Food and Cooking

I don’t cook much. I’m chronically ill, but if i were working full time I imagine the same problem would come up - it’s too labor intensive to do all of the time. Switching from “is this a real meal” to “is this something that i enjoy eating and will it provide me with enough energy” has made me a lot less miserable about it. What I’ve done for myself is find out which foods are simple, good, filling, yummy, and don’t take a lot of effort for me, and then eating those throughout the day while cooking bigger batches of things throughout the week . It takes a minute to find out which foods are good for this, but once you have a few “i know i can make this and i know i will want to eat it” foods in your back pocket, it gets easier. Some of my faves are premarinated cuts of meat which can be baked and then cut up later, fried up bell peppers onions (eat them with toast or goat cheese!), bean salads or chillis, roasted potatoes, and baked patties of hot sausage with a bunch of oatmeal mixed into it (good on toasty bread or alone). You can also pre-cut or pre-prep things like veggies and spice mixes so that you have them already ready to go when you’re hungry. I also eat a ton of stuff that people don’t consider real food- oatmeal, fruits, nuts, cereal, english muffins with avocado, cheese and crackers, peanut butter, baked beans, toast, banana breads, bread and olives, etc. I find it helps to plan “laziness” directly into the process. Doing what you can to minimize dishes can also help a lot, as can trying new foods. You never know what thing is going to become a go-to.