I used to be the person who could cook a full meal from scratch every night, now I'm lucky if I remember to eat before 10pm

It's funny how life shifts without you really noticing. Back in my twenties, I'd come home from landscaping, toss together a homemade pasta sauce from tomatoes I grew myself, and have dinner on the table by 7pm like it was nothing. Now I'm 38, running my own company with three crews to manage, and I ate a sad gas station sandwich for dinner last Tuesday because I was too wiped to stop on the way home. The real turning point was about four years ago when I took on a huge contract and suddenly my free time just vanished. Somewhere along the line, I traded home-cooked meals for frozen pizzas and granola bars, and I honestly can't pinpoint the exact moment that happened. Has anyone else gone from cooking every day to surviving on whatever's in the pantry, and did you ever find your way back to actually enjoying food?

2 comments

2 Comments

thea1439d agoTop Commenter

Oh man, this hit way too close to home! I had the same thing happen when I switched careers and suddenly my evenings were toast. What finally worked for me was doing a big batch cook on Sunday afternoon, just two or three things like a pot of chili and some roasted veggies. Then I'd freeze portions in those little containers so I could grab one and microwave it without thinking. Also, I started keeping easy stuff like pre-chopped onions and canned beans around so even on a bad night I could throw together something that wasn't total garbage. It's not the same as making fresh pasta from scratch, but it beats gas station sandwiches by a mile.

dylan_rodriguez9d ago

Wait, you were making fresh pasta from scratch before all this? (laughing) That's a whole different level of cooking than I've ever even attempted. I'm over here thinking I'm fancy if I use jarred sauce instead of ketchup.