Also please share any other strategies you have for making food less of a chore.
I don’t hate cooking, but when I’m living on my own I really don’t feel like spending half an hour preparing food, 10 mins eating and 20 mins washing up every night. My solution has been to make a big pot of healthy stew at the beginning of the week (eg, vegetables, lentils (or sometimes meat), tinned tomatoes, stock cube, spices). Total cooking time is about 2 hours, but after the 30 mins of preparing I can leave it on the hob/in the oven and get on with other things. I leave a portion for the next day and freeze the rest of it for later in the week.
Also, before I learned to cook, I used to eat microwavable ready meals (which are really pretty good in the UK). I’d boil some pre-chopped* veg to go with them for vitamins etc. I also made sure I ate plenty of fruit.
*In the UK, a lot of supermarkets will sell already chopped vegetables at a slightly higher price. Buying them can improve your life (and save time) if you don’t like chopping vegetables!
I don’t hate cooking, but when I’m living on my own I really don’t feel like spending half an hour preparing food, 10 mins eating and 20 mins washing up every night. My solution has been to make a big pot of healthy stew at the beginning of the week (eg, vegetables, lentils (or sometimes meat), tinned tomatoes, stock cube, spices). Total cooking time is about 2 hours, but after the 30 mins of preparing I can leave it on the hob/in the oven and get on with other things. I leave a portion for the next day and freeze the rest of it for later in the week.
Also, before I learned to cook, I used to eat microwavable ready meals (which are really pretty good in the UK). I’d boil some pre-chopped* veg to go with them for vitamins etc. I also made sure I ate plenty of fruit.
*In the UK, a lot of supermarkets will sell already chopped vegetables at a slightly higher price. Buying them can improve your life (and save time) if you don’t like chopping vegetables!
Chopped vegetables and fruit are available in the US. I see them in Philadelphia, but I don’t know if they’re commonly available.