Effortless Go-To Meals When You’re Not in the Mood to Cook

Food is essential to the human body because it is fuel to help people function well. Eating three meals a day should be a priority — your body needs enough calories to go through the day. However, busy schedules or other draining factors get in the way of cooking meals. You don’t have extra energy to do another task, although it’s simple and can be done in five minutes or more. Sometimes you forget to fix a meal when buried in workload, which is an unhealthy daily routine. You still have to find a way to fill your stomach and fuel your body to help you finish the remaining tasks.

The lack of time and energy to cook a meal is a common experience for college students, employed people, and parents. For this reason, a lot of people have already come up with simple go-to meals that surely take up only five minutes of your time. You can even eat those meals while working, lying on your bed, standing up — sometimes you won’t need both a spoon and fork. It can be ordered for delivery, or if you have a microwave oven, you’re good to go.

One Redditor has asked the opinion of others, and the post created a long thread of food recommendations. The Reddit post was a question from Davenepeta, and here are some of the answers from the discussion.

Instant Ramen and Egg

Of course, instant noodles are a great go-to meal, as it’s a quick fix and still quite tasty. You can add eggs, ham, vegetables, or cheese to make it more fulfilling. This comment by Stinky_pudding has received 1.8k upvotes, which shows how instant noodles brought convenience to many people. Redditors also shared their ramen recipes and secret ingredients for an added twist. Who wouldn’t love instant ramen, right? You can put everything in the boiling water, wait for it to cook, and your hot meal is ready for you after a minute.

Freezer Pizza

Microwave ovens are beneficial for people who lead busy lives. You can still have a delicious and hot pizza effortlessly. Frozen pizza is one of the best go-to meals, especially when delivery is unavailable at the moment. “A freezer pizza” was commented by trick_tickler, which earned 1.6k upvotes. People on the comment thread shared various brands of frozen pizza with a review along with it. Frozen pizzas have made the food even more convenient since you can have it after a few minutes — even while lying in bed.

Cereal

You only need a bowl and milk, then you’re good to go. Even though it’s usually for breakfast, there’s nothing wrong with having cereal during lunch or dinner. Being busy with work or having your energy drained is enough to have breakfast food for lunch and dinner. Many people agreed with this comment from WrittenonYaKitten, and LadySygerrik even replied, “The true MVP.” You also have a wide variety of cereal options, so your go-to meals can still be exciting.

Quesadilla

Similar to pizza, some brands market frozen quesadillas, or you can DIY them since it’s easy to prepare. Redditors shared quesadilla recipe recommendations below, NOT000’s comment says, “Kinda surprised super simple Mexican isn’t in here. If you have ground beef, you’ve got crunchy tacos ready to go in 15 minutes. That’s my go to pivot to something easy meal,” rcjlfk replied. A simple quesadilla won’t take up too much of your time, especially if you are just preparing one for yourself. Your breakfast, lunch, or dinner is already okay as long as you have the essential ingredients.

Veggies

If you want to keep it healthy or if you’re vegan, a bag of veggies is the best go-to meal for you. “I nuke a bag of veggies and legit just eat out of the bag with a fork,” touching_payants answered. You can add some flavor to your bag of greens or mixed veggies, and a good dressing or butter are commendable additional flavor. Me_2017 replied, “I’ve been doing this for years. I’ll always add a little flavoring in there and mix it around real good too. Depending on the veggies, I’ll add black pepper, garlic powder, and sometimes a bit of hot sauce.”

Try these meals if you are not in the mood to work in your kitchen. It’s also best to have a stock of recipes or products that you can use to prepare those meals. The other meal recommendations are in the comment section below OP’s post. Use the thread as a reference and make a list of yours to use when the time comes. You could also share your favorite go-to meals or the ones you created with results that are undoubtedly a chef’s kiss.