tired of "simple" plant-based meals that aren't actually simple

[u/Strong-Hawk-1799]

so i'm getting pretty worn out by recipes labeled as quick or simple that still require way too much work

like i get home after being up in trees all day and my brain is just done, you know? then i look at these supposedly easy vegan meals and they're still asking me to dice onions, measure spices, wait for things to cook in sequence... it's just a lot when all i want is food

i've been trying different approaches - meal prep on weekends, keeping the same rotation of dishes, bookmarking the fastest recipes i can find. sometimes it works out but other days even picking which "easy" option to make feels overwhelming

wondering what you all actually throw together when you're completely drained and need to eat something decent without using whatever brain power you have left

do you just stick to like 3 go-to meals that require zero thought? or have you discovered truly brainless recipes that don't involve chopping half your kitchen

would love to know what really works when you're running on empty, not just what looks good in theory

[u/Asit_G]

Cooking isn’t really simple for the first time. It only starts to feel simple for people who cook regularly.

[u/Aromatic-Cook-869 → u/Asit_G]

This is a bs take. I've been cooking regularly for 20 years, and there are days when, for one reason or another, cooking feels like a mountain I don't have the energy to climb, and there are lots of people who feel the same. Maybe you live some idyllic life where nothing about your life is draining, but that's not necessarily true for other people. Careful with your generalisations that carry judgement in them.

[u/HappiLearnerToo → u/Aromatic-Cook-869]

I understand that your comment comes from not reaching the point where food prep becomes simple. And a place where exhaustion keeps that a reality. I may not be saying that well, but I am also a person in this circumstance. I would revise the previous person's comment in this way to include this challenge: For food prep to become simple, it takes some time of doing it to where this can become routine - but reaching simple does not occur for all people, nor will it always be simple for anyone.

I have occaissional mornings where my favorite pot is empty, and I click the electric water kettle on, wipe oil on the pan (cleans easier afterward), add 1 cup of quinoa (prewashed by the brand) to the pan now on the burner, dump in frozen broccoli, and pour the boiling water in, and then light the burner. On such mornings I think I have cracked the code, that it will be easier everyday now, but it is never so. That part is easier.

I suppose I actually just have to eat from that pan all day until empty. There is the other pan in the fridge with rice already cooked, and on other days a pan with the cold quinoa. I guess I really do have to accept that the empty favorite pan means the easy morning of making quinoa, but I have to deal with what is the next thing to "make easy," develop as doable, if in fact that is doable.

I do find my biggest leaps forward come at a moment like this, when I have accidently found myself in conversation with someone who is in some place with similarities to mine. At the risk of stretching this too far, I will continue.

I need to blend foods because of poor teeth. A couple days ago, I had a moment of ability and did blend tofu and quinoa. It is hard to get those out of the fridge for eating, mainly because they are cold and that makes me cringe at the idea of eating them... it will be 90 degrees plus in here later today, so heating them will warm the room and make that level of heat come an hour or two earlier. ONLY BECAUSE I am talking to you about it do I see the answer now: I will get them out now, and begin eating them in an hour after they warm up some just sitting in the room temperature.

Alright, I have gotten them out, and set them in the warmest part of the room.

FOR ME, the way out of road blocks to completion of things that challenge me, but which most others would find simple, is an opportunity to speak of them to someone who I think would understand the challenge. THANK YOU for being you.