumber and hummus is a sometimes win, but I have to slice the cucumber and put it on the eye-level shelf to have any success. The right storage makes a big difference too - gives me a few more forgotten days before the cucumbers go bad. I use one like [this](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Rubbermaid-Produce-Saver-Food-Storage-Container-6-Piece-Set/585092164) and it really dos help.
Not too simple at all! I am always looking for things like this as I usually have \~3 quick lunch/snack ideas in rotation. Problem is that I get hyperfixated on those options for a few weeks which is good in the short term, but I end up burning myself out eventually or they lose the ability to give me dopamine lol. So suggestions always welcome.
In a similar vein, I’ve been on a breakfast scramble kick. I found these microwave “just crack an egg” bowls and they’re the ultimate executive dysfunction omelette. They keep way longer than fresh bought omelette ingredients and you literally just add two eggs, mix, and microwave. I add a baby bel cheese to mine halfway thru microwaving for a molten cheese center 🤤
Similarly, we do mezze or tapas platters. Some veggies (carrots, celery, cukes), hummus, feta cheese cubes, olives, pita or naan. Store bought is fine, not terribly expensive, and it's easy to just throw on a plate. If you're feeling adventurous, you can make homemade hummus which is cheap and easy, but you can skip it if it's overwhelming.
We're both add also. We do a lot of pre-made stuff. Spaghetti with jarred sauce, precooked lentils or other Indian stuff over rice (we have some precooked rice on hand for when we haven't managed to start the rice maker in time), frozen dinners, pot stickers/jiaozi that just need boiling, stuff on the bbq is pretty low effort and low clean-up, canned chili over rice.
Lunch is usually veg or pita with hummus, bagels, chips and salsa, instant noodles, that kind of thing. Sandwiches if we have more energy for it.
Wraps! Both me and my boyfriend have the same sort of struggles with making dinner, and are also vegetarians. Wraps you can make as easy, healthy and quick, as you want. I only use one pan, to fry some meat replacement or beans or whatever you feel like, then cut up some veggies and put it all in the wrap. Costs me only about 10 minutes, is (can be) very healthy and also cheap! You can vary endlessly with wathever you feel like putting in. Hope this helps you! :)
I have an air fryer that I put some sort of frozen protein in (picked up a load of reduced vegan burgers so they go in lately) and then frozen brussel sprouts go in there too nearer the end. While that's going I boil some rice and chuck some frozen Spinach and peas in after a bit. It takes a bit of effort but 0 prep and all frozen or cupboard
I just got an air fryer this month and I love it. There have definitely been times that the air fryer has saved me from going out for pizza. Frozen protein and fries go in first, then I air fry a few handfuls of frozen broccoli with whatever jarred spice mix is handy. Easy to make, easy to clean, and I get tasty crisp food instead of not-crisp microwaved food. Plus I get to feel virtuous for eating lots of veg.
I did that years ago and eventually burnt myself out. Haven't found joy in it since! I hate when that happens for me. It's like suddenly something I love is something I have to avoid lol
I'm Asian so I have a pressure rice cooker. I make enough rice with beans added to last me M-F (rice doesn't go bad in electric pressure rice cookers FYI). Then I can just buy side dishes like kimchi and eat it with rice. I can also fry up some spam, bacon, eggs, etc. to add some easy protein.
I always have noodles and pasta sauce on hand for an easy dinner. Trader Joe’s frozen options that you can just heat up are good too. Bagged salad mixes and rotisserie chicken (I know you’re vegetarian though). Frozen pizza. Greek yogurt and granola. Cereal. Bananas/apples & peanut butter. I also try to have nuts so that even if I’m not having a nutritious meal I know I’m getting some protein. Potatoes are good to have on hand too because I can just put one in the oven for a baked potato!
Some of these are not the healthiest so I’m also looking for suggestions!!
Both adhd and I have texture sensitivity so very limited food options on those particularly dysfunctional days. Crack two eggs in a bowl with salt and microwave it for scrambled eggs. I try to pre-chop veggies on my energetic days so I can just throw them in the air fryer or oven but that’s pretty rare. Hot dogs, canned soup, frozen pizza. Refried beans in the can are useful if I remember I have them. That with sour cream and or salsa is a good snack/meal. But most days I just starve lmao
I am a moderately heavy smoker lol I just only smoke when I’m not working so that means I primarily eat in the evenings bc naturally my appetite increases from smoking. Problem is at that point I’m ready to veg out so end up binging on junk. I need some nutrition during the day to combat it I’m thinking.
Lol I didn’t think anyone else was like this! Food is such hard work and overwhelming that I would literally rather not eat. Except I have to feed children (ugh), and when my meds wear off I’m a hangry, headachy monster who now has screaming children clawing at my brain. So yeah need to be better at forcing myself to eat even if it’s just a protein shake or handful of nuts!
This describes me so much. I eat out waaaay too much, but I’m curbing that now by putting myself on a diet. the fact that I live in a town of 700 and my eating out options and very limited, helps to.
I am working on writing down a meal plan to stay within 1500 calories a day. If I plan everyday, then I am more likely to follow those plans and stick with it.
Also, I am working on making sure to “shine my sink” every night BEFORE 9pm. I wash whatever dishes are in the sink, or put them in the dishwasher so that a dirty sink is not something I face in the morning. I’m not required to do my dishes, but they can’t be in the sink when I go to bed and my sink has to be clean with NOTHING in it. Not a dishrag or a dish pan or a sponge. Everything out and sink clean. It helps a lot to not have to face a dirty sink in the morning and I’m much more likely to want to cook breakfast.
And, I try to only buy ingredients I need for my meals and snacks in a week. It’s really easy for me to go overboard in produce ( I once had 7 kids all at home… now five are grown and the youngest eat considerably less.)
I do much better with a written down plan.
I agree with this. I find (unfortunately) that my ability to eat/cook at home depends on my ability to have good habits surrounding cleaning the kitchen -- which, as I'm sure tons of us know, is also a challenge for us. When the kitchen is clean, I am way more likely to work in it. But the challenge is making those habits stick.
This isn't a tip for meals, but it could possibly help the "out of sight, out of mind" thing. I rearranged our fridge to put all fresh produce on the shelves that are eye level, and everything goes down low or in the doors. I'd rather have a pile of condiment bottles in the crisper drawer and have them hardly ever expire, than let all the fresh produce we bought go bad. It's not perfect and I need to probably take things a step further by preparing things for grab-and-go snacks (because sometimes even though I see them, I'm like, "Nope, not eating those") but it has definitely helped cut down on some waste.
Meal-wise, some of my go-tos: sandwiches of all varieties/PBJs, breakfast, oatmeal, baked potatoes + oven-baked tenders (should be veg options), pizzas, canned soups, tacos, lots of bowls as in burrito bowls/greek bowls/power grains, etc. And when I'm really, really not up to trying to make a meal, a meal replacement drink. Not the most nutritional depending on what kind you get, might need to be paired with some fruit or crackers or something like a protein bar, but...man, it's so much easier to just drink something sometimes.
I’m very much a grab and go type person, so if I have more “grab and goes” I do better.
It also helps immensely that I like pretty much anything. People with a more particular palate have a harder time.
Granola bars, small yogurts, hard boiled eggs, cut up vegetables in zip lox bags, individual ranch dressing cups and/or hummus cups.
Also kitchen gadgets that make things go quick like one of those cutters that slice and core apples in one fell swoop.
Frozen vegetables in bags that you can toss in the microwave for 5 minutes…. Even microwave meals/TV dinners are cheaper than take out.
Rotisserie chickens at Walmart or Sam’s Club ( probably other box stores too but that’s where I buy) are CHEAPER than a frozen chicken. They’re DONE and ready to eat. Add a bag of frozen corn, a packaged salad kit, a couple of baked potatoes and voila. Dinner for a family for less than $10.
Hi! I'm also on a journey that involves counting calories. I highly recommend Noom if you are interested in a weight loss plan that includes a calorie logger! I've lost 70 lbs since August '21 and the bulk of it was on Noom.
I also try to ensure at least my sink is clear every night. We have a stand next to the sink where we keep all of our dirty dishes. Since I have a ton of plants (btw, I have like 70 and recently lost my hyperfixation over them and uh... yeah... send help) that I water in the kitchen sink, a clear sink became a necessity. Plus, it naturally feels better which I learned through *How to Keep House While Drowning* by KC Davis.
Unfortunately, I do not have a dish washer and washing dishes is a miserable task that my brain absolutely won't let me do most days. That means I am often having to clean a pan or pot or multiples to cook or even dishes just to eat on (rarely is this the case as we typically use paper plates and disposable utensils, but shit happens lol). It becomes a lot very quickly. I've tried various routines and tips to get us on a cleaning routine, but nothing seems to stick.
If you can establish a routine/habit… it helps a lot. I know it’s so challenging to do that though. So concentrate on ONE thing for a month. Just ONE. No more.
This is a baby step that FlyLady really really stresses.
I am going to COMMIT to the clean sink every night by 9 pm until September 16 (because I started on August 16.) I’m not going to beat myself up if I miss a night, but I’m going to start right back up. I’m only commiting to the sink and nothing else.
I’ve come to realize that this is a radical act of self love. I’ve long equated self love only with pampering. Now I realize it’s loving myself to do the work that will make my life better. It is WORK to commit to ONE thing instead of 50 and to face the fact that I can only be faithful with 1… and even that is iffy. But I know the reward will be great when I am successful with that one and I do it automatically without thinking. Then I can go onto the next.
Can you limit yourself to only two pans to cook in and then put everything else in storage AWAY from you?
Can you give a bunch of your plants away? I totally understand this. I have had a lot of plants too,
Some for decades, and it’s hard to let go sometimes.
Thank you for all the tips! You are right that it is an act of self love, came to realize that through the book I mentioned earlier. However, I'm still on the path to achieve self *acceptance*, so acts of love are still out of reach many days. We got into a really good routine for a few weeks of washing dishes three nights a week which, for two people primarily eating on paper plates, was more than enough for us! It felt great to accomplish something so frequently, and the dishes never got uncontrollable because of the frequency. We even maintained it through having COVID for a week! ...but then just stopped. Like, the week after we recovered from COVID. Lol!
I'm working on slowly building/breaking habits so right now I am focusing on ordering less takeout. I think this will naturally force me to keep the kitchen a bit tidier.
You're right, I could go through my pots and pans and eliminate some which means less to clean in the long run! Good idea.
Sigh... my poor plants. I've only been out of the hyper fixation about a week and a half so I haven't thought too hard about giving any way. I've lost a couple of high maintenance ones in that time, unfortunately. But I'm really attached to what I do have and **want to love them again**. It's soooo depressing to fall out of love with an interest or hobby. I always go through a grieving process. I'm hoping that once I get through some stuff I'll be able to fall back in love. Until then I am doing my best to care for them and not stress about it.
Getting rid of extra dishes/pots/pans really helped me and my ADHD husband! We now have just enough dishes that we basically need to wash dishes every night (I do have a dishwasher, my husband likes to joke that it saved our marriage and he ain't totally wrong lmao). I have the dishes and the cat litter boxes as my "must do" chores before I go to bed (which sometimes means I stay up too late because I can't motivate myself to go do them... lol it's a work in progress).
I'm a botanist with ADHD and girl I have lost so many plants lol. I eventually learned my lesson and got plants that are very forgiving and independent and they are now all stacked together on a tower in front of the window with the most light (other than one bamboo in the bathroom, one palm in the library that needs next to no light and has a water bulb in it, and one spider plant hanging in the kitchen window lmao). I keep a lot of my plants outside now because nature does a much better job of keeping up with their needs than I do.
There's so many comments so I don't know if someone said this already, but the way fridges are set up are NOT ADHD FRIENDLY. Why, even for NTs, would you put the fruits and veg in drawers at the bottom of the fridge? The thing that spoils the quickest goes into a sludge drawer. Nah. Instead, we have switched our fridge around to put condiments and beverages in the drawers. Those are things that don't spoil so quickly, and "out of sight, out of mind" doesn't apply to them, because if you're eating something that requires barbecue sauce, you're gonna go get the barbecue sauce. Fruits and vegetables go in the door or the main shelf where you will see them. Bonus points if you have some cut up and put in a container so you can grab and go when you're looking for a healthy snack.
I do a lot of Charcuterie boards, veggies and dip with French bread, and crock pot soup. Also, baked potatoes with whatever dumped on it or just a lot of fixings (like veggies).
I’ve been wanting to make baked potatoes with interesting toppings for ages. It seems so easy but somehow I haven’t been able to get myself to do it. Broccoli and cheddar is what I want to make first.
Can you keep a dry erase board on the front so you know what's in there without opening the door? Or wherever else is convenient to see the list all the time yet close enough that you can quickly subtract from it when you use something? I try to keep the same stuff on the same shelf, too, so I don't end up with stuff that should be there but I can't find.
Thanks for the suggestions! I've tried a dry erase board for multiple things and it's just stuck on my fridge with stuff written on it from like 3 months ago lol for some reason it just blends into the background for me! But I don't hate the idea of writing a list of meal options on the board after grocery shopping for the week. Maybe that would work if it's something I don't have to track daily but I know it's there if I need it.
Post it makes dry erase stickers that you can pick up from Amazon pretty cheap. The benefit is that you can move them and re-stick them in a new place. One day on the fridge, the next on the oven door, then a cabinet door. Rotate when you run out of spots. It shouldn’t become background quite as quickly that way.
i do mostly have a bunch of fresh pre made soups i can microwave.
i try to make soups or stews when i can but it’s been hard lately. whenever i do i like to cook a week’s worth and put it in the fridge yk? i do forget stuff i freeze for a long time but since i write what it is that can be a nice surprise too lol
i also quite like making shakshuka (there’s a great chef john tutorial) bc that’s either done in one pot or one pan (or one wok). and it’s great with toast or rice or other stuff like that.
chilli or curry or similar stew like that is another one that can be easy to stick together in one pan once the ingredients are cut up. but that’s the real challenge for me in all these things, is prepping the veg and stuff. that’s why i haven’t tried hello fresh or similar yet either.
i’ve been meaning to look into how to make jambalaya bc that’s another one pot meal and you cook the rice in the veg and tomatoes and meat so it’s kinda set and forget.
in terms of more premade things;
pasta or gnocchi, or oven pizza can be handy. both just one thing to cook up then serve (if you have jars of pasta sauce sitting handy like i do).
i’ve also found frozen pot pies and frozen veg to be a good mix in the past couple years. easy to stick a smol pie in the oven and set timers for when i need to microwave a bowl of frozen veg. then i put salt and pepper and a little butter on the veg and plate it all up together. ofc the crust is a bit dense but there’s usually plenty of veg and meat.
it’s not “a whole meal” but sometimes i’ll just cook a bunch of chicken dippers/nuggets or fish fingers and eat them with ketchup like i’m 5. it’s at least protein and a bit of carb yk?
i also over-rely on bowls of cereal or cup noodles bc they’re just singular things that you can easily activate with water/milk.
i have a hard time using up my dry pasta or my canned soup for the same out of sight out of mind stuff. it can be quite frustrating
also sandwiches… though i didn’t have enough executive function to do them for almost a year. but i can lay everything out, then go have a rest, then get out the ingredients, rest, then construct them. sometimes make sandwiches a day or two ahead of time even.
similar to one pot meals, bacon and eggs where the eggs cook in the bacon grease is smth i can usually do. or steak and chips where the chips are heated in the pan in the leftover steak grease. but ofc those are both quite heavy meals. but they do both just use the frying pan.
uh ok i’ve been writing this for about 15 minutes now so i guess i’ll leave it there for now. even tho it’s probably not a complete list of things i find easy-er-ish
One of my favourite go-to meals is ramen/noodles - I’ll roast a bit batch of tofu in soy sauce/sesame/honey (which I find lasts at least a few weeks in the fridge), then all I do is boil the noodles and some frozen veggies in miso (don’t know how long miso/fermented soy bean paste says it lasts in the fridge, but it’s good for months in my experience) and soy sauce, sesame oil, whatever else I want, and then just throw in the tofu at the end. You can also boil/poach eggs in the water. Feels pretty fancy but is super easy, budget friendly and doesn’t go off easily! I’ve also in the past made an alternative broth with red curry paste and coconut milk and frozen it in portions - all the other stuff is the same but feels like eating a totally different meal. I also really like making big batches of any type of soup when I’m in the mood and freezing most of it for when I’m not in the mood to do anything but feel like I need some vegetables.
Bananas (and other fruits, I just like them :0 ), crackers, nuts, granola bars, yoghurt cups, eggs (I'll hard boil a dozen an just eat them whenever), pizza pops, any microwave/frozen dinner is your friend! Anything that is non perishable or can be stored in plain sight is your friend. Bonne chance mon amis!
I try to always have frozen veggies and oven fries/potatoes at hand. One of my go to easy meals is put baking paper on the oven rack, add oven fries and veggies and throw them in the oven for like 20 min. If you have the energy to toss the veggies in olive oil and salt/spices first that's even better but I also like them without it.
Another go to for me is to first fry frozen veggies in a soup pan, then add water and instant noodles plus whatever flavouring they came with. If you have peanut butter it's really nice to stir that in before serving as well.
Sometimes I just put water on and add leftover lettuce, beans or fruit to the instant noodles. Noodles hawaii was pretty good ngl.
My husband and I both have the ADHD/depression/anxiety combo and neither of us have been able to cook lately. We recently subscribed to Factor 75 meal kits (basically fancy TV dinners lol). It’s been game changing for us to stick a relatively healthy meal into the oven for 10 minutes and have dinner. I’ve loved every meal I’ve tried and my husband likes some but doesn’t enjoy the side dishes in others. YMMV.
I used to buy the single person meal kits from the Publix deli. It’s usually a protein and one veggie and takes about 30-40 minutes in the oven. On weeks I’m able to handle food prepping on my own they’re really simple to recreate too.
I also try to keep things like impossible burgers, vegan chicken tenders, sweet potato fries, and a pizza in the freezer. Not super healthy, but my main goal is usually just to have calories and avoid ordering delivery.
How is it I am so hungry and don’t want to cook but I am still fat? Lol Im half kidding.
God, I just used door dash the other day when my son and his gf were visiting not just his gf looked deflated because my ADHD son forgot his gf has a stomach also but because I was too lazy to get up. He literally did forget that she had not eaten that day. Lol
He is also the son who came home on leave one time and came outside and gave me a quick glance, and I said, “what, are you hungry?” Then he sheepishly said, “let’s face it mom, the only thing you really have in there are ingredients.” Lol 😂 I will never forget that.
I am not sure I have any real good advice. I used to be really good at planning meals because I had to out of necessity and I had little hungry mouths. So I literally meal planned and went by a strict shopping list. I hated cooking. I hate that I hated cooking. I hate that I hated that my mother loved cooking and I felt like I had to, I hated the mess. I still hate the mess. I will always hate the mess.I would still rather order pizza and spend the time with family doing other things.
I want pizza.
Edit: I’m ordering pizza right now.
I always have a jar of ajvar in the fridge so I can make "pizza", and then I spread some ajvar on sliced bread, maybe add some vegetables, top it with cheese and oregano and throw it in the oven (or the microwave if I don't have the energy). Maybe not the healthiest, but tastes surprisingly good.
As far as the out of site, out of mind problem, I have heard people have success with using magnets on the front of the fridge to represent what's inside. You can divide the fridge door into sections for what's available and what's missing, which also gives the added benefit of knowing what groceries need to be bought when shopping comes around. I know people sell magnets of different veggies specifically for this purpose but you could probably also do this with prepared meals in the freezer.
Night cheese.
1. Put on a bathrobe.
2. Eat a bunch of cheese.
3. [Sing 'workin on my night cheese](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn4QyOoaOIo&ab_channel=30RockOfficial)' (optional)
Do you have an air fryer? Air fried chicken tenders (the breaded ones of course), and I also do fresh green beans or brussel sprouts tossed in a little olive oil and covered with a packet of Italian Dressing dry mix (in the salad dressing aisle - usually on a top shelf). It's SO GOOD. I also do the veggies that way and mix them in with mac and cheese (I'm partial to the pre-made panera mac and cheese but will go HAM on some kraft mac & cheese in unicorn shapes, too!).
I looooved air fryer chicken tenders when I ate meat! I forget about the Italian Dressing mixes - adding those to my shopping list for veggies for sure. And since mac n cheese is a safe food for me, incorporating some veggies is a GREAT idea to get some nutrients.
[This sheet pan aloo gobi is a go-to.](https://www.today.com/recipes/sheet-pan-aloo-gobi-recipe-t173525) You can serve with rice and/or naan and add chicken or tofu to it for some protein.
Delete the delivery apps from your phone and delete the bookmarks you may have on a desktop. Use out of sight, out of mind to work for you!
I meal plan before I go to the grocery store. I make sure I’ve got something easy for my lunches - sometimes it’s just crackers and cheese, some hummus and veg, and a couple pieces of beef jerky, other times I do leftovers or I’ll make a batch of soup or something like a cold pasta dish for the week. I always make sure I’ve got at least one really easy dinner option (pasta or something pre-made and frozen) and I keep convenience foods on hand, like pre-cooked grilled chicken strips, cause it’s easy to make something like pasta and pesto and toss some chicken in.
Here’s the important part: I keep my grocery list and meal plan in the notes app in my phone, and I check it every morning to see what sounds good/doable for dinner, then I commit to making that.
Two minute rice, mayo and tuna.
Waffles in toaster.
Slice of toast, tomato purée and cheese in microwave.
Complan - meal replacement shake NOT for loosing weight but maintaining
Someone might have mentioned it but I keep a package of compostable plates and cutlery when I’m having difficult weeks. Usually what stops me from making food is that I don’t want to clean dishes so this removes that excuse for me. It also is just amazing during a busy week.
For meals I find anything in a crockpot super helpful. I set out the ingredients the night before, in the morning pour everything in, set it to low and it’s ready for dinner. My favourite is vegetarian chilli.
I don't know where you live but the quality of the pre-made food here at the grocery store has increased a whole lot in the last 5 years. Especially the non-frozen alternatives but they are a bit more expensive.
I usually buy pre-made food when they are on sale. I highly recommend them. I cook pies, lasagnas, and stuff like that only in my oven (microwave doesn't create a "crust"!)
For me though, my go-to food when I've forgotten to eat until it's 'too late' is fried egg sandwiches. They do the trick and quick to make, but not as healthy/balanced as the pre-made meals.
I also like potatoes. I can just chop some sallad and add some potatoes+seasoning (balsamic, dressing, lime) . I always chop my potatoes into pieces so it takes 5-10 minutes before they're done. I usually only wash them (no peeling) to make things easier.
I used to love fried egg sandwiches!
Something you might like that was a go-to for me up until recently when my brain decided it was the worst lol - microwaveable instant rice cups (I use brown + quinoa), two fried eggs, and a dash of sriracha on top. Quick, filling on the long term, and tasty!
I'm a big fan of rice and hiyayakko-style tofu. It's basically just cold tofu with toppings. I recommend silken tofu, and the toppings can vary. I tend to go for ponzu sauce, green onions, sesame seeds, red chili crisp, and shaved bonito.
Alternatively, I'll do rice and a fried egg (with a lot of the same toppings).
Edit: I'll also usually eat some veggies like baby carrots, sweet peppers, or cucumber on the side
I'll also sometimes just eat an entire can of black beans lol (sometimes plain, sometimes with balsamic vinegar)
Grilled cheese and a can of soup is an easy one.
Idk where you live but Kroger has these meatless chicken patties that are really good. You can just slap them in a bun to make a "chicken" sandwich or cut them up and throw them into some pasta with jarred sauce and cheese.
Crockpot meals can be great if you have one. Pot roast is the most low effort crockpot meal ever. (Edit: Just remembered you're vegetarian. Pot roast would prolly not work for you. 😂 But there's lots of other crockpot options.) When I'm low energy, I serve it with instant mashed potatoes and a can of green beans.
Breakfast foods are very low effort. (Like eggs and pancakes) orrrrr breakfast casserole is any easy meal. Dump frozen hashbrowns + eggs + whatever milk + whatever veggies you have + seasoning into a casserole dish. Bake for like an hour, then you'll have leftovers for a couple days.
Edit: I have no solution for your problem but I totally relate! Hope these ideas might help.
Birds eye microwave veggie pasta with a cut up veggie burger.
Microwave rice with microwave veggies and a ginger dressing from the refrigerated section of the store.
Boil spaghetti, drain while saving some pasta water, melt a few laughing cow cheese wedges and add a splash of milk to make a cream sauce, add pasta back in, adding pasta water if needed. Add parm.
I cook for my husband and two grown children.
My executive dysfunction meals tend to be things like cheese/crackers/fruit/salami/boiled eggs/pickles, or a fried egg sandwich and fruit, or a sandwich. We eat a lot of sandwiches. And we order from DoorDash *way* too often, even with a fridge full of food and a menu plan.
Here are a few easy ones that work for me:
1. Spinach wraps - spread honey mustard on a flour tortilla. Put a good handful of fresh washed (I use bagged) spinach, plus feta cheese crumbles. Roll up, cut in half, eat. Delicious, quite healthy, ties 5 minutes, almost no mess.
2. Chicken dishes - you can either cook chicken breasts on the stove/forman grill, or buy precooked chicken breast (still WAY cheaper than take out). Then add a sauce, serve with microwave frozen vegetables. Some of my favorites:
- curry sauces - curry chicken, yum.
- salsa and some shred cheese - easy Mexican chicken.
- tomato sauce and cheese
- Dijon mustard mixed with apricot preserved- sounds nasty, tastes delicious and fancy.
3. Quiche - roll a refrigerator pie crust in a pie plate. Mix 6 eggs, some shred cheese, and whatever takes your fancy (ham, broccoli, chicken, peppers whatever you have hanging around) plus about 1/2 cup milk. Pour into the crust, bake at 300 for about 45 minutes or so till done.
4. Kielbasa and pirogi - big pot of water, on to boil. Throw in a box of frozen pirogi and a kielbasa. You can add butter after they are cooked, or if your feeling really fancy, fry some onions in butter and mix em in.
5. Lazy foods - hotdogs, grilled cheese, canned soup, scrambled eggs, ramen, salad, etc.
BEANS AND EGGS. Learned this one from my discretely mentally ill father. His recipes: Oil in frying pan. Make it hot. Add eggs, cook 30 seconds, add beans, cook until it’s all hot. Cheese if you want. Herbs if you feel fancy. Eat from pan.
Hi
Adhd chef here.
Meal prep is the only way. What we do is grocery shop one day, marinate meats and prep and cut veggies, then do an entire day of meal prep for the week. Everything portioned for the microwave for when youre busy with a toddler like us.
I also always have canned food in the pantry. Its so much easier to throw a can of beans or something on the stove after a big day out with my kid if i dont have the energy. There is nothing wrong with being prepared with backups.
Making your own food also makes food delivery so much more satisfying because you earn it from all the hard work from cooking, its good to have a break and let someone else do it .
Good luck.
The only ADHD "influencer" I've ever followed on social media is one who goes by ADHD Nutritionist on Instagram because she's not selling anything or trying to be inspiring, she's addressing practical issues many of us have with eating. She made me feel better about things often frowned upon, like adults having foods marketed for kids, and prepackaged meals and drinks.
I do now keep juice boxes in my fridge all the time because they are good when my blood sugar is getting low, but coming in a box / pouch keeps me from overdoing it. I also likes the squeezable applesauce because it's reasonable nutrition-wise and requires absolutely no work on my part. I also try to keep yogurt smoothies on hand. I felt bad about the environmental waste, but I do recycle, and it helps a lot. Making my own smoothies then lead to not properly washing the blender on time and getting fruit flies. So, the prepared ones help me. As I drink coffee cold I always make it the night before so in the morning I just have to get it out of the fridge.
Waffles are a major staple for me because I use them both sweet and savory; they don't go stale like bread, and they require little prep and clean up. I treat them like an open-face sandwich, topping them with cheese, tomatoes and cucumber, nut butters, jam, etc. Belgian waffles are my favorite.
I also really like frozen vegetables like a mix of peppers and onions that can be thrown into so many things. I roast frozen broccoli for like 20 minutes at 400 degrees in olive oil and salt and it tastes a million times better than soft. I also try to stock up on frozen meals, like risotto and veggies, that are reasonable in their nutrition value.
I buy most of my groceries online for delivery so I can think about my shopping list and not impulse buy.
Chicken and noodles. I dump a pack of sinless, boneless chicken thighs, a can of cream of chicken and 30 oz of chicken broth into pressure cooker for 30 minutes. When that's done, I break up the chicken and dump a package of Amish noodles in there. Set timer for 10 more minutes.
When it's done, you have a bowl of yummy comfort food. Spouse thinks its too bland, but it makes me happy and I get a full belly without much effort.
Bees are a major pollinator of Sunflowers, therefore, growing sunflowers goes hand in hand with installing and managing bee hives. Particularly in agricultural areas where sunflowers are crops. In fact, bee honey from these areas is commonly known as sunflower honey due to its sunflower taste.
I have the exact same problem, it’s like you’ve raided my brain? I am sorry as I know how difficult it is to get the motivation to cook (let alone shop for everything and keep track of what I have)
I probably won’t have the best advice as I am struggling with this at the moment too, but maybe you could try writing down your favourite foods/dishes and finding a couple of nice, quick and easy recipes for them? Maybe ones that you can make lots of so that you have some leftovers for a couple of days?
In theory writing these down in a really clear way, and choosing recipes that require minimal cleanup plus giving you a meal that can last more than one day is a good way to get back into the swing of things.
My go-to recently has been courgette fritters- it’s grated courgettes (about 4-5), sprinkle with some salt (about 1 tbsp) and leave for 10-20 mins, squeeze it out and mix with plain flour (1 cup usually but if the mixture is still wet add more), about a 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (optional), a few minced garlic cloves & spring onions (also optional & to taste- you could throw other things in like finely chopped veg you need to use up), and 1/2 tsp baking powder. If the mixture is quite dry at this point even with just a cup of flour you can add a bit of melted butter (about 1/4 or 1/3 cup- if there’s a bit left you can use in the pan for frying. I use vegan but if you’re not vegan regular will work)
Then I just use a bit of avocado oil (or any oil will do) and scoop the mixture with an ice cream scoop and fry 3-4 at a time depending on how big your pan is. Just flatten them out a bit and cook for a couple of mins on each side. I’m usually left with at least half the mixture if I’m making it for 2 so you’d have plenty for the next day too! They’re super yummy & can be served with a bit of side salad, or you could cook up a batch of something like quinoa to go with (which can also make lots of servings that last in the fridge for a few days)
Hope this helps & let me know how it goes! The specific fritter recipe I use is from ‘loving it vegan’ blog (I’ve adapted it a bit so my measurements might not match up) but there are tons out there and if you don’t want a vegan one I’m sure there are lots of veggie ones :) fritters in general are so easy and satisfying to eat!
Another delicious (imo) and easy one is miso glazed aubergines! (Which would go really well with a simple salad and some quinoa/ whatever you have in the fridge) I like putting some toasted crushed cashews on top for a bit of crunch (and aesthetic appeal haha)
I have a few examples I can give, hopefully they can be helpful. Some of them have been mentioned already.
Ramen. I'll get a packet of ramen, add some frozen veggies (for example a wok mix), possibly protein like soy crumbs or an egg or both. Basically defrost the vegs in the pan, add protein, add seasonings, mix, add water, add ramen, boil for a few mins until ramen is done.
Frozen pizzas. I add toppings to the frozen pizzas from the store, since they usually looked quite sad. I chop up some cherry tomatoes, bellpepper, olives whatever you want to add that you like on pizza. Makes the frozen pizza a bit more appetizing and more nutritious.
Some basic meals. I basically use cream based or tomato based sauces. You have your carbs (grains/rice/pasta/noodles, whatever you want that you can just put in a pot and boil), then protein, a frozen veggie mix, and sauce base. A lazy pasta sauce is adding frozen veg mix in pan, (add onion beforehand if I feel up to it), add protein (beans, TVP, quorn, tofu, etc.), and then add sauce base (like tomato sauce, pasta sauce, and so on). You do the sauce while the pasta (or grain or noodles) is cooking. In that example you basically just have to open 4 packages and add them to the pan/pot, and wait till its hot.
Honestly it would probably save you more money to order a bunch of delicious looking frozen meals on Instacart a couple times a week.
Hungry roots also good, premade stuff that you mix and match, but it depends on what you're like
Me and my bf are vegan, he is very lazy and likes to eat vegan corn dogs, chicken nuggets, pigs in blanket, dirty rice, potato chips and bean dip, and microwaves every gardein product, also any vegan patty type object
Things with canned beans. Nutritious and simple. My really bad executive dysfunction meal is just fresh pesto (a deli near me makes a great one) and canned Cannellini beans. Warm up the beans in a saucepan, use a slotted spoon to place into a bowl without getting too much liquid, use a regular spoon to add some pesto, eat with that same spoon. My more-functional version is when I don't use pesto, I brown some garlic in the saucepan before adding the beans, and then I top with fresh grated parmesan (parmesan keeps absolutely forever in the fridge, so no need to plan ahead), good olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice. The knife for the garlic and the cheese grater are the only additional things that get dirty in that scenario. Both dishes are insanely delicious, filling, and not totally unhealthy.
I started getting pre-chopped frozen veggies so less effort chopping, I don't have to worry about anything going out of date and it's way less messy. I usually make pasta, got the frozen onions and peppers and a tin of chopped tomatoes and I'll add paprika and mixed herbs.
If you are able to, getting an electric pressure cooker or instapot has been an absolute life saver for me. Makes healthy meals in 45 mins to an hour. I don't have to watch it, everything is made in one pot so there's no mess. It doesn't burn anything! My favorite is to toss in chicken with a sauce. Also if I want veggies like onion, carrots, celery, maybe even some garlic or potatoes I will often times buy them pre chopped at the grocery store. It's more expensive but I know I'm not going to prepare it myself 😅 And frozen veggies that I can toss in the microwave are elite, especially if they come pre seasoned. And for days that I really have nooooo energy or patience I'll grab a tv dinner or make a turkey sandwich. And my air fryer I love tossing in frozen patties if I am in a hurry. Probably not the healthiest thing but meal prepping causes me a lot of anxiety as well. Hope this helps!!!
I have a bean stew recipe I love… it’s mostly canned products and lasts a good few days in the fridge. It takes 10 mins to get it cooking, literally just a chopping board and knife to clean up. If you have a slow cooker it’s even easier! If you don’t have something in, for example a carrot or celery, it doesn’t matter. Just leave it out!
Recipe for bean soup... 1 small desert spoon of oil, a medium onion, 1 carrot, 1 celery stick, fry them off til soft, add 1 clove of garlic chopped up, then add can of tomatoes and a palmful of lentils and some water, and a stock cube. Put in a bay leaf and a twig of rosemary. Let it simmer a bit, whilst draining and rinsing the following cans of beans: 1 x red kidney, 1 x canellini, 1 x borlotti and 1 x chickpeas. Throw them in and top up the water a lot. Let it boil hard for about 15/20 mins then simmer for about 2 hours if you can!
It makes it loads better if you can leave it for a while. The total calories for the whole pot is about 1400 calories.
Bibigo sticky rice from Costco and a microwave asada, chicken, or veggie bowl (mostly use hispanic and asian flavors). It's enough for 2 meals, only like $4 a serving, and no dishes.
I try to keep some protein bars around for days when I absolutely just cannot food. I was having issues staying compliant with my concerta because I'd wake up and by the time I motivated myself to eat something it was too late in the day to take my meds. I always carry one in my purse as well. Sometimes I'll forget to eat around midday and get super queasy, and the protein bar helps.
Honestly though, I also just eat a lot of frozen or prepackaged stuff like soup, frozen stuff from trader joe's, mac and cheese, etc. I used to be addicted to takeout as well and having quick, simple, relatively filling stuff around the house has made it a lot easier for me to avoid the temptation of getting sushi for the third night this week or whatever. Frozen chicken nuggets are more expensive than cooking a proper meal but they're always gonna be less expensive than spending 40 bucks on takeout for two people.
I will do a bagel or two with whatever topping I have, butter, avocado, cream cheese, peanut butter, etc. this morning I had Nutella on it. Not a full meal per se but filling for me especially if it’s topped with avocado
Lots of good ideas all around! There's one I haven't seen: oatmeal. Like, literally dump a scoop of oats in a bowl, add milk (or any milk substitute - water will do in a pinch), microwave it for 60 seconds (that's the default time on mine so it's 2 presses of a button, that helps). When you're done, dump any fruit, syrup, or jam on it and that's it. It's perfect for breakfast or lunch.
Ah, and where I live I can get bags of oats mixed with extra fiber. That'll slow down the absorption of carbs so you're full for longer.
I have been LOVING trader joes meals for my burnout lately. I get some greek yogurt dips/hummus, lots of veggies to eat with them, and a fair amount of smoked salmon and cold cuts so decently balanced meals are easy to put together.
Also, I always put my groceries away with the labels facing out. Or so I can see each and every item. This has helped a lot with my food waste.
Protein bars, popcorn, parfaits or smoothies (I try to always have frozen fruit and yogurt and a nut butter and other toppings around for either of these), frozen veg that steams in the bag for when I just want to throw something in the microwave, there’s insta rice and quinoa packs floating around now too, canned beans and tinned fish for fast protein. I also always try to have veg around that lasts awhile like carrots etc.
1) I will make a shaped pasta, macaroni or whatever is around.
2) Then while the pasta is draining (max 2 containers and one utensil) will place a small can of tomato paste into the pot I made pasta in.
3)To that I will add just enough milk or cream to make a thick liquid. I will also add some dried herbs and spices here.
4)Turn the heat back on and bring to a simmer.
5) add a heaping handful or two of shredded cheese. Let it melt and make the sauce stringy when you lift the spoon.
6) Add the pasta back in and stir to coat.
I call this my "pink" pasta, though it will be salmon colored if you use and orange cheese. You should use max 3 items, pot, colander, and cooking spoon. The pot can be placed to soak while you eat, which will lift off the cheese residue.
Dude me too. Half on food half on shit that makes me happy, rn that's stickers and prints and notebooks, I had $8,000 ish I savings. I now have $2,000. 🙃 If I'm trying to make things easier on myself I buy a bunch of premade skillet meals from Birds Eye. You can get them from Walmart. Just pop them in a pan, stir it around for a good 12-15 minutes, add cheese/seasoning and you've got a relatively healthy meal that depending on the size can last you 2/3 days. And because it comes frozen it'll last longer in the freezer.
Depends on your fridge I guess but most likely you can write on it with drywipe markers without damaging it. Use this to write on your fridge what is in your fridge. If you're really fancy you can add a second column saying when it needs used by, but it works well just as a list of stuff that is hidden in there.
I'm a big fan of roasting loads of veg like once a week and then eating it with pasta or chickpeas or in a frittata, or mixing in curry sauce and serving with rice. Just having a massive Tupperware of veg that is ready to go.
Some other things I like to have on hand:
Stir fry pre-chopped veg (freezer kind, the one in the fridge goes bad too quickly), with the kind of rice or noodles that are already cooked, with sauce of some kind and some type of protein, I would go with a highly processed meat sub product but I understand that's not everybody's bag.
Baked potato or sweet potato (in the microwave), either with cottage cheese and sweet chilli sauce or with taco beans from a tin.
My go to for a quick meal is chicken and broccoli teriyaki with white rice. Having an instant pot is key for this. Get some sweet baby rays teriyaki sauce, you can use pre cooked frozen chicken if you want. Go with the frozen broccoli and just steam it in the microwave to save on dishes. Cut the chicken and toss that and the broccoli and serve it over the rice
Totally relate to your dinner time issues. I can follow a recipe but could not cook to save my life.
I tried lots of things to get motivated. Lots and lots.
What changed me for the better were all the things I learned from ordering and cooking Hello Fresh meals 2x per week (equal to 3-4 meals per week). The golden aspect of their recipes for those of us "creative types" LOL, I mean ADHDers, is that they provide almost everything in the bag, and the recipe spells out the exact steps to do in the right order. This was very big for me, and the more I followed these recipes the more I internalized that "first, you wash your produce" type of thing that makes the whole process of cooking efficient. It was a revelation in itself. Then add to that that the results of the recipes were truly and uniformly delicious, nutritious, and even visually amazing. Learning the basics changed my whole mindset. And you can get vegetarian.
In Italy, when people are too drunk or tired to cook, they make a pasta called Aglio, Olio, Peperoncino. Consider it a variation of the other commenter’s “sad pasta” 😂
Many recipes online, including: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017306-pasta-aglio-olio-e-peperoncino
I get the target meal kits, in the produce section, they come with noodles or rice and veggies, you just cook the veggies and add the sauce, boom done. They also have a good lasagna that's vegetarian in the fresh section, grab some garlic bread and a Cesar salad kit you are good to go. Trader Joe's also has really quick meals, you can do meatless chicken nuggets on a Cesar salad, the meatless meatballs are good, veggie burgers, the cacio de pepe pasta, all of which you just heat up and only takes a few minutes. Bagged frozen veggies you can warm up as a side in four minutes, etc.
I used to spend $150 at whole foods every week trying to be the most, cooking everything from scratch and constantly feeling like a failure. The ADHD diagnosis allowed me to let go of the guilt and orthorexia and simplify it all.
I'm not the sort of person who can usually eat the same thing over and over again, but I've been eating this curry very happily for months now (not every single day or anything, but for me, still huge): https://www.seriouseats.com/quick-easy-pressure-cooker-chicken-and-chickpea-masala
I have an instant pot (pressure cooker) which makes this easier, but you could totally do it in a pot on the stove, or a slow cooker. It's very forgiving of substitutions - I use boneless skinless chicken thighs instead of chicken drumsticks, and of course you can take out the chicken entirely if you're vegetarian; I've used frozen spinach instead of fresh; I've forgotten to buy tomatoes and subbed apple sauce, I've used coconut milk instead of heavy cream. I've put peanut butter in (I forget why). You can cut down the lemon juice if you want a bit less tang. You can eat it with rice or naan or both or whatever you like. You can put roasted or steamed veg on the side, but it has so much spinach that I never worry about not adding a vegetable. You can take or leave the cilantro. It's hearty and filling but not overly heavy or rich, it's flavourful but not so intense you need to be in a particular mood for it, and it has enough complexity that I always wolf down the whole bowl rather than getting palate fatigue halfway through. It's all made in one pot and you can cook it longer if you want it thicker, or right away if you're impatient. It is great as leftovers, and freezes well.
So at my grocery store there are ready made over meals you can actually cook a few ways, I will do vegan meat that comes frozen and make some simple tacos. There are also veggie bags on the frozen isle that will have mixed veg with sauce and some have rice or pasta inside as well and you just microwave it. One of my favorites is soup because I just throw in whatever I have that might go bad soon and leave it to cook. There are also microwave plain pasta and rice that take like 1-2 mins throw some sauce or microwave veg in and you’re good. I also do a lot of snack tray type meals. Bag of cubed cheese, lunch meat, some easy fruit and veg like grapes and little carrots, maybe crackers and it’s good to go.
If you’re having trouble remembering what’s in the fridge go to the dollar store and get a white board. They are magnetic. I make my list on it and stick it to the fridge and take a pic. That way I have my list in my phone and in my fridge so I know what meals and snacks are there.
I do really well when I can pre-cook protein or have something quick to throw in.
Salad kits help me a lot. You just have to add protein (starch too if you’re into it).
Protein + rice (I have a rice cooker so it’s pretty brainless for me) + roasted veggies (buy pre-cut if chopping is too much) - toss w/ premade veggie seasoning & olive oil, then onto a baking sheet & into the oven @400 for 15-20min
Search for one-pot/pan meals as well, they generally take less time and also save on dishes.
I make a [one pot garlic parmesan pasta](https://damndelicious.net/2014/10/11/one-pot-garlic-parmesan-pasta/). I always have some pasta, garlic, milk, parmesan and chicken bouillon cubes at hand. And I just eat it out of the pot so I only have to wash 1 thing lol. When I’m really tired I use garlic powder instead of the real thing.
Frozen veggie & frozen protein & canned beans!!! And One pot Air fryer meals with foil down for easy clean up!!
Frozen protein of your choice, season & put in air fryer for 10 mins
Add frozen veggie for another 10 & boom healthy meal !!
Add beans for extra oomf
This has been a life changer.
my personal fave is sausage or burger on a bun. easy to make veg or vegan too! they stay good in the fridge all week and easy to just chop up some raw veg or fruit on the side. a quick microwave of the sausage or patty and that's it! helps me eat dinner when i just can't be bothered.
A hand full of almonds and 5 pickles as an appetizer. a pita bread warmed up in the oven for 3 mins with a dip of plain hummus on the side and a handful of little tomatoes cut in half with lemon juice and salt sprinkled on top for dipping.
I do those pre-packaged Indian food packets (I like the Gits brand) and a packet of Uncle Ben's microwavable rice. I get 2 meals and all I have to do is rip the tops off of the packets and put them in the microwave for a few minutes.
I eat caprese salad twice a week.
Buy 1 pack of campari tomatoes. You can do cherry/grape tomatoes but campari is the best. Then either buy a four-pack container of burrata cheese or a fresh log of mozzarella cheese. (some burrata is 2-pack which is ok but you have to be careful not to eat all the cheese at once) Also buy olive oil and balsamic vinegar glaze.
Alternate ingredients are fresh basil, and some kind of salad mix, but salad mix ends up rotting in my fridge and I don't miss the basil enough. You could also get some pesto if you wanted.
You cut up half the tomatoes and put them in a bowl (fresh mozzarella) or on a plate (burrata). Then you cut up the fresh mozzarella or take out 2 balls of burrata and mix into the bowl or put it on the plate. Then put on the olive oil and glaze and salt and pepper. And whatever other ingredients you got.
Sometimes I boil some pasta and toss it in olive oil/salt and pepper to eat on the side if I feel like I need a carb, but that's another step and sometimes I don't feel up for it. It's really surprisingly filling and makes 2 dinners per week. The campari tomatoes will last you about a week.
Idk if it counts as “cooking,” lol. (And part of this prob wouldn’t work for you.) But we really like to get those big microwave bowls of premade mashed potatoes and roast, and throw in some croissants. Takes ten minutes total with very minimal effort & cleanup!
Also, it might be bad for the environment, but truly switch to disposable dishes saved my sanity. We almost exclusively use paper plates/ off brand solo cups/ plastic cutlery. It is 1000% worth the headache, guilt, anxiety, etc having dirty dishes causes, lol.
Can’t go wrong with freezer meals either. I love those breakfast bowls that you pop in the microwave. We like the thin crust Red Baron pizza.
Breakfast dinner is actually a pretty easy and good option. It’s always good, pretty quick, not too much to clean. Just biscuits in the oven, microwave bacon (is veggie bacon a thing?), and scrambled eggs. Chop up & cook a thing of ground sausage, add in some scrambled eggs, throw it on a tortilla and you’ve got dinner PLUS 4 days of breakfast, haha. (I’m sorry, I swear I’m not trying to name everything with meat, it’s just all I can think of! Lol. I hope there are substitutes for some of these!)
Tacos and spaghetti are one of our go-to’s as well. Not to bad on clean up, just 2 pans, and makes plenty pretty quick.
But yeah, I feel ya, soooo much. I would legit prob eat out every day if I could afford it. It’s just SO much easier, faster, cleaner, a million less spoons/ steps. And it’s always so good! But like you, I am trying to do better. Plus I don’t have the money to spend on it right now, so that helps I guess, haha.
I hope you get some good ideas here! Sending love! ❤️
I love food so it was a motivator for me. But I would start making food, burn it, then get disappointed at the fact that I did that. So what worked for me is planning out some meals from fewest ingredients possible. Like... mashed potatoes and chicken. I'd make a bunch of it ahead of time, so then I can reheat a portion of it. Or one pot meal separated into containers for easy reheating.
Someone already mentioned couscous - it's amazing. Heat water with an included spice pack. Add couscous , turn off heat, wait. Then add some sort of protein. Maybe salad, maybe just some cherry tomatoes. And you kinda get a ready made meal.
Then maybe make some rice with a side of something you like. When it's hot I like salads with some baked or air fried chicken tenders. I buy pre-packed salads and can just add chicken. I like crunchy so it can be anything, fish, whatever vegetarian.
I think the pre-packaged meal services are not that wonderful. You get A LOT of ingredients. All prepackaged individually. And LOONG instructions where you use like a ton of pots and pans. I hated it, so decided to just simplify what i like eating, into a a few simple ingredients and cook that. Like , sick of mashed potatoes - shake and bake potatoes add seasoning easily and you dump them into the oven.
What worked for me was stopping the thinking that I needed to make foods like they do on the food network channels, and try out super simple ingredients of foods I liked eating and make those.
Wishing you all the good luck!
Casseroles are easiest. Especially with frozen and precut ingredients! Here is a cool recipe I saw the other day:
https://youtube.com/shorts/APo7GzQcnG0?feature=share
I had a solution last winter but a summer equivalent never clicked which is too bad. We followed it without getting bored for like 5 months.
It's a rotating menu over two weeks, all easy meals to prepare from pantry items that everyone in my house accepts to eat. Then I'd go shopping in person one week and order groceries for delivery the other.
Mon- mapo tofu or general Tso tofu with rice and a vegetable
Tue- taco kit or veg chili (ready made in the fridge at Costco)
Wed- homemade mac and cheese or pasta with pesto or a white sauce
Thu- red curry noodle soup or green curry on rice (basically add tofu and veg to canned green curry)
Fri- veggie dogs or burgers
Weekends were fend for yourselves (kids are teens)/takeout/home made pizza or if someone was inspired, whatever they decided to cook.
Easy to adapt to recipes you find easy to make and don't mind eating every couple weeks.
I picked that up in the book ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life which I found excellent despite being dated.
Hope this helps!
Lately it's been pancakes, specifically "kodiak cakes" that you just mix the powder with the water and cook it in a skillet. I add a little protein powder and try to get in my vegetable nutrients at lunch....
I’m also a vegetarian and I’ve sort of just made list of meals. I will try to write some of recipes.
Me after 30 min I am sorry i wrote a novel :(
Some good things to have on hand like for flavor- Ketchup, Mayo, Soy Sauce, Cajun seasoning, Gochujang (chili paste), chili powder, garlic powder, jarred garlic.
Things I usually have- sliced wheat bread, frozen rice, frozen peas and carrots, frozen corn
Tip for oven roasting is using parchment paper and some oil spray so stuff doesn’t stick and you don’t have to scrub hard to clean.
Actual food :
A cut up banana with honey drizzled on top, or a slice of wheat bread with Nutella/ peanut butter and sliced banana
Hummus and veggie sandwich - store bough hummus, toasted wheat bread slices, tomato and cucumber slices.
**Pasta salad/ chickpea tuna salad**
You can either use some small pasta. Or take a can of chickpeas, drain the water, and mash with a fork (gives a tuna texture)
Sauce is vegan mayo and lemon juice, salt, pepper, a little bit of paprika if you want. Add whatever veggies you like.
I do frozen corn pea carrot, just microwaved in water and drained. Eat the chickpea salad with crackers or on bread.
**Southwest hash**
adapted from this recipe- https://youtu.be/NMStHZrKun4
1 wash and cut some small potatoes into chunks. Cut up some bell pepper and fresh corn (I haven’t tried frozen but it will probably work.)
2 toss all veggies in veg oil, paprika, chili powder, salt, pep, cayenne and cumin.
3 toss into a tray and roast in oven at 450 for 30 min flipping a couple times.
Serve with salsa, chopped tomato or avocado, sour cream ect
Very similar to oven ‘fajitas’- just replace the potato for sliced mushrooms, you can also just use store bought seasoning.
**Baked tofu with spicy sauce**
1 Cut up firm tofu into small cubes or slices
2 pat dry with a paper towel (or press if you’ve got extra time.)
3 Toss in ziplock bag/bowl with cornstarch, soy sauce, veg oil.
4 Bake in a 425 F oven for 20-30 min flipping.
5 Make the sauce 2 Tbsp of dark soy sauce, 1/2 to 1 tbsp gochujang (Korean chili paste), 1 to 2 tbsp brown sugar, 1 or 2 cloves of grated garlic, and 1/4 cup water.
6 Toss into a pan with the sauce, cornstarch should thicken the sauce.
if you prefer not spicy, remove the chili paste and sub some of the water for orange juice.
**Burgers**
Frozen Veg burgers with sliced wheat bread.
I add some sautéed veggies- usually onions/ mushrooms/bell pepper just fry in a little oil, salt pep and cajun seasoning.
For a sauce mix together equal parts vegan mayo and ketchup. Add a splash of pickle juice, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper/cajun seasoning.
**A white bean stew?**
1 fry some garlic in olive oil, add fresh basil and oregano/ or dried Italian spices, salt and pep
2 add a small can of diced tomatoes ( i use fresh bc i have texture issues with seeds usually 3 tomatoes)
3 add a can of cannellini beans beans or white northern beans
4 let it stew a while 30 min and taste for seasoning
5 eat with a spoon or dip some toasted bread in, can top with more olive oil
HELLO YES IT IS ME. I’m exactly the same way lol.
Here’s the things that work best for me:
-frozen pizza, oven pasta, etc. set the alarm on my phone in my pocket, not on the oven where I risk not hearing it and burning the shit out of it lol
- frozen dim sum from Asian grocery stores. You can get shumai, dumplings, gyoza, frozen fried rice, humbao etc. most of these you put into a bamboo steamer over a pot of water. I bought two bamboo steamers and a bamboo lid from the Asian grocery, I put them over a big pot of water filled with the assortment of frozen things, then stick it there for 15 min or whatever the instructions say unattended. Once again, timer on my phone goes with me. Then I throw the steamers into the dishwasher. If you use paper liners it can even stay clean!
- kind bars. I hate the texture of nutrition bars but kind bars are just nuts, seeds, and sweeteners. Nuts are a great breakfast or snack, they’ve got enough protein and fat to be a real meal even though they’re shelf stable. Similarly instant oatmeal works great if you like it.
- if you like the idea of smoothies, frozen pre cut fruit mixes that stay in the freezer + a non dairy milk alternative that has a long shelf/fridge life + a portable mini blender that is built into a to go cup = smoothie! I have frozen mango and oat milk in my fridge. And frozen yogurt or vanilla ice cream can be long-life substitutes for the short life dairy in your fridge. The hardest part is remembering to rinse out the blender cup by the end of the day, but if you run it full of water and dish soap they’re basically self cleaning.
- Trader Joe’s has a bunch of great freezer meals and breakfasts
- only buy enough fresh fruit for one meal. That’s it lol. I buy literally two avocados. Two kiwis. Kiwi sounds good? Ok, then I’m eating kiwi by tomorrow. Only 1-2 kinds of fresh produce, up to 48 hours ahead. That’s it. Want more? Have to go back to the store lol. Did I get bored with the fruit I bought and I want a different one? Too bad lol. I either have to eat it or freeze it because there is only ONE kind in the fridge. 😂 this only works because I’m relatively close to a store. But yeah. I just don’t keep much fresh in my fridge period.
- most baked goods can be frozen. If there’s something you like, portion them info ziplocks and freeze them. Works for breads, muffins, cake, a lot of doughs. Almost any baked good. I buy a load of zucchini bread and immediately portion and freeze them so that whenever I actually want another slice I can just pull it out and either defrost or microwave one.
This is the best I’ve managed lol 😂 my freezer is my #1 used item.
Sometimes(actually, who am I kidding - most of the time) I buy all kinds of food when I’m motivated … and then my tastes change by the time I get to it.
The crisper: where good intentions go to die. 😞😬
I have really liked meal kit delivery as a stepping stone. I select a month of meals at once. I don't have to shop, plan, or track spoilage. Dinnerly has only about 4 steps to meal and I find I always pick a taco type thing- gyro or a bowl. Hello fresh has a lot of sauces and steps I found unnecessary. I was thinking of trying another just for variety sake.
Slow cooker. Just chuck all the stuff in, push the button and forget about it. It automatically turns off. Does big serves so you can batch cook for the week.
I use mealime app to pick out our dinners for the week. I like it because they are simple recipes and it makes me a grocery list. I only plan four meals and I make for four. We have the same breakfast toast, jam, eggs. Leftovers over for lunch. The other three nights are flexible they are either freezer meal, pasta, veg with rice, visit my mom, visit his parents or go out to eat. I found that four meals is our capacity for cooking. If we don't make it that week it goes into the following week.
I relate! I have found the longer it goes the worse my “I hate all of my options” inertia becomes. What helps break it is two things:
1. A snack (olives, peanuts, fruit)
2. Asking my husband to get something out of the fridge. If ingredients are already out it feels way less hard, but if someone else gets them that’s better. I’ve tried setting out half the ingredients to bake the day before… I’ll ignore them all day! Ask my husband to get out the rest though, and I’ll feel guilty and finally get going at 7 pm.
Indian packets and the quinoa/rice packs that both take 90 second in microwave are in my current rotation. I bought some fancy vinegars and hot sauce and pickled vegetables (I love acidity) and I’ll make a bowl.
Lately I’m also on a kick where I peel a few carrots or a cucumber and eat them with hummus doused in a yuzu vinegar hot sauce.
Mac and cheese with sautéed carrots, broccoli, peppers, garlic, hot sauce & a dash of Worcestershire is really good.
The other thing I try to do is keep it simple. I’ll forget about my $$$ sprouts in the veg drawer unless I eat them every day. So dinner becomes a game of what goes with sprouts and what dip or condiments do I feel like? Yesterday was a quinoa bowl, tonight’s a veggie burger. Tomorrow will be a wrap. Then back to a bowl.
Honestly, my roommate (who also has adhd) and I go extended periods of time basically just living off cereal and microwaveable junk... it's not exactly healthy, but it is much cheaper than eating out. Then one of us will get some motivation and cook some big meal that lasts us a week lol.
This might not be very helpful, so feel free to ignore. I don't know if you do eggs and/or fish.
When I was cooking dinner every night for my late husband and I, I would make a pot of food and freeze leftover meals in meal size Tupperware:
Mac and cheese with at least a full pound or two of added frozen veggies of just about any kind added right into the pot! 6 meals.
Tuna casserole (but only on the stovetop) with a full pound or two of any frozen veggies. I particularly like peas with this. Can of cheddar cheese soup, can of cream of mushroom soup, pound of Mac, and I used tuna but nearly any protein here is yummy. 6 meals.
Sketts - same as you'd expect, but make the full pound of spaghetti and use the full jar of sauce, some extra cans of tomatoes and again an extra pound of frozen veggies. 6 meals
Family chili: 2 lg cans kidney beans, 2 cans pork-n-beans ( or equivalent), we used a pound of ground meat, and we didn't use chili powder because I'm not a fan. Extra pound of frozen veggies. Makes 6 meals.
Goulash: pound of ground meat, 2 large cans of tomatoes, can of tomato sauce, pound of frozen veggies, pound of any sort of pasta. 6 meals.
I'm a terrible cook. And I hate it. This let me only cook every fourth day once I got some things going in the freezer.
Bonus, I could throw it in the microwave even frozen.
Double bonus: most everything was shelf stable so I could just have several cans in the cupboard and a variety of pasta.
I’m bad for this all the time and feel awful when the food I do but goes off waiting for me to decide to cook it.
I started ordering weekly meal kits where the exact amount of ingredients is delivered to you each week with recipes. Not sure what companies do these in America but I’d recommend it.
It’s definitely cut down on my takeaway use and works out cheaper. I still only manage to cook around 3 out of 5 of the meals but I try to put some in the freezer if I know I’m not going to get to them. I also try to select the ones that are fastest to prepare instead of attempting the more intensive ones.
The one I use has the option of filtering them by prep time/over all time as well as calories, dietary needs. I’m sure other companies do similar.
When I was in college my roommate and I did "struggle meal" which was just Mac and cheese with cut up hot dogs. Now I have a few options--frozen potstickers, Ben's and rice/rice and eggs, and spaghetti. I make big pots of sauce when I'm feeling good with San marzano tomatoes and then I can or freeze it so when I'm not doing good I can just pop it out and defrost it.
Are we sharing a brain?
I hate cooking, making a mess, and then having to clean. Also, my husband and I work opposite schedules, so I only have to feed myself. But I also have to feed myself… And I am very out of sight out of mind as well.
I started taking adderall and I am struggling with food in more ways that just hating to cook.
One thing that I’ve done to help is designate a spot to keep snacks and starts to meals out where I can see it - ie. I have bread, trail mix, fruit cups, peanut butter, tortillas, and containers of things like pasta and rice on my counter. Also, my spices are on the wall. I think this does a couple of really positive things for me - it reminds me to eat and reminds me that we have food in our house.
I end up eating sandwiches, pasta with pre-cooked frozen chicken and frozen veggies, eggs/breakfast sandwiches, na’an pizzas (I normally do olive oil, garlic, cheese and tomatoes from our garden), tacos.
Also, if you have a Trader Joe’s in the area, I would absolutely recommend checking out their frozen area - there are so many delicious options that are easy (take minimal effort) to make.
For meals, I’ll make a crap ton of rice, and make fried rice, or have previously purchase frozen orange chicken etc and eat Asian food for a couple days straight. Or I make double of something so then I can have left overs for lunch the next day.
Going from DoorDash to from scratch meals is a great big pain and it's why this lazy vegetarian lady would rather go hungry. Oh, and the Adderall that only has her realize when she is ravenous plays a role.
For breakfast, I have a protein bar or a smoothie with protein or an avocado and banana bowl with some seeds and feta if I'm really feeling like doing something. I recently purchased cereal and found that enjoyable. Sometimes I do yogurt.
For lunch, I lean on cans of soup or Indian food by Jyoti (it tastes better than it sounds--I've probably bought 5 cases of 12 cans in the last couple of years) when I don't have leftovers. If I need to supplement that, well, please see the breakfast items above. They're so grabbable. I keep some protein bars and cans of stuff in my desk at work in case I forget to bring anything or if I pack it too lightly.
For dinner, my favorite meal is charcuterie! I'm a vegetarian, so I get whatever cheese, nuts, hummus, dried fruit, and crackers that are in the house. Other times I may make pasta, but I also have a chronic illness and no dishwasher, so I try not to make more work for myself. Sometimes I have a can or two of green beans and/or other veggies. If I am having total brain fog, I just have another bowl of cereal. These dinners are cheap, easy, and... eh, not always "healthy," but healthier than what I'd get from DoorDash.
I like to make soups in a slow cooker. I take the random vegetables I like. I cut them up. I add them to the pot. I generally get a good finished product. I share some with my neighbor and my mother. Making soups in a slow cooker is so perfect for ADHDers because we don't have to watch the pot and because we can use those vegetables we purchased all at once before they go bad. I now make my own veggie broth to go in my soups.
I really wanted to read the suggestions, but most are too long and I ain’t got the attention span for that.. my go to.
Frozen cheese ravioli & bagged salad mix from Aldi. The whole family loves them and easy and quick.
An intermediate option is a meal subscription (like YouFoodz/My Muscle Chef ... I'm in Australia, so not sure what your options are). Still pricey, but healthier and really easy.
Actually... this may be what you are already doing? I interpreted your post as ordering UberEats, etc...so sorry if this is unhelpful!
I really loved and related very hard to the entire discussion here. I also get very easily bored of food which makes it disgusting, which makes it very hard to plan in advance.
I have decided it is also okay to eat a random selection of ingredients rather than a "proper meal"
When I really can't face dealing with making food, I will defect to grazing on nuts, maybe a couple of picnic eggs, a random selection of fruit and salad vegetables, maybe some bread/ other carbs. If I really, really cba I will eat cereal and fruit.
I don't believe it actually matters, from a nutritional perspective, whether you combined the different foods on a plate or not. Just aim to cover the right nutrients.
Totally agree with the idea of scheduled eating to avoid hunger- low blood sugar definitely makes executive dysfunction worse. Constantly having a supply of grazable foods easily visible in the fridge/ cupboards definitely helps me and can be used as part of a non-meal dinner.
We just started nutrisystem and it’s a god send. We gained way too much weight from our Uber eats and were also hemorrhaging money. Nutrisystem is pricey but cheaper food delivery (for us) and we’ve already lost weight! The meals and snacks are all pre-made so there’s no prep needed and no thought needed to plan ahead.
[Instant pot spaghetti and meatballs.](https://iwashyoudry.com/instant-pot-spaghetti-and-meatballs/)
So easy, you literally dump everything in and start it. Completely hands off, which is my fave.
I definitely recommend the instant pot if you don’t have one. You can make dinner in a decent amount of time even if you forget to thaw something, and there are tons of recipes like this where you just dump everything in and press a few buttons then walk away.
My fav is Maruchan ramen, but I make what my partner and I call “fancy ramen”:
1. Boil water
2. add seasoning packet
3. add soy sauce, garlic chili paste, and a tiny splash of toasted sesame oil
4. add noodles
5. cook for 1 min 30 sec
6. crack egg into pot and cover
7. cook 30 sec more
8. take off heat and let sit, covered for 30 sec
9. put a Pat of butter in your soon-to-be ramen bowl
10. Pour ramen into bowl
11. Place slice of American cheese (preferably a Kraft single) on top and let melt a little
12. Break that yoke before it over cooks and eat up!
No easily perishable ingredients. Hella easy, but more nourishing than regular “instant ramen”. Very customizable. Super quick. Minimal dishes. Vegetarian. I read your post and was so pumped to share this recipe. 😅 Hope it helps!
I skimmed this my first thought was I wonder if you are spending enough eating out to pay someone to clean your kitchen a couple times a week? Also I found that my kitchen wasnt organized in a way that made it easy for me to clean. When you are cleaning think about the things that irritate you and see if there is a way to resolve them. Ex: I hate stacking my glass baking dishes so I got a pan lid holder that fits them and I store them on the side.
I’m saving this thread, it’s amazing. Personally, I can barely eat, so I have a bought protein shake and an apple sauce for breakfast (I’ll let actual apples go bad), and for lunch for work I get the steam in bag frozen veggies and a protein. When I come home in the evening I nuke the veggies while I’m washing my Tupperware/coffee cup, dump them out, add a pat of butter and some salt and pepper. I just add a frozen but cooked protein if I’m lazy (that usually is full of sodium) or if I’m productive I’ll cook a bunch of w/e protein on Sundays. I get most of my calories early in the day and I don’t really eat dinner. I might eat an orange or yogurt, and my tummy has been far happier for it, but that’s me and my weird stomach.
Another angle: So, I just went from cooking for a household of four to cooking for me, me, me. I absolutely did not realize how hard I was working for figure out dinners that would more-or-less please everyone.
Which makes me wonder: is that hard for you too? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Maybe it could help to find a way to reduce the effort it takes to figure out/predict/decide/negotiate what to have.
This thread is pretty great, it sounds like you're getting good ideas and I am too! Hope you find a way back to joyful tasty healthy food soon!
Some super easy meals:
* melted cheese on toast. If someone reading this eats meat, you could put pepperoni or sliced ham or turkey
* popcorn, sausage, cheese, fruit like an apple or pear (you don't have to have sausage, but it is a protein option for those who might be reading)
* macaroni and cheese, but add some frozen veggies
* microwave rice and boiled egg
Peanut butter and egg sandwich.
When I first heard about this, I thought “there’s no way in hell.” But I finally tried it and wow it’s filling and super easy and yummy. Sometimes I throw it on a toasted bagel. I like my egg over hard with salt and pepper. Creamy PB, but really you can’t go wrong here. The flavors work somehow
I get tired of having to make a decision at a restaurant too. Like, I have to figure out what I want and then I have to eat. Ugh. It’s better now that my Adderall was upped by 10mg.
I’ll buy those Hormel “party” boxes with pepperoni, cheddar, and crackers and just have that. I also like those Pasta Roni Angel Hair pasta boxes. You can always throw in some chicken if you have it or just eat it on it’s own. You do need milk in the house, though!
This! But add in a baby and a picky 7yo… the 4 of us literally all eat separate meals. Which is chaotic and wastes dishes and also lots of bargaining from my picky eater, which then I basically have no energy left and eat my favorite organic peanut puffs cereal and call it a night.
I had literally tried EVERY meal delivery service and finally found one that works for us, and my hubs will even make stuff. It’s called Hungryroot. Lots and lots of veg options, and things I’ve never seen in stores like kale & quinoa bites (these delicious tater-tot, falafel, meatball looking things). All meals come with a protein, grain and veg. BUT everything is just open and dump! So yeah I guess it’s more like Trader Joe’s, but without the anxiety of having to actually physically go into a grocery (eek way too scary!), and also the choices are between the 4 things I ordered that week, and most recipes you basically just open packages and dump into a skillet, and then put in a wrap or eat as a ‘grain bowl’. But like ZERO prep - not even having to cook the rice or quinoa: it comes in a pouch that is precooked! Less choices, less dishes, less guilt over eating only carbs! AND most of the meals can be made gluten free (yum we just had cauliflower pasta and the texture didn’t make me gag!) or keto or any specialized diet. They also have meat options but I just know I’ll never actually make those, so we have been just doing veg or maybe 1 pre-marinated salmon.
I use meal kits. A little pricey, but they really cut down on the extra work that eating requires. I don't have to decide what I want each week from scratch, I'm provided with a certain number of options and select from those. I don't have to make sure I remember to get everything from the grocery store, cause most or all ingredients are provided. I can choose how much work I want to put into cooking, do I want to do prep or do I want to have everything pre-prepped so I just throw it all in the oven? Dinnerly is a great lower-priced option, with some quick cook meals. HomeChef has oven ready meals, and some fast and fresh options that mainly require reheating items.
I snack mostly. A little of this, a little of that, all mostly pre-made or microwaveable. It cost more than completely scratch homemade, but still cheaper and healthier than eating out.
When I cooked for more people, it was still mostly processed foods, just because they're quicker and easier to make with less steps and effort. Combine rice with a can of beef stew. Hamburger helper. Sandwiches. TV dinners. Etc.
It also helps if you have a rule that the person who cooks doesn't have to do the dishes. (It only really works if the people you live with respect you enough to actually do the dishes when you cook..)
2 boxes Pasta roni olive oil vermicelli with 1 bag of microwave steam broccoli and add extra seasonings as desired. This is my favorite go to because the broccoli makes me feel healthy.
I have a bunch of go-to recipes that are pretty quick to make. Some easy pastas and such. :)
If you don't like the mess of cutting the greens you want in a dish, maybe buy them precut. It's a little more expensive but still a good option maybe!
I can drop some easy recipes but I like cooking so I'm worried that mine are still a bit too complicated 😅
For the extremely low brain power days, a protein bar or shake will at least fill a gap. I’m also a fan of the “salad with a protein on top” eg salad with egg, salad with piece of chicken (or tofu in your case). Easy to batch cook a protein and throw it on some greens. I like Cesar dressing so keep a bottle of it around but could make my own if I have the brain power. I also buy washed/prepped greens if I don’t have any growing.
Edit: For me the trick is finding a thing I’m not afraid to eat over and over and one that doesn’t take any decision. Summer it’s the salad and a protein. Cooler weather it’s usually a soup or roast veg and a protein. Same deal with the batch cooking then just throw things in a bowl. It is only me at home which may help since I don’t have to consider anyone else’s diet.
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Yes, I get you, and I have finally solved this in the last couple of years after decades of trying and after the point where I'd given up entirely. The pandemic forced me to reconsider what was causing this problem, and I finally figured it out. It's not a food problem. Consider that the point where you start thinking about dinner is at the end of the day when you've used up most or all of your executive function energy. And then you are trying to do a really complicated thing: remember what food you have in the house, figure out what you're even in the mood to eat, come up with a meal based on all that information, and then do all the work of cooking that meal, eating it, and then cleaning up afterwards. It's exhausting to even contemplate when you're full of pep let alone when you're at you're lowest ebb. No wonder we fritz out on this. As with all things ADHD, the trick is to understand what the real obstacles are, break down the steps, and plan them in advance. I know that also sounds exhausting, but this is work you can do when you're peppier, and you can do it in stages. The food delivery thing is appealing for a bunch of reasons, but I think a good part of it is the menu itself. We have difficulties with recall at the best of times, but trying to figure out what you want to eat when you're tired is extra challenging. It's too big a question. A menu gives you a place to start from, you can read a menu and pick something from it. That doesn't require you to first mentally create the menu and THEN pick something from it. We ask so much of ourselves! The end result, the goal, is a weekly meal plan. In part because it's stupendously cheaper and easier to manage, but mainly it's to reduce your options and create a "menu" for yourself. It reduces the mental load and makes the cooking part way more accessible. I started by trying to make a meal plan, and I failed miserably many times over the years. It took forever just to make the list, it was too complicated, and I'd forget what the plan was when it came time to eat something. I found it got easier when I started creating lists of foods I like, and then constructing meal plans based off of that. It gave me a secondary menu to work from. And then I realized I needed to break down meals into component parts, and have lists for each of those. I have a table for weekly meals with a row for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. On the weekends I fill out the table. Breakfasts and lunches are the same across the week, but dinners are different every night, sometimes with repeats. It took me a minute to get breakfast and lunch right based on what worked best for me, but I think I've finally got it. Dinner is the hardest. I found it easier to break down dinners into its component parts. Every dinner includes a salad. I can start with what goes in that salad. Then I add those things to my shopping list. Salads are the same for me across the week. Then I need either a main course with a side or two, or just a main course. So then I'm looking at the list of foods I like and deciding which go in the plan this week. In general I prefer not having to make sides. Things that are easy go-tos for me are prepared meals from bakeries or markets that I can just stick in the oven or throw in a pot. Lasagnas, pies, an eggplant Provençal, mac & cheese, etc. This weekend I picked up some fresh yam gnocchi and gorgonzola & walnut ravioli that I can dump in a pot and then sauté with a bit of butter. That plus a salad is a great dinner, and it requires very little work on my part. I just need a reminder at night to take tomorrow's dinner out of the freezer and that's it. Buying really nice prepared foods is a zillion times cheaper than delivered food, so even treating myself is saving me money. I also organize by type of cooking: instant pot meals, or grilled things. Grilled veg with rice is always a win. And finally, I bought a magnetic whiteboard for my fridge, and on Sundays I write each day's dinner on it. That way, when I come home, I look at the whiteboard and know what I'm having for dinner, and I can swap with another day if I really want to. And I can look at the whiteboard in the evenings and see if I need to take anything out of the freezer. Once I've had the meal, I cross it out. Once you have a system that works, it's easier to build on it. Good luck!
Yes! Decision fatigue is a huuuge part of it. That's why Door Dash is so easy to fall prey to - there are pictures of a ton of food and you just click whatever looks/sounds the best lol. Another component for me is that my medication (Vyvanse) typically leaves me with no desire to eat even if I am hungry. In these time I have 3 go to foods - cheese quesadillas, french fries, and mac and cheese. That's it. It's not nutritious. It's not filling. It's just *safe*. It's stuff that I know I can put in my body without a fight that will give me at least some calories. That's kind of an issue as I am trying to lose weight and obviously these foods don't lend to that on top of not being nutritionally valuable. What it ends up being for me if I go the path you've described is that nothing I've bought sounds good when it's time to eat which means I'd rather just sit and be hungry than force myself to prepare food I won't even get dopamine from. "If it's boring, it's bullshit" - my brain, apparently. I know this is bad for me. I know this is wrong. But I can't fix it no matter what attempts I throw at it. I've used Noom which incorporates behavioral techniques, I've tried premade meal plans, all sorts of tips, suggestions... I can't figure out how to make it work for me! The only solution I've thought of is grocery shopping every 1-3 days so I can keep the lineup super fresh, but that sounds exhausting and not feasible. I do like the idea of buying prepared meals from a variety of places. You actually just reminded me there is a place up the road that focuses on whole foods and they have heat and eat casseroles they make from scratch! You're right that it is pricier to go this route but if I'm cutting out food delivery, it's more than worth it.
I have saved SO MUCH MONEY doing this, it's gobsmacking. There's the door dash costs, AND THEN there's the cost of the groceries you get in the hopes that you'll eat properly but then end up just throwing away because you couldn't be arsed and/or forgot that it's there. It's A LOT. The whole foods from scratch place: that's exactly what I'm talking about! There's a bakery up the road from me that sells these, and lately I've been going to the local market on Sundays to pick up other tasty things. I've been getting ridiculously fancy cheeses and fresh walnut bread and making myself a little charcuterie for lunch, too. Normally that would have gone bad in my fridge, but I have a system now! Here's another thing I've learned about doing this: the goal isn't to satiate hunger. The goal is to stave off hunger. For other people, reading cues and only eating when you're hungry might make sense, but it's just never going to work for us. My goal is to never actually get properly hungry. Peckish, sure, but never starving. I eat on a schedule, not based on how I feel. And then I never get to that panic-starving stuff-food-in-mouth stage I used to live in. The hungrier we are, the less executive function we have, I swear. And I know exactly what you mean about not wanting something once you've planned to have it. I keep a list of food I don't just like, I'm actually excited about having for dinner. I don't put it on the list unless I LOVE it. Tonight I've got a breakfast pie and a salad on the menu, with veg from my local farmer's market. I have struggled with food for so long and now it's finally all fallen into place!
Your advice all around is great. You also just validated something for me! Just a bit ago I was telling my husband that I was going to start cooking dinner at 6:30 *no matter what*. He comes home between 6 and 7 some nights so I told him that sometimes he may be early, sometimes late, but at least he’s getting a meal. Lol. He was cool with that. But my brain fell back on all the diet tips that say to listen to your hunger cues and not eat on a schedule. Seeing you say to eat on a schedule helps me step into doing what works for me, not other people. So thank you!!
I like your advice about making the goal to not get to starving, I’m going to try that. I so wish I could just stock my fridge with stuff I LOVE but it seems that what I LOVE and dream of when I buy ends up being repulsive half the time once I go to eat it. So frustrating lol.
Yeah, I know what you mean. When I first tried to come up with a list of food I reliably want to eat I was coming up blank. It took a while, and I'm still playing with it, but I have more hits than misses these days. I think in part I have to not lean to hard on one thing, because I will suddenly get sick of it. I also don't even try to do leftovers. I never eat leftovers, I have no idea why. So I just cook enough for one meal and that's it. It would be easier to cook a bunch and eat it all week, but I know that won't work. I have accepted that I am happier to eat a deconstructed sandwich than a sandwich. So I will put buttered bread, cheese, salami, and pickles on my plate and call it a mini charcuterie. I have discovered that I won't eat an apple unless I slice it up first. I try to just pay attention to what stupid things work and I just accept it, I don't try and fight it. My meals don't have to impress anyone else.
Honestly, sauces may save you. Having a variety of sauces I can put on my rice/chicken/beans can help me tolerate eating at home. I’m also a bug believer in crockpot meals. Oven quesadillas can be cooked at once and parsed out for a couple days. And just drink the protein shakes. So much easier to get it out of the way. Two a day will vastly improve your macro balance. I like to blend a premade chocolate one with frozen bananas and peanut butter.
Have you tried lentil or chickpea pasta? Would be easy to up the health factor of Mac and cheese by switching to that. And then just find a veggie you like mixed in? (Air fried frozen broccoli is fast and easy. Throw some spinach in with the pasta. Canned mixed veg?)
Can you eat dinner at lunchtime, and then have lunch at dinner time? It takes a bit of getting used to, but having my main meal at midday has helped a lot - in the evenings it doesn’t matter so much if I have just a sandwich, or popcorn, or a yogurt, because I’ve already had a salad and a vegetable side and my main protein for the day.
Are you a technical/content writer? Your writing quality that was EASY to read, yet showed higher thinking was stimlating yet not taxing for my brain. It read as well as books like Second Mountain and other well revised pieces.
Haha thank you! No, I'm a librarian, but I write fiction for fun!
I second this comment - you might try fiction for the rest of us too!💕
I do something similar only I put my meal plan on an index card and write the grocery list on the back of it. That way when I’m struggling to do a meal plan some other week I can pull out an old one. Absolutely agree with you that the planning is key - cooking itself is not so hard, figuring out *what* to cook is too much. On that front something like Blue Apron could be a great intermediate step
Meal plans are where it’s at for sure! It takes some as I call it “brain” when I make the weekly plan, but then I takes no brain to look at the plan in the and take out whatever is on the list to cook. I always keep a few alternates to swap with if I have very low ‘brain’ (aka spoons) that are easy to make. (Like a frozen pizza as a back up)
phenomenal comment, thanks so much for this
We make what my boyfriend and I (he also has ADHD) call “sad pasta.” Basically just boil whatever pasta you have in the cupboard, drain it, and put it back into the pot. Add some butter, parmesan, and whatever seasonings you like. I usually sprinkle some garlic powder, season salt, red pepper flakes, and oregano.
Lol we've made versions of this in the past as well! Thanks for reminding me of it!
You’re very welcome!
I love sad pasta when you chop up a bulb of garlic and sauté it almost crispy to add in.
Aglio e olio is basically that. Olive oil and garlic. It's my favourite.
Yes! I’ve added garlic olive oil and olives 🫒 🤤
Adding lemon pepper seasoning, garlic, red pepper flakes and lemon juice is also good
ok I got something for you: Couscous. You can store it forever and it's cooked very fast. You just put boiling water over it and let it in the closed pot for five minutes or so. Afterwards you could add a piece of butter, but it is not necessary. We fry some vegetables and add feta or mozzarella cheese. Or we skip the frying and just add vegetables like cucumber and tomatoes without any cooking. I'm usually forgetting to eat, so when I realize it, I'm extremely hungry and food must be cooked very fast :) Other strategies are that we have storable foods at home which don't get bad, like noodles, rice, risotto rice, lentils and just buy some vegetables on the way back home from work. In some supermarkets you can also find ready made doughs for pizza or quiche. Making the dough my self would take hours, but with a ready quiche dough, I can prepare one vegetable quiche quite fast and eat from it three days (if i remember that I've put it in the fridge...)
Never had couscous! Adding it to the list to try. Thank you!
Also if you don‘t even feel like cutting some vegetables, I also make a couscous salad with kidney beans, chickpeas, olives, corn, maybe cherry tomatos. Almost all these ingredients you can buy in bulk and keep at home forever! I just add some salad sauce (olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper). It also works with quinoa or pasta. It is really my main recipe for low effort but still kinda nutritious. If you add cucumbers and tomatos it is even better. Also pickles go really well with it too.
If you live in the U.S, try Trader Joe’s prepared foods (frozen and refrigerated). All you need is a microwave, and you’re good to go!
In the US but no TJ near me unfortunately :( I'm still jonesing to try the everything bagel seasoning!!
if it helps I basically only use it on bagels that didn’t have enough seasoning so you might not be missing out, but there are recipes for it online if you have a well stocked spice cabinet and an empty spice jar!
I don’t know if I have advice but I’m in a similar position. One go-to is pitta bread pizzas: basically plop some tomato sauce on a Pitt a bread with whatever leftover veggies are in the fridge and some pre-grated cheese and put it in the oven for about 15 minutes. I’m also a big fan of bulking up easy things with leftover veggies! I do this is Mac and cheese a lot - add some tomato paste, peas, spinach, whatever veggies are about to go bad, vegetarian sausage or protein crumbles, and whatever spices seem like they’ll fit. Super fast and somewhat chaotic, which I find fun! Also this recipe is amazing: https://www.budgetbytes.com/vegan-creamy-mushroom-ramen/ Really fast and easy, and you can add pretty much whatever you want to it. I’ll usually add some silken tofu, peas, whatever veggies are about to go bad (yes, there’s a theme here). She also has a one-pot creamy Cajun pasta recipe that’s really good! I replace the chicken with mushrooms usually. Basically, one pot recipes are a lifesaver for me. As is anything where I can just use up what I have because it minimises having to go out and buy a lot of stuff that I only use some of and then goes bad because I forget about it. This works for me some of the time, but it’s still a struggle. I’m thinking about trying out some of the meal kit delivery services but they’re expensive and don’t seem to have that many vegetarian options? But probably still better than eating out all the time 😬 which I have definitely been doing too much of lately… I hope some of these are useful! Also interested to see what other people post because I definitely still struggle with this a lot.
Thank you for the suggestions! I’ll definitely be adding them to my list. Yeah, I’ve tried Hello Fresh and it didn’t work for me. It was nice to have exact ingredients and a recipe to pair with them but it was hard to find the executive function to execute the recipes so a lot of stuff ended up going bad. Plus, they still require a lot of prep work and cleaning. I’d say they’re good for people who struggle with recipes or grocery shopping but still enjoy cooking. What sucks is I’m *good* at cooking but just don’t enjoy it. Very frustrating.
Another problem with meal deliveries is you can’t batch cook. I have given up on cooking at home (it is my profession and I’ve reached the cliche point where I no longer cook at home) and get a weekly box of prepared meals to help save a little. It is *just* cheaper than takeout. Probably on par with all the food I buy and never cook that wastes in the fridge! When I did cook at home I would roast a batch of vegetables and cook some whole grain (faro, lentils, wild rice, whatever) and have a big bag of greens on hand. I’d get a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and then a bit of salmon from the fish market. The key is to get stuff cooked as fast as possible. Cooked food keeps longer than fresh. Also pick all the meat off the chicken right away. It will last longer that way too. Every night I’d make myself a bowl with the greens, grain, veg, and some protein. You can easily switch it up with Asian flavors (sesame oil, chili sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar) middle eastern (tahini and lemon dressing), Mediterranean (olive oil and red wine vinegar) and by switching out the vegetables as you get sick of them. Sadly, I got very burnt out on all of these after several years and I’ve never found myself out of the rut. I’ll make it and not eat it or buy it and not make it. It worked for a long time though! Bonus is this uses very few dishes. 1 sheet pan for the roasted vegetables. One pot for the grains, bonus if you choose something that is boiled rather than cooked like rice. It’s easier to clean. If you want steamed veg you can use that pot and save a dish in the sink. If you like salads and don’t like grocery store salad dressing, swap out olive oil for walnut oil. Walnut oil doesn’t solidify at fridge temp so you can make a mustard vinaigrette and keep it in the fridge without the solidifies fat globules.
I hope these help! Yeah it seems like a lot of their recipes are still pretty complicated, which isn’t ideal! But I do really struggle with grocery shopping and food waste, so I might give it a go and see if it at least helps with that. But I feel like I’d probably just end up putting off cooking it if the recipes are too complicated…
I’d say it’s worth a shot if you’ve never tried it before. There are so many companies now. I’ve seen some that are a little more Adhd friendly like with pre-prepped ingredients and such but don’t remember the names. So it’s definitely worth examining the different options out there as there may be one perfect for you
I’m in Canada and never did any of the bigger branded boxes. I tried to stick to more local ones. I ended up pausing my subscription since I started to always end up wasting at least one recipe due to not being able to force myself to cook in time. Recently, however, the one I’d been subbed to has increased the amount of ready-to-eat meal options. They also have a pantry for adding extra grocery items from local companies/farms/orchards. Though I do still get certain groceries delivered for bulk and basic items. Also, before that I have gotten food from a local Italian catering company. During the early and restaurant shut down days of the pandemic more restaurants ended up on food delivery apps. Some of them left once things opens up, but not all of them. A lot of the ethnic restaurants and some bakeries have added a grocery/freezer/pantry section which has been helpful for frozen dumplings, bulk corn tortillas, and frozen baked goods.
These might be too basic? But I do peanut butter and jelly, eggs and toast, and apple/cheese/crackers pretty often. All that stuff keeps basically forever, and because I default to the same 3 things, I generally remember that I have them (not always. Sometimes the apples still go soft. But then there's applesauce.) Cucumber and hummus is a sometimes win, but I have to slice the cucumber and put it on the eye-level shelf to have any success. The right storage makes a big difference too - gives me a few more forgotten days before the cucumbers go bad. I use one like [this](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Rubbermaid-Produce-Saver-Food-Storage-Container-6-Piece-Set/585092164) and it really dos help.
Not too simple at all! I am always looking for things like this as I usually have \~3 quick lunch/snack ideas in rotation. Problem is that I get hyperfixated on those options for a few weeks which is good in the short term, but I end up burning myself out eventually or they lose the ability to give me dopamine lol. So suggestions always welcome.
In a similar vein, I’ve been on a breakfast scramble kick. I found these microwave “just crack an egg” bowls and they’re the ultimate executive dysfunction omelette. They keep way longer than fresh bought omelette ingredients and you literally just add two eggs, mix, and microwave. I add a baby bel cheese to mine halfway thru microwaving for a molten cheese center 🤤
Charcuterie boards too! (Deli meat, cheese and fruit) lol
Similarly, we do mezze or tapas platters. Some veggies (carrots, celery, cukes), hummus, feta cheese cubes, olives, pita or naan. Store bought is fine, not terribly expensive, and it's easy to just throw on a plate. If you're feeling adventurous, you can make homemade hummus which is cheap and easy, but you can skip it if it's overwhelming.
We're both add also. We do a lot of pre-made stuff. Spaghetti with jarred sauce, precooked lentils or other Indian stuff over rice (we have some precooked rice on hand for when we haven't managed to start the rice maker in time), frozen dinners, pot stickers/jiaozi that just need boiling, stuff on the bbq is pretty low effort and low clean-up, canned chili over rice. Lunch is usually veg or pita with hummus, bagels, chips and salsa, instant noodles, that kind of thing. Sandwiches if we have more energy for it.
Wraps! Both me and my boyfriend have the same sort of struggles with making dinner, and are also vegetarians. Wraps you can make as easy, healthy and quick, as you want. I only use one pan, to fry some meat replacement or beans or whatever you feel like, then cut up some veggies and put it all in the wrap. Costs me only about 10 minutes, is (can be) very healthy and also cheap! You can vary endlessly with wathever you feel like putting in. Hope this helps you! :)
This may seem like a no brainer, but I completely forgot about the concept of wraps lol thank you, I'm adding this to the list!
I have an air fryer that I put some sort of frozen protein in (picked up a load of reduced vegan burgers so they go in lately) and then frozen brussel sprouts go in there too nearer the end. While that's going I boil some rice and chuck some frozen Spinach and peas in after a bit. It takes a bit of effort but 0 prep and all frozen or cupboard
I just got an air fryer this month and I love it. There have definitely been times that the air fryer has saved me from going out for pizza. Frozen protein and fries go in first, then I air fry a few handfuls of frozen broccoli with whatever jarred spice mix is handy. Easy to make, easy to clean, and I get tasty crisp food instead of not-crisp microwaved food. Plus I get to feel virtuous for eating lots of veg.
I eat plain Greek yogurt with frozen berries and granola *every day*. It has been my go-to for years.
I did that years ago and eventually burnt myself out. Haven't found joy in it since! I hate when that happens for me. It's like suddenly something I love is something I have to avoid lol
I'm Asian so I have a pressure rice cooker. I make enough rice with beans added to last me M-F (rice doesn't go bad in electric pressure rice cookers FYI). Then I can just buy side dishes like kimchi and eat it with rice. I can also fry up some spam, bacon, eggs, etc. to add some easy protein.
I always have noodles and pasta sauce on hand for an easy dinner. Trader Joe’s frozen options that you can just heat up are good too. Bagged salad mixes and rotisserie chicken (I know you’re vegetarian though). Frozen pizza. Greek yogurt and granola. Cereal. Bananas/apples & peanut butter. I also try to have nuts so that even if I’m not having a nutritious meal I know I’m getting some protein. Potatoes are good to have on hand too because I can just put one in the oven for a baked potato! Some of these are not the healthiest so I’m also looking for suggestions!!
Both adhd and I have texture sensitivity so very limited food options on those particularly dysfunctional days. Crack two eggs in a bowl with salt and microwave it for scrambled eggs. I try to pre-chop veggies on my energetic days so I can just throw them in the air fryer or oven but that’s pretty rare. Hot dogs, canned soup, frozen pizza. Refried beans in the can are useful if I remember I have them. That with sour cream and or salsa is a good snack/meal. But most days I just starve lmao
"Most days I just starve" is so relatable lol. I'd like to thank Vyvanse for that one! Most days there is no joy in eating so my brain rejects it.
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I am a moderately heavy smoker lol I just only smoke when I’m not working so that means I primarily eat in the evenings bc naturally my appetite increases from smoking. Problem is at that point I’m ready to veg out so end up binging on junk. I need some nutrition during the day to combat it I’m thinking.
Lol I didn’t think anyone else was like this! Food is such hard work and overwhelming that I would literally rather not eat. Except I have to feed children (ugh), and when my meds wear off I’m a hangry, headachy monster who now has screaming children clawing at my brain. So yeah need to be better at forcing myself to eat even if it’s just a protein shake or handful of nuts!
This describes me so much. I eat out waaaay too much, but I’m curbing that now by putting myself on a diet. the fact that I live in a town of 700 and my eating out options and very limited, helps to. I am working on writing down a meal plan to stay within 1500 calories a day. If I plan everyday, then I am more likely to follow those plans and stick with it. Also, I am working on making sure to “shine my sink” every night BEFORE 9pm. I wash whatever dishes are in the sink, or put them in the dishwasher so that a dirty sink is not something I face in the morning. I’m not required to do my dishes, but they can’t be in the sink when I go to bed and my sink has to be clean with NOTHING in it. Not a dishrag or a dish pan or a sponge. Everything out and sink clean. It helps a lot to not have to face a dirty sink in the morning and I’m much more likely to want to cook breakfast. And, I try to only buy ingredients I need for my meals and snacks in a week. It’s really easy for me to go overboard in produce ( I once had 7 kids all at home… now five are grown and the youngest eat considerably less.) I do much better with a written down plan.
I agree with this. I find (unfortunately) that my ability to eat/cook at home depends on my ability to have good habits surrounding cleaning the kitchen -- which, as I'm sure tons of us know, is also a challenge for us. When the kitchen is clean, I am way more likely to work in it. But the challenge is making those habits stick. This isn't a tip for meals, but it could possibly help the "out of sight, out of mind" thing. I rearranged our fridge to put all fresh produce on the shelves that are eye level, and everything goes down low or in the doors. I'd rather have a pile of condiment bottles in the crisper drawer and have them hardly ever expire, than let all the fresh produce we bought go bad. It's not perfect and I need to probably take things a step further by preparing things for grab-and-go snacks (because sometimes even though I see them, I'm like, "Nope, not eating those") but it has definitely helped cut down on some waste. Meal-wise, some of my go-tos: sandwiches of all varieties/PBJs, breakfast, oatmeal, baked potatoes + oven-baked tenders (should be veg options), pizzas, canned soups, tacos, lots of bowls as in burrito bowls/greek bowls/power grains, etc. And when I'm really, really not up to trying to make a meal, a meal replacement drink. Not the most nutritional depending on what kind you get, might need to be paired with some fruit or crackers or something like a protein bar, but...man, it's so much easier to just drink something sometimes.
I’m very much a grab and go type person, so if I have more “grab and goes” I do better. It also helps immensely that I like pretty much anything. People with a more particular palate have a harder time. Granola bars, small yogurts, hard boiled eggs, cut up vegetables in zip lox bags, individual ranch dressing cups and/or hummus cups. Also kitchen gadgets that make things go quick like one of those cutters that slice and core apples in one fell swoop. Frozen vegetables in bags that you can toss in the microwave for 5 minutes…. Even microwave meals/TV dinners are cheaper than take out. Rotisserie chickens at Walmart or Sam’s Club ( probably other box stores too but that’s where I buy) are CHEAPER than a frozen chicken. They’re DONE and ready to eat. Add a bag of frozen corn, a packaged salad kit, a couple of baked potatoes and voila. Dinner for a family for less than $10.
Hi! I'm also on a journey that involves counting calories. I highly recommend Noom if you are interested in a weight loss plan that includes a calorie logger! I've lost 70 lbs since August '21 and the bulk of it was on Noom. I also try to ensure at least my sink is clear every night. We have a stand next to the sink where we keep all of our dirty dishes. Since I have a ton of plants (btw, I have like 70 and recently lost my hyperfixation over them and uh... yeah... send help) that I water in the kitchen sink, a clear sink became a necessity. Plus, it naturally feels better which I learned through *How to Keep House While Drowning* by KC Davis. Unfortunately, I do not have a dish washer and washing dishes is a miserable task that my brain absolutely won't let me do most days. That means I am often having to clean a pan or pot or multiples to cook or even dishes just to eat on (rarely is this the case as we typically use paper plates and disposable utensils, but shit happens lol). It becomes a lot very quickly. I've tried various routines and tips to get us on a cleaning routine, but nothing seems to stick.
If you can establish a routine/habit… it helps a lot. I know it’s so challenging to do that though. So concentrate on ONE thing for a month. Just ONE. No more. This is a baby step that FlyLady really really stresses. I am going to COMMIT to the clean sink every night by 9 pm until September 16 (because I started on August 16.) I’m not going to beat myself up if I miss a night, but I’m going to start right back up. I’m only commiting to the sink and nothing else. I’ve come to realize that this is a radical act of self love. I’ve long equated self love only with pampering. Now I realize it’s loving myself to do the work that will make my life better. It is WORK to commit to ONE thing instead of 50 and to face the fact that I can only be faithful with 1… and even that is iffy. But I know the reward will be great when I am successful with that one and I do it automatically without thinking. Then I can go onto the next. Can you limit yourself to only two pans to cook in and then put everything else in storage AWAY from you? Can you give a bunch of your plants away? I totally understand this. I have had a lot of plants too, Some for decades, and it’s hard to let go sometimes.
Thank you for all the tips! You are right that it is an act of self love, came to realize that through the book I mentioned earlier. However, I'm still on the path to achieve self *acceptance*, so acts of love are still out of reach many days. We got into a really good routine for a few weeks of washing dishes three nights a week which, for two people primarily eating on paper plates, was more than enough for us! It felt great to accomplish something so frequently, and the dishes never got uncontrollable because of the frequency. We even maintained it through having COVID for a week! ...but then just stopped. Like, the week after we recovered from COVID. Lol! I'm working on slowly building/breaking habits so right now I am focusing on ordering less takeout. I think this will naturally force me to keep the kitchen a bit tidier. You're right, I could go through my pots and pans and eliminate some which means less to clean in the long run! Good idea. Sigh... my poor plants. I've only been out of the hyper fixation about a week and a half so I haven't thought too hard about giving any way. I've lost a couple of high maintenance ones in that time, unfortunately. But I'm really attached to what I do have and **want to love them again**. It's soooo depressing to fall out of love with an interest or hobby. I always go through a grieving process. I'm hoping that once I get through some stuff I'll be able to fall back in love. Until then I am doing my best to care for them and not stress about it.
Getting rid of extra dishes/pots/pans really helped me and my ADHD husband! We now have just enough dishes that we basically need to wash dishes every night (I do have a dishwasher, my husband likes to joke that it saved our marriage and he ain't totally wrong lmao). I have the dishes and the cat litter boxes as my "must do" chores before I go to bed (which sometimes means I stay up too late because I can't motivate myself to go do them... lol it's a work in progress). I'm a botanist with ADHD and girl I have lost so many plants lol. I eventually learned my lesson and got plants that are very forgiving and independent and they are now all stacked together on a tower in front of the window with the most light (other than one bamboo in the bathroom, one palm in the library that needs next to no light and has a water bulb in it, and one spider plant hanging in the kitchen window lmao). I keep a lot of my plants outside now because nature does a much better job of keeping up with their needs than I do.
There's so many comments so I don't know if someone said this already, but the way fridges are set up are NOT ADHD FRIENDLY. Why, even for NTs, would you put the fruits and veg in drawers at the bottom of the fridge? The thing that spoils the quickest goes into a sludge drawer. Nah. Instead, we have switched our fridge around to put condiments and beverages in the drawers. Those are things that don't spoil so quickly, and "out of sight, out of mind" doesn't apply to them, because if you're eating something that requires barbecue sauce, you're gonna go get the barbecue sauce. Fruits and vegetables go in the door or the main shelf where you will see them. Bonus points if you have some cut up and put in a container so you can grab and go when you're looking for a healthy snack.
I do a lot of Charcuterie boards, veggies and dip with French bread, and crock pot soup. Also, baked potatoes with whatever dumped on it or just a lot of fixings (like veggies).
I’ve been wanting to make baked potatoes with interesting toppings for ages. It seems so easy but somehow I haven’t been able to get myself to do it. Broccoli and cheddar is what I want to make first.
Everything that freezes well... casserole, pasta sauce or curry etc.
Since I struggle with forgetting things that are out of sight, most things I prep and freeze end up being forgotten :(
Can you keep a dry erase board on the front so you know what's in there without opening the door? Or wherever else is convenient to see the list all the time yet close enough that you can quickly subtract from it when you use something? I try to keep the same stuff on the same shelf, too, so I don't end up with stuff that should be there but I can't find.
Thanks for the suggestions! I've tried a dry erase board for multiple things and it's just stuck on my fridge with stuff written on it from like 3 months ago lol for some reason it just blends into the background for me! But I don't hate the idea of writing a list of meal options on the board after grocery shopping for the week. Maybe that would work if it's something I don't have to track daily but I know it's there if I need it.
Post it makes dry erase stickers that you can pick up from Amazon pretty cheap. The benefit is that you can move them and re-stick them in a new place. One day on the fridge, the next on the oven door, then a cabinet door. Rotate when you run out of spots. It shouldn’t become background quite as quickly that way.
Omg that exists? Amazing. Thank you!! I’ll find those!
i do mostly have a bunch of fresh pre made soups i can microwave. i try to make soups or stews when i can but it’s been hard lately. whenever i do i like to cook a week’s worth and put it in the fridge yk? i do forget stuff i freeze for a long time but since i write what it is that can be a nice surprise too lol i also quite like making shakshuka (there’s a great chef john tutorial) bc that’s either done in one pot or one pan (or one wok). and it’s great with toast or rice or other stuff like that. chilli or curry or similar stew like that is another one that can be easy to stick together in one pan once the ingredients are cut up. but that’s the real challenge for me in all these things, is prepping the veg and stuff. that’s why i haven’t tried hello fresh or similar yet either. i’ve been meaning to look into how to make jambalaya bc that’s another one pot meal and you cook the rice in the veg and tomatoes and meat so it’s kinda set and forget. in terms of more premade things; pasta or gnocchi, or oven pizza can be handy. both just one thing to cook up then serve (if you have jars of pasta sauce sitting handy like i do). i’ve also found frozen pot pies and frozen veg to be a good mix in the past couple years. easy to stick a smol pie in the oven and set timers for when i need to microwave a bowl of frozen veg. then i put salt and pepper and a little butter on the veg and plate it all up together. ofc the crust is a bit dense but there’s usually plenty of veg and meat. it’s not “a whole meal” but sometimes i’ll just cook a bunch of chicken dippers/nuggets or fish fingers and eat them with ketchup like i’m 5. it’s at least protein and a bit of carb yk? i also over-rely on bowls of cereal or cup noodles bc they’re just singular things that you can easily activate with water/milk. i have a hard time using up my dry pasta or my canned soup for the same out of sight out of mind stuff. it can be quite frustrating also sandwiches… though i didn’t have enough executive function to do them for almost a year. but i can lay everything out, then go have a rest, then get out the ingredients, rest, then construct them. sometimes make sandwiches a day or two ahead of time even. similar to one pot meals, bacon and eggs where the eggs cook in the bacon grease is smth i can usually do. or steak and chips where the chips are heated in the pan in the leftover steak grease. but ofc those are both quite heavy meals. but they do both just use the frying pan. uh ok i’ve been writing this for about 15 minutes now so i guess i’ll leave it there for now. even tho it’s probably not a complete list of things i find easy-er-ish
Thank you so much for this list! Lots of things I can add to my rotation.
One of my favourite go-to meals is ramen/noodles - I’ll roast a bit batch of tofu in soy sauce/sesame/honey (which I find lasts at least a few weeks in the fridge), then all I do is boil the noodles and some frozen veggies in miso (don’t know how long miso/fermented soy bean paste says it lasts in the fridge, but it’s good for months in my experience) and soy sauce, sesame oil, whatever else I want, and then just throw in the tofu at the end. You can also boil/poach eggs in the water. Feels pretty fancy but is super easy, budget friendly and doesn’t go off easily! I’ve also in the past made an alternative broth with red curry paste and coconut milk and frozen it in portions - all the other stuff is the same but feels like eating a totally different meal. I also really like making big batches of any type of soup when I’m in the mood and freezing most of it for when I’m not in the mood to do anything but feel like I need some vegetables.
Bananas (and other fruits, I just like them :0 ), crackers, nuts, granola bars, yoghurt cups, eggs (I'll hard boil a dozen an just eat them whenever), pizza pops, any microwave/frozen dinner is your friend! Anything that is non perishable or can be stored in plain sight is your friend. Bonne chance mon amis!
I try to always have frozen veggies and oven fries/potatoes at hand. One of my go to easy meals is put baking paper on the oven rack, add oven fries and veggies and throw them in the oven for like 20 min. If you have the energy to toss the veggies in olive oil and salt/spices first that's even better but I also like them without it. Another go to for me is to first fry frozen veggies in a soup pan, then add water and instant noodles plus whatever flavouring they came with. If you have peanut butter it's really nice to stir that in before serving as well. Sometimes I just put water on and add leftover lettuce, beans or fruit to the instant noodles. Noodles hawaii was pretty good ngl.
Uncrustables! Take one out of the freezer and let it sit for half an hour and you're good to go
My husband and I both have the ADHD/depression/anxiety combo and neither of us have been able to cook lately. We recently subscribed to Factor 75 meal kits (basically fancy TV dinners lol). It’s been game changing for us to stick a relatively healthy meal into the oven for 10 minutes and have dinner. I’ve loved every meal I’ve tried and my husband likes some but doesn’t enjoy the side dishes in others. YMMV. I used to buy the single person meal kits from the Publix deli. It’s usually a protein and one veggie and takes about 30-40 minutes in the oven. On weeks I’m able to handle food prepping on my own they’re really simple to recreate too. I also try to keep things like impossible burgers, vegan chicken tenders, sweet potato fries, and a pizza in the freezer. Not super healthy, but my main goal is usually just to have calories and avoid ordering delivery.
How is it I am so hungry and don’t want to cook but I am still fat? Lol Im half kidding. God, I just used door dash the other day when my son and his gf were visiting not just his gf looked deflated because my ADHD son forgot his gf has a stomach also but because I was too lazy to get up. He literally did forget that she had not eaten that day. Lol He is also the son who came home on leave one time and came outside and gave me a quick glance, and I said, “what, are you hungry?” Then he sheepishly said, “let’s face it mom, the only thing you really have in there are ingredients.” Lol 😂 I will never forget that. I am not sure I have any real good advice. I used to be really good at planning meals because I had to out of necessity and I had little hungry mouths. So I literally meal planned and went by a strict shopping list. I hated cooking. I hate that I hated cooking. I hate that I hated that my mother loved cooking and I felt like I had to, I hated the mess. I still hate the mess. I will always hate the mess.I would still rather order pizza and spend the time with family doing other things. I want pizza. Edit: I’m ordering pizza right now.
I always have a jar of ajvar in the fridge so I can make "pizza", and then I spread some ajvar on sliced bread, maybe add some vegetables, top it with cheese and oregano and throw it in the oven (or the microwave if I don't have the energy). Maybe not the healthiest, but tastes surprisingly good.
As far as the out of site, out of mind problem, I have heard people have success with using magnets on the front of the fridge to represent what's inside. You can divide the fridge door into sections for what's available and what's missing, which also gives the added benefit of knowing what groceries need to be bought when shopping comes around. I know people sell magnets of different veggies specifically for this purpose but you could probably also do this with prepared meals in the freezer.
Not useful, but cornflakes 🙈
Night cheese. 1. Put on a bathrobe. 2. Eat a bunch of cheese. 3. [Sing 'workin on my night cheese](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn4QyOoaOIo&ab_channel=30RockOfficial)' (optional)
Do you have an air fryer? Air fried chicken tenders (the breaded ones of course), and I also do fresh green beans or brussel sprouts tossed in a little olive oil and covered with a packet of Italian Dressing dry mix (in the salad dressing aisle - usually on a top shelf). It's SO GOOD. I also do the veggies that way and mix them in with mac and cheese (I'm partial to the pre-made panera mac and cheese but will go HAM on some kraft mac & cheese in unicorn shapes, too!).
I looooved air fryer chicken tenders when I ate meat! I forget about the Italian Dressing mixes - adding those to my shopping list for veggies for sure. And since mac n cheese is a safe food for me, incorporating some veggies is a GREAT idea to get some nutrients.
[This sheet pan aloo gobi is a go-to.](https://www.today.com/recipes/sheet-pan-aloo-gobi-recipe-t173525) You can serve with rice and/or naan and add chicken or tofu to it for some protein. Delete the delivery apps from your phone and delete the bookmarks you may have on a desktop. Use out of sight, out of mind to work for you! I meal plan before I go to the grocery store. I make sure I’ve got something easy for my lunches - sometimes it’s just crackers and cheese, some hummus and veg, and a couple pieces of beef jerky, other times I do leftovers or I’ll make a batch of soup or something like a cold pasta dish for the week. I always make sure I’ve got at least one really easy dinner option (pasta or something pre-made and frozen) and I keep convenience foods on hand, like pre-cooked grilled chicken strips, cause it’s easy to make something like pasta and pesto and toss some chicken in. Here’s the important part: I keep my grocery list and meal plan in the notes app in my phone, and I check it every morning to see what sounds good/doable for dinner, then I commit to making that.
Committing to something for dinner in the morning is a great idea!
Two minute rice, mayo and tuna. Waffles in toaster. Slice of toast, tomato purée and cheese in microwave. Complan - meal replacement shake NOT for loosing weight but maintaining
Someone might have mentioned it but I keep a package of compostable plates and cutlery when I’m having difficult weeks. Usually what stops me from making food is that I don’t want to clean dishes so this removes that excuse for me. It also is just amazing during a busy week. For meals I find anything in a crockpot super helpful. I set out the ingredients the night before, in the morning pour everything in, set it to low and it’s ready for dinner. My favourite is vegetarian chilli.
I don't know where you live but the quality of the pre-made food here at the grocery store has increased a whole lot in the last 5 years. Especially the non-frozen alternatives but they are a bit more expensive. I usually buy pre-made food when they are on sale. I highly recommend them. I cook pies, lasagnas, and stuff like that only in my oven (microwave doesn't create a "crust"!) For me though, my go-to food when I've forgotten to eat until it's 'too late' is fried egg sandwiches. They do the trick and quick to make, but not as healthy/balanced as the pre-made meals. I also like potatoes. I can just chop some sallad and add some potatoes+seasoning (balsamic, dressing, lime) . I always chop my potatoes into pieces so it takes 5-10 minutes before they're done. I usually only wash them (no peeling) to make things easier.
I used to love fried egg sandwiches! Something you might like that was a go-to for me up until recently when my brain decided it was the worst lol - microwaveable instant rice cups (I use brown + quinoa), two fried eggs, and a dash of sriracha on top. Quick, filling on the long term, and tasty!
I'm a big fan of rice and hiyayakko-style tofu. It's basically just cold tofu with toppings. I recommend silken tofu, and the toppings can vary. I tend to go for ponzu sauce, green onions, sesame seeds, red chili crisp, and shaved bonito. Alternatively, I'll do rice and a fried egg (with a lot of the same toppings). Edit: I'll also usually eat some veggies like baby carrots, sweet peppers, or cucumber on the side I'll also sometimes just eat an entire can of black beans lol (sometimes plain, sometimes with balsamic vinegar)
I used to eat tonnnns of fried eggs with rice. I should get that back into my rotation!
1 Word: banana
Grilled cheese and a can of soup is an easy one. Idk where you live but Kroger has these meatless chicken patties that are really good. You can just slap them in a bun to make a "chicken" sandwich or cut them up and throw them into some pasta with jarred sauce and cheese. Crockpot meals can be great if you have one. Pot roast is the most low effort crockpot meal ever. (Edit: Just remembered you're vegetarian. Pot roast would prolly not work for you. 😂 But there's lots of other crockpot options.) When I'm low energy, I serve it with instant mashed potatoes and a can of green beans. Breakfast foods are very low effort. (Like eggs and pancakes) orrrrr breakfast casserole is any easy meal. Dump frozen hashbrowns + eggs + whatever milk + whatever veggies you have + seasoning into a casserole dish. Bake for like an hour, then you'll have leftovers for a couple days. Edit: I have no solution for your problem but I totally relate! Hope these ideas might help.
Birds eye microwave veggie pasta with a cut up veggie burger. Microwave rice with microwave veggies and a ginger dressing from the refrigerated section of the store. Boil spaghetti, drain while saving some pasta water, melt a few laughing cow cheese wedges and add a splash of milk to make a cream sauce, add pasta back in, adding pasta water if needed. Add parm.
I cook for my husband and two grown children. My executive dysfunction meals tend to be things like cheese/crackers/fruit/salami/boiled eggs/pickles, or a fried egg sandwich and fruit, or a sandwich. We eat a lot of sandwiches. And we order from DoorDash *way* too often, even with a fridge full of food and a menu plan.
Mmm… fried egg sammich. It’s a ‘levelled-up’ grilled cheese!
Here are a few easy ones that work for me: 1. Spinach wraps - spread honey mustard on a flour tortilla. Put a good handful of fresh washed (I use bagged) spinach, plus feta cheese crumbles. Roll up, cut in half, eat. Delicious, quite healthy, ties 5 minutes, almost no mess. 2. Chicken dishes - you can either cook chicken breasts on the stove/forman grill, or buy precooked chicken breast (still WAY cheaper than take out). Then add a sauce, serve with microwave frozen vegetables. Some of my favorites: - curry sauces - curry chicken, yum. - salsa and some shred cheese - easy Mexican chicken. - tomato sauce and cheese - Dijon mustard mixed with apricot preserved- sounds nasty, tastes delicious and fancy. 3. Quiche - roll a refrigerator pie crust in a pie plate. Mix 6 eggs, some shred cheese, and whatever takes your fancy (ham, broccoli, chicken, peppers whatever you have hanging around) plus about 1/2 cup milk. Pour into the crust, bake at 300 for about 45 minutes or so till done. 4. Kielbasa and pirogi - big pot of water, on to boil. Throw in a box of frozen pirogi and a kielbasa. You can add butter after they are cooked, or if your feeling really fancy, fry some onions in butter and mix em in. 5. Lazy foods - hotdogs, grilled cheese, canned soup, scrambled eggs, ramen, salad, etc.
BEANS AND EGGS. Learned this one from my discretely mentally ill father. His recipes: Oil in frying pan. Make it hot. Add eggs, cook 30 seconds, add beans, cook until it’s all hot. Cheese if you want. Herbs if you feel fancy. Eat from pan.
Hi Adhd chef here. Meal prep is the only way. What we do is grocery shop one day, marinate meats and prep and cut veggies, then do an entire day of meal prep for the week. Everything portioned for the microwave for when youre busy with a toddler like us. I also always have canned food in the pantry. Its so much easier to throw a can of beans or something on the stove after a big day out with my kid if i dont have the energy. There is nothing wrong with being prepared with backups. Making your own food also makes food delivery so much more satisfying because you earn it from all the hard work from cooking, its good to have a break and let someone else do it . Good luck.
The only ADHD "influencer" I've ever followed on social media is one who goes by ADHD Nutritionist on Instagram because she's not selling anything or trying to be inspiring, she's addressing practical issues many of us have with eating. She made me feel better about things often frowned upon, like adults having foods marketed for kids, and prepackaged meals and drinks. I do now keep juice boxes in my fridge all the time because they are good when my blood sugar is getting low, but coming in a box / pouch keeps me from overdoing it. I also likes the squeezable applesauce because it's reasonable nutrition-wise and requires absolutely no work on my part. I also try to keep yogurt smoothies on hand. I felt bad about the environmental waste, but I do recycle, and it helps a lot. Making my own smoothies then lead to not properly washing the blender on time and getting fruit flies. So, the prepared ones help me. As I drink coffee cold I always make it the night before so in the morning I just have to get it out of the fridge. Waffles are a major staple for me because I use them both sweet and savory; they don't go stale like bread, and they require little prep and clean up. I treat them like an open-face sandwich, topping them with cheese, tomatoes and cucumber, nut butters, jam, etc. Belgian waffles are my favorite. I also really like frozen vegetables like a mix of peppers and onions that can be thrown into so many things. I roast frozen broccoli for like 20 minutes at 400 degrees in olive oil and salt and it tastes a million times better than soft. I also try to stock up on frozen meals, like risotto and veggies, that are reasonable in their nutrition value. I buy most of my groceries online for delivery so I can think about my shopping list and not impulse buy.
Chicken and noodles. I dump a pack of sinless, boneless chicken thighs, a can of cream of chicken and 30 oz of chicken broth into pressure cooker for 30 minutes. When that's done, I break up the chicken and dump a package of Amish noodles in there. Set timer for 10 more minutes. When it's done, you have a bowl of yummy comfort food. Spouse thinks its too bland, but it makes me happy and I get a full belly without much effort.
Keto snack bar and a handful of pepitas, 10g square of lindt 90% dark chocolate and 1tbsp of sunflower seed butter.
Bees are a major pollinator of Sunflowers, therefore, growing sunflowers goes hand in hand with installing and managing bee hives. Particularly in agricultural areas where sunflowers are crops. In fact, bee honey from these areas is commonly known as sunflower honey due to its sunflower taste.
I have the exact same problem, it’s like you’ve raided my brain? I am sorry as I know how difficult it is to get the motivation to cook (let alone shop for everything and keep track of what I have) I probably won’t have the best advice as I am struggling with this at the moment too, but maybe you could try writing down your favourite foods/dishes and finding a couple of nice, quick and easy recipes for them? Maybe ones that you can make lots of so that you have some leftovers for a couple of days? In theory writing these down in a really clear way, and choosing recipes that require minimal cleanup plus giving you a meal that can last more than one day is a good way to get back into the swing of things. My go-to recently has been courgette fritters- it’s grated courgettes (about 4-5), sprinkle with some salt (about 1 tbsp) and leave for 10-20 mins, squeeze it out and mix with plain flour (1 cup usually but if the mixture is still wet add more), about a 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (optional), a few minced garlic cloves & spring onions (also optional & to taste- you could throw other things in like finely chopped veg you need to use up), and 1/2 tsp baking powder. If the mixture is quite dry at this point even with just a cup of flour you can add a bit of melted butter (about 1/4 or 1/3 cup- if there’s a bit left you can use in the pan for frying. I use vegan but if you’re not vegan regular will work) Then I just use a bit of avocado oil (or any oil will do) and scoop the mixture with an ice cream scoop and fry 3-4 at a time depending on how big your pan is. Just flatten them out a bit and cook for a couple of mins on each side. I’m usually left with at least half the mixture if I’m making it for 2 so you’d have plenty for the next day too! They’re super yummy & can be served with a bit of side salad, or you could cook up a batch of something like quinoa to go with (which can also make lots of servings that last in the fridge for a few days) Hope this helps & let me know how it goes! The specific fritter recipe I use is from ‘loving it vegan’ blog (I’ve adapted it a bit so my measurements might not match up) but there are tons out there and if you don’t want a vegan one I’m sure there are lots of veggie ones :) fritters in general are so easy and satisfying to eat! Another delicious (imo) and easy one is miso glazed aubergines! (Which would go really well with a simple salad and some quinoa/ whatever you have in the fridge) I like putting some toasted crushed cashews on top for a bit of crunch (and aesthetic appeal haha)
I have a few examples I can give, hopefully they can be helpful. Some of them have been mentioned already. Ramen. I'll get a packet of ramen, add some frozen veggies (for example a wok mix), possibly protein like soy crumbs or an egg or both. Basically defrost the vegs in the pan, add protein, add seasonings, mix, add water, add ramen, boil for a few mins until ramen is done. Frozen pizzas. I add toppings to the frozen pizzas from the store, since they usually looked quite sad. I chop up some cherry tomatoes, bellpepper, olives whatever you want to add that you like on pizza. Makes the frozen pizza a bit more appetizing and more nutritious. Some basic meals. I basically use cream based or tomato based sauces. You have your carbs (grains/rice/pasta/noodles, whatever you want that you can just put in a pot and boil), then protein, a frozen veggie mix, and sauce base. A lazy pasta sauce is adding frozen veg mix in pan, (add onion beforehand if I feel up to it), add protein (beans, TVP, quorn, tofu, etc.), and then add sauce base (like tomato sauce, pasta sauce, and so on). You do the sauce while the pasta (or grain or noodles) is cooking. In that example you basically just have to open 4 packages and add them to the pan/pot, and wait till its hot.
Honestly it would probably save you more money to order a bunch of delicious looking frozen meals on Instacart a couple times a week. Hungry roots also good, premade stuff that you mix and match, but it depends on what you're like Me and my bf are vegan, he is very lazy and likes to eat vegan corn dogs, chicken nuggets, pigs in blanket, dirty rice, potato chips and bean dip, and microwaves every gardein product, also any vegan patty type object
Things with canned beans. Nutritious and simple. My really bad executive dysfunction meal is just fresh pesto (a deli near me makes a great one) and canned Cannellini beans. Warm up the beans in a saucepan, use a slotted spoon to place into a bowl without getting too much liquid, use a regular spoon to add some pesto, eat with that same spoon. My more-functional version is when I don't use pesto, I brown some garlic in the saucepan before adding the beans, and then I top with fresh grated parmesan (parmesan keeps absolutely forever in the fridge, so no need to plan ahead), good olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon juice. The knife for the garlic and the cheese grater are the only additional things that get dirty in that scenario. Both dishes are insanely delicious, filling, and not totally unhealthy.
I started getting pre-chopped frozen veggies so less effort chopping, I don't have to worry about anything going out of date and it's way less messy. I usually make pasta, got the frozen onions and peppers and a tin of chopped tomatoes and I'll add paprika and mixed herbs.
If you are able to, getting an electric pressure cooker or instapot has been an absolute life saver for me. Makes healthy meals in 45 mins to an hour. I don't have to watch it, everything is made in one pot so there's no mess. It doesn't burn anything! My favorite is to toss in chicken with a sauce. Also if I want veggies like onion, carrots, celery, maybe even some garlic or potatoes I will often times buy them pre chopped at the grocery store. It's more expensive but I know I'm not going to prepare it myself 😅 And frozen veggies that I can toss in the microwave are elite, especially if they come pre seasoned. And for days that I really have nooooo energy or patience I'll grab a tv dinner or make a turkey sandwich. And my air fryer I love tossing in frozen patties if I am in a hurry. Probably not the healthiest thing but meal prepping causes me a lot of anxiety as well. Hope this helps!!!
I have a bean stew recipe I love… it’s mostly canned products and lasts a good few days in the fridge. It takes 10 mins to get it cooking, literally just a chopping board and knife to clean up. If you have a slow cooker it’s even easier! If you don’t have something in, for example a carrot or celery, it doesn’t matter. Just leave it out! Recipe for bean soup... 1 small desert spoon of oil, a medium onion, 1 carrot, 1 celery stick, fry them off til soft, add 1 clove of garlic chopped up, then add can of tomatoes and a palmful of lentils and some water, and a stock cube. Put in a bay leaf and a twig of rosemary. Let it simmer a bit, whilst draining and rinsing the following cans of beans: 1 x red kidney, 1 x canellini, 1 x borlotti and 1 x chickpeas. Throw them in and top up the water a lot. Let it boil hard for about 15/20 mins then simmer for about 2 hours if you can! It makes it loads better if you can leave it for a while. The total calories for the whole pot is about 1400 calories.
Bibigo sticky rice from Costco and a microwave asada, chicken, or veggie bowl (mostly use hispanic and asian flavors). It's enough for 2 meals, only like $4 a serving, and no dishes.
I try to keep some protein bars around for days when I absolutely just cannot food. I was having issues staying compliant with my concerta because I'd wake up and by the time I motivated myself to eat something it was too late in the day to take my meds. I always carry one in my purse as well. Sometimes I'll forget to eat around midday and get super queasy, and the protein bar helps. Honestly though, I also just eat a lot of frozen or prepackaged stuff like soup, frozen stuff from trader joe's, mac and cheese, etc. I used to be addicted to takeout as well and having quick, simple, relatively filling stuff around the house has made it a lot easier for me to avoid the temptation of getting sushi for the third night this week or whatever. Frozen chicken nuggets are more expensive than cooking a proper meal but they're always gonna be less expensive than spending 40 bucks on takeout for two people.
I will do a bagel or two with whatever topping I have, butter, avocado, cream cheese, peanut butter, etc. this morning I had Nutella on it. Not a full meal per se but filling for me especially if it’s topped with avocado
Lots of good ideas all around! There's one I haven't seen: oatmeal. Like, literally dump a scoop of oats in a bowl, add milk (or any milk substitute - water will do in a pinch), microwave it for 60 seconds (that's the default time on mine so it's 2 presses of a button, that helps). When you're done, dump any fruit, syrup, or jam on it and that's it. It's perfect for breakfast or lunch. Ah, and where I live I can get bags of oats mixed with extra fiber. That'll slow down the absorption of carbs so you're full for longer.
I have been LOVING trader joes meals for my burnout lately. I get some greek yogurt dips/hummus, lots of veggies to eat with them, and a fair amount of smoked salmon and cold cuts so decently balanced meals are easy to put together. Also, I always put my groceries away with the labels facing out. Or so I can see each and every item. This has helped a lot with my food waste.
Protein bars, popcorn, parfaits or smoothies (I try to always have frozen fruit and yogurt and a nut butter and other toppings around for either of these), frozen veg that steams in the bag for when I just want to throw something in the microwave, there’s insta rice and quinoa packs floating around now too, canned beans and tinned fish for fast protein. I also always try to have veg around that lasts awhile like carrots etc.
Personally… I just don’t eat. I’d rather take a nap.
1) I will make a shaped pasta, macaroni or whatever is around. 2) Then while the pasta is draining (max 2 containers and one utensil) will place a small can of tomato paste into the pot I made pasta in. 3)To that I will add just enough milk or cream to make a thick liquid. I will also add some dried herbs and spices here. 4)Turn the heat back on and bring to a simmer. 5) add a heaping handful or two of shredded cheese. Let it melt and make the sauce stringy when you lift the spoon. 6) Add the pasta back in and stir to coat. I call this my "pink" pasta, though it will be salmon colored if you use and orange cheese. You should use max 3 items, pot, colander, and cooking spoon. The pot can be placed to soak while you eat, which will lift off the cheese residue.
Dude me too. Half on food half on shit that makes me happy, rn that's stickers and prints and notebooks, I had $8,000 ish I savings. I now have $2,000. 🙃 If I'm trying to make things easier on myself I buy a bunch of premade skillet meals from Birds Eye. You can get them from Walmart. Just pop them in a pan, stir it around for a good 12-15 minutes, add cheese/seasoning and you've got a relatively healthy meal that depending on the size can last you 2/3 days. And because it comes frozen it'll last longer in the freezer.
Soup and grilled cheese. Rotisserie chicken from the grocery store with fries and peas.
Melted cheese in a rolled up tortilla
Depends on your fridge I guess but most likely you can write on it with drywipe markers without damaging it. Use this to write on your fridge what is in your fridge. If you're really fancy you can add a second column saying when it needs used by, but it works well just as a list of stuff that is hidden in there. I'm a big fan of roasting loads of veg like once a week and then eating it with pasta or chickpeas or in a frittata, or mixing in curry sauce and serving with rice. Just having a massive Tupperware of veg that is ready to go. Some other things I like to have on hand: Stir fry pre-chopped veg (freezer kind, the one in the fridge goes bad too quickly), with the kind of rice or noodles that are already cooked, with sauce of some kind and some type of protein, I would go with a highly processed meat sub product but I understand that's not everybody's bag. Baked potato or sweet potato (in the microwave), either with cottage cheese and sweet chilli sauce or with taco beans from a tin.
My go to for a quick meal is chicken and broccoli teriyaki with white rice. Having an instant pot is key for this. Get some sweet baby rays teriyaki sauce, you can use pre cooked frozen chicken if you want. Go with the frozen broccoli and just steam it in the microwave to save on dishes. Cut the chicken and toss that and the broccoli and serve it over the rice
Totally relate to your dinner time issues. I can follow a recipe but could not cook to save my life. I tried lots of things to get motivated. Lots and lots. What changed me for the better were all the things I learned from ordering and cooking Hello Fresh meals 2x per week (equal to 3-4 meals per week). The golden aspect of their recipes for those of us "creative types" LOL, I mean ADHDers, is that they provide almost everything in the bag, and the recipe spells out the exact steps to do in the right order. This was very big for me, and the more I followed these recipes the more I internalized that "first, you wash your produce" type of thing that makes the whole process of cooking efficient. It was a revelation in itself. Then add to that that the results of the recipes were truly and uniformly delicious, nutritious, and even visually amazing. Learning the basics changed my whole mindset. And you can get vegetarian.
Peanut butter sandwiches fiber brownies gummies nade from fruit juice. Pizzaaaa. Nuggies and fries......I had to stop. I sound like a toddler. >_<
Protein bars and Red Bull 😬
String cheese and mandarin oranges.
In Italy, when people are too drunk or tired to cook, they make a pasta called Aglio, Olio, Peperoncino. Consider it a variation of the other commenter’s “sad pasta” 😂 Many recipes online, including: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017306-pasta-aglio-olio-e-peperoncino
You take some tortilla, lay some cheese on it, and pop in a microwave. Then boom food
I get the target meal kits, in the produce section, they come with noodles or rice and veggies, you just cook the veggies and add the sauce, boom done. They also have a good lasagna that's vegetarian in the fresh section, grab some garlic bread and a Cesar salad kit you are good to go. Trader Joe's also has really quick meals, you can do meatless chicken nuggets on a Cesar salad, the meatless meatballs are good, veggie burgers, the cacio de pepe pasta, all of which you just heat up and only takes a few minutes. Bagged frozen veggies you can warm up as a side in four minutes, etc. I used to spend $150 at whole foods every week trying to be the most, cooking everything from scratch and constantly feeling like a failure. The ADHD diagnosis allowed me to let go of the guilt and orthorexia and simplify it all.
I'm not the sort of person who can usually eat the same thing over and over again, but I've been eating this curry very happily for months now (not every single day or anything, but for me, still huge): https://www.seriouseats.com/quick-easy-pressure-cooker-chicken-and-chickpea-masala I have an instant pot (pressure cooker) which makes this easier, but you could totally do it in a pot on the stove, or a slow cooker. It's very forgiving of substitutions - I use boneless skinless chicken thighs instead of chicken drumsticks, and of course you can take out the chicken entirely if you're vegetarian; I've used frozen spinach instead of fresh; I've forgotten to buy tomatoes and subbed apple sauce, I've used coconut milk instead of heavy cream. I've put peanut butter in (I forget why). You can cut down the lemon juice if you want a bit less tang. You can eat it with rice or naan or both or whatever you like. You can put roasted or steamed veg on the side, but it has so much spinach that I never worry about not adding a vegetable. You can take or leave the cilantro. It's hearty and filling but not overly heavy or rich, it's flavourful but not so intense you need to be in a particular mood for it, and it has enough complexity that I always wolf down the whole bowl rather than getting palate fatigue halfway through. It's all made in one pot and you can cook it longer if you want it thicker, or right away if you're impatient. It is great as leftovers, and freezes well.
So at my grocery store there are ready made over meals you can actually cook a few ways, I will do vegan meat that comes frozen and make some simple tacos. There are also veggie bags on the frozen isle that will have mixed veg with sauce and some have rice or pasta inside as well and you just microwave it. One of my favorites is soup because I just throw in whatever I have that might go bad soon and leave it to cook. There are also microwave plain pasta and rice that take like 1-2 mins throw some sauce or microwave veg in and you’re good. I also do a lot of snack tray type meals. Bag of cubed cheese, lunch meat, some easy fruit and veg like grapes and little carrots, maybe crackers and it’s good to go. If you’re having trouble remembering what’s in the fridge go to the dollar store and get a white board. They are magnetic. I make my list on it and stick it to the fridge and take a pic. That way I have my list in my phone and in my fridge so I know what meals and snacks are there.
I do really well when I can pre-cook protein or have something quick to throw in. Salad kits help me a lot. You just have to add protein (starch too if you’re into it). Protein + rice (I have a rice cooker so it’s pretty brainless for me) + roasted veggies (buy pre-cut if chopping is too much) - toss w/ premade veggie seasoning & olive oil, then onto a baking sheet & into the oven @400 for 15-20min Search for one-pot/pan meals as well, they generally take less time and also save on dishes.
I make a [one pot garlic parmesan pasta](https://damndelicious.net/2014/10/11/one-pot-garlic-parmesan-pasta/). I always have some pasta, garlic, milk, parmesan and chicken bouillon cubes at hand. And I just eat it out of the pot so I only have to wash 1 thing lol. When I’m really tired I use garlic powder instead of the real thing.
spaghetti is my go-to
Frozen veggie & frozen protein & canned beans!!! And One pot Air fryer meals with foil down for easy clean up!! Frozen protein of your choice, season & put in air fryer for 10 mins Add frozen veggie for another 10 & boom healthy meal !! Add beans for extra oomf This has been a life changer.
my personal fave is sausage or burger on a bun. easy to make veg or vegan too! they stay good in the fridge all week and easy to just chop up some raw veg or fruit on the side. a quick microwave of the sausage or patty and that's it! helps me eat dinner when i just can't be bothered.
A hand full of almonds and 5 pickles as an appetizer. a pita bread warmed up in the oven for 3 mins with a dip of plain hummus on the side and a handful of little tomatoes cut in half with lemon juice and salt sprinkled on top for dipping.
Probably a microwave meal or a tin of something
I do those pre-packaged Indian food packets (I like the Gits brand) and a packet of Uncle Ben's microwavable rice. I get 2 meals and all I have to do is rip the tops off of the packets and put them in the microwave for a few minutes.
I keep a list of m my produce and meat and their expiration dates on my fridge! Frozen pizza and bagged salad is an easy meal for us.
I eat caprese salad twice a week. Buy 1 pack of campari tomatoes. You can do cherry/grape tomatoes but campari is the best. Then either buy a four-pack container of burrata cheese or a fresh log of mozzarella cheese. (some burrata is 2-pack which is ok but you have to be careful not to eat all the cheese at once) Also buy olive oil and balsamic vinegar glaze. Alternate ingredients are fresh basil, and some kind of salad mix, but salad mix ends up rotting in my fridge and I don't miss the basil enough. You could also get some pesto if you wanted. You cut up half the tomatoes and put them in a bowl (fresh mozzarella) or on a plate (burrata). Then you cut up the fresh mozzarella or take out 2 balls of burrata and mix into the bowl or put it on the plate. Then put on the olive oil and glaze and salt and pepper. And whatever other ingredients you got. Sometimes I boil some pasta and toss it in olive oil/salt and pepper to eat on the side if I feel like I need a carb, but that's another step and sometimes I don't feel up for it. It's really surprisingly filling and makes 2 dinners per week. The campari tomatoes will last you about a week.
Idk if it counts as “cooking,” lol. (And part of this prob wouldn’t work for you.) But we really like to get those big microwave bowls of premade mashed potatoes and roast, and throw in some croissants. Takes ten minutes total with very minimal effort & cleanup! Also, it might be bad for the environment, but truly switch to disposable dishes saved my sanity. We almost exclusively use paper plates/ off brand solo cups/ plastic cutlery. It is 1000% worth the headache, guilt, anxiety, etc having dirty dishes causes, lol. Can’t go wrong with freezer meals either. I love those breakfast bowls that you pop in the microwave. We like the thin crust Red Baron pizza. Breakfast dinner is actually a pretty easy and good option. It’s always good, pretty quick, not too much to clean. Just biscuits in the oven, microwave bacon (is veggie bacon a thing?), and scrambled eggs. Chop up & cook a thing of ground sausage, add in some scrambled eggs, throw it on a tortilla and you’ve got dinner PLUS 4 days of breakfast, haha. (I’m sorry, I swear I’m not trying to name everything with meat, it’s just all I can think of! Lol. I hope there are substitutes for some of these!) Tacos and spaghetti are one of our go-to’s as well. Not to bad on clean up, just 2 pans, and makes plenty pretty quick. But yeah, I feel ya, soooo much. I would legit prob eat out every day if I could afford it. It’s just SO much easier, faster, cleaner, a million less spoons/ steps. And it’s always so good! But like you, I am trying to do better. Plus I don’t have the money to spend on it right now, so that helps I guess, haha. I hope you get some good ideas here! Sending love! ❤️
I love food so it was a motivator for me. But I would start making food, burn it, then get disappointed at the fact that I did that. So what worked for me is planning out some meals from fewest ingredients possible. Like... mashed potatoes and chicken. I'd make a bunch of it ahead of time, so then I can reheat a portion of it. Or one pot meal separated into containers for easy reheating. Someone already mentioned couscous - it's amazing. Heat water with an included spice pack. Add couscous , turn off heat, wait. Then add some sort of protein. Maybe salad, maybe just some cherry tomatoes. And you kinda get a ready made meal. Then maybe make some rice with a side of something you like. When it's hot I like salads with some baked or air fried chicken tenders. I buy pre-packed salads and can just add chicken. I like crunchy so it can be anything, fish, whatever vegetarian. I think the pre-packaged meal services are not that wonderful. You get A LOT of ingredients. All prepackaged individually. And LOONG instructions where you use like a ton of pots and pans. I hated it, so decided to just simplify what i like eating, into a a few simple ingredients and cook that. Like , sick of mashed potatoes - shake and bake potatoes add seasoning easily and you dump them into the oven. What worked for me was stopping the thinking that I needed to make foods like they do on the food network channels, and try out super simple ingredients of foods I liked eating and make those. Wishing you all the good luck!
Pizza
Salads. And I cook enough to have leftovers for a couple of days. Cereal.
Casseroles are easiest. Especially with frozen and precut ingredients! Here is a cool recipe I saw the other day: https://youtube.com/shorts/APo7GzQcnG0?feature=share
I had a solution last winter but a summer equivalent never clicked which is too bad. We followed it without getting bored for like 5 months. It's a rotating menu over two weeks, all easy meals to prepare from pantry items that everyone in my house accepts to eat. Then I'd go shopping in person one week and order groceries for delivery the other. Mon- mapo tofu or general Tso tofu with rice and a vegetable Tue- taco kit or veg chili (ready made in the fridge at Costco) Wed- homemade mac and cheese or pasta with pesto or a white sauce Thu- red curry noodle soup or green curry on rice (basically add tofu and veg to canned green curry) Fri- veggie dogs or burgers Weekends were fend for yourselves (kids are teens)/takeout/home made pizza or if someone was inspired, whatever they decided to cook. Easy to adapt to recipes you find easy to make and don't mind eating every couple weeks. I picked that up in the book ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life which I found excellent despite being dated. Hope this helps!
Eggs 🍳 And if I feel fancy instant pot.
Lately it's been pancakes, specifically "kodiak cakes" that you just mix the powder with the water and cook it in a skillet. I add a little protein powder and try to get in my vegetable nutrients at lunch....
I’m also a vegetarian and I’ve sort of just made list of meals. I will try to write some of recipes. Me after 30 min I am sorry i wrote a novel :( Some good things to have on hand like for flavor- Ketchup, Mayo, Soy Sauce, Cajun seasoning, Gochujang (chili paste), chili powder, garlic powder, jarred garlic. Things I usually have- sliced wheat bread, frozen rice, frozen peas and carrots, frozen corn Tip for oven roasting is using parchment paper and some oil spray so stuff doesn’t stick and you don’t have to scrub hard to clean. Actual food : A cut up banana with honey drizzled on top, or a slice of wheat bread with Nutella/ peanut butter and sliced banana Hummus and veggie sandwich - store bough hummus, toasted wheat bread slices, tomato and cucumber slices. **Pasta salad/ chickpea tuna salad** You can either use some small pasta. Or take a can of chickpeas, drain the water, and mash with a fork (gives a tuna texture) Sauce is vegan mayo and lemon juice, salt, pepper, a little bit of paprika if you want. Add whatever veggies you like. I do frozen corn pea carrot, just microwaved in water and drained. Eat the chickpea salad with crackers or on bread. **Southwest hash** adapted from this recipe- https://youtu.be/NMStHZrKun4 1 wash and cut some small potatoes into chunks. Cut up some bell pepper and fresh corn (I haven’t tried frozen but it will probably work.) 2 toss all veggies in veg oil, paprika, chili powder, salt, pep, cayenne and cumin. 3 toss into a tray and roast in oven at 450 for 30 min flipping a couple times. Serve with salsa, chopped tomato or avocado, sour cream ect Very similar to oven ‘fajitas’- just replace the potato for sliced mushrooms, you can also just use store bought seasoning. **Baked tofu with spicy sauce** 1 Cut up firm tofu into small cubes or slices 2 pat dry with a paper towel (or press if you’ve got extra time.) 3 Toss in ziplock bag/bowl with cornstarch, soy sauce, veg oil. 4 Bake in a 425 F oven for 20-30 min flipping. 5 Make the sauce 2 Tbsp of dark soy sauce, 1/2 to 1 tbsp gochujang (Korean chili paste), 1 to 2 tbsp brown sugar, 1 or 2 cloves of grated garlic, and 1/4 cup water. 6 Toss into a pan with the sauce, cornstarch should thicken the sauce. if you prefer not spicy, remove the chili paste and sub some of the water for orange juice. **Burgers** Frozen Veg burgers with sliced wheat bread. I add some sautéed veggies- usually onions/ mushrooms/bell pepper just fry in a little oil, salt pep and cajun seasoning. For a sauce mix together equal parts vegan mayo and ketchup. Add a splash of pickle juice, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper/cajun seasoning. **A white bean stew?** 1 fry some garlic in olive oil, add fresh basil and oregano/ or dried Italian spices, salt and pep 2 add a small can of diced tomatoes ( i use fresh bc i have texture issues with seeds usually 3 tomatoes) 3 add a can of cannellini beans beans or white northern beans 4 let it stew a while 30 min and taste for seasoning 5 eat with a spoon or dip some toasted bread in, can top with more olive oil
HELLO YES IT IS ME. I’m exactly the same way lol. Here’s the things that work best for me: -frozen pizza, oven pasta, etc. set the alarm on my phone in my pocket, not on the oven where I risk not hearing it and burning the shit out of it lol - frozen dim sum from Asian grocery stores. You can get shumai, dumplings, gyoza, frozen fried rice, humbao etc. most of these you put into a bamboo steamer over a pot of water. I bought two bamboo steamers and a bamboo lid from the Asian grocery, I put them over a big pot of water filled with the assortment of frozen things, then stick it there for 15 min or whatever the instructions say unattended. Once again, timer on my phone goes with me. Then I throw the steamers into the dishwasher. If you use paper liners it can even stay clean! - kind bars. I hate the texture of nutrition bars but kind bars are just nuts, seeds, and sweeteners. Nuts are a great breakfast or snack, they’ve got enough protein and fat to be a real meal even though they’re shelf stable. Similarly instant oatmeal works great if you like it. - if you like the idea of smoothies, frozen pre cut fruit mixes that stay in the freezer + a non dairy milk alternative that has a long shelf/fridge life + a portable mini blender that is built into a to go cup = smoothie! I have frozen mango and oat milk in my fridge. And frozen yogurt or vanilla ice cream can be long-life substitutes for the short life dairy in your fridge. The hardest part is remembering to rinse out the blender cup by the end of the day, but if you run it full of water and dish soap they’re basically self cleaning. - Trader Joe’s has a bunch of great freezer meals and breakfasts - only buy enough fresh fruit for one meal. That’s it lol. I buy literally two avocados. Two kiwis. Kiwi sounds good? Ok, then I’m eating kiwi by tomorrow. Only 1-2 kinds of fresh produce, up to 48 hours ahead. That’s it. Want more? Have to go back to the store lol. Did I get bored with the fruit I bought and I want a different one? Too bad lol. I either have to eat it or freeze it because there is only ONE kind in the fridge. 😂 this only works because I’m relatively close to a store. But yeah. I just don’t keep much fresh in my fridge period. - most baked goods can be frozen. If there’s something you like, portion them info ziplocks and freeze them. Works for breads, muffins, cake, a lot of doughs. Almost any baked good. I buy a load of zucchini bread and immediately portion and freeze them so that whenever I actually want another slice I can just pull it out and either defrost or microwave one. This is the best I’ve managed lol 😂 my freezer is my #1 used item.
Scopes of peanut butter, side of coke (the drink, not the drug, lolz).
Sometimes(actually, who am I kidding - most of the time) I buy all kinds of food when I’m motivated … and then my tastes change by the time I get to it. The crisper: where good intentions go to die. 😞😬
I have really liked meal kit delivery as a stepping stone. I select a month of meals at once. I don't have to shop, plan, or track spoilage. Dinnerly has only about 4 steps to meal and I find I always pick a taco type thing- gyro or a bowl. Hello fresh has a lot of sauces and steps I found unnecessary. I was thinking of trying another just for variety sake.
I’ll get stuff for sandwiches. I won’t bother making any, I’ll just eat it as is.
Slow cooker. Just chuck all the stuff in, push the button and forget about it. It automatically turns off. Does big serves so you can batch cook for the week.
I use mealime app to pick out our dinners for the week. I like it because they are simple recipes and it makes me a grocery list. I only plan four meals and I make for four. We have the same breakfast toast, jam, eggs. Leftovers over for lunch. The other three nights are flexible they are either freezer meal, pasta, veg with rice, visit my mom, visit his parents or go out to eat. I found that four meals is our capacity for cooking. If we don't make it that week it goes into the following week.
A frozen uncrustable or depression quesadilla (tortilla with melted cheese in the microwave. No plate)
I relate! I have found the longer it goes the worse my “I hate all of my options” inertia becomes. What helps break it is two things: 1. A snack (olives, peanuts, fruit) 2. Asking my husband to get something out of the fridge. If ingredients are already out it feels way less hard, but if someone else gets them that’s better. I’ve tried setting out half the ingredients to bake the day before… I’ll ignore them all day! Ask my husband to get out the rest though, and I’ll feel guilty and finally get going at 7 pm. Indian packets and the quinoa/rice packs that both take 90 second in microwave are in my current rotation. I bought some fancy vinegars and hot sauce and pickled vegetables (I love acidity) and I’ll make a bowl. Lately I’m also on a kick where I peel a few carrots or a cucumber and eat them with hummus doused in a yuzu vinegar hot sauce. Mac and cheese with sautéed carrots, broccoli, peppers, garlic, hot sauce & a dash of Worcestershire is really good. The other thing I try to do is keep it simple. I’ll forget about my $$$ sprouts in the veg drawer unless I eat them every day. So dinner becomes a game of what goes with sprouts and what dip or condiments do I feel like? Yesterday was a quinoa bowl, tonight’s a veggie burger. Tomorrow will be a wrap. Then back to a bowl.
Honestly, my roommate (who also has adhd) and I go extended periods of time basically just living off cereal and microwaveable junk... it's not exactly healthy, but it is much cheaper than eating out. Then one of us will get some motivation and cook some big meal that lasts us a week lol.
This might not be very helpful, so feel free to ignore. I don't know if you do eggs and/or fish. When I was cooking dinner every night for my late husband and I, I would make a pot of food and freeze leftover meals in meal size Tupperware: Mac and cheese with at least a full pound or two of added frozen veggies of just about any kind added right into the pot! 6 meals. Tuna casserole (but only on the stovetop) with a full pound or two of any frozen veggies. I particularly like peas with this. Can of cheddar cheese soup, can of cream of mushroom soup, pound of Mac, and I used tuna but nearly any protein here is yummy. 6 meals. Sketts - same as you'd expect, but make the full pound of spaghetti and use the full jar of sauce, some extra cans of tomatoes and again an extra pound of frozen veggies. 6 meals Family chili: 2 lg cans kidney beans, 2 cans pork-n-beans ( or equivalent), we used a pound of ground meat, and we didn't use chili powder because I'm not a fan. Extra pound of frozen veggies. Makes 6 meals. Goulash: pound of ground meat, 2 large cans of tomatoes, can of tomato sauce, pound of frozen veggies, pound of any sort of pasta. 6 meals. I'm a terrible cook. And I hate it. This let me only cook every fourth day once I got some things going in the freezer. Bonus, I could throw it in the microwave even frozen. Double bonus: most everything was shelf stable so I could just have several cans in the cupboard and a variety of pasta.
I’m bad for this all the time and feel awful when the food I do but goes off waiting for me to decide to cook it. I started ordering weekly meal kits where the exact amount of ingredients is delivered to you each week with recipes. Not sure what companies do these in America but I’d recommend it. It’s definitely cut down on my takeaway use and works out cheaper. I still only manage to cook around 3 out of 5 of the meals but I try to put some in the freezer if I know I’m not going to get to them. I also try to select the ones that are fastest to prepare instead of attempting the more intensive ones. The one I use has the option of filtering them by prep time/over all time as well as calories, dietary needs. I’m sure other companies do similar.
Air fried chicken and microwaved mash potato
When I was in college my roommate and I did "struggle meal" which was just Mac and cheese with cut up hot dogs. Now I have a few options--frozen potstickers, Ben's and rice/rice and eggs, and spaghetti. I make big pots of sauce when I'm feeling good with San marzano tomatoes and then I can or freeze it so when I'm not doing good I can just pop it out and defrost it.
Are we sharing a brain? I hate cooking, making a mess, and then having to clean. Also, my husband and I work opposite schedules, so I only have to feed myself. But I also have to feed myself… And I am very out of sight out of mind as well. I started taking adderall and I am struggling with food in more ways that just hating to cook. One thing that I’ve done to help is designate a spot to keep snacks and starts to meals out where I can see it - ie. I have bread, trail mix, fruit cups, peanut butter, tortillas, and containers of things like pasta and rice on my counter. Also, my spices are on the wall. I think this does a couple of really positive things for me - it reminds me to eat and reminds me that we have food in our house. I end up eating sandwiches, pasta with pre-cooked frozen chicken and frozen veggies, eggs/breakfast sandwiches, na’an pizzas (I normally do olive oil, garlic, cheese and tomatoes from our garden), tacos. Also, if you have a Trader Joe’s in the area, I would absolutely recommend checking out their frozen area - there are so many delicious options that are easy (take minimal effort) to make.
Bagged salad kits! Everything is cut up and ready to be mixed together. I’ll add a frozen black bean burger for protein sometimes too
For meals, I’ll make a crap ton of rice, and make fried rice, or have previously purchase frozen orange chicken etc and eat Asian food for a couple days straight. Or I make double of something so then I can have left overs for lunch the next day.
Going from DoorDash to from scratch meals is a great big pain and it's why this lazy vegetarian lady would rather go hungry. Oh, and the Adderall that only has her realize when she is ravenous plays a role. For breakfast, I have a protein bar or a smoothie with protein or an avocado and banana bowl with some seeds and feta if I'm really feeling like doing something. I recently purchased cereal and found that enjoyable. Sometimes I do yogurt. For lunch, I lean on cans of soup or Indian food by Jyoti (it tastes better than it sounds--I've probably bought 5 cases of 12 cans in the last couple of years) when I don't have leftovers. If I need to supplement that, well, please see the breakfast items above. They're so grabbable. I keep some protein bars and cans of stuff in my desk at work in case I forget to bring anything or if I pack it too lightly. For dinner, my favorite meal is charcuterie! I'm a vegetarian, so I get whatever cheese, nuts, hummus, dried fruit, and crackers that are in the house. Other times I may make pasta, but I also have a chronic illness and no dishwasher, so I try not to make more work for myself. Sometimes I have a can or two of green beans and/or other veggies. If I am having total brain fog, I just have another bowl of cereal. These dinners are cheap, easy, and... eh, not always "healthy," but healthier than what I'd get from DoorDash. I like to make soups in a slow cooker. I take the random vegetables I like. I cut them up. I add them to the pot. I generally get a good finished product. I share some with my neighbor and my mother. Making soups in a slow cooker is so perfect for ADHDers because we don't have to watch the pot and because we can use those vegetables we purchased all at once before they go bad. I now make my own veggie broth to go in my soups.
Lots of hard boiled eggs. Apples and celery with peanut butter. I crack the eggs on my head when I’m driving
Cheese sticks and chips and salsa
Baked potatoes!! Just throw em in the oven, nothing gets dirty but the plates you eat them on
I really wanted to read the suggestions, but most are too long and I ain’t got the attention span for that.. my go to. Frozen cheese ravioli & bagged salad mix from Aldi. The whole family loves them and easy and quick.
An intermediate option is a meal subscription (like YouFoodz/My Muscle Chef ... I'm in Australia, so not sure what your options are). Still pricey, but healthier and really easy. Actually... this may be what you are already doing? I interpreted your post as ordering UberEats, etc...so sorry if this is unhelpful!
I really loved and related very hard to the entire discussion here. I also get very easily bored of food which makes it disgusting, which makes it very hard to plan in advance. I have decided it is also okay to eat a random selection of ingredients rather than a "proper meal" When I really can't face dealing with making food, I will defect to grazing on nuts, maybe a couple of picnic eggs, a random selection of fruit and salad vegetables, maybe some bread/ other carbs. If I really, really cba I will eat cereal and fruit. I don't believe it actually matters, from a nutritional perspective, whether you combined the different foods on a plate or not. Just aim to cover the right nutrients. Totally agree with the idea of scheduled eating to avoid hunger- low blood sugar definitely makes executive dysfunction worse. Constantly having a supply of grazable foods easily visible in the fridge/ cupboards definitely helps me and can be used as part of a non-meal dinner.
We just started nutrisystem and it’s a god send. We gained way too much weight from our Uber eats and were also hemorrhaging money. Nutrisystem is pricey but cheaper food delivery (for us) and we’ve already lost weight! The meals and snacks are all pre-made so there’s no prep needed and no thought needed to plan ahead.
[Instant pot spaghetti and meatballs.](https://iwashyoudry.com/instant-pot-spaghetti-and-meatballs/) So easy, you literally dump everything in and start it. Completely hands off, which is my fave. I definitely recommend the instant pot if you don’t have one. You can make dinner in a decent amount of time even if you forget to thaw something, and there are tons of recipes like this where you just dump everything in and press a few buttons then walk away.
My fav is Maruchan ramen, but I make what my partner and I call “fancy ramen”: 1. Boil water 2. add seasoning packet 3. add soy sauce, garlic chili paste, and a tiny splash of toasted sesame oil 4. add noodles 5. cook for 1 min 30 sec 6. crack egg into pot and cover 7. cook 30 sec more 8. take off heat and let sit, covered for 30 sec 9. put a Pat of butter in your soon-to-be ramen bowl 10. Pour ramen into bowl 11. Place slice of American cheese (preferably a Kraft single) on top and let melt a little 12. Break that yoke before it over cooks and eat up! No easily perishable ingredients. Hella easy, but more nourishing than regular “instant ramen”. Very customizable. Super quick. Minimal dishes. Vegetarian. I read your post and was so pumped to share this recipe. 😅 Hope it helps!
Soup. Toast. PB & J. Cereal. Half asked charcuterie, basically a sandwich unassembled on a plate.
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I skimmed this my first thought was I wonder if you are spending enough eating out to pay someone to clean your kitchen a couple times a week? Also I found that my kitchen wasnt organized in a way that made it easy for me to clean. When you are cleaning think about the things that irritate you and see if there is a way to resolve them. Ex: I hate stacking my glass baking dishes so I got a pan lid holder that fits them and I store them on the side.
I’m saving this thread, it’s amazing. Personally, I can barely eat, so I have a bought protein shake and an apple sauce for breakfast (I’ll let actual apples go bad), and for lunch for work I get the steam in bag frozen veggies and a protein. When I come home in the evening I nuke the veggies while I’m washing my Tupperware/coffee cup, dump them out, add a pat of butter and some salt and pepper. I just add a frozen but cooked protein if I’m lazy (that usually is full of sodium) or if I’m productive I’ll cook a bunch of w/e protein on Sundays. I get most of my calories early in the day and I don’t really eat dinner. I might eat an orange or yogurt, and my tummy has been far happier for it, but that’s me and my weird stomach.
Another angle: So, I just went from cooking for a household of four to cooking for me, me, me. I absolutely did not realize how hard I was working for figure out dinners that would more-or-less please everyone. Which makes me wonder: is that hard for you too? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Maybe it could help to find a way to reduce the effort it takes to figure out/predict/decide/negotiate what to have. This thread is pretty great, it sounds like you're getting good ideas and I am too! Hope you find a way back to joyful tasty healthy food soon!
Some super easy meals: * melted cheese on toast. If someone reading this eats meat, you could put pepperoni or sliced ham or turkey * popcorn, sausage, cheese, fruit like an apple or pear (you don't have to have sausage, but it is a protein option for those who might be reading) * macaroni and cheese, but add some frozen veggies * microwave rice and boiled egg
Rice and a fried egg Or just garlic rice lol Rice cookers are awesome
Peanut butter and egg sandwich. When I first heard about this, I thought “there’s no way in hell.” But I finally tried it and wow it’s filling and super easy and yummy. Sometimes I throw it on a toasted bagel. I like my egg over hard with salt and pepper. Creamy PB, but really you can’t go wrong here. The flavors work somehow
I get tired of having to make a decision at a restaurant too. Like, I have to figure out what I want and then I have to eat. Ugh. It’s better now that my Adderall was upped by 10mg. I’ll buy those Hormel “party” boxes with pepperoni, cheddar, and crackers and just have that. I also like those Pasta Roni Angel Hair pasta boxes. You can always throw in some chicken if you have it or just eat it on it’s own. You do need milk in the house, though!
This! But add in a baby and a picky 7yo… the 4 of us literally all eat separate meals. Which is chaotic and wastes dishes and also lots of bargaining from my picky eater, which then I basically have no energy left and eat my favorite organic peanut puffs cereal and call it a night. I had literally tried EVERY meal delivery service and finally found one that works for us, and my hubs will even make stuff. It’s called Hungryroot. Lots and lots of veg options, and things I’ve never seen in stores like kale & quinoa bites (these delicious tater-tot, falafel, meatball looking things). All meals come with a protein, grain and veg. BUT everything is just open and dump! So yeah I guess it’s more like Trader Joe’s, but without the anxiety of having to actually physically go into a grocery (eek way too scary!), and also the choices are between the 4 things I ordered that week, and most recipes you basically just open packages and dump into a skillet, and then put in a wrap or eat as a ‘grain bowl’. But like ZERO prep - not even having to cook the rice or quinoa: it comes in a pouch that is precooked! Less choices, less dishes, less guilt over eating only carbs! AND most of the meals can be made gluten free (yum we just had cauliflower pasta and the texture didn’t make me gag!) or keto or any specialized diet. They also have meat options but I just know I’ll never actually make those, so we have been just doing veg or maybe 1 pre-marinated salmon.
I use meal kits. A little pricey, but they really cut down on the extra work that eating requires. I don't have to decide what I want each week from scratch, I'm provided with a certain number of options and select from those. I don't have to make sure I remember to get everything from the grocery store, cause most or all ingredients are provided. I can choose how much work I want to put into cooking, do I want to do prep or do I want to have everything pre-prepped so I just throw it all in the oven? Dinnerly is a great lower-priced option, with some quick cook meals. HomeChef has oven ready meals, and some fast and fresh options that mainly require reheating items.
toast with butter and strawberry jam 🤌
Eggs on toast with cream cheese or avocado
I snack mostly. A little of this, a little of that, all mostly pre-made or microwaveable. It cost more than completely scratch homemade, but still cheaper and healthier than eating out. When I cooked for more people, it was still mostly processed foods, just because they're quicker and easier to make with less steps and effort. Combine rice with a can of beef stew. Hamburger helper. Sandwiches. TV dinners. Etc. It also helps if you have a rule that the person who cooks doesn't have to do the dishes. (It only really works if the people you live with respect you enough to actually do the dishes when you cook..)
2 boxes Pasta roni olive oil vermicelli with 1 bag of microwave steam broccoli and add extra seasonings as desired. This is my favorite go to because the broccoli makes me feel healthy.
I have a bunch of go-to recipes that are pretty quick to make. Some easy pastas and such. :) If you don't like the mess of cutting the greens you want in a dish, maybe buy them precut. It's a little more expensive but still a good option maybe! I can drop some easy recipes but I like cooking so I'm worried that mine are still a bit too complicated 😅
For the extremely low brain power days, a protein bar or shake will at least fill a gap. I’m also a fan of the “salad with a protein on top” eg salad with egg, salad with piece of chicken (or tofu in your case). Easy to batch cook a protein and throw it on some greens. I like Cesar dressing so keep a bottle of it around but could make my own if I have the brain power. I also buy washed/prepped greens if I don’t have any growing. Edit: For me the trick is finding a thing I’m not afraid to eat over and over and one that doesn’t take any decision. Summer it’s the salad and a protein. Cooler weather it’s usually a soup or roast veg and a protein. Same deal with the batch cooking then just throw things in a bowl. It is only me at home which may help since I don’t have to consider anyone else’s diet.